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Post by Valerie on Jun 28, 2010 9:03:52 GMT -5
That all looks so good! Makes me almost jealous! I got one coneflower to grow, one time. One!
We're getting to that part of the year where everything is just baking and holding on for September, or just dying. My one little watermelon got too hot and split open. The chickens finished him off, so at least it didn't go completely to waste.
The tomatoes are done bearing, and so is the eggplant. The plants are still hanging in, though. I'm wondering if I can keep them alive through the summer if they'll start back to bearing in the fall. The bell peppers are setting a whole bunch more fruit! I'm loving that! So far, the little cantaloupes are still hanging in there. They lost most of their fuzz and their dark green, and starting to get those little cracky lines like they have. We'll see if they actually make it all the way.
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Post by Granny Smith on Jun 28, 2010 9:20:31 GMT -5
My coneflowers grow like weeds. They get out of hand and I have to pull some of them. The ones in the picture were dug up from another bed 3 years ago. I mowed down the old bed, but they came back and are blooming, too.
I talked to my sister in north GA yesterday. She said her garden is all dried up and dead, too. She only got one tomato off her plants! She's leaving the plants in the ground, hoping them come back in the fall. She said they've done it before.
Her melons are doing alright, though. She had them in a spot that gets shade in the hottest part of the day. She usually waters them for 1 1/2 hours, once a week, but she fell asleep one evening and let the water run on them all night. She said the whole yard was flooded, but the melons are doing good.
Papa, who also lived in north GA, used to cut the bottoms off milk jugs and push the tops into the ground by each melon plant. Then he'd fill the jugs with water, so the plants had a constant supply. He did the same thing with his tomatoes, too.
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Post by Valerie on Jun 28, 2010 11:08:46 GMT -5
I've heard of poking little holes in the bottom of the jugs and burying them halfway, but not cutting the whole bottom off. I did that a couple years in a row with tomatoes. It helped a lot, until the holes clogged up. Taking off the whole bottom would fix that, though!
I planted one pot each of broccoli (just to see if the seed was still good; it's a few years old and wasn't stored properly for part of that time), mortgage lifter tomato, homestead tomato, yellow pear tomato, thyme, chives, & lavender. They're on my little makeshift plant table (two buckets & a part of a piece of plywood) behind the shed, where they'll get good morning sun, filtered noonday sun, and afternoon shade. If that broccoli germinates, I'm gonna plant a BUNCH more.
Gayle, that's good news that your sister's had tomatoes come back in the fall. I'll sure keep nursing mine along!
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Post by Granny Smith on Jun 28, 2010 11:35:57 GMT -5
Valerie, take the lid off the jug, cut off the bottom, then push the top opening into the ground, leaving the bottom up to fill with water (like a funnel)
I have dug a hole near my plants, put a handful of gravel in the bottom, then shoved a vegetable can with both ends removed into the hole. I only used it a couple of times, though, till I figured out that it rained enough here that I didn't need to water.
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Post by michelle on Jun 28, 2010 14:01:21 GMT -5
Here's a picture of mine from a week or so ago: My beans are taking off, peppers not doing much and the spinach is a dud. I also am having great luck with mustard greens
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Post by Valerie on Jun 29, 2010 8:10:32 GMT -5
Looks good, Michelle! I like how you put the walkway in the middle.
Gayle, the way I had seen of doing the milk jug thing was to poke 4 or 5 pinholes in the bottom of the jug, then bury it halfway next to the plant. The lady who wrote that book used it to feed them fish emulsion. She just dumped a tablespoon in the jug, then filled with water. It works for a while, but then the holes clog up. I like the way you described better.
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Post by Granny Smith on Jul 1, 2010 9:37:49 GMT -5
I must have read the same article you did, Valerie, because I've heard of that way, too, but that's not how Papa did his. I'm sure it would plug up because, the cans I pushed into the ground had some trouble draining, even though I put gravel in the bottom of the hole. You really need a bigger opening if the opening is in the ground.
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Post by Cyngbaeld on Jul 2, 2010 12:40:06 GMT -5
Planted my sweet potatoes. It is cool (mid 80s) and rainy and the slips had already started to root, so went and stuck them in the mud. Seemed a good time.
The Romas are loaded and about time to pick some more. The Big Boys finally have a few maters started. My poor watermelon got goosed pretty badly. He was starting on the Banana Melon when I got him out. THe stinking hens have decided my melon tubs are good egg nests. I'm about ready to have hens for dinner. My one squash got goosed too. I picked off all the peppers. Might get some more, I hope. Goose got those and some of the maters too.
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Post by Valerie on Jul 19, 2010 12:13:08 GMT -5
Cut down my squash plants last night. They both were infested with squash bugs, so I carried them ever so gently into the chicken pen, and shook the bugs off so the boys and girls could have a feeding frenzy. I just left the plants in there so they could get the ones that held on too tight. Not much left today! Those were some nice juicy bugs! I've got two more pots of squash started; I'm hoping the bugs die before they find 'em!
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Post by Cyngbaeld on Jul 19, 2010 13:39:08 GMT -5
My one squash and the melons are making a comeback after the gosling pruned them. Got some small melons starting. Tomatoes aren't putting on new fruit, no blossoms. I need to start seedlings of some heritage tomatoes. Thinking of planting more sweet potatoes. Need to make more space first, working on that. Need to plant some basil and wish I had okra and peas going.
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Post by Valerie on Jul 20, 2010 12:58:17 GMT -5
That's about all that's left down here, is okra and peas. The cow kind, not the english kind.
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Post by debi on Jul 20, 2010 14:02:25 GMT -5
every thing up here is doing good, the mators have green ones and they are loaded. the beans are just starting to get some size to them , looks like every thing is doing good right now. at least. rained again last night, so I didn't have to water.
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Post by Cyngbaeld on Jul 20, 2010 16:41:34 GMT -5
Yeah, pink eyes purple hulls. That's what I want.
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Post by Valerie on Jul 20, 2010 19:19:31 GMT -5
Kim, what zone are you in? Sounds like yours is very similar to ours, but maybe drier. We're on the edge of 9. Most of our year is like 9, but the couple of months of cold we get, it gets a bit colder than 9 and we qualify as 8. Weird, I know. Just enough to keep us from growing tropicals in the ground, but not enough to grow many varieties of fruit.
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Post by Cyngbaeld on Jul 20, 2010 21:32:45 GMT -5
Supposed to be 8b, according to the usda map. (Milam county, TX) . Lot of post oaks around here. They grow in somewhat drier areas. Lots of mesquite too.
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