Anyone else Planting gardens/flowers?

[Valiant]

Tomato blossom end rot: (usual cause: calcium deficiency)
Grind some eggshells in the blender with water. Pour this mixture around the plant, and water well. Won't cure the present rotted tomatoes , but you might save the next fruiting bunch if you take swift action. I save my eggshells all year long, let them dry in a pail, then crush them by stepping in the pail, then add a handful to each hole when planting, and also some at the top of the soil. Works wonders.

Lettuce plantings: Successive plantings can be made every 10 days apart for fresh lettuce up until heavy frost. Lettuce is quite hardy. Some varieties bolt easily, but I've seeded lettuce at various times in spring and summer, and it was usually one of the last plants to freeze.

[ninna]

I had lettuce from last year that came up. I was a wee bit surprised at that!

Anything and everything that was growing outside this year keeled over and died from neglect while I was on holidays. LOL. Oh well. There's always next year, I guess.

[recessionisnotfun]

oh noooo Ninna Sorry to hear that.
I just ate my first strawberry and 2 mini tomatoes, and WOW!! What a diff home grown makes with no chemicals.

[walkonby]

Oh I just love, love all the pics in here! I do wish we had more space out back or even the time to really do more, as DH is quite good at the " farmer " role, however I will still share my hilarious tiny veg plants that have sprouted. We have already eaten from the lettuces he grew weeks ago, he had to plant more stuff!

[Valiant]

(expresses my shock and awe)



(expresses my envy)


I have not had enough lettuce leaves to eat any yet; the slugs have got to them first. Same with everything else. Picked 1 raspberry today, though. And the Nanking cherries are ripening, so have been picking and eating a little plastic tubful daily. Have a few teensy Tiny Tim tomatoes on several plants; the Valiant grapes are filling out, the basil is growing out but the slugs are getting it, the dill is finally growing out (hope the slugs don't get it because I want to make borsch).

[iggysbabysitter]

My garden is starting to produce nicely! What I thought was yellow zuchinni has happily climbed the fence (over 5feet tall and 8 feet wide!), putting fruit on both sides, and not ruining any of the lawn around it! However... the plant must be a bad cross pollination, all of my zuchinni are round.
The cucumbers have given me several too big to pickle, and done well climbing the fence.
The pumpkins are showing mixed results, one has eagerly climbed the trelis and has a large pumpkin hanging in the middle. The other has 3 good sized pumpkins, but has refused to climb.
The only sunflowers that have survived and bloomed are the ones the birds spilled out of the feeder... all the ones the boys bought have died away.
Every year the compost pile gives me wonderful, accidental, results! And this year is no exception. The potatoes have done well, the cucmber that shouldn't have lived came back with a vengance, and the sunflowers sprouts that were tossed have started blooming a second set of flowers
For the first time I have tomatoes! Ones that I planted, and tended, and still haven't died! The last time I had tomatoes, they came from the compost pile, were totally ignored and did a fabulous job... smack dab in the middle of the front garden.

[GottaLoveFreeebies]

are you sure it is not a pumpkin or melon? Zuchini are not vines....???

[iggysbabysitter]

Yup, it's deffinitly a zuchinni... I ate it tonight. Opened up, it looks just like and tastes just like zuchinni. It has identity issues, I suppose
All of my past zuchinni, squash and pumpkin plants have crept across the lawn, killing the grass (and making finding my rabbits impossible), that's why this year I trained them to climb up the fence and trelis. I had also hoped the plant covered fence would allow for a little privacy.
They love their tire planters, these type of plants like hot roots. However, my potatoe tire tower failed because I had it in full sun, straw packed too tightly. It steamed itself to death (as I took the mess apart I found hot compost). Note to self... try the tire tower in a shaded location Potatoes like cold roots.

[recessionisnotfun]

lol @ Identity issues.
I feel like a REAL dork. What I THOUGHT was potato flowers, were....sigh weeds. I picked a few more strawberrys tonight, chives and a few small tomatoes. My lettuce is being duh..It won't grow any bigger, just sits at about 5 inches tall. Hmmm, or maybe that's as tall as it gets? Hell if I know lol.

[snuffaluffagus]

Grind some eggshells in the blender with water. Pour this mixture around the plant, and water well.

I followed your advice, great idea! Is this something I should be doing regularly, ie. once a week or, is one time enough?

I just ate my first strawberry and 2 mini tomatoes, and WOW!! What a diff home grown makes with no chemicals.

I agree! I find our lettuce is extremely tender compared to store bought. I picked our first tomato and cucumber this morning, delicious! I've also been busy shredding, cutting, cooking, baking zucchini almost daily. So glad we picked up another freezer so we can enjoy our veggies come Winter.

[janetta]

walkonbyL Your lettuce pictures have totally inspired me to plant some of my own next year!! Which varieties are those?

[recessionisnotfun]

mmmmmmmm snuffy, what time shall I be over for a salad? lol

[snuffaluffagus]

You sure I can't interest you in some stewed/bbq'd/fried/baked zucchini instead ?? I'm waiting on the rest of the family to tell me they're sick of eating it daily...I'm even tossing some blended zucchini in the dogs' food, lol.

[recessionisnotfun]

lol!! Too bad I don't like zucchini lol. But on the other hand, my mom used to make zuchinni chocolate cake. It was sooo moist and heavy and mmmmm good. Maybe try that? Then the family will love ya lol

[Valiant]

Snuffle, the more the better with the crushed eggshells.

There are 2 kinds of zuccini: the bush and the vine; I'm growing 2 kinds right now, and have 1 marble-sized zuccini so far.
Look for the silver markings on the showy, indented, maple-leaf shaped leaves, to distinguish zuccini from other squash and pumpkins.

The slugs got all my lettuce, and much of my basil.

Yesterday, while having my coffee on my patio, a little sparrow hopped up to the cress planter, and started pecking at the plants there. A few seconds later, it had collected 3 little green worms in its beak. It flew down and ate them, then hopped back up and collected another half dozen worms, and dropped them in a pile, collected a few more and flew off. I waited a while, but the worms got restless, and started moving off. So I squished them. A minute later, the sparrow came back, flew to the spot of squished worms, and pecked-up a few good morsels. It looked at me, reproachfully I thought...then flew back up to the planter, and found one more. I felt embarrassed, depriving that sparrow of its hard-earned dinner.
I'm glad my garden is feeding someone...if not me.

I cut 2 branches off my tomato plants, stuck them in the 'slug' planters, and have been watering them till they grow roots. Hopefully, they will root ok, and produce a few Tiny Tim tomatoes.

My sweetheart rosebush has 1 budding red rose.

My few raspberries are ripening now, though there aren't many canes because of the deer laying up in them all winter. But it's a race between me and the robins, though I try to pick off twice a day. They cleaned out all the Nanking cherries; those fiends even ate the unripe ones!

There's not too much that's edible in my garden this year, but it's still my lovely little haven. So many leaves of all kinds and colours.
Hmm...a leaf garden...when life hands you lemons, make lemonade...