Back to Gardening

The Geraniums grew in really well this year. I can say that I did not kill everything this year, but these turned out beautifully with almost no care. Sadly the Sweet Peas died during the drought.

These are the tomato plants that have just grown wild. No one ever staked them, so once most of the hornworms died it just grew every which way…my husband is very annoyed since it makes cutting the grass more difficult. Meanwhile, I think that I will cage them next year just because they started growing over each other and I never know where I’m going to find the grape tomatoes. Sadly I have a great crop of Delicious Tomatoes growing in now and I’m afraid that the early frost is going to kill them off. Ah, well the joys of gardening. 🙂

Do You See Him?

I wish that I had gotten a better picture, but I can’t find this little guy in my garden right now. Can you find him? I know he’s still in there, eating up my tomato plants. He’s really hard to spot because the pattern on his back blends in with the leaf pattern. I don’t have any idea how much of my tomato plants they’ve already eaten. Apparently this is a tomato hornworm (could also be a tobacco hornworm, they eat tomatoes too). I knew that something was eating away at my tomatoes because whole stalks would go missing. I just chalked it up to rabbits, but it turns out these little guys have a voracious appetite. I originally noticed them because of a parasite that is apparently common, the braconid wasp. The presence of cocoons on the caterpillar that looks like rice grains means the parasite has already taken over. I found four of these in my garden just two weeks ago. I immediately went to look it up (gotta love Google). Several sites mentioned that the parasite would kill the hornworms. They recommended picking them off the plants, but I just wasn’t for it. These guys were 3 or 4 inches long and covered in parasitic cocoons. Blah!! I watched for a couple of days and they didn’t move locations. Then in almost no time they died. Great, right? My tomato plants are flourishing again. But alas, I found this little guy on my plant over the weekend. I didn’t see anymore, but it’s late in the season, and I’m hoping to just collect this last batch. Besides, despite this hungry fellow and his brothers, my tomato plants have grown like crazy. I don’t care to invest in pesticides this late and the primary organic solution is the wasps. I guess if I see him again, I can pull him off, but what to do with him? References say squish, but he looks kinda meaty for squishing…just gross.

Perhaps more interestingly is that they have hardly bothered my grape tomatoes. I have at times noticed something had munched away at them too, but the damage was not nearly as severe. All so very mysterious since they don’t really seem to differentiate by species (it would seem they like peppers too).

I’ll try to get a better photo if I spot him again…I do hope it’s just the one left.

More info on these garden pests can be found here or here. Of course you are always free to search on your own, there’s plenty of info out there. 🙂

Death and Gardening

Okay, not everything is dead, but so much is not doing well thanks to the recent 100+ degree temperatures this week. The tomatoes have slowed growth and the lower leaves are turning yellow. The strawberries are going one plant at a time, and no new strawberries. Even though they flowered, it just got too hot and none of the strawberries grew. The watermelon plants are still alive, but also looking stunted. The sweet peas have also stopped growing and are turning yellow. Even my cherry trees which have done really well are looking wilty.

I’ve continued watering, but I just can’t seem to get enough water to support these poor little plants in this heat. So imagine how excited I was when the sky clouded over. The wind began to pick up and I could see lightening in the distance. That started two hours ago. Grrr…still no rain. I’m hopeful, the weather is reporting that the rain hasn’t all passed, but I guess we’ll see.

I’m so jealous of the all those people just a few miles away who actually got rain.

Blah!

Meanwhile, I’m waiting patiently for my mystery crochet message. I joined a group that emails a pattern link and you have 30 days to complete the project. Fun!! Also it will keep me from jumping the gun on the Ravellenic Games that I can’t wait to get started on July 27…oh, and Camp NaNo starts August 1. August will be very busy. =)

 

Gardening – Updates

So far here is what I have:

1. Cherry Tree (Bing) – Doing well, may need staking due to wind.
2. Cherry Tree (Black Tartarian) – Also doing well and may need staking.
3. Delicious Tomatoes (4 plants) – These had already flowered and looked like they might die right after I planted them. Only one fruit came of the flowering, the others didn’t fare well. A little TLC and two applications of Miracle Gro for Tomatoes, and they have grown like weeds and are flowering again. Lots of flowers this time.
4. Grape Tomatoes (6 plants) – All of these have produced fruit, and are ripening now, another round of blossoms have come up. I also used the Miracle Gro for Tomatoes on these.
5. Strawberries (6 plants) – Sadly one has died, but two others have grown runners, so maybe there will be new plants next year. The remaining 5 plants have yielded their fruit (only a few berries most of which were plucked by critters) and are flowering again. (This variety is supposed to produce two harvests).
6. Geraniums (12 plants) – These have done really well and have twice as many flowers now following a short seeding period.
7. Eastern Redbud Trees (3 trees) – I am sad to report that trees #1 & 2 are not looking healthy at all, #1 has lost about half of its leaves, and #2 all of the leaves have turned brown. #3 is doing well. I don’t know why, they were all purchased at the same time, left in pots for about a week, planted at the same time and under the same conditions. Given the same watering and fertilizer. I am holding out until next spring though to see if they bud. If not, I guess I’ll buy 2 more.
8. Sweat Peas (5 plants) – The vines have slowed growing with the heat, but still look healthy. I’ve added fertilizer and will increase watering to daily. One of these yellowed just a bit and I believe it was due to having some exposed roots. I am hoping that the added fertilizer (covering the exposed roots) will remedy this.
9. Watermelon (9 plants) – One did not grow as well as the others inside, it was smaller and slower which appeared to be due to a separation at the base, still it survived the hardening off and had healthy looking leaves so they all went into the ground last week. So far, so good.
10. Cannas (?) – I just planted these last Thursday, I don’t know if they will even grow due to planting so late. These were bulbs given to me by my FIL, and I’m not really sure how many there were. I just lined them up next to the house and covered them with dirt. Then two days later I added potting soil in the hopes of increasing the chance of growth.

The only other thing is that there has been some obvious critter damage to my tomatoes and strawberries. Nothing too invasive to the plant, but they’re eating my fruits. I’ve sprayed them all with a solution of water, dish soap and cayenne pepper. I read somewhere once that this is a natural deterrent for squirrels and rabbits. Hopefully it will work.

Have a good week!

Eastern Redbuds

I finally got the redbud trees planted. I’m still a little concerned that they were in the pots for so long, but they still look okay. It’s supposed to rain here tomorrow, and when it rained the other day my poor trees were all turned over in their containers. Hopefully now they’ll hold up better and root well. I’ve been so excited about these trees, I’ll just be devastated if they don’t take.

The rain also laid down all of my tomato plants, but they still look healthy with some new growth, and the grape tomato plants have at least four tomatoes each. I did some checking online regarding pruning and the most common recommendation was to prune new stems that tried to grow beneath the flowers and this seems to have worked. So far, at least the plants look healthy, we’ll see how the fruit comes out. Meanwhile the strawberries had a few rough days. They weren’t looking too well, but they’ve perked back up now, except for one, and they are still growing berries.

Now the watermelon bed is the only thing left and that’s on the to-do list for tomorrow if the rain holds off long enough, or stops early enough. Either way.

Tomatoes and Watermelon Seeds

The tomatoes and strawberries are in the ground. Yay!! I don’t have a tiller and the space had to be dug up and prepped by hand. It was a lot of work, so I really hope its worth it. I put in four Delicious Tomato plants and six Red Grape Tomato plants. The six strawberries went in today too, all with a little help from my youngest step daughter. Now to make room for the watermelon. I started them from seed just last Sunday and already have nine good, strong-looking plants. They will need a lot more room, but I believe I’ve picked a good spot. We will see.

This morning my step daughter and I were fortunate enough to make it to Bernheim forest for their plant sale, and they had the eastern redbud trees I’ve been looking for, and though considerably smaller, much more reasonably priced than the nurseries near me (Nursery want $100 each, and I paid $15 each). The trees are all 2 – 3 feet tall and ready for planting. I’m so excited about finally getting them. So now the trees and the Cannas need to be planted, and then I’ll just have the watermelon left.

I’m so excited about gardening this year that its kinda funny. I have no idea why, maybe its just because of the new house, but whatever, I’m having a blast, and some of the kids are getting a pretty big kick out of it too.

Happy planting!!

ETA: Also, I’m very excited to report that everything I’ve planted so far (geraniums, cherry trees, sweet peas) have all survived.