Commentor Jharp suggested, quite reasonably, that if we’re going to talk about our gardens every Thursday evening, we could also include pictures. He even sent along the first photo, of his pepper patch, for this week’s post.
So… if you have garden pics you want to share… email me a .jpeg (click on my name near the top of the right-hand column) and I’ll include them in my next ‘Thursday Garden Chat’ post. Any week I get more than five or six new photos, I’ll put up an extra ‘Sunday Garden Chat’ post as well. Consider yourselves challenged!
(Top photo is some of the random heirlooms from my last summer’s garden, which I believe has appeared on BJ before, but I’m not much of a photographer.)
Apart from that, what’s on the agenda for a (rainy, here in New England) summer Sunday?
Maude
Those tomatoes look great.
Have to do some stuff, but not much.
AP online has a picture of Congresswoman Giffords. She looks fabulous.
Linda Featheringill
Good morning.
My garden is doing well, especially for this location. Tomatoes and peppers are blooming.
I’m trying a few very mild jalapenos in order to use in soups. I like the flavor of these peppers but am such a wimp when it comes to the hot stuff. If they produce well, I’d like to preserve them somehow so I’ll have them in the winter. Don’t know yet how to do that. Freezer space is almost nothing and I really don’t have the facilities for canning. I guess that leaves drying, in the humid Ohio weather.
Any suggestions?
JPL
@Maude: She does look good. Although her journey is still a long one, it was nice to see her smile.
debit
If all goes well, I shall have more tomatoes than I know what to do with. Right now I have 8 plants (Brandywine, Black Pearl, Lemon Boy, Campbell, Bonnie Best, a yellow pear, a beefsteak variety, and a cherry variety). I have some Sun Golds still too young and tender for transplanting outside; I started them late. The cats got into the first tray of seedlings and attempted to add fertilizer with disastrous results. Pissed me off, since those are the ones I’m most excited about. I still hope to get a bit of fruit from them before the season is over.
I also have one random pepper plant, but nothing else. Everything thing else I’ve ever planted has fallen victim to either rabbits or squirrels, so I don’t even try anymore.
ETA: I take that back. I have a couple pots of herbs, and a massive amount of basil seedlings. There will be pesto this summer, oh yes, there will be.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
We bought one of those hanging tomato plants, which was working great. We’ve had three large green tomatoes and two small ones so far. And then, right when the tomatoes started turning orange, the birds started gutting them. This is our first adventure in growing, so how do we keep the birds from getting the tomatoes before we do?
Anne Laurie
@Belafon (formerly anonevent): What’s worked for me is giving the varmints (chipmunks/squirrels, in my garden) an alternate source of water. I’m guessing the birds punctured your green tomatoes for the fluid, not the flavor. At the suggestion of a more experienced gardener, I took a couple of surplus plastic pot saucers (the 12″ diameter, 2″ deep kind) and put them on the ground next to the plants I’d be watering, so it was easy to keep them topped up. I’ve seen birds as well as small mammals drinking from the saucers on many occasions, and I haven’t had a problem with punctured ‘maters ever since!
Phyllis
Cracker Barrel for breakfast, then porch time with the new book about President Obama’s mother until the shade goes away. Braves game this afternoon and Gamecocks baseball at seven on ESPNU.
We didn’t do any planting this spring; just too darn busy and then it got so hot all of a sudden. Next year I’m going to try those container thingies somebody posted about here a few weeks ago.
Southern Beale
Cool! I will definitely e-mail some garden pics because I just bought a new camera and it comes in next week. I’ll need to take pictures of something to try it out!
OzarkHillbilly (used to be tom p)
Weeding and feeding. Maybe cut down an oak that is shading part of the expanded garden. Probably do that tomorrow when the wife isn’t here so she won’t worry. We have run out of straw in this neck of woods (bad year, none in 3 counties) so I am having to get creative on mulching. Tomatos looking good, had to pull up 4 peppers that had TMV. Eggplant got badly infested with something it took me awhile to get under control, they look sickly but they should recover. Broccoli and Brussel Sprouts are growing, we will see how they produce (some years OK, others not) Beans and corn are doing well so far. My melons and squash all look stunted. Not sure why. Probably soil related.
Last year was the first year here and I had no time for the garden, basically stuck some plants in some of the clayiest ground I have ever seen (we grow really good rocks up here, a bumper crop every year) and hoped they would grow. This year I added 4 inches of compost (9 pu loads) to the entire garden and it has really helped. Also manure and bone meal around the plants. I figure I will have to do the same the next 2 years as well before I will call my dirt “soil’.
Linda Featheringill
@Anne Laurie:
Water for the raiders:
Excellent idea! I can do that. Thanks.
Linda Featheringill
@Southern Beale:
Stevia: About half of the seeds I planted have sprouted and they seem to be growing slowly. There may be something about temperature and moisture levels that I’m not regulating well.
Or it could be that I am a very amateur gardener. :-)
Anyway, I’ll keep you posted.
HRA
My entire garden is a deck garden. I have 3 large patio tomato plants and 2 cherry tomato plant. There are 3 bell peppers and 2 banana peppers. The rest are Swiss chard, broccoli, spinach and my herbs. With all the rain we had, they have all grown very well.
Dreary and a bit chilly here today. The only plans are to go grocery shopping and amuse the dog after G goes to work this afternoon. He’s off of unemployment and 1 month into his new job. Yeah!!
jwb
Not a garden topic, but the NY Times carried an unusually forceful editorial about unemployment this morning. It was almost as shrill as Krugman. More of this please.
dsc
OH MY STARS! It rained 3 tenths of in inch on my part of the Cumberland Plateau last night! It had not rained at all for 12 days and hand watering was essential–but I have a large garden and all of my rain barrels were empty. I started crying when I heard the spatter on the roof. The heat is wearing me down–every day my little plants look sad–and I haven’t even planted the Silver Queen and Kentucky Wonders because it was just too dry.
Other mulch options I have used: put some cardboard down between the rows; old carpet or rugs (but be mindful of composition, especially the backing material); shredded newspaper works well but wet it right after you put it down; plastic mulches work well with tomatoes, cukes, and melons; untreated saw dust if you can get it, especailly if it has been used in horse stalls–the richest.
Jeffro
@jwb: That was shrill…I second the motion for ‘more, please’.
NYT also has an article on $250,000 trained guard/companion dogs for wealthy scaredy cats. People, if you can drop a quarter mil on a DOG, you are not paying enough taxes.
Salcam
Tending two raised beds down in coastal Texas area. We built the beds in response to the awful clay soil and so far have had a winter, spring and now summer garden with some overlaps. Peppers- red, jalapeño and habanero for eating and pickling- are doing well. The heirloom tomatoes were started from seed and while slow to grow are making steady progress; the store-bought beefsteak plant is thriving. Brussells sprouts have been decimated by some unseen nibblers; I’ve tried insecticidal soap with no luck. Cukes are middling; carrots were tremendous (though not as sweet as I’d hoped, might try a diff variety next year) and the okra looks hopeful. I want to pickle those as well; we shall see what the harvest brings. The drought isn’t helping; guess Icky Ricky’s prayers fell on deaf ears. Again.
Valdivia
Off to swim as part of my Aqua-Velo training and then a book party in the afternoon. Trying to enjoy what promises to be a not horrid day in terms of humidity, but it does seem this week will be better since last was like an effing sauna!
ETA those tomatoes do look good. I don’t have a garden as I live in an apt.
J.W. Hamner
Today we make cheese.
opie_jeanne
Pictures! Yes!
Those tomatoes are beautiful. Reminds me of what we used to get in Southern California every year.
Driving home to Seattle starting this am. Hope to be there tomorrow evening. The skies in the mountains are clear and blue, but down below it has been foggy June Gloom every morning so there will be ugly smog in the Los Angeles basin this afternoon. Such a shame because otherwise the weather has been beautiful down the hill.
stuckinred
Three inches with hail in a hour last night. Big oak snapped in half up the street, amazing it missed this house!
Robert Sneddon
Busy trying to book hotels for a friend’s wedding in a couple of weeks time but it’s kind of tricky since I’m here in the UK and the wedding is in tsunami-hit Sendai in Japan. The webpages of the first few hotels I’ve tried are reporting they’re booked solid, another possible is closed due to earthquake damage. I’m starting to think about 24-hour internet cafes and tents…
My fallback is to stay down in the Tokyo area and catch an early-morning shinkansen up for the wedding which is taking place in the shrine at Sendai Castle at noon. The train schedules for that route is still somewhat messed up but according to the temporary timetable on the Web it looks like I can manage it with a bit of time to spare (Omiya – Sendai is about 290km which the train covers in 1hr 40min). Japan Rail — banzai!
OzarkHillbilly (used to be tom p)
@Robert Sneddon:
My neice just came here from Sendai for her sisters wedding. Give up on hotels there, I told her I would like to come visit and she said the school where she works can find a room for me and the wife. Also forget about sushi in Sendai. She says all the good sushi in Sendai got washed out to sea.
PurpleGirl
@stuckinred: I’m glad the tree missed your house and that you and family are okay. That is one large piece of tree. I hope the remaining section of the tree can be preserved.
Ghanima Atreides
Unbelieveable Patterico thread where Worthing harrasses Genette Cordova on twitter.
I think we have entered the forward edge of the Wingularity.
LittlePig
Trying to grow parsley for the first time. Anybody know how damp they like the soil?
Kristine
Some of the tomatoes are 5-6 inches tall. Lettuces are a week or two away from harvesting. The broccoli raab shot up. We’ve had a few cool days after the heat wave–yesterday was about 40 degrees cooler than the previous Saturday–and I’m not sure how much we’ll warm up. At least it’s sunny today.
Gonna see Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Orchestra at Ravinia tonight. Not the world’s greatest jazz fan, but I have always wanted to see Marsalis live so taking the plunge.
No repeat seizures for Gaby so far. It’s a week today already. Keeping fingers crossed.
rikyrah
I can’t keep anything alive, so I respect all of you that do. I love the idea of the pics.
jnfr
We did pruning yesterday on one of our trees, and hope to do another. It’s exhausting work what with dragging the branches around in the heat. I have roses and yarrow blooming, shallots and Tuscan kale growing, but my squash are not germinating for some reason.
PeakVT
Routing, sanding, and painting new radiator covers because I hate the cheap, ugly metal covers that are in my house now.
stuckinred
@PurpleGirl: It’s a house up the street but thanks for the thought.
Josie
I really like the idea of garden posts and pictures. Thanks to AL for thinking of it.
OT: GOS has a good article about the decision of the Wisconsin Dems to not run fake candidates in the Republican primaries. Democrats everywhere can be proud of the integrity and intelligence of their solution.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/06/11/984283/-Wisconsin-Dems-wont-run-fake-candidates-in-GOP-primaries?via=blog_1
jeffreyw
Night visitors
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@rikyrah: Try the upside down tomato plant. Other than the birds (see my entry at #5 above), all it requires after setup is putting about 2 quarts of water each day.
jwb
@Ghanima Atreides: Why is she giving him the time of day?
stuckinred
@Linda Featheringill: Smoke em!
RossInDetroit
Going on a road trip. A house mouse that we captured 2 months ago and have been putting up in luxurious style with be going with us but not coming back. A park somewhere will gain one more rodent.
LittlePig
@Linda Featheringill: I’d say grill them, myself (not a big chipolte fan). Split ’em in half (seed them for less heat), and grill. My preference at that point – fill with peanut butter. Yummm.
Liberty60
Here in Orange County I am nurturing my corn plants, and just planted pole beans- next week I put in squash, to accompany them.
Got a late start on my tomatoes, so I only have blossoms now.
Only my third year gardening in earnest, so I am still discovering what works and doesn’t- but have become a zealous convert to straw mulching. In a semiarid climate, it works wonders at holding moisture in the soil.
Josie
@LittlePig: My parsley is in part shade and part sun and I water it every day, but I am in a really hot, really dry climate (south Texas).
Josie
@Josie: Note to self: stop using the word “really” for at least a month.
Villago Delenda Est
@jwb:
To be honest, she’s probably enjoying some of the attention, but then again, it may very well be because she enjoys giving wingtard twits all the rope they need to hang themselves.
chopper
tomatoes are blooming and growing big. my potato patch is all gangbusters, but then again i’m half irish and half russian so i should know how to grow potatoes in my fuckin sleep.
hopefully the homemade bone juice (heh) i made is slowly dribbling (heh) into the soil around the tomatoes.
Mark S.
I didn’t know it was illegal in NYC to be an adult at a playground without an accompanying a child. I love the idiotic concluding paragraph of the article:
Well, I think you should be allowed to eat a doughnut at a playground instead of a park. It would have never occurred to me that such a stupid law existed. I guess that makes me an anarchist.
Mark S.
If the Gothamist were around in 1964:
Opie-jeanne
Jacarandas! They’re in bloom all over SoCal and they’re beautiful! I didn’t realize how much I miss them until this morning.
artem1s
just back from my garden. pretty much every thing is in. about a dozen and a half different tomato plants. White Wonder, Black Krim, Mortgage Lifter, yellow paste, Brandywine, Green Zebra, cherry and plum.
also.too.cabbage, cauliflower, egg plant, jalapenos, squash, zucchini, snap peas, arugula, kale, chard, radishes, and lettuces.
I still have a row of beans i want to put in. then its just watering and waiting.
quannlace
The cupboard is nearly bare so I have to go food shopping this afternoon.
GOTTA get my tomato plants in the ground this week; they’re leggy and toppling out of their pots. But the space i plan to put hem has been overrun by the mint, and it takes a long time to pull up the superfluous plants. Hoping the lettuces and arugula will be ready for picking next week.
The mint and thyme are the only two things really flourishing right now. But i just saw a recipe for strawberry shortcake using just those two herbs, on Food Network.
Yutsano
Still debating the back porch herb garden. I’m mostly concerned with the shade at this point, since it faces the north and I’m afraid most of the herbs I would want are sun lovers. We’ll see.
OzarkHillbilly (used to be tom p)
@Yutsano: My own herb garden faces east, sun in the morn, shade in the afternoon. Which is great around here on a 100 degree July day.@LittlePig: I have a tendency to over water everything,so I check the soil. If it is moist an inch down, I leave it be.
Not sure what parsley really prefer, but it has always worked for me.
LittlePig
@Josie: Thanky. I’m in Little Rock, and I was getting the impression I was overwatering. I’ll back off a bit.
@OzarkHillbilly (used to be tom p): Yep, I’m overwatering. I’ll back off a bit. I’m used to roses and tomatoes and their endless thirst.
LittlePig
@LittlePig: And I *really* need to back off backing off a bit.
trollhattan
In which a Californian black Republican throws in the towel/has a “no-duh” moment.
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/06/12/3692351/racist-cartoon-of-obama-forces.html
dexter
Just a short note to say I enjoy this section. One thing that would help if you mentioned where you are. Somebody said their tomatoes were five or six inches tall and another said they were planting taters. Here in Lousiana my tomatoes are five or six feet tall and I dug my taters over a month ago. I have picked around forty bell peppers and my cantaloups are a few days from ripeness. I picked about three pounds of green beans, then the electric fence went down and the deer got about ninety percent of the rest. I have already picked all my corn and am a few days from being inundated with tomatoes.
We store our peppers by slicing them, putting them into water until it boils and then freezing until needed.
OzarkHillbilly (used to be tom p)
Yeah, I am extremely jealous of those who can still harvest lettuce.
dexter: my tomatatoes are one-2 feet tall… so are my beans. Corn at one foot, eggplant too. peppers, broc and Bsprouts?
I live in the Ozarks. Everything is behind where it oughta be, but somehow it always produces. (too much water, not enuf sun)
Over the year, I will have pics. I have no idea how the garden will produce: 2nd yr here. Last year sucked.
ps:I should add, 2nd year in this location. Been living in the Ozarks all my life. Our soil…. Isn’t
Yevgraf (fka Michael)
In the midst of an otherwise great weekend, I came to find out that my stupid fucking redneck divorcing white trash neighbor let his dog die from the heat about ten days ago, I came to learn today. The dog was not on a good trajectory, and was destined to be put down for behavioral reasons. I know that his mother must have been lying about coming to feed and water him daily (or he’d been getting inadequate provision), but it bugs the shit out of me that this happened 100 feet from my garage and he never asked me to look out for the animal, nor did he tell me he’d be out of town.
Stupid, redneck motherfucker is blaming his estranged wife instead of his mom, who really dropped the ball. It was 95 degrees here then – I’d have gotten the dog some water and food – repeatedly, had I known.
Hell, I even told him to call a rescue when he split from his wife and she took the kids, but he didn’t. Asshole.
Kristine
@dexter: I’m in far NE Illinois, and the growing season is a good month behind because of the cold spring. Which is why my tomato plants are 5-6 inches tall.