No, not into bed. Around this time of the year, we have to walk through the hundreds of tomatoes, planted this year in the Wolf Garden, and tuck the branches of the plants back into their cages so they grow upright, not sprawl outside the lower wires of the cages. We don’t do much pruning on our tomatoes but do tuck wayward branches into the cages, at least once during July. This keeps tomatoes from flopping onto the ground, where they are prey to insects and mold. Air around the tomatoes helps them stay healthy. So far, I’ve done 325 feet of rows. Whew, that gets my bad back after a while!
While I’m doing that, Will is cultivating between the bean and onion rows with the tiller. Later, we walk the rows, pulling weeds growing between the plants. As we have had so little rain, the beans are not as lusty as they usually are. But, as we weed, we also pray they’ll still make a good crop. This morning, I dusted the cabbages, broccoli, and cauliflower with pyrethrin dust as Will saw several cabbage moths around them while he was tilling. We’re sure they were laying eggs and we want to beat those soon-to-hatch cabbage worms. While I was dusting, I saw the first broccoli I’d planted have eating sized heads! Wow, I know what’s for dinner tonight.
I got an email that my cherry pitter from Ebay is due for delivery today. It can’t come too soon for me. I want to get some of those billion cherries pitted and canned up before the birds re-discover them and I’m left with none. It can happen. We’re not the only ones who love cherries!
— Jackie
Have a question ❓ we live in LA county, Cal and had many volunteer tomatoes come up (mostly in patches where we planted your seeds, but we also have a compost pile, in which we have added store bought) they are up and thriving, but are not producing blossoms. Night time temperature above 55 degrees and day time 80-89 degrees. Any suggestions.? Also the reason we thinned the tomatoes and left the rest was we were short of man power and time. Thanks, beverly.-possible thought haste makes waste (?)
By
Volunteer tomato plants do take longer to flower but then usually make up for it and start producing just a little after the plants that were started inside. Hang in there; they should blossom soon. Our nighttime temps have been below 50 many times and the days in the 70’s and 80’s and our tomatoes are going gangbusters. They were started inside, however.
Thank you, Bev
I used to have a lot of trouble with birds wiping out my elderberries until I started covering them with pieces of polyspun row cover, clipped on with clothes pins. It still allowed the sun and air in, but kept the birds from eating them all!
Yep, we may have to cover our trees in the future. Right now, they’re being good and eating the plantiful, wild Juneberries.
We planted your Crawford pole beans for the first time this year and ate them a week ago. They have an amazing flavor. So beany! I believe they’ve earned a permanent spot in the garden. We’ve tried them as fresh beans and now I’ve picked some as shellies but the pods are so darned hard to open I think I’ll just let the rest go to dry. Any trick to opening pods at the shell stage? :)
We tuck tomatoes too. And I need to go buy a cheap pool noodle to cut into short sections, slit one side and slip it over the top of cages where tomato vines hang over. I’m hoping it prevents vines from bending in half with the weight of the fruit.
Sorry to hear about the wireworms. Nasty little critters!
Yes, they are!!! To open Crawfords at the shell stage, I take my thumbnail and “cut” the inside string of the pod (the toughest one). Then the pod will pop open pretty easily. We absolutely LOVE our Crawford beans. Every year we grow more and more and every year we run out. Now you see why!!
We’re lucky with the tomato vines. Living in such a short season climate, the tallest vines don’t produce much more than smaller green tomatoes before frost comes. Our harvest comes inside the cages so no bent vines.
Hope your pitter arrived. If not, I’m sure you’ll make do as that is what those of us cut from the same cloth do.
Finished doing a precision weeding of the strawberry patch. I’ll make another walk through to pluck any weeds I missed/since sprouted. Next up is the asparagus patch. Straw has helped keep some weeds down but we could use a bit more rain. Better half will water the section I’ll hit next. Yes, I weed in sections. By doing this, I can do a good job which pays off in the long run.
Taters are doing well – have dug a few (who can resist) and you just can’t beat fresh. Zuke/cuke aren’t doing well and I think because squash bugs are over wintering. I may suck it up and buy a leaf shredder (since we’ve had very good luck amending soil with leaves and compost). Anything else I can do in the fall/winter to snuff them out?
And we just cannot get pepper plants to produce – what is my soil lacking (or have too much of)?
You may have too much nitrogen in your soil. That makes nice, big, green plants and few, if any peppers.
To get rid of squash bugs, pull and burn the vines in the fall. Don’t compost or till them in, as the bugs over winter in the spent vines, making them worse every year.
We weed in sections too. Or one row at a time, then mulch afterward to keep any new weeds from coming up. Our problem is too many gardens and two old people trying to keep up with the darned weeds!
YES, the cherry pitter came today! Yea!!! Guess who’s picking cherries tomorrow???
We do get rid of the vines (aka don’t compost/till them) *but* I now wonder if they survive under the leaves/in the tilled in leaves that are on the garden over winter.
I’m going to have to test my soil. I did plant a “bug” in the better half’s ear re: the new area I want to turn into another garden (albeit not big but large enough to make the harvest worth the effort). He too thought it’d be a good area. Baby steps lol. soon it will be his idea.
Wow thats a lota tuckin!! tomatos AND you look great!
I finished up this morning. I’m just glad to be up and doing again! Thanks!
My three year old grandson and I picked enough cherries off their tree to make a batch of jam. He thought it was great fun getting to “fly” up (be lifted up by me) to pick cherries on higher branches. We have been getting some rain now, Thank you Jesus! Things are looking much better. Your cherries and tomatoes look great! So glad you are able to be out and in your gardens. Prayers for a blessed week.
Thank you! We got a little rain, for which we gave heartfelt thanks. It was enough that the late-planted sweet corn popped up overnight. Tomorrow, cherry pitter or not, I’m picking cherries as if I don’t the birds will get them for sure. So much fun, hearing about your grandson helping pick cherries!
Jackie, you look great! So glad your knee surgery is working for you. The plants look good even if you haven’t gotten much rain. Keeping our fingers crossed and prayers that you get some needed rain.
We did get a little. And, believe me, every drop sure is a blessing for us. For the most part, the knee is doing well. I did over-do yesterday, planting 12 100-foot rows of sweet corn to, hopefully, replace that which did not germinate worth a darn. Just too dry. I don’t know if it’ll make it before freezing weather. But, I do know if I don’t plant it, we won’t get it. We’ll have enough, regardless, but I do like to share and had the room.
Wow, I have 60 tomatoes caged and that’s all I could get done. I’ve been enjoying a bumper crop of raspberries and blackcaps. We’ve made jam and frozen them too. We went to a local grower and picked beautiful blueberries. We’ve been eating our early cabbage, broccoli, and the peppers are coming. It is still a drought here. I have 2 small cherry trees and the birds love them. We are very behind in rain and I’ve still been carrying buckets of water for plant survival. I remember as a kid removing cherry pits with clean hair pins – a tedious job but the pies were delicious. I too will be getting a new “knee” Monday and am anxious about that. I’m glad to see you up and about.
We had our first broccoli last night and it was so good I ate the rest cold, this morning! I’ve got a one-at-a-time cherry pitter but I look at the kazillion cherries out there and figure I’ll be 110 before I got them all pitted with that. It may come to it, though, unless my new antique pitter shows up!
Good luck with your surgery Monday. Mine took longer to recover from than I’d expected. But then, they don’t tell you that. I felt like a whimp until I talked to several people who had had a replacement. It’s so good to have a really bad knee feel so very much better!! I know it’s only going to get better too. My second one is due in the end of December.
Your gardens are beautiful !! I hope God blesses you both with a bountiful harvest this year ,
Some are beautiful. But, boy do we have the pigweed in others!! It’s looking like some crops will be wonderful. Some crops are underwhelming, due to the crazy weather. Hey, that’s reality!
I am amazed at all of those cherries. When I was a girl we would go to Mom’s sisters home then to an orchard. I remember picking cherries like they were grapes in clusters. Then back to my aunts to pit them and she would make the best cobbler. Good memories. No orchard where I now live.
We are amazed too! Dad had an orchard, years ago, and I picked and canned dozens of pints of pie cherries. That was when my oldest son, Bill, was just learning to ride a two-wheeled bike. He’s 50 (not telling!) now. Believe it or not, I still have a very few pints of those cherries in the pantry. Every year, I make a baked dessert out of one of them, just to see if they are still good. Yes, they are! It goes to show how long canned foods will last. Now, we’ll just use them up, as we now have bearing cherry trees of our own.
Comments are closed.