The Ghost Lives

The first little ghost peppers appeared this weekend. The peppers do look like the ones in the pictures of ghost peppers. Maybe they are real!!

Lots of lima beans and string beans are coming on too. The second planting of cucumbers is climbing and blooming, but no cukes yet. The new squash plants are growing well, but no blossoms. The turnips, mustard, kale, spinach, arugula, cabbage, sugar peas and radish are up. The carrots and beets are not up but they usually take a while. The late crop of figs seemed to have made a false start. The trees produced a handful and then quit again. They are loaded with figs.

The old squash plants really look scroungy and they are not producing anything but a few patty-pans. Even those have pickle worms. They still have blossoms though and I am loathe to pull them up. Once they are gone, the beds they occupy can be reworked and put to sleep for the winter.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Ramblin’ Squash

It is almost impossible to walk between the beds of squash. The beds are 4’ wide, but by looking at the pictures it is almost impossible to tell that they are even in beds. The hills were planted in the center of the beds, but the squash has “roamed” to fill the spaces between beds and in some places they have actually jumped into bed with other squash.

The cayenne peppers are growing some huge wrinkled monsters. Some of the would be over 10” long straightened out. The cherry peppers are producing well, but none have started to turn red yet. When they do they will be pickled and stuffed with prosciutto and cheese. The jalapeno peppers are making a few peppers, but not like they did last year.

The tomatoes are coming in a little stronger now. There are plenty to eat, but nothing to give away or can yet. The basil was planted between the tomatoes and the tomatoes are making so much shade that the basil isn’t growing much.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Squash Time

The squash is here big time. All three types of summer squash: yellow crookneck, patty-pan and zucchini are producing like crazy. Of the winter squash, only the butternut has bloomed. The winter squash is in a corner that does not get as much sun as the rest of the garden. We have been eating squash and giving it away for over a week now.

Ana made a fantastic lasagna with zucchini and kale. Her lasagna is always wonderful, but this may be the best yet. She has also grilled a lot of marinated patty-pan and made a lot of stir fries. Michael Swol said that he was going to make stuffed patty-pan with the ones I gave him. We put his recipe in the blog last year and it is in “THE INCOMPLETE GARDEN BOOK”, but I will try to get the “new and improved” version and publish it here soon.

The okra is waist high. The tomatoes are shoulder high. They are loaded with small tomatoes. The early girl variety started putting on little tomatoes 1st this year. Usually they are last. The cucumber vines are huge, but the largest cucumber is about 3’ long. That won’t be worth the trouble to pick. Straight 8 was the variety planted, but with members of the cucurbit family, one never knows what will actually appear.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Will the Real Patty-Pan Squash Please Stand Up

The momentous event actually took place on the 16th. As was mentioned in earlier blogs, the patty-pan squash that was planted on Good Friday, turned out to be a pale zucchini. On Saturday the 11th, seeds were obtained from Myers Park Garden Center. They were Reneé’s so I have confidence they are the real thing. They went in the ground on the 12th and on the afternoon of the 16th the first two had sprouted.

Yesterday some of them had true leaves. I just hope they have true fruit. The other squash are really coming in. The cucumbers, okra and corn are doing likewise. There are some good sized watermelons on the fence and the spaghetti squash is loaded. The corn is the surprise. It has been smashed down by rain several times. The ears are very small for silver queen, but they are fully filled out and they have very sweet and tasty kernels.

One tomato was starting to blush just a little yesterday (Sunday the 20th). Maybe there will be a complete salad in the future. The mesclun is looking a little ratty, but it is still producing. We harvest with the scissors, so we have to pull the leaves off of a tough center stalk now.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Summer Bounty

Finally cucumbers have joined the garden salad. Tomatoes will be awhile. The squash plants are overflowing their beds. The greens are getting brown and lacy. It is time to get them out of the way so the squash will have more room. The sugar peas are still producing as is the broccoli, but they are starting to look kind of ratty.

I was a little disappointed because I thought that the zucchini I planted was a different variety. It turned out to be tasty, so I was fine. Now I am really disappointed, because what I thought was patty pan is a pale colored zucchini. I hope it is not too late to replant patty-pan. The real problem is that I don’t have any space yet. The broccoli is planted beside okra and cucumber. The sugar peas are in a 3’ wide bed. It is too early to pull the potatoes.

A year without patty-pan squash could be really sad. Maybe I can plant some in the front yard. I had better buy the seeds someplace else. I am sure if I go back to Renfrow’s they will be from the same batch.



David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

And the Rains Came

…
Finally it is raining. There were 1 ½ “ last Saturday. There was 1/10 of an inch Monday and last night we got ½”. This is making the garden and the weeds grow. The weeds are a product too. They go into the compost pile. The greens are growing so fast they could be picked every day. The squash is growing quicker than projected. Greens were planted on the edges of the squash beds. The squash will need that room soon.

Mammoth dill was planted this year because it can be sowed directly into the ground. The greenhouse dill has not done very well. The row where it was planted looked like it was sprouting grass. It was, but it was sprouting dill as well. The grass was in such a neat little row, that I decided to wait to pull it. Now the grass and the dill are both identifiable. The grass goes to the compost. The dill grows. It is still to small to take a recognizable picture.

The bay tree goes through stages of looking like it will really do well and looking like it is dying. The important factor has not been identified yet. The tree is still growing most of the time. Perhaps it needs less observation. The paw-paws are much more vigorous this year than last year. It will be great to find out what it really tastes like.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Odds and Ends

Chris has been wondering what to do with all of the figs. He found a recipe for fig wine. Here is a link: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques6.asp . Our figs are not ripening fast. We just get a few each day. I will only prune the branches that keep me from opening the greenhouse door this year. Maybe that will help. Speaking of pruning… The pruning that the deer gave to the tomatoes delayed production by a month. We picked the first tomato last weekend. The vines are totally loaded. The real test will be in how they taste.

The replanted cucumber vines are climbing and blooming. Hopefully they will be productive. Mesclun, Arugula and Chard will be planted for the fall this weekend. Maybe we will get a full salad from the garden yet. We could use kale; but it is a little strong for a full salad. It does make a great addition of two or three leaves though. The carrots are still doing well. The rabbits really like them. Potatoes are just not happy in my garden. The space they take will be dedicated to other things next year.

Our winters have been coming so late that a fall planting of squash may survive to produce a few fruits. The old plants are still producing; but they really look ragged. They might make good candidates for the new raised bed. The winter garden will also include mustard and turnip greens, carrots and beets, more kale and onions. The bunch type onions will be used for the fall/winter garden.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Squash

Squash

Some of the greatest variety in the garden comes from the cucurbit family. The squash themselves are varied; but the family also includes pumpkins, cucumber and melons. One of my favorite things about squash are the volunteers. The leaves are pretty unmistakable; but you never know what the fruit will be. I found my first volunteer of the season yesterday. It was not in the garden. It was beside a little redbud tree planted in the front yard that was fertilized with compost. It looks like a cucumber. We will see.

The first yellow crookneck squash was picked on Monday. It was very small. The yellow crooknecks, zucchini and patty-pan squash all have tiny squashes on them. The time to pick them is when the blossom falls off. After that they just get tough.

Squash plants require a lot of space. Most plants fit in a 3’ wide row, and each row holds 2 or three rows of plants. Not squash, they get a 4’ wide row and the hills are 4’ on center. The hills start out as a post hole about 1’ deep. This is filled with compost. The loose dirt from digging the hole and whatever is around the hole is raked into a hill about 6” high. Three holes, like the finger holes in a bowling ball,are poked in the top of the hill. These holes each get 3 seeds and are filled up with loose dirt. After the plants come up, a mulch of compost is placed around the plants. This is topped up every week and expanded to cover all of the area under the plants. Squash plants put new roots down as they grow and these new roots need sustenance.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.

Michael Swol’s Creative Patti-Pan Squash Recipes

Michael Swol’s Creative Patti-Pan Squash Recipes

Michael has gotten really carried away with the patti-pan squash. He made lasagna with it and brought it to the office for lunch today. It was extremely good. I don’t really know his recipe exactly. I thought he would substitute the squash for the pasta. He didn’t. He added the chopped up patti-pan squash to the regular ingredients. He also had some ground chicken in there. It was deee-licious.

The other thing he made was stuffed patti-pans. The recipe for this is at http://www.recipezaar.com/246785 . I have not tried this; but I have talked to some of the tasters and it got really good reviews. The patti-pans are still producing prodigiously. The pickle worms seem to like them as much as Michael does though. This has been a good year for cucurbits and a really good year for pickleworms. Oh well to paraphrase another old truism. Every worm has a pickle, not every pickle has a worm.

It rained like crazy Saturday night. The garden seems to love it. Now a little sunshine won’t hurt. As soon as the ground gets dry the fall garden can go in. Most of the summer garden is still there, so a lot of the fall garden will have to be planted in the front yard. I hope my wife doesn’t get too upset.


David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.