Friends are telling me they have little tomatoes on their vines. Some of ours have blossoms. 1st tomato jealousy sucks, but so does paying $10 for a tomato plant. The squash and cucumbers don’t have blossoms, but the plants are large and healthy. The cucumbers and pole beans are climbing. The lima beans that I thought were bush beans are putting out runners. If I was wrong this is going to be a tangled mess. They could be half-runners.
The tomato fence has not been finished and tomatoes are lying on the ground. That is an invitation to all kinds of pests. Now that some of the tomatoes have blossoms, they can use some fertilizer and/or side dressing with compost. Fertilizing the tomatoes before blooms appear causes the plant to concentrate its growth in the vine instead of in the tomatoes. The vines usually get too big anyway.
The potatoes in the bag are blooming away. The potato bag makes for difficult gravelling. It may be necessary just to wait until the tops start to die and harvest everything at once. A few new potatoes sure would be good with the sugar peas.
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/
Showing posts with label speckled limas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label speckled limas. Show all posts
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Dry Dirt
Finally the dirt in the garden that was not in beds was dry enough to till. I actually started tilling it last Friday, but did not finish and it rained Saturday night. Last night the dirt was just right. There is nothing like the smell of sweet dirt when it is being turned. Now the visions of delicious peppers and winter squash and okra can replace the visions of the pounding tiller.
Last year Florida speckled butter beans were planted. They grew beautifully, but the beans came on so late that they were not able to fill out before the first hard freeze. This year we reverted to the old standard speckled limas from the grocery store dried bean section. The only thing wrong with them is that they are bush beans, requiring the picker to bend over or kneel down to pick.
So far all of the plants except for 1 or 2 that were planted this weekend are still alive. Yeah it is only Wednesday, but it seems the first hours are the most critical. When the greenhouse was planted, there were some seeds that fell out of the packages and it was hard to tell what they were. They were just scattered in a fallow bed for the heck of it. They turned out to be either cabbage, broccoli or Brussels sprouts. They were too thickly planted to stay where they were so they were thinned and the plants that were removed were put into the garden. They wilted Saturday night, but Sunday afternoon they were fine. As of last night only one of them did not survive.
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/
Last year Florida speckled butter beans were planted. They grew beautifully, but the beans came on so late that they were not able to fill out before the first hard freeze. This year we reverted to the old standard speckled limas from the grocery store dried bean section. The only thing wrong with them is that they are bush beans, requiring the picker to bend over or kneel down to pick.
So far all of the plants except for 1 or 2 that were planted this weekend are still alive. Yeah it is only Wednesday, but it seems the first hours are the most critical. When the greenhouse was planted, there were some seeds that fell out of the packages and it was hard to tell what they were. They were just scattered in a fallow bed for the heck of it. They turned out to be either cabbage, broccoli or Brussels sprouts. They were too thickly planted to stay where they were so they were thinned and the plants that were removed were put into the garden. They wilted Saturday night, but Sunday afternoon they were fine. As of last night only one of them did not survive.
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/
Friday, November 12, 2010
The Perfect Garden (again)
The garden will soon be perfect. At least the one in my head will. It is time to plan for next year. Step 1 is to review the garden plan for last year and read through the garden journal, totaling up the yields of the different plants. Some things did exceptionally well. Those successes will be replicated. (I hope.) Some things did not do well. That is where the challenge comes in.
Is it worth the trouble to try again? Charlie Brown kicking the football that Lucy holds comes to mind. Potatoes…no way. Speckled lima beans? The vines are loaded, but the beans are not filled out yet. They were planted on Good Friday. This is Veterans Day. Maybe a different variety will work. The bush type speckled limas from the grocery store dried beans worked great, but bush beans are a pain in the back, literally.
Next the plan comes. The blank garden map is copied and the soil is tested for PH. The soil can be amended where necessary, but it is much better if the PH is appropriate for what is being planted. It is also important to consider plant height and sunlight to get the plants in the right place. Then, of course, many of the crops should be rotated to avoid or at least minimize pest problems. It is a lot of work, but at least the garden will be perfect until it is planted in the spring.
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/
Is it worth the trouble to try again? Charlie Brown kicking the football that Lucy holds comes to mind. Potatoes…no way. Speckled lima beans? The vines are loaded, but the beans are not filled out yet. They were planted on Good Friday. This is Veterans Day. Maybe a different variety will work. The bush type speckled limas from the grocery store dried beans worked great, but bush beans are a pain in the back, literally.
Next the plan comes. The blank garden map is copied and the soil is tested for PH. The soil can be amended where necessary, but it is much better if the PH is appropriate for what is being planted. It is also important to consider plant height and sunlight to get the plants in the right place. Then, of course, many of the crops should be rotated to avoid or at least minimize pest problems. It is a lot of work, but at least the garden will be perfect until it is planted in the spring.
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/
Monday, October 18, 2010
Green Greens
The first of the turnip greens and mustard were picked Saturday. They were young and tender and clean. There were not a lot of them, but they were delicious. We had some more rain so they should replenish themselves quickly. The spinach and lettuce went into the ground Saturday morning. They were well watered in Sunday night so they should grow quickly. The tomatoes still have fruit on the vine and the new cucumber plant has blooms. Maybe we will get a late salad.
The high temperatures are supposed to increase Thursday, but the lows will stay in the 50’s. This is according to the weather forecast on the internet, if you believe it. The afternoon sunshine should make things grow. The speckled lima beans that were just vines have finally set bunches of beans and they are filling out now.
This is the time for a good side-dressing of compost. Beans and other legumes put nitrogen into the soil until they start fruiting. Then they are heavy feeders.
The weather is perfect for aerating the lawn and over-seeding. If the lawn is full of weeds, and you don’t want to use a lot of chemicals, try planting winter rye grass. The lawn will be green all winter. The rye grass will choke out the weeds. In the spring the lawn can be over-seeded again with an appropriate variety that will take over when the rye grass dies in the summer.
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/
The high temperatures are supposed to increase Thursday, but the lows will stay in the 50’s. This is according to the weather forecast on the internet, if you believe it. The afternoon sunshine should make things grow. The speckled lima beans that were just vines have finally set bunches of beans and they are filling out now.
This is the time for a good side-dressing of compost. Beans and other legumes put nitrogen into the soil until they start fruiting. Then they are heavy feeders.
The weather is perfect for aerating the lawn and over-seeding. If the lawn is full of weeds, and you don’t want to use a lot of chemicals, try planting winter rye grass. The lawn will be green all winter. The rye grass will choke out the weeds. In the spring the lawn can be over-seeded again with an appropriate variety that will take over when the rye grass dies in the summer.
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/
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