On the Quality of Tomatoes

That 1st homegrown tomato is usually the best thing on earth. This year’s tomatoes so far have been a little disappointing. The very 1st was one that had been damaged by a bird. Only half of it was ripe. That half was delicious. The next two tomatoes were either Marglobe or Rutgers and they were great. The last couple of tomatoes have been German Johnson. They were huge tomatoes, but mealy. It is nice to take a single slice to make a sandwich, but only if it is a delicious tomato.

On the other side of the garden the new potatoes this year have been prolific and delicious. The sugar peas are also delicious even though, by mistake, dwarf grey sugar was planted instead of sugar snap. With the sugar snap the whole pod can be eaten even if the pea is mature. The dwarf grey sugar pods are tough when they are filled out.

There are still no cucumbers and the squash have not been productive. The ones we have gotten have been delicious. There are blossoms on the egg plants, but no fruit. Maybe, soon.

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/

Hail Yeah

Yesterday afternoon’s garden & yard ventures were shortened by a heavy rain storm. I turned out that we got .7”. Shortly after the rain started there was a shower of hail. Expecting that the garden would be smashed down and the leaves shredded, an early morning inspection foray was conducted at 1st light. There was no damage and the leaves that had looked sad and wilted yesterday were standing up tall and proud.

The spaghetti squash is doing the best ever so far this year. (knock on wood). There is one odd looking specimen laying in the garden path beside the spaghetti bed. Instead of the white or light yellow of most of the squash this one is green and spotted. It will be fun to see what it is.

Supper last night was a salad made from lettuce and tomato from the garden. It was quite good. Now if there were only a cucumber. Among my friends, my garden is the only one producing tomatoes. Some of them have cucumbers though.

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/

To Spray or not to Spray

Poisons are not used in our yard or garden so that is not the issue. Rain is the issue. BT (Bacillus Thuringiensis) and Sulfur are the main sprays used. They both wash off in a moderate to heavy rain and have to be re-applied. The alternative is to let the crops get eaten up by bugs or killed with powdery mildew. This year seems to have brought a bumper crop of chameleons, so there are not as many bugs as normal. I can’t help but wonder if the diseased caterpillars spoil dinner for the little amphibians.

Powdery mildew is a more serious problem because it has no natural enemies. It is extremely bad in the high humidity caused by Sun and rain. An emulsion of either sulfur or baking soda will pretty much wipe it out. Experience has shown that baking soda kills the leaves on which it is sprayed. Sulfur does not.

The BT was sprayed yesterday on the garden. It still needs to be sprayed on the cherry and blueberry plants. The sulfur was used up last year, so more will have to be purchased.

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/

Sunshine & Rain are a Powerful Combination

The last 5 days, while being uncomfortable for gardeners, have been great for gardens. The spaghetti squash has 12 fruits that can be seen without touching the leaves. In very humid or rainy weather touching leaves should be avoided as much as possible to prevent the spread of powdery mildew and other fungus. The rest of the garden is kicking butt too.

Sugar peas have yielded enough for three meals in the last 4 days and there are plenty to pick today. Kale has been cut 4 times. Once to eat and 3 times to give away. It will be cut again today. 4 tomatoes and 4 zucchini have also been harvested as well as a patty-pan squash and lots of lettuce and onions. New potatoes have been grappled 4 times.

The problem with the constant rain is that it is pointless to spray BT for insects or sulfur for powdery mildew. They would just wash off. This weekend crowder peas and cantaloupe were planted. They were not part of the original plan, but there was room for them, where the radishes and spinach came off.

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/

Wonder Weeds

Saturday morning every single weed was pulled from the garden beds. Saturday afternoon they needed weeding again. They didn’t get it. Why is it so easy to grow grass in the garden and so hard to grow it in the lawn? Perhaps the whole lawn should be dug up and planted to vegetables. Once the grass took over it could just be mowed.

The leaves in the spaghetti squash, lettuce, mustard and kale are covering the ground well enough that there is no need to weed. Weeds are pulled only when they grow up through the vegetable leaves. The only consolation is that the weeds help fill the compost pile. Some people say that weeds should not be placed in the compost pile. That would be a terrible waste of biological material.

So far this year the BT has only been sprayed once. The stinky stuff to repel the deer has been sprayed about 5 times, but I forgot and the deer have apparently ruined 2 cherry trees. Not much point in spraying now but they were sprayed with BT.

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/

A Game of Squash(es)

All of the squash plants have the ability to pollinate the other squash plants. For this reason volunteers can be a lot of fun. Saving seeds if more than one variety is planted is futile. Good gardening practice says that all volunteers should be pulled like a weed as they may harbor pests or disease. That would spoil the fun.

Last year there was a volunteer squash that turned out to be a patty-pan. It was the most productive squash plant in the garden. This year there are 4 volunteers. One of them could be from a dropped butternut seed. The other three are total mysteries. Only 1 plant has produced a female flower that looks like a squash. That one appears to be a spaghetti squash, but the truth will not be revealed until it is picked and cut open.

The little zucchinis are about 5” long now and 1 is getting ready to drop its blossom. Most summer squashes are better small so they are picked when the blossom drops unless it gets knocked off by accident. Winter squash should be left until they reach full maturity in order so that they will last well in storage.



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/

Teeny Weenie Zucchini

The first little zucchinis have formed on the plants, but one should not count their zucchinis before they hatch. The first of any squash plant frequently dies on the vine. The zucchinis aforementioned have huge blossoms still, which means they have not been pollinated. There are no male flowers on that plant, but the plant next to it has plenty. Hopefully the bees will do their job. Whenever there is a tiny squash, perfectly formed, that just dries up and falls off without maturing, it is because it was not pollinated.

The paragraph above was written Friday. Since then the little zucchinis have grown to about 4”. The still have the blooms. We do not care for monster zucchinis so they will be picked when the bloom falls off. Incidentally The spaghetti squash now has one female blossom that is beginning to swell. The rest of the blossoms seem to be male so there is hope.

Michael’s 2nd hive of bees was picked up on Saturday. The best part of picking up bees was talking to Wayne Hanson, who is and extremely talented beekeeper. The first hive of my bees was still being fed and had an extra super with a queen excluder. After talking to Wayne the queen excluder and the feeder were removed. The reasons for that will be discussed in the next post.



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/