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/

Bee-ing Disorganized

About a week ago a small super was added to the #1 beehive. It seemed like a good idea to check for activity. Saturday and Sunday had afternoon rain, so the venture had to wait until yesterday (Monday). The bees have drawn almost all of the comb, but have filled almost none of it. They did make some burr comb under the feeder and fill that.

Hive #2 only had 1 undrawn foundation. That was replaced with a plastic foundation to see what will happen. The undrawn foundation was on the extreme right side. The two frames next to it were moved over and the plastic foundation was placed between 2 almost full frames. That hive will need a super this weekend. If they draw the plastic, it will be plastic. If not the plastic will be returned to Mann Lake and wax will be used.

The first sugar peas were picked yesterday. They were stir fried with asparagus, spinach and onion from the garden and bell pepper from the store. MMM good. The original intent was to grapple some new potatoes to go with the meal, but the ground was too soggy for sticking a hand under the potatoes.







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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/

Sugar Peas

They are not quite ready to pick, but there are little pods on the pea vines. The vines are as tall as my shoulder. The potatoes have been blooming for over a week now so maybe a few new potatoes will also grace the plate. Stir fried sugar pea pods, spring onions and asparagus with a side dish of new potatoes sounds mighty tasty. We can have a salad and some mixed greens with it.

The rain gauge measured 4.1” of rain last night. That should get things growing. The garden and the flowers have been watered every other day, but that really just keeps them alive. A good soaking rain followed by lots of sunshine is like steroids for the garden. Now where is the sun?

This was the weekend for opening the #2 beehive. The rainy afternoons prevented that. Mann Lake sent frames with plastic foundations instead of wax. One or two of those need to go in the hive to see if the bees will draw the comb. Plastic would definitely be more convenient for me, but the bees will make the final decision.







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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/

Middles

This is a dead time in the garden season. Everything is planted. The spring stuff is getting boring. The summer stuff is not producing. Everything is growing pretty fast, including the weeds, but there is nothing to pick except the various greens, herbs and asparagus.

Maybe your tomatoes do not need support yet, but this is time to put the supports up. Our garden uses bamboo trellises. The tomatoes are already up to the 3rd rail. There are loads of little green tomatoes, but none for the salad. The tomatoes that were canned last year are good in a salad, but a good fresh one would be better.

The radishes were planted a few at a time, but even the last planting is getting ready to go to seed. The leaves are good in the mixed greens. Try some poke salad in the mixed greens. The poke salad needs to be cooked and drained and cooked again. The 2nd cooking can be mixed with the other greens. The stalks are good too. Cook them with the greens in the 1st cooking. Peel them and cut them into 6” pieces. They are great sautéed in butter and lemon.







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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/

Bee Box Buzzing

Sunday marked the 2nd opening of the 1st bee hive. A little smoke warned the bees of the coming invasion, but it also calmed them down some. They are still taking sugar water so there was syrup in the feeder. A mistake was to set the feeder out uncovered. When it went back on there were 2 bees that had drowned in it.

Everything was stuck together very tightly with propolis, and took some prying with the hive tool. All of the frames in the top box were drawn except for a plastic drone comb that was added for varroa mite control. Most of them were only partly filled with either brood or honey. There was enough filled comb that a super needed to be added. The only super available was a small one, so when the medium ones come in (hopefully today) if the super doesn’t have too much honey it will be pulled off and the medium box will replace it.

There is a fence covered with honey-suckle right beside the beehives but the bees ignore it and fly off into the distance to get their food. Up until last week the bees were coming back with full pollen sacs. Now it seems that they are going for nectar. They also seem to be harvesting some propolis as there were quite a few bees working on the joints of the restacked hive.







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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/

The Search for Cherry Trees

Almost every nursery in Charlotte was called looking for cherry trees with edible cherries. They are said not to grow well in this area, but there are a lot of ornamental cherries. Why shouldn’t the edible ones grow. This is the 3rd year of trying them in the space between the sidewalk and the street.

The 1st year they were purchased from Stark Bros. They were about 3’ high and looked like sticks when planted in the fall. When spring came they branched and leafed out well. At least the deer thought so. They ate all but 1. Last year’s trees came from Willis Orchards. They looked like sticks, but they were about 5’ tall. All but 1 leafed out at the beginning of the season. That 1 leafed out later and very sparsely. Dogs pissing on 1 have killed it already. The one from stark that was still alive did not leaf out.

This year the planting is going to be spring instead of fall. 2 trees for replacement were finally found at the Grower’s Outlet in Pineville. They are about 8’ tall and cost $25, which is less than the smaller trees from Stark Bros. and Willis Orchards. Wish me luck please. I desperately want cherry blossoms and cherries.







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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/