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Well, less than 48 hours after my epiphany, 5 of my tomato seeds have sprouted, and one jalapeno seedling is peeking through the Mel's Mix. Yeehaw! We may be in business after all.
Tonight we are getting some much needed rain. Not sure what our rainfall has been year-to-date, but I can only assume we're down for the year. It's been very, very dry, and today it got up in the 90's for the highs. The rain has cooled things off temporarily, but it probably won't stay that way for long.
I just thought I'd gotten rid of the little worm things, but I checked today, and they're back. Not in as high numbers, but they're still out there in my garden, and I still don't know what they are or what I need to do about them. Anyone out there know??
What are they??
My tomato plants are all starting to bud out, and so are the squash and zucchini. Still nothing from the eggplant though. Maybe they take a little longer to put off buds. I can't remember when my eggplant started blooming last year, but that was a different variety, and I got a much earlier start.
Blooming Cherokee Purple. At least I hope it is. But it could turn out to be a Green Zebra. It wasn't labeled so it's a crap shoot. Who knows I may like green tomatoes, but how do you know when they're ready to be picked??
Zuke covered in blooms. Can't wait to try out that zucchini lasagna recipe I found.
Speaking of starting on Tuesday I attempted to start some Black Cherry tomato seeds as well as some Fooled You jalapeno seeds. So far I've got bupkus on the tomatoes and jalapenos, but my dad told me peppers take a long time to sprout. The tomatoes should be up by now I would think. Part of my problem is deciding where I put them to germinate. We keep our house pretty cool, and though it's warm during the day outside at night it's still getting down in the upper 60's. I've read to put them on top of the fridge, but our fridge is cold.
Wait! I just had an epiphany! I'll put them in our entertainment center. It's always warm in there. I think I did that last year. I really need to go back and read some of my old blog posts. That's the whole reason I started this blog - so I could remember what I did each year and learn from my mistakes and my victories.
I also planted 8 okra seeds I saved from last year's neglected plants. I was pleased as punch when I went out to the garden this morning and saw that one had sprouted!! It's my first sprout from my own saved seed. How awesome is that?! Not sure how the germination rate is going to be, I just picked the old okra, put them in a ziploc bag, set them on the kitchen countertop and forgot about them til this week. We'll see.
Baby okra. Will it soon be joined by its siblings?
So I think I mentioned that I bought some floating row covers to protect my squash and zucchini from insects. Imagine my dismay when I went out to the garden Wednesday morning to discover my squash plants infested with a bunch of worms!! They were little tiny tan colored worms - at least a hundred of them all over the plants and in the dirt. So I started picking them out and squishing/tossing them on the ground and stomping. They were not soft and squishy worms. They were kinda hard like a millipede. I'm still trying to figure out what they were. I took a picture, but apparently my brand new sd card has decided to go kaput. argh!
I also found a lot of little black eggs all over the plants, so I wiped those off as best I could. So far I haven't seen any more of the little worms, but I'm trying to be more vigilant. I found a few of the worms and eggs on the zukes, but apparently these worms have more of an appetite for crookneck squash.
On the bright side my squash and zukes have pretty well doubled in size, and it appears they have a few little buds on them. Can't wait til they start flowering - and even better - til the fruit starts ripening.
Well, it's been about a week and no more mysterious holes have been dug in my garden boxes. Perhaps whatever burrowed in there last week got a taste of 110 volts on his/her way out, and decided not to come back. Whatever the reason, I'm just happy that the electric fence is working - so far.
Made a call over to Lufkin Farm Nursery on Thursday, and, sadly, they had not received any Fooled You pepper plants, and the lady who answered the phone informed me they wouldn't be getting any more this season. :( Once I recovered from my sadness of hearing that bad news, I ordered some Fooled You seeds from Peppergal.com. The reviews over at Dave's Garden Watchdog were positive, so I'm looking forward to receiving the seeds some time this week. According to what I learned it takes about 60 days before the plants start producing, so at best, I'll have some peppers in mid-July. I guess that's not too bad, and we have such a long growing season I should be able to keep harvesting them til late fall. But I am disappointed I won't have any peppers sooner. Guess that's what I get for waiting too late to get started gardening. Yet another reason to get an early start next year!
After reading more about the garden pests that are harmful to squash and zucchini, I learned about the dreaded Squash Bug. It seems the squash bug is a fairly hearty bug that sucks the lifeblood out of squash plants. They don't have many natural predators, and I'm trying to garden as organically as possible (within reason and within the confines of my limited patience), so I decided to order a floating row cover to keep the bugs off my plants altogether. I only have 4 crookneck and 4 zucchini plants. The loss of one plant could prove devastating to our potential yield.
My row cover came in today, so I got to spend a little time in the garden cutting it up and putting it over the squash and zucchini. I ordered a 118" X 50' row cover, and just cut out what I thought I'd need to cover each box and allow for plant growth. I tucked the excess cover down between the interior of the box and the Mel's mix. It's probably gonna be a real pain to water the plants from now on, but if I can prevent squash bugs, I guess the extra effort is worth it.
While I was in the garden I also went ahead and mulched the tomatoes and eggplants with pine bark mulch to help with moisture control. I would have mulched the squash too, but I ran out of mulch. However, while I was putting up my tools, I did notice another bag under the barn. Guess I have a little project for tomorrow. Of course, that means untucking the row cover, and spreading the mulch around, then retucking the cover. Maybe the row cover will help with moisture control, and I won't need the mulch???
Covered zucchini - the row cover is very thin and gauzy
I think that's a squash under there
The mulched maters and eggplants
More mulched maters
The cover Charlie built for the electric fence to keep out the rain (when we get it)
