Rob the Fiddler

Had a great run with the garden early in the spring.  Tons of radishes and lettuce plants.  I have a habit of not thinning things out enough though and there still was some crowding .

Its a strange year though.  Going back on pictures of previous years, this year bites. Usually I have sunflowers growing at waist height and tons of stuff growing.  This year I have like two sunflowers and nothing else on the side of the house.  Even the Queen Anns Lace (Wild Carrots!!!!)  did not come up. Ive read that these are good for tomatoes too.

The one wildflower (perennial of some kind) that shows up every year by my mailbox did come out again. I started to mow my lawn and the neighbor across the street came over with a shovel and a pot thinking she was going to save that feller. Bless her heart. I assured her that it comes up every year and was practically family. Heck…I saved seeds from the patio of a Taco Cabana using those very handy salsa containers. I’m not mowing over a perfectly awesome plant.

Im cool with digging up stuff thats going to get mowed. I had a verbena last year that really wished survived the cold. (not good in pots.)

Turned out well with the lettuce. I had thick clumps of greens that survived over the summer so I broke them up and planted them in the spring. Still, I didn’t spread them out enough. I had lettuce growing in every corner of the yard.  Now the temps have risen and they have all bolted.  Was sweet at the time.

This year I ended up eating pounds of beet greens (yum), radish greens (meh), and chard (sweet!).
The chard were survivors from the fall garden that never really took off until spring.

Lessons learned: Lettuce grows fine in Dallas. Plant in the ground in fall and if it never really takes off, let it be. With all the freezes and snows, they still did fine. Chard grows great in pots.

I hope this Tomatillo produces.

Had great luck with Rosa Radishes.  (Chinese rose??)  I found the seeds at North Haven Gardens I think. Check these one out.

French Breakfast were good until they turned woody.  Beets worked out great too.

Tomatoes are coming in iffy as are everything else. They had a good start with lots of love and Highwood Worm Farm compost.  My special mix of worm casings, egg shells and beard clippings assured plenty of nitrogen. Still, they could e growing better. They sell nice size early girls at the farmers market.  Been thinking about doing that.

Dang birds love tomato juice. Poor Patio tomatoes never really look good. They put out some fruit and lose all their leaves.  I gave them generous pots too. (From the hydroponics store cuz they know pots!)

Here is a great example of bad patio tomato plants. These look like something out of a Dr. Seuss book! (note the mosaic virus on the beans behind..more on that to come)

First BLT

Why, yes that is a big bowl of bacon.  I also made Rice Krispy Treats with Bacon for a work themed event. They turned out ok but they would have been better if I

• didn’t burn the heck out of the bacon
• had used bacon grease rather than butter

Now for the bad news. It appears that I have some kind of mosaic virus in just about everything. The tomatoes appear OS, but those always are susceptible. Ill post some pics later, but its EVERYWHERE. You can see it in the pic with the green tomatoes.

This means I really have to rip out everything that is affected (and aphid friendly). Its a shame because the Morning Glories were going to rule!.

So, this weekend I clear cut all legumes and Squash. Bites! Guess the remaining growing season is just maters n taters.

The fall garden has been touch and go it seems. Dallas has had a ton of rain, so too much water has been actually a problem. I think its a combination of that and some kinda bug (and aphids) that have killed off just about everything that resembles a winter squash.   Cucumbers and summer squash just seem to be battling the aphids.  I now see why they say you should plant squash on hills now.  Cucurbits hate wet feet

I have one lone cantaloupe. Creatures seem to take them in the night. The basil is going crazy and the green beans are rocking.

I planted several purple beans this time. These are pretty fun to cook because they turn from purple to green when cooked. Its explained here.

Purple bush beans in a pot.

Sliced and ready to cook (with a regular one too)

In under a minute, they turn all green. I usually just cook them enough to be crunchy and then finish them in a pan with a bit of olive oil and black pepper.

Little lettuce….heartbreaking to have to thin them out.

8 ball squash - its ready to eat.

Cantaloupe with bite marks.  Hope this does not get taken by the creatures.  Kinda strange looking fruit huh?

Found an article that describes perfectly how I need to be approaching this growing season.

July is pretty much too hot for tomatoes.  The big problem is that they will not set fruit when its too hot, so that gives us two quick growing seasons.  Last year I left my plants out all summer hoping that they would produce, but they just kinda hung out in a diseased state.  Being that most plants are like 70 days till maturity….that puts a maturity date of mid-june back to planting in  April….which is now.

This year I grew WAY to many plants from seeds.  I started in mid January and they were getting kinda lanky, but the ones I have in the ground now look pretty good.  Pics to follow.

Heres the article.

• Posted by feldon30 N Houston (8) (My Page) on
  Mon, Jul 10, 06 at 15:07

So I got to pick the first tomatoes of the season on Memorial day. This is usually turned into a BLT as soon as possible. The first ones were from a cherry tomato plant I bought at Walmart of all places. Its a strange one in a small pot, but very prolific (and sweet). The bigger ones are from patio variety.

I have tons of basil too. Food is good.

Check out this basil. Its as big as a leaf of lettuce. Is called
Neapolitan Basil

So the BLT pita was gooooood. Paired with grilled sweet corn and zuchinni…mmm. Im sure a red wine would have been great, but after the weekend in Pine Mills, I dont think I could stomach a drink for a while.