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| Vegetable Garden Garden Lady Blog |
Vegetable Garden
The vegetable garden is producing zucchini and yellow crookneck squash. With a crop of 12 plants, I'm picking every other day. The tomato plants are loaded, but green. I've started taking a few tomatoes for ripening in the house. I've lost a few tomatoes as they got mushy and fell off the vine. Research indicates that temperatures above 90 F can be the cause. I've lost a few to caterpillars, and am pulling Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs off the plants. (Click hyperlink for my previous post on this pest.)
Jalapeno Peppers are abundant. With 6 plants, I can pick every day. I've made 3 batches of Jalapeno Poppers - a family favorite. (Click for recipe video.)
Since Spaghetti Squash is a creeping vine, it's crawling up some tomato cages and over other vegetable plants. There are different sizes of gourds so I'll be able to stagger picking and not have to harvest all at once. (Check out my new book on Spaghetti Squash-growing and cooking-a link to Amazon page is below.)
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| Spaghetti Squash in Tomato Cage Garden Lady Blog |
Green Peppers are not producing yet. The eggplant has fruit, but it is green and not the usual black for the Black Beauty variety. I'm not panicking yet. Eggplant is one of my favorite garden vegetables. Our county extension agent thinks they will gradually turn black. I've fertilized just in case the cause is a Nitrogen deficiency. Click here for a delicious Eggplant and Garlic Sauce Recipe.
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| Vegetable Garden Garden Lady Blog |
Until today, the vegetables were pesticide free. An invasion of Squash Bug Nymphs was treated with powder Sevin. We also had our first Tobacco Hornworm (see video here) on a tomato plant. No chemicals were necessary to dispatch this gigantic specimen. The photo shows the Hornworm eating the tomato. To detect the worms before too much damage occurs, look for the following: waste material sitting on leaves and branches missing leaves.
Flowers
Video of Swallowtail Butterfly enjoying Butterfly Bush
Garden Lady Blog
The Butterfly Bushes are finally blooming. I have baby plants sprouting everywhere including in the mortar of my front steps.
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| Brown-eyed Susan Garden Lady Blog |
The Brown-eyed Susans look wonderful especially since I don't remember planting them. The Goldfinches are enjoying the seeds.
Most of my flowers are perennials, but an exception are the Cleome. I bought a pack of seeds 10 years ago, and the flowers are still reseeding themselves. In addition, my neighbors took some seeds and the whole neighborhood has stunning displays of Cleome.
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| Cleome Garden Lady Blog |
Many of my perennial bushes are overgrown and need severe pruning. Forsythia, azalea and camellia fall into this category. Over the years, the Forsythia and Camellias have provided great cover and nesting sites for birds.
Enjoy!
Garden upkeep seems endless this time of year. If you're like me, being outdoors working beats indoor chores anytime. Just remember, eventually the weather will change and then we'll be missing the hot days of summer.
Please check this post again as I plan on adding more photos and videos. Thanks for reading my blog.
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