June 29, 2011 -
Three of the four seeds I planted sprouted up. I am going to wait a few more days on the fourth to pop up, but if it doesn't then it is not that big of a deal. I plan on planting these in the yard, so I will get to brave the hot sun this weekend and prepare the ground for them. They are supposed to be spaced 18" apart but I think based on the Fordhook's I am going to spread them out some more.
I will post pictures tonight of the little guys.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Grey Zucchini Update
June 28, 2011 -
I planted 4 Grey Zucchini seeds in the small peat pots I have. Three of the Grey Zucchini have poked their heads up. I am waiting on the fourth one. Hopefully it will show itself tomorrow. I plan on putting these out in the yard when they get a little height on them. I think I will put them next to the Bradley Tomatoes.
I planted 4 Grey Zucchini seeds in the small peat pots I have. Three of the Grey Zucchini have poked their heads up. I am waiting on the fourth one. Hopefully it will show itself tomorrow. I plan on putting these out in the yard when they get a little height on them. I think I will put them next to the Bradley Tomatoes.
Danvers Carrots Update
June 28, 2011 -
Came home to find another carrot had poked its head up. That is three now that have surfaced. Hope the others come up soon.
Came home to find another carrot had poked its head up. That is three now that have surfaced. Hope the others come up soon.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Grey Zucchini - New addition
June 23, 2011 -
Planted 4 Grey Zucchinis. This is so I can have a fall crop of zucchinis and to try a new variety. I have tried Fordhook and Black Beauty which are really good, but now I wanted to try another heirloom type. If these are successful, I will save some seeds from them as well. According to the package I should start to see seedlings in 7-10 days. That would be around July 3rd.
Planted 4 Grey Zucchinis. This is so I can have a fall crop of zucchinis and to try a new variety. I have tried Fordhook and Black Beauty which are really good, but now I wanted to try another heirloom type. If these are successful, I will save some seeds from them as well. According to the package I should start to see seedlings in 7-10 days. That would be around July 3rd.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
June 20, 2011 - Lost a Zucchini
June 20, 2011 -
Lost one of the Ford Hook Zucchini's tonight. A couple of bore worms have been working it over for a little bit. I suspected as much but could not find any evidence of it. Tonight though, I noticed the tale-tale signs of "baby poop" on the main stem. Pulled the plant and there were two worms working it over. I thought this was the case when the leaves were yellowing and dying, but I did not see anything until tonight. Pulled the entire plant, squashed the worms and threw it in the compost pile. It will work out OK though because this one had not produced any zucchini and it was being crowded by the Black Beauty Zucchini. This will now give some space for the Black Beauty to spread out.
June 21, 2011 -
Since I lost the one zucchini, Abby helped me to clear out the remaining leaves that I suspected of being infested with the larvae of the Seslid moths in the zucchinis this afternoon. The larvae hatch from their eggs that are in the "V" point of the zucchini leaves. Once hatched the larvae eat their way down through the stem and make their way to main stem. If you notice the leaves start to turn yellow but the rest of the plant does not, it is best to check for the bore worms starting to make their way down to the main stem.
You can check for them by looking at the stem. If you see trails of brownish color (kind of like baby poop) going in the stem, you have a vine borer. These little guys start off very small but as they make their way down the stem, consuming it as they go, they grow rather fat. My daughter, Abby, was very impressed with these guys and really liked the "catepillars" but I had to tell her these were very bad. So we had fun squishing them.
It is possible to control these guys with insecticide but I prefer not to do this for two reasons. (1) I have small children that like to play in the dirt around the plants and (2) I have so few bees that are coming to the zucchini that I would not want to discourage the ones that do with poisoned pollen and nectar. At this point, my zucchini can fully survive missing a few leaves. So my method it to catch it early and prevent it from happening any more. If it happens to your plants and you think all is lost, you can try to revive the zucchini but covering the main stem with more soil which will force it to root and the affected area can be safely removed after that.
If I happen to catch these guys again I will update with pictures, but hopefully that will not happen.
June 27, 2011 -
Decided to upload some pictures of the vine worm to show what the little devils look like.
This is what the affected Zucchini will look like at the base of the leaf. Notice the "baby poop" inside the stem. This is the droppings of the worm.
This is what the little booger looks like. These guys can destroy a zucchini plant rather quickly. It is best to watch out for these guys and catch them early.
Lost one of the Ford Hook Zucchini's tonight. A couple of bore worms have been working it over for a little bit. I suspected as much but could not find any evidence of it. Tonight though, I noticed the tale-tale signs of "baby poop" on the main stem. Pulled the plant and there were two worms working it over. I thought this was the case when the leaves were yellowing and dying, but I did not see anything until tonight. Pulled the entire plant, squashed the worms and threw it in the compost pile. It will work out OK though because this one had not produced any zucchini and it was being crowded by the Black Beauty Zucchini. This will now give some space for the Black Beauty to spread out.
June 21, 2011 -
Since I lost the one zucchini, Abby helped me to clear out the remaining leaves that I suspected of being infested with the larvae of the Seslid moths in the zucchinis this afternoon. The larvae hatch from their eggs that are in the "V" point of the zucchini leaves. Once hatched the larvae eat their way down through the stem and make their way to main stem. If you notice the leaves start to turn yellow but the rest of the plant does not, it is best to check for the bore worms starting to make their way down to the main stem.
You can check for them by looking at the stem. If you see trails of brownish color (kind of like baby poop) going in the stem, you have a vine borer. These little guys start off very small but as they make their way down the stem, consuming it as they go, they grow rather fat. My daughter, Abby, was very impressed with these guys and really liked the "catepillars" but I had to tell her these were very bad. So we had fun squishing them.
It is possible to control these guys with insecticide but I prefer not to do this for two reasons. (1) I have small children that like to play in the dirt around the plants and (2) I have so few bees that are coming to the zucchini that I would not want to discourage the ones that do with poisoned pollen and nectar. At this point, my zucchini can fully survive missing a few leaves. So my method it to catch it early and prevent it from happening any more. If it happens to your plants and you think all is lost, you can try to revive the zucchini but covering the main stem with more soil which will force it to root and the affected area can be safely removed after that.
If I happen to catch these guys again I will update with pictures, but hopefully that will not happen.
June 27, 2011 -
Decided to upload some pictures of the vine worm to show what the little devils look like.
This is what the affected Zucchini will look like at the base of the leaf. Notice the "baby poop" inside the stem. This is the droppings of the worm.
This is what the little booger looks like. These guys can destroy a zucchini plant rather quickly. It is best to watch out for these guys and catch them early.
Danvers Half Long Carrots
June 27, 2011 - The first 2 seedlings poked their heads up today. This is very exciting since it has been a long time since I have grown carrots. I will be checking the progress on these guys the rest of the week. Hopefully, they will all be up by Friday. You will have to look really close in the picture below but you can see the little green shoot popping up. I plan on planting another row in about two weeks.
June 20, 2011 - Sowed one row of Danver's #126 Carrots. Planted one row of these to try. Andy helped on these. Dug a thin line about 3/16" deep and laid out 15 seeds spaced 2" apart. Lightly covered with soil and applied then spray of water of them to keep them moist for germination. Package says germination should happen in 8-12 days. So I should see some by July 2nd.
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| Danvers #126 Poking through |
June 20, 2011 - Sowed one row of Danver's #126 Carrots. Planted one row of these to try. Andy helped on these. Dug a thin line about 3/16" deep and laid out 15 seeds spaced 2" apart. Lightly covered with soil and applied then spray of water of them to keep them moist for germination. Package says germination should happen in 8-12 days. So I should see some by July 2nd.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
June 12, 2011 Update
Hello Everyone out there.
Here is a quick update from the garden. We got three zucchinis out of the garden today. I will have to slice them up and freeze them tomorrow so they won't go bad. So far we have gotten 9 out of the garden (I think my count was right).
I sowed the herbs for the herb bed today. I planted the following:
4 oregano - I did 4 because I planted 2 with some seeds from 2007 and 2 with some seeds from this year.
4 cilantro / coriander - I did 4 for the same reason as the oregano
3 basil - this is the sweet basil variety
3 dill - hopefully I will use this with the cucumbers when they start coming in
3 chives - these will go on and on as long as I don't kill them since they are a perennial
I am doing something different with these guys to see how it works. I really like the peat pots and the cardboard egg cartons because they simple add to the dirt when they decompose. Something we also generate here at the house that can decompose like that is toilet paper rolls. I saved up enough from our usage to use them as the plant tube for the herbs. When they are ready I will simply plant the entire thing in the ground and allow it to create some more dirt.
The Bradley tomatoes seems to be doing well from transplanting yesterday. I will have to remember to water them when I do the rest since they are on the other side of the yard.
I also planted the garlic today, but I later found that I made a mistake. Garlic is one of those things you plant in the fall/winter and let over winter and then it sprouts up in the spring. I screwed up on that one so I will have to remember to do it again when the fall gets here. Rumor has it that the best time to plant garlic is on the shortest day of the year.
Joe Delk
Here is a quick update from the garden. We got three zucchinis out of the garden today. I will have to slice them up and freeze them tomorrow so they won't go bad. So far we have gotten 9 out of the garden (I think my count was right).
I sowed the herbs for the herb bed today. I planted the following:
4 oregano - I did 4 because I planted 2 with some seeds from 2007 and 2 with some seeds from this year.
4 cilantro / coriander - I did 4 for the same reason as the oregano
3 basil - this is the sweet basil variety
3 dill - hopefully I will use this with the cucumbers when they start coming in
3 chives - these will go on and on as long as I don't kill them since they are a perennial
I am doing something different with these guys to see how it works. I really like the peat pots and the cardboard egg cartons because they simple add to the dirt when they decompose. Something we also generate here at the house that can decompose like that is toilet paper rolls. I saved up enough from our usage to use them as the plant tube for the herbs. When they are ready I will simply plant the entire thing in the ground and allow it to create some more dirt.
The Bradley tomatoes seems to be doing well from transplanting yesterday. I will have to remember to water them when I do the rest since they are on the other side of the yard.
I also planted the garlic today, but I later found that I made a mistake. Garlic is one of those things you plant in the fall/winter and let over winter and then it sprouts up in the spring. I screwed up on that one so I will have to remember to do it again when the fall gets here. Rumor has it that the best time to plant garlic is on the shortest day of the year.
Joe Delk
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