Finally! I have a veggie garden!

LizaMouse, I think that's a great thing to have been able to do. And volunteering for the oil spill just now too, it's so hard to just watch the news and feel helpless so I think being able to help in something like that really makes you feel like you are making a difference. It's very sad that you haven't been needed at the moment though.

Congrats on your peppers though! If they keep producing like that maybe you will get your money's worth!!

LizaMouse, no peppers here yet, but many green tomatoes! AND giant tomato horn worms. I fed them to the chickens so here's hoping that tomato horn worms are not bad for chickens! We don't have those grasshoppers here, just the regular kind. Those are going to the chickens too. I don't know what I would do about a hissing grasshopper. Probably go running too! I could dig out my old field hockey stick and aquire a new skill. I was pretty good with that stick back in the day!

I used to live in FL too. I did like it but not much in the way of work of a technical nature. So off to Chicago we went (with Andrew at our heals) and then down to Texas. It doesn't matter where you move--there is always a whole new set of bugs to contend with! When we left there was talk for flying, hissing or singing cockroaches coming from China via Tampa....ewwwwwww!

gmun, your 15 peas are still in the lead but the peppers are gaining on 'em! I packed these first ones up with vinegar for pepper sauce.

A flying, hissing, singing Chinese cockroach?! Yikes! I think a hockey stick might give me sufficient "safe distance" to bludgeon one of these grasshoppers to death. I actually went at one with a yard stick but three feet was a little too close for comfort and when it rared up at me, I chickened out and ran.

I was vacationing in Saint Augustine the week before Andrew came ashore. I can't believe some of those people stayed in their houses for cat. 5 winds. That's insane.

My dreams are of bunches of baby tomatoes. Your chickens must LOVE those big juicy green worms! It's been wicked hot and humid here with too much rain. My tomatoes aren't looking too happy right now. But the watermelons are. And the okra. I learned today that okra has prickles that get between your fingers and drive you crazy. If this is "spineless" I can't imagine what the regular kind are like.

LOL, haven't tried okra yet. I've heard about the spines and am still a little leary even though I really do like okra. Rain has missed us for a month now. Our area should be at around 20" or rain so far and we are at 9.5". Very hot, very humid. The leaves on my tomato plants are starting to curl despite the soaker hoses. I'm going to have to check with the tomato forum on that. I'm not sure if I should have been watering them every day instead of the every two days or so I have been doing. Still, lots of green tomatoes and it is overcast today. Must have done something right!

My watermelon is just now starting to blossom. Can hardly wait!

terri, I should google Alba and see where you are. How have y'all escaped all of this rain? I know Houston has been soaked and we sure have.This week is supposed to stay dry except of course for the 80 to 100% humidity. It would at least give the soil a chance to dry out some. I almost bought soaker hoses and buried them in the rows but then I remembered where I am. Opted for a $6.00 sprinkler and haven't used it but once. If my tomatoes drown, by July you can name your price and I'll import your extras. I'm desperate for a juicy, tangy, REAL tomato.

In Memphis, tomatoes thrived. I mean they went crazy. But when I got down here all you could find at farmer's markets were Creole tomatoes. And honestly, they're not good. Very little taste. I thought it was a local pride thing and decided that the only way I would ever get a good tasting tomato would be to grow it myself. Now I've learned that the Creole tomatoes evolved because they tolerated this climate. They're still a bland, mushy tomato though so I planted Better Boys. I guess I could always run an extension cord out there and put a fan on them!

I have a tomato turning red right now! There is always a bright spot....

Alba is the ancient Gaelic name for Scotland (where I'm from) so-called because of all the snow on the mountains up north, it means white in Gaelic. I guess that wasn't the same reason for naming the place in Texas....!

LizaMouse - I am always grateful to know there are people like you who will give a helping hand to animals in need.

I have lived in many places over the years and have always striven to give the native wildlife a safe haven around our various homes. I even argued with the zoning officer when I lived in South Florida when he said our yard had to be "cleaned up" because it could harbor snakes and other harmful critters. I told him I had declared my yard to be a wildlife sanctuary and there was nothing he could do about it.

Incidentally, hubby, myself and our son stayed in our home when hurricane Andrew came by. The problem with hurricanes in south Florida is, there's ocean on three sides, and it's always a guessing game as to which way to run!

And they made jokes about Us Redneck's yard being over grown and full of weeds ...we tryed to tell them it wus a wildlife resort they didnt beleave us ..shucks he he he ...LOL


by Sarge

Here's a link to the National Wildlife Federation's web site about certifying your backyard a wildlife habitat. Mine's not certified - I guess I should do that ^_^

ROTF you go Honey Bee

Honeybee, that's on my wish list too. I felt so guilty when I had the back of the lot bush-hogged last summer. Deer had been bedding down back there all the winter before. They even made a wallow (translate that to big freakin' hole that becomes a swampy snake magnet during summer) in a brushy area beneath a tree. Made myself feel a little better by putting a feeder out during this past winter which they seemed to appreciate. There is very thick brush that runs all along the back and I leave that alone. Tons of birds live back there and in summer it's full of blackberries.

The animals that were covered in the toxic Katrina stew were yucky and sick. The geese and ducks didn't do well. They got limber neck which is Avian Botulism . These animals that have been oiled from the spill are a whole different ballgame and the cleaning and immediate after-care is highly specialized. If the numbers overwhelm the facility, once they reach a certain stage of recovery they will need housing until it is safe to let them go. They aren't pleasant to have in a confined space so not a lot of people rush to volunteer. Or if they do, they lose their enthusiasm for the task pretty quickly. Confined pelicans spend most of their time eating and pooping and being generally grumpy.

gmun, I'm not sure why Alba TX was named Alba. I now it was a coal mining town at one point. We did get snow last year......

lol!

very excited, today my first cherry tomato is turning red!

WooHoo! Congratulations! I'm excited with you! Isn't it crazy that a little thing like that can just make your whole day or...week?! Do you have grand plans for it? That groundhog isn't lurking nearby I hope. When I was a kid we had a dog that ate the tomatoes as soon as they turned pink. Good thing we liked the green ones fried.

I don't think I'm going to get any tomatoes this time. Planted too late and the heat is zapping them. I never knew there was such a thing as being too hot for tomatoes. But I'm going to have okra which makes the whole effort worthwhile. And the corn is blooming. Even the corn plants that got transplanted to fill in where Charlie ate are growing again.

LM, wait a month and start some more tomatoes. They should do fine for you in the fall...

I was wondering about fall. I'll do that. Thanks!

You're so kind!! Shared excitement is excellent! It came off in my hand the next day so it sat proudly on top of a salad (most of it bought, but with some fresh cilantro leaves in there) and was delicious. I think I am growing veggies tapas - not quite enough for a meal, just for a little taste of everything!! But I love tapas!!

Anyway, I agree, getting anything makes it totally worth it!

That's a yummy looking salad and you can never have too much cilantro. YOUR tomato looks much better than those store bought ones!

I just want okra. That's all it would take to make me happy!

Liza, it's coming!! I had my first three last night for dinner. Like gmun says, just enough for a taste, but oh, so good :)
Turns out I wasn't watching closely enough, I found one that was a bit beyond human consumption, and I never even saw the flower. So no, I'll be watching daily. They were Star of David, and the Burgundy has flowers on it today, at least those I can see better.

That salad looks good enough to eat---:)

I had never seen an okra flower before these. They look like a hibiscus bloom. If okra plants like hot weather, they sure ought to be happy out there today.

Once they flower, watch out. They only take about three days til they're ready...

I meant to ask, grass is beginning to be a pain in the area that was too wet to plant. Would straw be a good mulch to keep it down? I'm assuming that pine straw wouldn't be a good idea though. Suggestions?

I bought a book called The Vegetable Gardener's Bible. It has a list of plants that don't seem to like one another. And it says that tomatoes don't like corn. Of course my tomatoes are in the row next to the corn so maybe that's another reason they aren't producing well. They're too hot and they don't like their next door neighbor.

Really?! We posted at the same time. I'd better get out there and look at them today then. I might have okra tapas out there!

Lisa here is why the flowers look similar:

"Okra is a flowering plant in the mallow family
(along with such species as cotton and hibiscus)"

I was about to tell Liza that Okra is in the same family as hibiscus, but vortrekker beat me to it!

Liza - I've grown things together that are supposed to "like" each other, and others that are supposed to "dislike" each other, but I've yet to see a difference in the yield.

Having said that, there are some plants that prefer a more acid soil and others that prefer a more neutral one, and they should be grown separately.

I agree whole heartedly with with Honeybee. I went through the companion planting "stuff" very seriously a while back and never noticed a difference.

Well then, maybe it's just the hot weather and there's not really any feuding between the 'maters and the corn. If there is....the corn is obviously winning. And further...bush beans obviously like no one out there at all as they have grown to a grand total of about an inch and a half tall in almost 8 weeks. these stragglers better watch out because i have pumpkin seeds in hand just waiting for a space.

I HAVE BABY OKRA PODS!!!!!!!!!!!

Funny that okra is my favorite veggie and that I have always loved the big, old-fashioned hibiscus blooms. they remind me of my grandmother's garden.

Pooo.. I guess that is the difference in our two areas LizaMouse. I have okra plants (two kinds) they are growing well, but no baby okra pods.....I can only hope.... Almost 100 degrees here today and for the rest of the week. Watering will be at the top of the list of jobs in the garden.

nini, it seemed like everything just kind of sat there for the longest and didn't even grow very much. but now everything (except the beans) has taken off like crazy. i'm not sure what did it. but the last two weeks here have been extremely hot so maybe yours will do the same in a few days. even the squash has doubled in size and when i went out there this morning i had a baby squash!

my 26 yr old daughter is coming down for july 4 and i'd love to have at least a few veggies to inspire her to try a little patio garden of her own. she likes the idea of gardening but she's not too much on the labor part. actually she's not too much on the un-air-conditioned outdoors. i realized that i had been a complete failure as a parent when last year we were sitting on the deck and she pointed to a cardinal on the bird feeder and said, "look, there's a robin!" it was not a good moment for me :-0

okra tapas lol!! I'd love to see some photos of okra flowers if anyone has them...? I love hibiscus flowers too :)

Liza, I'm 28 and have definitely got the gardening bug now, so maybe your daughter will catch it from you once she tastes some fresh veggies... although my sister is 25 and just laughs at me when I bring my tomato plant to show her on the webcam on skype - and she did ask if they were grapes!! I like to think it was just because it was a webcam and maybe not the clearest picture but I don't really think that's true...!!

"she pointed to a cardinal on the bird feeder and said, "look, there's a robin!"

LizaMouse, I now know that I must approach your posts without coffee in hand. There is now a lovely spray of the hot liquid scattered artistically about my computer and vicinity. May be also because I just filled my feeder, which had apparently been sadly neglected, and empty possibly since early morning. My "robins" were sitting around tapping their feet, and frowning....

This is a really "cute" thread.

Yep, catmad. Those "robins" get you trained pretty quickly to get out there and serve breakfast early or face the dirty looks.

You know, when she was little we always had plants and flowers and I always had bird feeders and a bird bath. Did I really NEVER sit this child down and teach her one bird from another? And now she's going through life sending Christmas cards with pictures of ROBINS in the snow???? I'm telling you, I was speechless.

LOL gmun, it's just sad! You lug your prized grape bush in to show her and things just go downhill from there. Don't tell your mother about it. It'll make her feel horrible.

Hey pod, did I tell you I picked a few pods of Okra this weekend? The plants are still small but kicking out pods - lol. The blooms looks exactly like the blooms on my Sweet Edible Hibiscus, just smaller;o)

You can see them hiding in this pic...

This message was edited Jun 24, 2010 9:49 AM

Great looking bunch of vegies there... yum!

Sweet Edible Hibiscus... hmmm need to check that one out. Is that Roselle (or Hibiscus sabdariffa) by any chance?

It's Abelmoschus manihot... Got the seeds from our very own LazLo last year.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1888/


P.S. That pink is pretty. Is that the one you were referring to?


This message was edited Jun 24, 2010 1:15 PM

Yes, that is H. sabdariffa or Roselle. If you are curious, I saved lots of info about the culture and food value of Roselle here http://davesgarden.com/community/journals/viewentry/148684/

How would you eat the one you grow?