Was my last post really July 9?

Holy moly. Time flies.

Well, the garden has seriously been a bust..I keep saying that. With all the rain we are having, courtesy of the hurricanes down south, I have no problem with moisture, and my plants are bigger than EVER before. Could that be the compost? What's weird is that my plants are HUGE, but the fruit yield is relatively low. not enough nitrogen, perhaps? Or maybe no pollinators, as I've mused before.

What is actually happening is that now that it's a bit cooler, they are starting to set on fruit. Maybe it's true that they can't pollinate over 100 degrees. But now that it's so insanely MOIST around here, everything is getting fungus. Delightful. I have had a total of TWO--TWO--tomatoes off my Brandy Boy plant. Which really stinks, because that is the one I was most hoping for. The plant is like 9 feet tall, and there are a lot of green fruits on it...so we will see. The two I did have were like heaven, though.

My little juliet plant is really rocking; it's been producing well all summer. The fruit is almost hot, like it's already salsa. I'll definitely try that one again next summer. And it's in a container! Go figure.

My squash seem big and healthy, despite the fungus (the plants, anyway). However, since early July the fruit has been totally mutated. I had some pictures which I will post later. They are multicolored and twisted and look like they have tumors. Real appetizing, let me tell you. I've cut a few open to see what is up; my mom says not to eat them. I didn't, but they look normal inside. Just on the outside it's like some kind of radioactive growth.

And as my mom and dad say about this whole thing, "It's only a hobby." I'll try to keep that in mind.

I typically don't do infomercials, but....

....I have tried a product that I like a lot. Thought I would share it with you.

As you may know, I do not do high-maintenance or expensive skin care stuff. Just ask my sister! I do the bare minimum, I like low-maintenance. Yes, I'm sure I'll be a wrinkly, spotted, disgusting old woman because of it, but, oh, well.

Anyway, I wash my hands a LOT because I'm always either a) messing with or cleaning up after animals, or b) playing in the garden. So my hands get very dry, even in the summer.

A friend gave me this lotion called Regeneration Extreme Repair. it's made by a company called Beauticontrol. It's a seriously heavy-duty lotion, but it's not greasy--I hate that. It actually feels great. It is also fragrance free. My skin breaks out at just about anything, and this has not irritated my skin.

Anyway, if you have dry skin or are looking for a new hand lotion, you should check it out. You can see it at www.beautybyvicki.com.

CREATURES FROM BEYOND

Okay, I have noticed these guys milling around in my compost bin. This is the second batch of compost, and I never saw these in the first one. I didn't really get too concerned, but now there are like a ZILLION of them. So many that they are crawling out of the compost bin and out into the yard. I am afraid they are going to come get me in my sleep.



WHAT ARE THEY???

Please let me know if you have any idea. I have never seen these before. They move like millipedes or centipedes, they sort of undulate across a surface to move. They don't appear to have any eyes, that I can see. I don't think they're grubs, because they're not juicy (looking), and they don't have a "head." For scale, they are about 1 inch long.

I guess I just want to know if they are good guys or bad guys!

Some Photos

General long shot of the garden. I went with the cinder blocks; the jury is still out, but I think I like them. The whole garden is skinny enough that I can do everything from either side; I never have to climb in.


One of my slow-growing tomatoes. I know I probably need to mulch the soil. Hay, maybe?




This one actually has some green fruit on it. Hopefully it will ripen someday! this is a beefsteak. See that leaf curl, though? Hmm.

Not just tomatoes

I seem to only be mentioning my tomatoes. Well, my squash is doing okay, at least the zucchini is. Slow, as everything else, but I didn't plant anything until the end of May, so what do I expect?

We ate some of the zucchini a few days ago. it's good.

I planted a crook necked yellow squash plant, one that I actually started from seed (yes, my one success!!). I didn't do such a great job of labeling my seedlings, so this is one that I thought was a cucumber, but it's not. Something WEIRD is happening to its fruit. There are tons of little baby yellow squash on it, but when they get about 3 inches long, they shrivel up and stop growing and start to kind of disintegrate on the end. It's not a rotting, I don't think...but they are certainly not growing to adulthood. Here is a picture.

Now I am mad

I know for a FACT that I made two posts in June. Where ARE they, blogger?!!! Lost in the blogosphere, I guess.

Well, it was just more of the same. Me talking about dirt and slow growth!

Well, so much for frequent posting!

This has not been the best year for me, gardening-wise. I bought new dirt, it wasn't good dirt. So it's very clay-ey and the water sits down there around the roots....it doesn't drain well. I know for tomatoes I need well draining soil.

Apparently leaf curl is caused by too-wet roots? That is what I've read, and what Neil told me (gardening expert at work). My mom and dad said it may just be the heat, though. Who knows why a tomato plant does what it does? Even though I go outside in the evenings, when it's nice, and talk to them...they never tell me their secrets. Maybe after many years of gardening, I will be able to decipher their secrets myself.

The days have been really hot here, but the evenings are fairly pleasant. I slather on the bug spray and head out to make my rounds. Sometimes I do this in the morning, before I shower. If I can drag myself out of bed! It's really one of the most pleasing things about my day. I love looking at the plants, talking to them, moving them around. I get in really closely and examine the blossoms, turn over the leaves, feel them, smell them. I love the way tomato plants smell.

Anyway, enough poetics! What I seem to have here this year are plants that seem fairly healthy (although most are growing pretty slowly; not nearly the big bushes I had last year), but not much fruit at all! I have tons of blossoms, but they don't set on fruit. I wonder if our toxic environment is killing all the pollinators? Perhaps. Maybe it's too hot? Maybe I'm not patient enough. I did plant my tomatoes so much earlier last year, so by this time in 2007 I had tons of fruit already. So maybe it will happen...I just need to be patient.

I seem to recall someone told me I need to shake the plants to help them pollinate? I don't remember where I read that. Maybe I'll try it. Shake things up a bit. Heh, heh.