Those Who Labor Will Enjoy the Aboundance

On Friday, with the many warnings of the approaching storm, we rushed out to pick all the vegetables and herbs that are not frost resistant.

We planted a few potato eyes in the  summer in a pot.  We also planted green beans in that pot to add nitrogen to the soil.  The beans and the potatoes got huge and looked healthy, even after the deer dined on them once.

Conclusion: Next year, we will start right after the last frost date, and use two full size trash cans with drainage for the sweet potatoes and for the regular potatoes.

Who can Identify this Worm?

It is October 9th, and our tomato plants are continuing to produce lots of fruits, while others report dismal tomato crops this year.

Why are this two identical Hibiscus tree shaped have a different look?

They are planted in similar soil and in the same location.  They were both deeply pruned over the winter.  While separately potted on the southern side of the house, they produced similar number of flowers, and looked about the same. Now, in ground planted on the northern side;  One is constantly blooming and the other has beautiful large green leave, with very few flowers.

The one with the larger greener leaves was favored by the deer, before I started spraying the near by with Deer Fence.

They will both probably die with the first deep freeze, but I am wondering what could b

At this point, the ants came.  They were covering the flowers  and marching up and down the stem.  I did not like that at all.  I found out that there are a few organic solutions.

These are the methods one can use:

Sprinkle ground cinnamon on the ground and leaves.

Sprinkle Equal sugar substitute, it is supposedly deadly to ants. Checking the plants 24 hours later, I see that it did not work.

Spread coffee grinds around the plant.

Mix one cup of sugar with one cup of Boric Acid and spread around the plant.

I chose to first experiment with Equal.  I sprinkled it on the flowers and at a few spots were there is a noticeable ants infestation. I will check the results by the end of the day.

Today, I am trying the coffee grinds around the Okra plants, because the Equal did not work.  The ants are still in full force.

After the rain, I thought it would be a good time to photograph some of my vegetables and watermelon.

These beautiful healthy spaghetti Squashes grew from seeds I saved last year. We have been picking them, some even while very small.  Our baby grandson loved them, when he was here.

We also shared some with friends who wondered why they are not yellow like the one purchased in the store.

Does anyone have an idea how to tell when is the best time to harvest?

In the past, I served this Squash as one would serve pasta.  I added chopped Basil, Pine Nuts, chopped Garlic and grated Cheese.  This week, for our company we experimented and created a different dish.  Here are the instructions for our new dish:

Cut in half, remove all seeds, sprinkle with Cinnamon and Nutmeg.  Grate an Apple and sprinkle with unsweetened coconut.  Top it off with a few pieces of Butter and bake until soft when you poke it with a fork.

We liked it and so did the company.

For years I have not bothered with growing strawberries, because I found them too difficult to keep healthy and protect them from animals.

This Summer, I planted one 4 X 4 raised bed.  I am getting lots of brown spots and not much pleasure, since I have been removing the fruit, as instructed.

Probably covering the entire box with the red plastic would help keep the moisture level even and a drip irrigation would prevent the brown spots.

Do I have to spray to eliminate the fungus?

Can I outsmart nature?

Every night some animal removes one large green tomato and chews it just a little.  The tomato is left in the raised bed, and I dutifully throw it out every morning.

Today, I decided to leave that green tomato that is already lost to us on the ground.

What do you think will happen tonight?

Would the animal pick a new tomato, or go back to the partial consumed one?

I cannot wait to find out.

Oh, I also remove most of the larger green tomato to ripen in the house.  I am tired of letting the birds, squirrles and chipmunks devour our tomatoes.

1.  I planted too many tomatoes in a small area.

2. I did not know to add calcium to the soil and plants, early on.

The plants are fed once in 3-4 weeks with Miracle Gro and in between also manure.

Now, I would like to know what I can do to get the leaves greener looking and to eliminate the obvious issues.

I have some pest eating the leaves and I might have some pest in the stalks, too.

Here are the pictures of the not very healthy plants.