Broken Knee Tomatoes!

[FaithHopeLove]

I can't believe your doing all that work with a broken knee, your brave!

I'm loving your flowers and noticed you have a lot of the same flowers that we have here in FL, there are so many different flowers that I can't grow here as it's too hot for them.

Do you have any pepper varieties?

[Vespertino]

Thanks! I'm at the point of recovery where I can walk around and stand for a few hours, but bending the knee is limited and the muscle atrophy makes the leg very weak. The "to-do"list this weekend is very ambitious, I'm not sure I'll be able to do it all, but I'm going to try

I only have one pepper plant, it's just a store-bought banana pepper- hopefully I'll be able to get enough to make some pickles to go with sandwiches! I had ordered a lot of seeds from peppermania that included lemon drop, two types of ajices dulces, bishops crown, earbob, rainforest, and a few more that I don't remember. Unfortunately the pepper seed order still hasn't arrived and it's been about 3 months. I heard that Peppermania is having trouble filling their orders this year for some reason. It's a bummer I was so excited to try growing those peppers.

I know what you mean about the flowers, I was pretty disappointed when I realized it was too warm to grow peonies. I heard of some people literally placing commercial blocks of ice over sections of their lawns to chill the ground enough for peonies to grow, but I thought that was a bit extreme, lol!

[Vespertino]

Well, My ambitions were big so I didn't get as much done as I wanted. I opted to spend time with family for the weekend, but I tried to play catch-up this afternoon. I planted out 5 squash in grow bags (3 zephyr, 2 striata d'italiana), so that means I got half of them planted. I made 3 sips and planted my 2 delikatesse cuckes in one planter, 2 sugar ann peas (I had 4 but 2 died!) in the second, and my lemongrass in the third. And I managed to mulch half my tomatoes and added some holographic ribbon streamers and set out my owl decoy ("Rupert"). I also got little trellises started for the peas and cukes. Even the rain wouldn't stop me, I just dragged my pots and bags of potting mix & compost under my patio awning and went to work- occasionally getting wet when I had to drag a container or a grow bag out to it's final place but it was no big deal. I got de-railed as I was getting close to wrapping up by a phone call, then evening fell. I was all covered in dirt and I had to hose my hands and flip-flops off- love it!

For the record I cheated a bit, I sat down on a chair while I was filling the bags and containers with soil.

My knee is killing me but I don't care, I got some sh!t done!

[BucksCountyGirl]

Congrats on the progress! I tried to squeeze in some garden time this weekend as well (in between visiting with/cooking for family). It was great to get out and play in the dirt!

[Vespertino]

Free time has been short, so I haven't done a lot of work on the garden. I also noticed I had no pollinator-attracting flowers in my barren yard, so I went shopping.

Here's an update on my Zephyr squash and Striata zucchini:



I need to find more of these "Brazilian Petunias", so pretty and they flower from spring to fall, love the heat, and they supposedly attract bees, butterflies and humming birds:



I bought some milkweed too!



My tomatoes seem to be doing OK, they're smaller than I'd like but I blame the weather at this point. I wound up giving them a phosphorous fertilizer and the leaves and veins look a lot better now (less purple tinting). My egg yolk is looking nice, I have other pics but they came out blurry:



So far my Moravsky Div has 3 flowers on it, I decided to leave them on since the M. Div is supposed to be an early one. Two of the flowers look like they may be fertilized, so I hope to have baby tomato signs appearing soon! My sibirsky S is also starting to take off, but no flowers yet.

[Axixic]

I don't want to hijack your thread but I'm glad you planted milkweed. Down here we are planting as much milkweed as we can and when the rainy season begins in June we will be spreading seeds in empty lots and fields. You will have hundreds of seed pods so please share them with your neighbors and throw them in empty fields.

The Monarch population is declining and they think the reason is the absence of milkweed which the caterpillars feed on exclusively. I now have a butterfly house with milkweed so the Monarchs can lay eggs and the caterpillars safely grow without predators.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/w...cline/5028977/

The number of Monarch butterflies wintering in Mexico plunged this year to its lowest level since studies began in 1993, leading experts to announce Wednesday that the insects' annual migration from the United States and Canada is in danger of disappearing.

A report released by the World Wildlife Fund, Mexico's Environment Department and the Natural Protected Areas Commission blames the displacement of the milkweed the species feeds on by genetically modified crops and urban sprawl in the United States, as well as the dramatic reduction of the butterflies' habitat in Mexico due to illegal logging of the trees they depend on for shelter.

[beeman]

I bought some milkweed too!
Your 'Milkweed' is totally different than the weed we get her in Ontario which the Monarchs lay eggs on.
Does that have the same milky looking sap when you cut the plant, as that's what makes the caterpillars taste awful? Saves them from the birds.
I'm wondering if your plants have the same properties?

[Axixic]

Someone here in Mexico gave me some Hawaiian milkweed that is different in color and size but the Monarchs like it also. They seem to know what is milkweed even if there are different varieties.

Please plant as many of your Canadian type as you can because our Monarchs in Mexico do fly all the way up there.

I've already had caterpillars becoming butterflies and since they eat so much in my garden the butterflies are huge.

[Vespertino]

One of the goals is make my yard a happy home to monarchs and bees, so I'm trying to plant accordingly When I was a kid I used to pick milkweed flowers in the park, I loved them even though they were considered "weeds" by some. I have some milkweed seeds to sow for next year so I'll have even more to keep the monarchs happy. The plan is to place bee & butterfly attracting plant wherever I don't have a fruit or vegetable plant in the ground.

At the moment most of the milkweed will be going into containers, I've got to hire a landscaper and come up with plans for raised beds and irrigation for next year (and I need to get HOA approval for that first). My backyard is such a barren place, other than a couple yuccas and irises sharing an herb bed, there is almost nothing but grass... It's nice grass but the place feels devoid of life, and I'm hoping to rejuvenate and diversify the ecosystem of my little postage stamp of a yard

[Axixic]

Apparently right now you have a typical Texas backyard, all grass. Most Texans take great pride in growing all grass.

The one thing I do miss is being able to buy bulbs and tubers like at Home Depot or nurseries. We only have a diversity of plants here due to people smuggling seeds, tubers and bulbs. I look at the nursery sites on the internet and dream of getting those plants. I would love to buy a whole bag of bulbs from Home Depot like in the old days.

Have you grown a Butterfly Bush? I'm trying to with seeds but no germination yet.

[Vespertino]

Yep, the previous owner of my home was one of those grass growers (although he had no problem letting his dog pee on it causing bald spots- they're filling in now thankfully). Goodness forbid there be anything that can't be mowed in the back yard. There were even trees pulled out! Luckily the front looks nice, but that's largely due to HOA regulations. I'm hoping to grow butterfly bush next year once I have the landscaping done. I'm also going to be growing lots of bee balm, bergamot and more of those lovely Brazilian petunias.

I was thinking of having a terraced raised bed with two levels and having nothing but bee and butterfly attracting plants on the lower tier, with veggies and fruits on the upper tier.

I hope your butterfly bush seeds germinate for you, soon. I hear they can take up to 5 weeks, the anticipation would kill me!

[MikeInCypress]

What you have a picture of sure looks like Lantana to me. In South Africa it is considered a noxious weed. Milkweed leaves are long and thin with smooth edges. Lantana leaves have the saw tooth edges and are shaped like the card suite "spades".

MikeInCypress

[Vespertino]

Originally Posted by MikeInCypress

What you have a picture of sure looks like Lantana to me. In South Africa it is considered a noxious weed. Milkweed leaves are long and thin with smooth edges. Lantana leaves have the saw tooth edges and are shaped like the card suite "spades".

MikeInCypress

There are some asclepias off-screen, I got a mix of latana and aclepias. There's a milkweed vine I'm very interested in growing called Matelea reticulata


I think this is so beautiful but I hear the leaves have a bad smell. I'd have to find a plant sample to see if it's something that wafts across the garden or if you have to get close up to notice. If it's the latter I'm definitely going to grow some.

[Axixic]

Originally Posted by MikeInCypress

What you have a picture of sure looks like Lantana to me. In South Africa it is considered a noxious weed. Milkweed leaves are long and thin with smooth edges. Lantana leaves have the saw tooth edges and are shaped like the card suite "spades".

MikeInCypress

Good catch. I didn't look that closely and you are right the milkweed has a different leaf.

[newatthiskat]

Ok now I have learned I need milkweed! I had not caught this thread before. Sorry about that. Your garden is really coming along and I love the pretty flowers! Welcome to the craziness that is growing in East Texas