I've got some hungry and horny Rollie pollies wreaking havoc in some of my beds. What would you guys recommend to get rid of them? I've been considering using DE but was wondering if neem meal would be effective against them.
Woo Hoo! My tomatoes are finally starting to ripen. I'll end up with 100s of them but I eat them like candy. Big Beef Monica Sakura Red
Man those are some lush tomato leaves. Those saks are pretty delicious, I took your advice on them last summer. You seem to have less hornworms, too. Thanks for sharing!
Pak ... Those are beautiful Toms, very lush. It's good when aaa plan comes together. I get a crop like that about every fourth or fifth year, when everything just comes together. This year wasn't it. LOL Got maters for sure, but not enough to 'share' ifunowhatimean. Really pretty. Something special for hornworms? I usually use BT, but very little has been required so far. Been using neem/karanja this year with good results so far, but very little on the Toms, compared to everything else. Wanted to avoid too much N. But the hornworms haven't made their usual appearance just yet. Hmmmm, is neem THAT good? Wet
I fall off the grid with this thread every year, primarily out of sheer frustration with my heat amd jealousy with yall's bounty, lol. Beautiful veggies everybody. Another month or so before my season starts. I'm so ready for some homegrown tomatoes.
I grow my tomatoes in 10 gallon pots with the same soil I grow my herb in. I got the same results last year doing the same thing. I may just be lucky but I didn't have any insects problems with my vegetable garden and I haven't had any this summer. Maybe things are in balance.
A few shots of my peppers.One is a Thai Dragon and the other three are Cayenne that were mislabeled by the seed seller on Amazon.
Pak ... I also use the same mix for everything. A topdress takes care of any 'special needs' plants. But ... 10 gallons? I'm impressed! The "Sweet 100" fills up a 20 gal and all the Mortgage Lifters are in the ground and over 8'. MM ... After losing 10" or so of colon, hot peppers are off the menu,,,,, but still have a collection of sauces for the different flavors. Still love em, but man! Do I pay the price the next day! Chopped all my Zukes, they were done, and reamended the mix to xplant my eggplant(s) into. Shoveled it all (~10 gals+), into one of the 17 gal tubs I just purchased. Anyway, the eggplant (in a 2gal now), was going to go into the 7 gal Lerio that last years went into. Then I though of just how rootbound it became in that container and started looking at the bigger tub. Think I'm gonna go with that because, at full growth & fruits I had to water 2x/day. It worked out, but was a PITA. 10 more gallons should make a difference there. We'll see. Wet
Love that turtle pic. Had Green turtle soup back before endangered was even a word, but now would much rather see them out in the Gulf Stream fishing for dolphin. Mahi Mahi in pc terms, not Flipper. For Floridians, Dolphin is a fish and the mammal is a porpoise (?). Rethinking the eggplant in the 17 gal container. Both of us are sorta meh AFA eggplants, but we both love collards and actually eat them several times/month. So, one or 2 in the 17 gal and a couple in the garden. 3-4 small plants should do it when the fall plants go on sale. The eggplant will go in the 7 gal. Wet
Finally getting some tomatoes. This is yesterday's haul. I've eaten about half as many over the last week. Should be a strong harvest over the next 2-3 weeks. Most years we start eating tomatoes by mid July but we are a month behind this year from the cold spring. These are better boy and beefsteaks. I have 3 cherry tomato plants, two sun gold and one super sweet 100. The SS100 is right between the two sun golds, which are turning all yellow from the bottom up while the SS is all still nice and green. Guess I found my favorite cherry tomato plant!
Jerry Directly into the ground for the eggplant? It's an option if I can blast out a 2gal hole in the clay. IDK, now you have me thinking. There is a spot dug out last year and not being used this year I'll take the tree spade and do some checking. Good idea with the root system those suckers get. Wet
I've got 2 black beauties in my hugelbed doing fantastic, and 2 that i threw into my unamended clay. They sat underneath the zuke leaves all summer so they're small, but I took out my zukes last week and what do you know, with some sun those eggplants are kicking into gear. It does seem like it takes a little bit for them to get established, but they're vines after that. I'm considering some container gardening on my east-facing deck this fall. Have you ever grown collards in a pot before?
Well, sorta and not very well. They were way underpotted (2gal IIRC), and ill tended. Learned a lot from the mistakes, like not to wait too late in the season. Don't let them get all root bound and don't listen to my wife when she says she'll trim leaves as they are ready, or, just harvest the entire plant at once. Got any insight on what the old growers do? Like the entire plant, or leaves as they mature? I'm thinking the entire plant route would require staggered plantings, or? I did learn something from one left all winter that bolted and a couple of the seeds rooted in hard un-tilled clay below the deck. One, that the seeds will pretty much sprout in concrete, and two, that it makes an excellent trap plant in the summer. Too bitter from the heat to eat anyway and best after a frost. Do you know if plants are available yet? Haven't been by HD or Lowes lately. Yeah, my BB eggplant was in a lg yogurt container in the shade. It got wilted and put in a bucket with 2-3" of water in the sun. It just flat exploded, doubling in size in 3 days. That just flat amazed me, I've never seen ANY plant do that. Xplanted to the 2gal ~2 weeks ago. It has doubled in height, popped flowers everywhere and roots are showing at the drain holes. It wants to go go right NOW! A tomato cage is real handy when fruit start to form. VOE Wet