First off, I'm pretty sure this is a ladybug, but it looks more orange than the last one you all identified for me, so I wanted to check. This one was in the general area of my tomatoes, but on my carrots. Silly bug, carrots are for rabbits!
Speaking of tomatoes, the Early Girls are filling out on top, ok that just sounded bad, but it's true... look...
But the tiny ones on the bottom that were the first to ripen still haven't got any bigger, but I'm pretty sure these "cherry tomatoes" are ready to harvest!
I can just taste them with my fresh cukes and my lettuce mix! Too bad the spinach is slow to grow and the radishes aren't quite ready. Ooh, I could grate some carrots and dice some onions to garnish it up... yum, tomorrow for dinner!
One veggie I've been very bad about eating is my beans. I just read today that you should pick them immature for best taste and tenderness. And the more you pick the more bush beans produce. Now they tell me. Look how big they are!
And I'm pretty sure these are just about to petter out, because I noticed flowers on the pole beans, and I've been told bush and pole beans don't produce at the same time.
Oh, and after all the posts about my corn, I figured it's been a few weeks or so since the silks turned brown and died on one or two of my small cobs, so I guessed that I was just stuck with small ears of corn. So today while I was watering I gently squeezed the husk, only to find it basically empty. There's not much of a corn cob in there. I'm afraid to open it, but it's likely not formed correctly. Did I wait too long to hand polinate? The wind's been whipping through there enough to wind pollinate it I'm pretty sure, and I shook the stalks and blew the pollen off the leaves. Grrr. I guess all I can do is either wait or pick one and open it.
Lastly, I felt compelled to share my potato jungle again. The drooping vines only grew more flowers and now the entire bin is getting engulffed in potato vines. Heck, it's almost attacking my cantaloupe SWC it's so massive!
I know it's tough to tell from that angle since all the vines are on the other side, but with the sun going down this is the only angle I could take a picture from. Trust me, that blue thing behind the mess of leaves is my SWC, hehe. I may gently dig into the Yukon bin, since it's easy to see the dirt there. The Butte bin is another story all together. I couldn't see the dirt if you paid me. I guess I could remove a board, but that's dangerous. I don't know how much dirt will be lost. Hmm?
Oh, and while I was watering my blueberries I noticed one had fallen to the ground. Being a boy, I picked it up, dusted it off and ate it. OMG it was candy! Better than candy. It was sweet and juicy and all around yummy! I guess the one I had that was bitter just wasn't ready yet. So after our walk I took the kids around and found three that came off easily with a gentle pull, one for each of my family. Needless to say these bushes are keepers. And the evergreen Legacy is finally ripening fruit. It's slower to produce, which is good meaning eventually I'll have an early season and a late season crop.
Lastly, I want to give a big thanks and "shout-out" to Engineered Gardener of NW Alabama. If he's a redneck (he calls himself one), then Jeff Foxworthy really needs to rethink his comedy, because he's no longer funny. I've been emailing him and he is not only one of the sharpest people I know, but more talented at everything I hold dear than I could ever hope to be. And he's battling a disease that he only recently was diagnosed with and has just received any treatment. It boggles the mind. Anyway, I'm proud to call him a friend and gardening buddy, though he's much more than just gardening!
Well that's it for me tonight, enjoy your garden!
We have a square foot garden, too. I'm bad at letting stuff grow to big as well. I just pulled some turnips last week and they were nasty!
ReplyDeleteYour ladybug is an Asian Lady Beetle. They are well known for there varying color from orange to yellow and sometimes almost black. They are just as beneficial as the more commonly known nine-spotted ladybug.
ReplyDeleteHi Sin! Yep, looks like a lady bug to me too :-)
ReplyDeleteWow -- you have tomatoes now! Cool. You'll havet to let us know how they taste. Does everyone in your family eat tomatoes? This year we even converted my 10 year old niece -- she wouldn't touch a tomato. Now, she says that she loves Aunt Judy's "homegrown" tomatoes and that is the only kind she will eat. I feel very privileged!
You definitely need to pick the bush beans. You'll be surprised, but when you pick them, the plants should start to produce more flowers and this will eventually give you a 2nd picking. There is nothing better than fresh green beans in the garden! My family loves green beans. You're going to find that those pole beans are worse than weeds LOL Just keep them picked and they will produce and produce.....
If you don't feel any kernels on the corn, just wait a little longer for them to fill out. Also, if you see any signs of corn worms, very lightly dust some Sevin dust on them. That helped me alot. I now have one of those dusters like Patti uses. But before that, I used a baby powder container and it worked pretty well.
Oh my goodness -- I just can't get over your potatoes! My MIL's are doing the same thing and she's impressed all those gardeners and farmers up in Kentucky! No one can believe how tall her potato vines have grown. I'm very anxious (and praying!) that you get tons of potatoes!!!
LOL -- you're meeting even more gardeners from Alabama! That's cool! I think it's wonderful how we can use the internet to connect with so many other gardeners across the country and even across the oceans :-)