Your Garden

Neighbors won't answer their door. Afraid I'll force more zucchini on them.

I'm in the same boat. Apparently you can prepare casseroles and freeze it so I gave that a try.

For all my efforts, I seem to be the only person in the world who can't grow zucchini! Plants grow and then rot/fall apart at the base right when I get excited about all the blooms. I've moved spots to no avail, didn't plant last year and this year had hopes that the new bed would fix the problem. Just returned home from vacation to find the same thing ( I now know it as squash borer damage- too late to fix ).

So please , ding-dong ditch your zucchini/crookneck squash at my house...

Deb

ERG... Anyone else having Japanese Beetle 'issues'.... My grape vines are 75% gone... They are having an orgy out there... At least 100 critters.

ERG... Anyone else having Japanese Beetle 'issues'.... My grape vines are 75% gone... They are having an orgy out there... At least 100 critters.

We have had a few beetles this year, but have been able to control them with a daily pass through the garden and "drowning" them a coffee can of water.
Just back from the garden and today's haul is:
A few cherry tomatoes (first of the season!!)
A few bulbs of garlic which will be drying in the garage for a while.
And, more zucchini

BP

ERG... Anyone else having Japanese Beetle 'issues'.... My grape vines are 75% gone... They are having an orgy out there... At least 100 critters.

Just back from the garden and today's haul is:
A few cherry tomatoes (first of the season!!)
A few bulbs of garlic which will be drying in the garage for a while.
And, more zucchini

BP

Okay, Bill- stop rubbing it in!...

So far I have harvested 9 basil leaves from my garden...and I'm on my third basil plant, on the upside one of the basil plants looks like it will make a comeback and I haven't killed the mint or rosemary yet.

Can't grow flowers, so I turned the flower bed under the front window into an herb garden. The drainage is terrible due to a downspout in the area. Basically, everything in the bed died last year. So, I started from scratch in the Spring.

A few months ago, I dug a trench down to the foundation/slab (about 10"). Laid a 4" PVC pipe in the trench with drainage holes drilled into the bottom side. Put it in at a slight angle. Dug a "dry well" at the lowest end of the drain pipe and filled it with large gravel. Filled the trench and topped the whole thing off with bagged garden soil.

In mid-May, I picked up all new herb plants (parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, oregano and basil) and set them in my newly overhauled bed. Two months later, everything's growing fine. No more soggy roots. Added several feet of lettuce along the perimeter, which we've enjoyed regularly for the past month or so.

The bay tree is growing like gang busters this year. Trimmed it back seriously last Winter before bringing it inside and it's doubled in height since early May when I put it back on the patio.

harvested the first dozen or so of about 50 garlic plants. yeah!

So far I have harvested 9 basil leaves from my garden...and I'm on my third basil plant, on the upside one of the basil plants looks like it will make a comeback and I haven't killed the mint or rosemary yet.

Madeline,

I've grown basil for years, but had bad years the past several. You may want to try moving your one remaing plant- basil likes it dryish and not much competion from other plants. I planted 3 in a pot on my deck and 3 in my vegetable bed this year. The one's in the pot ( getting slightly dried out) are doing great , the one's in my raised bed are struggling.

Deb

Freshly harvested rosemary, oregano and dill...the kitchen smells great.

Having ran out of ideas of what to do with the Red Savina Habaneros I grew... a couple of weeks ago I canned some baby carrots and threw 3 or 4 sliced up Red Savina's in each jar. Popped the first lid last night and OM-freaking-G are those babies good. If you like a nice little crunchy vinegary "pop" to go along with your endorphin rush, these carrots are the way to go.