Buying an edible cantaloupe is like playing the lottery, only with worse odds. I had just about given up any hope in purchasing a tasty cantaloupe this year, no matter the store. I think they all buy them from the same farm in Mexico where they toss out any ripe, juicy cantaloupes and put only the half green, hard-as-bricks and totally tasteless ‘lopes on the trucks. But lo’ and … [Read more...]
Leaf Me Alone
They’re out there and they are falling. Leaves. What do we do with them? When I was a boy, Daddy would rake them to the edge of the curb and burn them. So did everybody else. October in Lewisburg carried the enchanting smell of burning leaves for much of the month. The question today is what to do with leaves. Namely, do you put them in a backyard garden – assuming you have a … [Read more...]
Okra: My Cash Crop
I have often said that a backyard garden is usually not very economical. Once you calculate the cost of the seeds, fertilizer, manure, garden tools, water costs, fencing and various garden gizmos – you’d do better just going to the store or a farmer’s market and buying all your vegetables. The saving grace of a backyard garden is the freshness and the unrivaled taste of a just-picked … [Read more...]
The Little Cuke Who Could
Burpless 26. If you are a backyard gardener, remember that name. It’s the damnedest cucumber there is. Prolific, sweet and tender. Last spring I was at the Corner Garden Store at Ruckersville and said I wanted to plant some long cucumbers, like English cucumbers. Their knowledgeable staff recommended a product call Burpless 26. I put four in the ground in Early May, but rabbits (I … [Read more...]
Cherry Tomatoes: Better Late Than Never
I have four healthy cherry tomato vines and fully anticipated I would be plucking the tender beauties throughout the summer for garden salads. But the cherry tomatoes had other ideas. I have had very few to date, but in the next few weeks I will have them in spades. The vines are dragging the ground, they are so loaded. I don’t know why the cherry and grape tomatoes wait until so late … [Read more...]
Tomato Hornworms: A Gardener’s Worst Nightmare
Pity the backyard gardener. If the deer don’t get you, the rabbits will. And if they leave you alone, the squirrels bite and dig up everything. Then there is too much or too little rain or stink bugs or Japanese beetles. In Chuck Strauss’s case, it’s a tomato hornworm. Chuck said that one day, the leaves were completely gone from two of his tomato plants. He thought at first it was deer, … [Read more...]
Hybrid English Cucumbers
This spring I planted four hybrid cucumber vines I bought from the Corner Store Garden Center in Ruckersville. They are Sweet Success Hybrid Cucumbers which grow and resemble English cucumbers – long and straight. The damned rabbits nearly mowed down three on my young plants before I could put netting over them, but one vine is doing great and the others are making a comeback. About a week ago, … [Read more...]
The First Tomato
With bated breath I await that first tomato from my garden. Currently, all our tomato vines are prospering. Nancy’s little cage and above-ground potted plants on the patio looks like a tomato jungle with lush vines and lots of small to medium size green tomatoes. My tomatoes in the ground garden also look healthy. This year I planted one cherry tomato plant for salads, and I had one volunteer … [Read more...]
Even More About Creasy Greens
Great news on the creasy greens front. We have tiny sprouts in our creasy greens patch. To make a short story really long, let me update the one reader out there who may not be aware of my discovery of creasy greens. It all started when my wife Nancy gave me a pack of creasy green seeds, which her cousin had given her because of family memories of Mom-ma and Uncle William picking … [Read more...]
Sprouting Seeds
I’d like to say that I am an excellent backyard gardener. I’d like to say that, but it wouldn’t be true. Sometimes the stuff I plant grows, and sometimes it doesn’t. One of the problems I’ve always had – because my soil is very claylike – is simply getting the seeds to sprout. The poor things find themselves under a big clod of clay and can’t make it through the soil. This year, … [Read more...]
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