Figs

We have a fig tree in the back yard. It is very large and was planted long before we came here. For the past five years, we have never paid any attention to the fruit. This year we decided to pay attention to it. I guess its a good thing we did!









Abundance! I really do not know what to do with all of these, but I have been told you can make sauces and preserves from them. They taste delicious! I will be having them for breakfast! The inside is pink and sweet. I will be doing research to see what we can do with them. There are hundreds more that will be ripe in the coming weeks. WOW!

A Good Garden

This years garden is a good garden. Plenty of yellow squash so far. Even the unintended cucumber is putting out. The tomatoes are bountiful. The eggplant is delicious! The poor little pepper that once this year looked as if it were on the brink of death with only 3 yellow leaves has now produced 6 banana peppers. The poblano pepper is finally producing peppers. A little about the eggplant. I have two kinds. One is a Japanese eggplant, which is right now, as I write...producing a beautiful eggplant. There have been some very small black bugs on it and I believe they are eating tiny holes in the leaves, but they do not seem to be killing the plants. I will try Safer on them also.



The Japanese eggplant has a longer, thinner fruit. The one commonly seen in the grocery store is a different variety and I believe that it is called "Black Beauty". It gets wider and fatter. I have two of those who, during the flood looked pretty peaked and I thought they would surely die. Now they are healthy and about to produce. These plants have been easy to care for and have required nothing more than watering and some compost piled around the bottom. They have flourished. They grow new leaves daily and produce beautiful purple flowers. So my rating for eggplant is EASY. Try some! (We are in zone 7).



This is the black beauty. I noticed that its stem was not purple like the other. Interesting. It has done surprisingly well considering I put it out as a seedling that looked thin and frail, almost as thin as an alfalfa sprout. Look how gorgeous!



I got a Japanese eggplant off the plant the other day and made an eggplant casserole.
It was a small one...and I ate the whole thing. It has butter, breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese mixed thoroughly with the eggplant after it has been boiled until soft and then mashed. Other ways to cook it are frying it, and of course the much loved eggplant parmesan.

UPDATE: On the squash bug. I was looking through the leaves of the cucumber today and saw the squash bug I sprayed with Safer lying dead on top of the leaf. So YES! Safer does indeed kill squash bugs.

Bugs, Bugs, Bugs

Lets play find the squash bug. Uhggggg. I am not very excited about giving my vegetable plants to the bugs.





We have squash bugs! And striped Cucumber beetles. And spotted Cucumber beetles. Oh no!
And two other kinds of bugs that I have no idea what they are. One resembles and aphid in its behavior. It is eating the Okra. It is a lot bigger than the green aphids I see on the lawn and it is brown. It hides along side of the stem like an aphid and slides out of sight when you try to look at it. The other looks like a praying mantis, kind of...except brown/black with spikey looking things on its legs. But the basic shape of a praying mantis. The ones I saw were small...about half inch long. I don't want to use poison! I am really trying to find a way to get rid of these guys without it! I get lots of great advice from my parents who are master gardeners...and they said have the poison ready! I am so reluctant about it, I don't have any poison on hand. Sadly, you cannot "share" with the bugs, because they insist on killing the entire plant by sucking the life out it at the base and roots of the vine. So some of the Cucumber vine still looks good, but I guess it is only a matter of time til they get that too.

I did look up organic ways to kill squash bugs and there are some pretty good ideas there. Even in a backyard garden, pests are a problem. I have been spraying directly onto the bugs with a product called Safer when I see them.



They don't seem to like it...but I am not sure that they die. I watch and go away a while and come back and they are still in the same spot looking like they are not feeling well. I think my Cucumber vine is going to die because of them. The leaves are slowly turning brown, the vines yellow and rotting right off the vine. I am not seeing them on the squash, but I am sure it's probably next. The leaves of the Cucumber are looking worse and worse each day.



I read that Nasturtium repels them, so I planted some nearby. I am not sure how close they would need to be to work or if they need to be flowering. My Nasturtiums are not growing very well. I think I will look for another type for next year and try and plant more of them! I will keep you posted if I find something that works well. I know bugs are a BIG problem this year, and one that lots of gardeners face judging by the message boards. There is a general feeling that it could be due to the weather (LOTS of water) this year. Lets hope we can get at least some of our veggies before they do!

Homegrown Tomatoes

There is no tomato in the grocery store that tastes like a homegrown tomato. Tomatoes can be grown in a bucket or in the ground and even upside down. We grew most of our tomatoes from seed. We used two varieties, one called Al Kuffa and one called Beefsteak. We also bought one called Parker's wonder, and oh boy is it a wonder! The plant is probably close to 6 feet tall. We also bought two grape tomato plants. Our cages were not large enough for the heavy and gangly growth, so we had to stake them also. We have two rows of tomatoes with some flowers and eggplant and peppers growing in between some. I am very pleased withe the flowers. They are called Cosmos. They grew quickly and have lush green foliage and flame orange flowers in varying shades. They look absolutely gorgeous! Each of our plants has several tomatoes on it and we are just waiting for them to turn with our mouths watering. We have gotten maybe 30 grape tomatoes off already. They have been ripped from the ground completely twice from terrible winds and storms earlier this year. After the lightning went away we went out with a flashlight and put them all back in the ground the first time. Two days later it stormed again and they were ripped out again. This time we tied them all to stakes. I am amazed at their hardiness. We have covered their roots with a rich compost and applied fish emulsion twice. They seem to be doing quite well at the moment.









If you have a lot of tomatoes, here in the South we enjoy fried green tomatoes.

Slice a few green tomatoes. Dredge them in beaten egg mixed with a little milk and then in cornmeal (you can also use flour or or a flour and cornmeal mixture) seasoned with salt and pepper. Fry them over medium high heat until golden brown, turning often. Serve with homemade ranch dressing or prepared horseradish sauce.
A Southern delicacy!

Gardening In Urban Areas (lessons on yellow squash)

Gardening in urban areas can be a challenge. Space limitation is one of the greatest obstacles. BUT, if you have a flower bed, a back yard, a side yard or even a patio...you can grow yourself some food! My husband and I have been working on our gardening skills for about 4 years. He gardened with his mother as a child, and I was new to gardening. The first time we grew tomatoes at our house 4 years ago I was thrilled. They got about 5 and a half feet tall and were covered with whiteflies, but we got so many tomatoes from them, I was AMAZED! Next we grew a garden and included squash and cucumber, eggplant and okra. Our garden was lovely, but it was flooded by our neighbors swimming pool overflow and it died. We were so disappointed that for the next two years we did not even think of planting a garden.

But I guess we have garden fever because we are back at it again. I am going to briefly go over what we have done this year. I consider this garden, so far...(knock on wood!) to be successful! A full 6 hour sun spot is difficult to find in our yard, but we located the best areas and dug up our grass and planted. We tilled up some patches and added some compost we bought at the nursury. In some areas we attempted a type of garden called lasagna gardening...another word for sheet composting. So we have two rectangular patches that were sheet composted with peat moss, newspaper, crushed leaves, wood ash, a manure store bought soil and compost. Two other spots are just tilled soil with added compost. Here is a box my husband made. It has three sections. It's a bit small for what we have in here, but we are learning! You would be surprised at how large a squash plant can grow. When this was planted as a seed, the seedling was tiny and it looked like there would be plenty of room! Nope! But for now, it is getting along fine. In the squash section, there are three squash plants. One was grown from seed directly in the box. The two others were transplanted from another area where they sprouted but were too close together. Here, they are also too close together, but seem to be doing ok. NOTE: It is best not to plant cucumber around other plants. Cucumber likes to climb and sends out twines to attach to any and everything around it. It will squeeze the life out of anything it is close to if you let it. In the second section of this box were supposed to be 4 okra plants. One was cucumber that I was unaware of. Soon, the cucumber was growing four times the size of the others and we could see that it was not looking like an okra plant. You can see the cucumber vine peeking out under the squash leaves. It is running all over the small trellis I gave it and out into the lawn. The third section is Lima beans which you cannot see in this picture and we can talk about those another day.

It is hot and dry here lately, so I water in the evening with a sprinkler about every two days for 2 hours. I have put two applications of fish emulsion on the plants. The only pesticide I have used is Safer which is a soap. I spray it directly on the bugs when I see them. The box was made of fencing found thrown away on the side of the road (my husbands GREAT idea!). As you can see, you can grow a decent amount of food in a pretty small area. I think these plants are so beautiful that they would look great in a flower bed. Why waste a spot growing ornamentals when you can grow something beautiful and eat it? The brilliant lemon yellow flowers are about 3-4 inches long and wide when opened. The leaves are large and lush. Be sure to give it plenty of room to spread out. It needs full sun for at least 6 hours a day and plenty of water.



These are male flowers. They are supposed to be very good to eat, but I have not eaten any yet. Notice their stems are slim. A female flower will have a thick bulb-like base (the future squash fruit) and you shouldn't pick those blossoms.



Yellow squash bounty



My favorite way to enjoy yellow crook neck or straight neck squash:

Slice squash into quarter inch circle slices. Slice a sweet vidalia onion. Prepare a large skillet by melting butter in it. Use as much as you like. I use a stick of butter per 4-5 pieces of large squash. I put the squash and onion in the pan with melted butter, sprinkle with a little sea salt and black pepper, put the lid on and let simmer on medium low until the squash is tender. (about 35-40 minutes) You can taste the squash at various stages of doneness for your preference. Some people like vegetables a little crunchy and some like them mushy. Taste here and there to find your preference and adjust the cooking time.