Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Things I Got Done and Things I Didn't

I meant to spray my tomatoes and peppers but somehow that just didn't happen. I went out in the morning to pick. The chamomile came first. I had tons, but the plants were looking a little ratty, so I decided to cut them back by about half.

Then I went over to the fava beans. They all looked ready, but I couldn't get to some of them. I decided pulling them up would make my life easier. But then look what I found on the backs of so many leaves.

Ladybug eggs. And there were a lot of larvae hidden in there. And a lot of ladybugs. My aphid forest had really brought them out. The ladybugs were easy since they would just fly away to another plant. The larvae I searched for and put in my tomatoes. The leaves that had eggs were scattered all around the garden. There were probably 20 bunches of eggs that I found. And probably more that I didn't. I felt so bad because I knew I had destroyed a lot that I didn't see. And I saw egg casings that had hatched, but not nearly enough larvae. I'm sure some of those got composted too. I even saw a solitary lacewing egg and an adult in the foliage.

Now I have a spot to plant up. I think more carrots are in order. I need a lot more carrots to make me happy this fall. Hmm maybe some more cilantro too. Though I might have enough space in the far end of this bed for that.

Heinz is setting a lot of tomatoes.

Before spraying the tomatoes and peppers, I had to open up my tomato plants and get all the diseased foliage off. I only succeeded in doing eight of the plants. I'll do the other nine in the front of that bed tomorrow.

I did however get the extensions put on the cages that needed it. Soon some of them will be too tall for me to reach. I really need a garden stool that I can use to sit on too. I've been taking my old small cooler out to sit on. It works, but I can't stand on it. It is too tippy.

By 9:30am it had hit 85F degrees so I was chased inside the house. I'm a real heat wimp and we are in the middle of a heat wave right now. Heat waves in Boston are designated as three days over 90F in a row. This will be our third today. And it will be our eighth day above 90F for the year. Which is more frequent than normal. I so hate hot summers.

So I didn't finish the tomatoes. And I didn't spray. I didn't finish weeding. But there is always tomorrow.

13 comments:

  1. Wow the Heinz have a lot of tomatoes! Were you going to spray the tomatoes with fish emulsion?

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  2. I'm also finding myself to be a wimpy gardener, as the 90s hit right after the 60s. It always does that, rather than easing into summer. I go out for 10-15 minutes, then have to come back in to cool off. It's supposed to drop to mid-80s tomorrow & Friday. I hope so, I have beans to pick!

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  3. I can only dream about the nineties. We are usually around 105-115 this time of year. Yuck!! Gardening in Vegas is crazy!!!
    The last few days we have had thunder storms so It has been in the high nineties with humidity, better than 110 with humidity any day.

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  4. We're all about the carrots too. Unfortunately we planted our first carrots late. I just harvested our first carrot today. We also seeded a new row last week. They've just started coming up now.

    We always love your posts. Now I know what ladybug larvae looks like. Thanks.

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  5. I've decided that tomorrow will be my gardening day. I've had off from work all week but have been to lazy to work under the heat and humidity. Hopefully tomorrow won't be so bad.

    Planting more carrots is at the top of my list of things to do too.

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  6. Never can have too many carrots. :D

    You may not have gotten everything on the list done - but slow and steady wins the race.

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  7. I do not understand how you all deal with the heat. I'm a complete heat wimp,even in dry areas. Still it seems as though you did an awful lot!

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  8. We work outside early in the day, then escape to the "great indoors" for siesta in the hot afternoon.
    But yeah, hot weather is the pits!

    Hooray for carrots. I'm having poor germination this year, perhaps a bad batch of seeds, but even if they were all viable, there is NEVER ENOUGH CARROTS!
    :)

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  9. You're lucky to be able to grow carrots! I am always plagued by carrot root fly, and despite all my efforts to deter them I have never really had a viable crop. This year I am only growing a few in some containers, which I have positioned high up, above the height at which the flies fly (allegedly). I like the supports you are using for the tomatoes. Do they come in stackable sections then, so that you can build them as high as you need?

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  10. WOW! Look at all of those tomatoes. Fantastic!

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  11. I can't stand the heat either. Boy it looks like we are going to have one hot summer! Yesterday I went to the plots at 7AM, it was overcast until I left at 11 and I was soak and wet within one hour!

    It was good that you found all of those eggs.

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  12. More more carrots :). We never grow them enough. It is interesting to see your ladybugs are different colour and spot than the ones living at our place.

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  13. Vanessa, no I'm going to spray them with Serenade. It is a bacteria that controls fungus and other bacteria.

    Granny, I wish I had beans to pick. They are starting and every day I keep watching them.

    Peggi, that is why I live up here in the north. I hate air conditioning, and much prefer the breezes blowing through my house. But I can't do that on days in the 90s.

    Jody, I planted mine at the normal time and the first are ready just about now.

    Thomas, I get up at 6zm so I'm out the door then. Usually I'm back in the house before 10am. That is how I deal with the heat. Part of my garden has morning shade too, so I deal with the part that doesn't first then move to the parts with shade.

    Laura, yes. Sadly I'm not getting my spraying done today either. Ah well. Eventually.

    Stefaneener, I don't deal with it. I come inside into the air conditioning when it is in the 90s. I have central air, but I usually leave it off when it is in the 80s. Usually. We usually get a good breeze that flows through the house all day so if the breeze is there I can take it. Otherwise not.

    Sue, germination at this time of the year is really hard. It is so much easier in the spring.

    Mark, I've had root fly at my last house, but not in bad numbers. I'd say it effected about 10% of the crop. And many times I could cut part of it away and still eat most of the carrot. I don't know what this house will be like, but the carrots pulled so far are all fly free. As for the tomato cages. Sort of. The bottom, middle, and optionally bought top are all different. I thought they should have designed it so the middle and top were all the same and the bottom was the only different one. But the three sections are high enough that I'll need a stool to harvest anything and I'll be reaching then.

    Ribbit, Heinz is a weird little tomato plant. It sets a ton of fruit, mostly all at once. Then it dies as they ripen. It sets more than it can survive ripening I think. But since it is a paste tomato and a determinant, I'm ok with that. I get all my tomatoes at once to make into sauce.

    Robin, I'm cringing thinking about the summer heat, but hopefully things will turn a bit cooler and wetter for us soon.

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