Criminal Investigation

While enjoying a stroll through my garden, I stopped in my tracks when I saw...

THE EVIDENCE

(that a crime had been committed)

I franticly started searching for....

THE VICTIM

(beautiful tomato leaves cut short in the prime of their life)

So the hunt began. I knew the dark pellets that looked like tiny grenades were left behind by none other than "The Evil Tomato Hookworm." I searched and searched and stopped only to capture....

A CRIMINAL ON THE MOST WANTED LIST

(THE ARMYWORM)

Back to the hunt. Finally...

CAUGHT IN THE ACT

(Tomato Hookworm aka Hornworm)

The criminal was quickly apprehended, found guilty, and sentenced to...

DEATH BY TENNIS SHOE

(aka "The Victory Dance")

Hope this wasn't too boring. I hate most worms in my garden. Join other gardeners at the TUESDAY GARDEN PARTY and  OH, HOW MY GARDEN GROWS!

Blessings,

Debbie

Harvest Monday 07/19/10 Ups and Downs

Each week I enjoy checking out the Monday Harvest on Daphne's blog. So hop on over and check out what others are harvesting in their garden.

This past week I drove many miles making two round trips to Nashville and one to Mobile. This week I hope to spend very little time in the car.

My harvest totals this week was 38 oz.

Okra                  7.5  oz        Count 11                    

Tomatoes       19.75 oz       Count 32 Cherry, 3 Early Girl, 5 Roma

Bell Peppers   10.75 oz       Count 3 Big Bertha, 1 Red

Blog will be short today. I need to take my new laptop to see the Geek Squad. Problems with blue screen of death and the video adapter. (sigh)

My UP... I have been watching this red pepper anticipating picking my first ever RED bell pepper.

My DOWN... when I picked it and turned it around to inspect it, I found this unpleasant surprise...

Such sadness... but I have others that are starting to turn red and, hopefully, they will be without blemish.

Blessings,

Debbie

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas... well... sort of...


Look my green peppers are starting to turn red! Yippee!!

Busy day but wanted to share my excitement!!


Blessings,


Debbie

Do Frogs Eat Aphids

I found another frog sitting on an okra leaf as if he had found a giant lily pad. I searched the net and can you believe that some people grow aphids to feed to frogs!! I sure hope that all the frogs that I am seeing in the garden will keep the aphids out!!!

The cantaloupe has reached the top of the trellis. I find myself looking at it and thinking... REACH FOR THE SKY!!

Check out the Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage and Oh, How My Garden Grows!

Blessings,

Debbie

     

Harvest Monday 07/12/10 One hundred and Still Going Strong

I am about to hit the road again. I traveled to Nashville yesterday to bring my daughter and 2 friends to Camp Electric, a music camp where they get to spend a week under the instruction of musicians who play for some of the top names in the Christian music industry. She plays keyboard and looks forward to learning much and having lots of fun.


I harvested tomatoes and okra this week. (15.75 ounces) My major event this week was harvesting 49 cherry tomatoes from the Energizer Bunny mystery tomato plant. This bring my total this year for this plant to 102 +. I missed some in the count because my 10yo son loves to eat them straight out of the garden and I don't always know how many he eats. (smile) The plant is still going strong and I expect to get at least 100 more from the plant. I have rooted several suckers from the plant and noticed that one of the suckers is just starting to produce fruit and the other is full of flowers. YIPPEE!!!

Well... I need to close down this computer and get on the road. Check out all the harvest events at Daphne's Harvest Monday.


Blessings,


Debbie

I LOVE SURPRISES!

 I love surprises!! Well... good surprises!!! I have been away from my computer for a few days and I was sad to miss Monday Harvest,  Oh, How My Garden Grows, and the Tuesday Garden Party. We were out of town for Independence Day and then I needed to make an unplanned trip out of town and left Monday afternoon and returned Wednesday afternoon. Needless to say, I was eager to get to my garden. A very special lady (my precious mother-in-love) arrived at the house for a visit about the same time I arrived home yesterday. Since she loves plants as much as I do and since we both needed to stretch our legs after driving, we eagerly headed out to the garden. I was excited to harvest 29 cherry tomatoes from the Energizer Bunny bush. I also harvested 5 okra pods. But my biggest delight was my find while showing my MIL the cantaloupe growing on the trellis. I showed her the one that I have eagerly been watching and blogging about. I told her that I was surprised to have only 1 "big" melon growing but I was glad to have smaller ones growing, too. As I was moving the leaves around to show her the trellis, I FOUND THIS SURPRISE . . .

And, yes, I shook my head and blinked my eyes a few times to make sure I wasn't seeing things! This guy is bigger than the other one. It is about the size of a softball or grapefruit. Yippee!!! I don't know HOW I missed this one. (It is located on the back side of the trellis on the fence side.) I will definitely be in the store today to get the pantyhose to sling the two cantaloupes. Thanks, EG, for your education on slinging melons on a trellis.


Blessings,


Debbie

         

What's Going On?

I know I am overwhelming some of you. Three posts in one day!! But there seems to be so much going on in the garden. If you have been reading my blog, you know that we received lots of rain Tuesday and Wednesday. Well as I strolled through the garden this morning, I found some amusing as well as disturbing discoveries in my garden. I am hoping that someone can help me solve a mystery or two!!

First I know we have received lots of rain especially after a long dry spell but this little guy has confused my okra with a lilly pad. (smile) He's so cute!!

Next stop, these guys grew overnight under my cantaloupe.

Found another worm today. I was really bummed. Two more tomatoes are now gone...................... (big sigh!)

Now.... What is going on with my pepper plants and this tomato plants? Yesterday these plants looked great! Today the leaves are all droopy. I know it isn't the heat because right now it is very pleasant outside. Nothing like the upper 90s we had last week. Does anyone have wisdom for me? Words of encouragement? Trying not to panic.

I hope all of you are having a wonderful Friday!

Blessings,

Debbie

Little Pleasures

I love to slow down in my garden and enjoy the little pleasures. This is some of my cantaloupe vines. It looks like they are holding hands and trying to stretch to reach out and connect hands with another!!

One of the cantaloupes growing on the trellis.

Can you imagine how long this Big Bertha bell pepper

would be if it had grown straight?

I love the okra flowers.

Here are some of the marigolds in my garden.

Debbie

This blog is linked to Fertilizer Friday/Flaunt Your Flowers hosted each Friday by Tootsie!

It Rained and Rained Some More!

Well, Tuesday we received a good rain. Wednesday morning I woke to a nice soft relaxing rain that stopped about noon. Then... around 5:00 it started to rain again VERY HARD AND HEAVY!! Soon there were tiny rivers flowing everywhere. I wish that I had thought to get a picture of the little river that flowed through my backyard. I had been potting plants on the back deck and had used the wheelbarrow to haul bags of potting soil over to the deck. Well, typical for me, my day was busy and I forgot about the wheelbarrow. Here is a picture of the wheelbarrow and all the water that was collected in a period of about 28 hours.

When I went out to the garden yesterday morning, I thought it would be just a quick visit to harvest a few veggies since I didn't need to water the plants. WRONG!!! I am not sure if it was because of all the rain but I found caterpillars everywhere. I lost count of how many that I killed on the tomato plants. I was not happy.

 I discovered something strange. On the tomatoes that were turning red, the caterpillars only ate the outer layer of the tomato. It look like someone had "peeled" the tomato.

With the green tomatoes, the caterpillar went deep and made a hole in the tomato. Maybe someone who knows more about the habits of caterpillars can explain this to me!! Look at this guy. He is was working hard!!

I also decided to pull up the pole green beans. Something was eating them and they just didn't look healthy. They had flowers and tiny beans but they just weren't growing. So out of the garden they went!! As I was cleaning, I found a few of these little green worms.

Hopefully today, I will be planting these little guys - Jack Be Littles. My kids love to use these to decorate the front porch for fall. Pumpkins are a first in my garden!!

I hope all of your gardens are going strong!!

Blessings,

Debbie