I love that within a few months, our garden grew from this
to this.
It's so crazy to me how huge everything gets! This year, we planted several boxes of tomatoes, several varieties of squash, peppers, cucumbers, herbs, strawberries, and corn (outside of the boxes). All of my herbs are doing really well and the corn seems to be growing well also.
The tomatoes are growing aplenty and look gorgeous and juicy from afar, but on some of the plants the bottom side of each tomato awards you a nice surprise.
The squash plants have been attacked by stink bugs, who have decided to nest and lay eggs all over our leaves.
Soooo, while I absolutely love to watch everything grow and see the literal fruits of our labor ripen, I am getting so frustrated! We went on a bug killing spree last weekend, and while the Sevin spray seemed to steer the hoard of earwigs away from the plants, apparently we didn't do a good enough job of killing the stink bugs individually as we found them. We had to cut off several of our squash leaves since they were literally covered in eggs but apparently we didn't get them all because after about a week of no disturbance, we have discovered fresh eggs again. Any suggestions? I keep squishing, but they keep a'comin back for more!
I am happy to admit that my thumb is the farthest possible from green in color, but I do want to learn to grow a successful and yummy garden. Please comment with any and all tips you may have!
On the bright side, my little Trav sure loves picking his cherry tomatoes, red or green.
How are your gardens doing?
~PW
I would call Dad Dan and pick his brain. He seems to be quite the pro in the garden department. He will give you some great advice on products to buy and things to try. Good luck!!! Your garden boxes look amazing. I am so jealous of all the space you have.
ReplyDeleteI have the same problem with stink bugs...hate the little buggers! I've had to be out spraying every other day practically to keep their numbers down and prevent them from laying eggs. They especially love to eat the plant at the base of the stock so I tip it up and make sure I kill as many as I can. I use the liquid spray instead of the powder. As for the tomatoes, check the Burpee website. It seems like I saw some type of additive there to prevent end rot, which I think is what you have.
ReplyDeleteI had the same problem with my tomatoes last year. It is called blossom end rot and the most common cause is irregular watering. Our first round of tomatoes had the blossom end rot but it didn't last long and once we were on a more regular watering cycle, we never had the end rot again. Good luck!
ReplyDelete@Jessica thanks so much, Jessica! I think we have been overwatering. I recently learned that it's best to only water the veggies every other or even every third day and water them really well on those days. I guess I'll see if that alteration makes a difference. I appreciate your advice and comment!
ReplyDeleteJen
What you should do is take a picture of your plant every day then put all the pictures together a couple months later. When you do this you will get to see your plant going from a little tiny thing into a big plant with big juicy tomatoes.
ReplyDelete-Zane of ontario honey