No Bugs, just Slugs

Whew, it has been hot hot hot this past week. I feel like I'm on the deck of a Carribean cruise ship with the bongo band, "Hot hot hot!"

We've had a sprinkle or two w/ the thunderstorms, but I've had to water the garden about every other day. The plants, in general, are not as robust this year. I do have some fruit on the vine, though, so I can't complain too much!

My pepper plants are TINY, yet they have peppers growing (albeit one at a time!) to maturity. Kind of like babies having babies. Wonder if there's a teenage pregnancy center for garden plants?

I plucked a DingWall Scotty (tomato) today - - about as big as a golf ball, very light red in color. Not sure if it was ripe, but it seemed to want to come inside.

My squash plants are in TROUBLE. I began to suspect late last week that something was gnawing on their roots, as they seemed to be perishing from the roots up. This morning I spotted a SLUG making its way over to the squash. I grabbed a sturdy leaf and hurried over. (HA! Just kidding. I sauntered over and still beat the sorry creature.)

I carefully put the slug on the leaf, then balanced him gently over to the driveway, where I placed him in the soothing shade of the tire of my husband's pick up truck. Right where he'd get squashed. (Seemed appropriate, given the condition of my squash.)

I know, I know, God's little creature, right? Whatev. I'm thinking God created the slug when He was peeved at Eve.

So that's what happening in the garden. Stay cool.

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Is it June already?

Wow, end of the school year festivities, chaperoning the Choralier trip, graduation, etc. have left me little time for the garden. Thank goodness we've had lots of rain. Everything has survived my neglect!

I went out early this morning, and found that while we were involved in graduation festivites, the garden was having a festival of its own. Weeds were rampant, and some of the tomato plants were growing in rather unruly fashion. It was definitely time to cage 'em up - - actually I think it was time about a MONTH ago. It was a bit of a struggle putting the wire cages over the plants to stake them up. Kind of like putting a snow suit on a wiggly toddler. Unfortunately, I broke a couple of fruitful branches trying to set the wire around the plants.

I've picked a couple of yellow cherry tomatoes so far (from the Lowe's hybrid plant . . . ) Several of the heirlooms have fruit growing now, while others are pretty bare. I'm going to take inventory tomorrow morning. Stay tuned!

Deer? Oh, Dear!

The garden is growing quite nicely, and nothing has died at this point!! I was a bit concerned about the Marizold Red tomato plant - - it yellowed shortly after planting. I think it just had an upset tummy, though, from a little too much compost. You gotta watch those young 'uns when they've just left the greenhouse . . . they are prone to overindulge.

Meanwhile, the deer have been feasting over at my Mama's garden (just around the corner from me), so I've taken precautions. When we planted, both Mama and I bought deer repellent kits from Lowe's - - little canisters that see on top of a wire post (see photo). The repellent is supposed to last ALL season, and contain a scent that is not detectable to humans, but deer find it quite frightening. Guess my mama has brave deer.

She strung up some pie plates in her garden to beef up the security. (I dunno about you, but I can't figure out why deer would be skeered of pie.)

I've been encouraging my dog to "mark" around the garden. He isn't always cooperative, and doesn't understand that I don't want him to whiz ON the tomato plants, just NEAR them. So I enlisted my husband and son. I figured that Jimmy (my son) used to go in the yard all the time when he was younger . . . so why not now? Ah, life in the country. Fighting deer with my dears.

Stay tuned for more facinating progress in the garden! For more blogs, check out Lake Wylie Living blogs on The Lake Wylie Man.

And It Begins - Garden 2010

I got a call from The Tomato Man on Saturday, and the word was: It's time to plant! I headed over to his half acre farm - - it's a town farm - - and found him and a teen aged helper digging in the dirt. By the end of the day, he'd have a couple hundred tomatoes in the ground.




My aspirations were much more modest - - I asked for twelve plants, well behaved and prolific, if you please. I don't want a repeat of '08, when I had the most beautiful plants of all time, and like, three tomatoes the entire season.

We stepped into Phil's 4'x8' greenhouse, filled to the rafters with eighty (80!!) varieties of heirloom and specialty hybrid plants. Phil raises these youngsters first in his kitchen, then moves to the greenhouse once weather permits. He rotates them religiously, up and down the shelves, to the front, to the back, checking their progress several times a day.

Phil carefully selected a dozen plants for me, explaining the characteristics of each as he placed them in a box. "This one dates back to Thomas Jefferson," he'd say. Not sure what that means to me and my BLT, except I might be eating the same salad as a signer of the Declaration of Independence, which is pretty darn cool in my book.

At the end of my visit, I went home with a Great White (big & white, just like the name), a Brandy Glick (some sort of Bradywine variety), an "Earl of Edgecomb" (a particularly flavorful orange heirloom), a "Ferris Wheel" (looks like a ferris wheel when you cut into it!), a "Marizold Red" (Phil had never tried, but said you couldn't go wrong with a Marizold family heirloom), a "Ding Wall Scotty" (a mid-sized red that grows in clusters), a "Pineapple Fog" (hybrid mixing a Pineapple yellow tomato and a San Francisco Fog), a "Mule Team" (like a work horse, keeps on producing and producing!!), and a Limmony (light yellow in color).

Twenty-four hours later, after my sweet husband plowed up my garden, I had the tomatoes plus a few assorted peppers buried up to their little necks in my garden, wondering what happened to the Holiday Greenhouse Spa and Resort. I planted them just as the Tomato Man Phil instructed me last year - - deep hole, a shovel full of organic compost, about a gallon of water, then plant the tomato up to its neck, burying a good 2/3 of the vine and leaves. I won't have to water for about a week.

I've checked on my garden each evening after working all day with the Lake Wylie real estate man, David Coone. With this warm weather, we're staying quite busy! Check on my other blogs about Lake Wylie waterfront and living in Lake Wylie on TheLakeWylieMan.com. Have a glorious day!

Visiting the Mater Man

As the growing season comes to a close, I paid a visit to Phil (a.k.a. the "Mater Man"), who supplied me with the heirloom tomato plants this summer. I got to see his greenhouse, where my little plants were born, and got to visit with all of my tomatoes' relatives in Phil's garden. Phil and his wife showed me their composter, and I was duly impressed!

By the way - - the picture to the left is a picture of SOME of Phil's harvest . . . just a bit more bountiful than mine, I'd say. Must be something to that composting!!

I also got to see some of Phil's pottery collection - - turns out he's a collector & trader of antique Edgefield Stoneware, pots made by Dave the Slave, and rare Catawba Valley pottery. Quite a fun & enlightening visit!

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day!

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Bountiful Harvest

Labor Day weekend, and the garden has ceased its labors. I took advantage of the recent rains and damp ground to pull up tomato vines, pepper plants, and other garden fauna that has stopped producing.

I did enjoy what little tomato crop I had this year (I think a total of 10 full sized tomatoes.) While I was disappointed in the amount of fruit produced by my 8, count 'em 8, heirloom tomato plants, I fully enjoyed the tomatoes that I did harvest!

The Kellogg's Breakfast (orange in color) were by far my favorite. Sweet, low acidity, and absolutely delicious! I think I had one Paul Robeson - - a purplish, black tomato with a rich flavor. The Giant Delicious were a Giant Disappointment with zero tomatoes produced. The plant looked gorgeous, however! Omar's Lebanese was also a no-show.

I did have about a gazillion little yellow cherry tomatoes from a plant I never identified (its name was illegible). They were lots of fun, and I even had enough to share a few. Next year, I've been told to add phosphorous to the soil. I'll give it a whirl, but I think I'm going to throw in a few "Better Boys" for good measure. Maybe they won't be as tempermental!

Happy Harvest!

Thanks for reading my blog! For Lake Wylie, Rock Hill, Fort Mill, and Tega Cay Events and Activities, please visit my website, TheLakeWylieMan.com. Your source for Lake Wylie waterfront real estate and more!

There's always August

I was walking down the drive after retrieving the mail yesterday, and caught a glimpse of RED amongst the leaves of my tomato plants. Excitedly, I picked up the pace to see if I had missed some miracle of nature and somehow had ripe fruit on the vines. As I got closer, I realized that I was seeing the red wheelbarrow that my husband parked in my garden. Oh well. At least I had a moment of hope.

Meanwhile, I have a (as in ONE) fist sized tomato on the "Kellogg's Breakfast" plant. Ultimately it should turn yellow/orange. My daughter has been eyeing it for a dish of fried green tomatoes, but with the lack of production of this crop, that ain't happening.

My mystery tomato plant has a bunch of marble-sized tomatoes now. I guess the "vibrating" and "suckering" is paying off, at last. I really don't know what this variety is, however. I couldn't decipher the label. I think "Mater Man Phil" might need to pay a house call! Maybe I can get him to bring some tomatoes as well . . .

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