re: 2024 Spring Garden Thread

I had all day events both days this weekend so I didn't spend too much time fooling with my garden. Things are looking good though. I've got a few cherry tomatoes starting to turn and my squash plants are starting to flower - just female flowers though. Need some male flowers so they can pollinate.

Tomatoes and peppers are putting on a lot of fruit. I accidentally knocked an entire flower cluster off a big beef plant when I was hungover Sunday morning, so that was funny. My cucumbers and tromboncino squash are starting to climb the trellis. Watermelons and cantaloupes are moving a little more slowly but they look healthy. I'll try to take some photos today.

I've never grown them before, but everything I've read/heard indicates that they don't really take off until the heat kicks in.

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It has been a nice spring with cool temps. Usually it is hotter here at this time of year. I wish it would stay like this forever.

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Amen to that. Saturday was 88 with a dew point of 68, ain't no way I'm ready for 5 straight months of even hotter temps

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Turned a sub crate...into an herb box.

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I found this little fella on some sage I was harvesting.


Looked it up & it's a Keeled Treehopper. Read up on it & thought this was cool:

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Keeled treehoppers mothers guard their egg masses in a tiny show of maternal (presocial) behavior. These treehoppers are often attended by ants that give these treehoppers protection from predators. The ants in turn feed on honeydew excreted by these treehoppers.

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This explains all the ants I saw on the sage. Nature be so cool sometimes.

It looks like theres a good chunk still alive (or is that a different tree?)...when did the leaves start dropping??

The evening’s bounty.

Looks good Sausage, what are the green things?

Gotcha, you should be good then. Wild how that one spot was fine and the rest of the tree toast.

I would remove the dead wood a few inches at a time to see how far back it killed the stems. I would also baby it a bit so it's as strong as possible going into next winter. Around here (zone 8b) I stop fertilizing June 1st so the trees have sufficient time to prepare for winter.

Just adjust your water/fertilizer amts. for the smaller tree and it will grow back in time.

spring is in full voice

Here are some current photos. I need to side dress this weekend. Knock on wood, but no pest problems yet. Everything is looking good. I don't have any plans this weekend during the days, so I'm going to try to side dress and prune the tomatoes some. My cherry tomatoes are overwhelming the Florida weave and getting pretty messy.

Fred's tie dye:



tomato box:



Big beefs:



Sweet millions:



Cherokee purples:



Peppers and cucumbers:



tromboncino squash starting to climb. watermelons in the back starting to run a bit:



Zephyr squash. These fruits will probably rot for lack of pollination. No male flowers opening yet.



Cucumbers starting to climb. Cantaloupes in the back.



Gypsy peppers. These are turning out to be way bigger than any gypsy peppers I've grown before.



Corno di toro giallo peppers (basically yellow Carmens):