How Does My Garden Grow?

[Deerie me]

Not the best look in the world but it'll do for now.

The toilet rose:





As you can see my garden is a bit of a work in progress, only not much progress.

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

Tracy, the Toilet Rose is beautiful! It is one of my favourite colours and matches the wall well. It is whimsical and fun, and I'm quite sure a good conversation piece, as they say.

Your Garden is lovely. It is far less of a work in progress than mine!

I'm so glad to see the "Toilet Rose".

[kian]

The Eu day Toilet Rose! (something like that).

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

LOL Kian!

[Sadie G]

Very creative Tracy .

I like the wall behind the ummmm, planter. You have a painting with that wall and those roses don't you?

[4 the Dogs]

I'm embarrassed to ask this:
I planted a container tomato plant. It hasn't grown very much at all, but got 3 tomatos. It has taken forever for them to start to ripen. I have noticed several little shoots with yellow flowers...isn't that the beginning of a tomato? I'll see the flower and the next day, it's gone. I think something is eating them? I don't see any horned worms, so I'm guessing it is some bug? Any ideas?

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

Linda, thank you! That was the perfect tip.

That's wonderful! (My original guess was entirely wrong. )

Kris, my Mum is having trouble with her potted tomatoes this year. For whatever reason, they aren't doing well, and she doesn't have worms in them. We actually discussed them at length last week, so this is "hot off the press". Our climates are so similar that perhaps that has something to do with it. I know Alina will know the answer.

[Sadie G]

Deb, that was an actual observance on my part! That's not the painting I chose, although it is lovely!

Kris are your blooms completely gone, or just dried up at the end of the stems?

Finally! One of the yellow peppers started turning yellow!



Cucumbers vines have taken over the old compost/dirt pile now! They are still producing, but at a much slower rate now.



I took this photo last weekend, a lot of these tomatoes will need to be picked in the next couple of days. It seems like everything gets ripe all at once!

We're back to needing rain desperately again. We had a nice gentle rain for a couple of days, but it didn't really do anything except tease the plants. Our grass is crispy brown.

[4 the Dogs]

WOW! I'm so jealous of all those tomatos!

Kris are your blooms completely gone, or just dried up at the end of the stems?

Gone. It looks like something bit the flower right off. There has been a lot of discussion this year about the high number of bugs. Someone mentioned a japanese(sp?) beetle.

It also seems like I've heard lots of people saying thier tomatos are not ripening up.

Weird-o weather.

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

Linda, maybe my first guess was right after all?! Only time (and you or Tracy) will tell!

My goodness, your garden is flourishing! Mum usually does well with her tomatoes, and they are terrible this year.

Oh, I've been meaning to mention this Linda since the original cucumber talk. English cucumbers are generally skinnier, longer, and have a more jagged or rough skin to them. They are also virtually seedless! They are so common that I'm sure you've eaten them in a restaurant or somewhere, in a salad and perhaps not even realized the difference.

In the Grocery Store, they are always the ones in shrink wrap, in my experience. That's it for cucumbers.

[Sadie G]

Deb I've seen the shrink wrapped really long skinny cucumbers at the grocery. I always thought of them as the funny looking cucumber, never knew their real name! I'll have to buy one, I'm sure you're right about them being in salads that I've had!

Brenda, you have me collecting seeds now. I noticed dried pods on my Stella Dioro lillies and gathered all of the seeds from the pods tonight! I'll try them next spring and see if I can get them to grow. It will be much cheaper than buying more!

[RubyJeansMom]

Kris, My cherry tomatoes are doing great, but I've noticed the flowers on my big tomatoes are withering and drying up without producing any tomatoes. I wonder if it IS the weather...hmmmm

Linda, English cucumbers are really tasty, I actually prefer them over regular cukes.
I don't even peel them, the skin is very tender.
Your tomato plants are amazing!

[Oliver & Henry's Mum]

The English Cucumber also does well in a salad, like a Greek Salad, or something with an oil base, longer than most. If it is cut into quarters, leaving the skin on, and making the cuts thick, they become this wonderful thing! Trust me!!!

I still love the North American cucumber, peeled, extremely thinly sliced, on a sandwich...very lightly salted. They are also good for stuffing, leaving the skin on and removing the seeds. The possibilities with cucumbers are endless.

[Sadie G]

Deb I love cucumber sandwiches! My OH thinks I'm nuts when I make one
One of the ladies in my women's group makes the best cucumber sandwiches. She has a special sauce she mixes up that just tops it off perfectly. Someday, maybe she will give up that recipe!

I will have to buy an English Cucumber next time I see one at the store. I wonder if I could grow those next year too? I'll have to check that out!

I was taking photos this morning of a weed? flower? in my yard to be ID'd this morning and noticed how well the Rose of Sharon are STILL blooming. They are loving the heat/humidity this year. They started blooming over a month ago and are still going strong. Here's a few photos!













I already posted this in my gardening site, but I'll ask you all too. Do you have any idea what this is? Is it a weed or a flower? I have been battling a huge one in the middle of the Rose of Sharon since last year. I already cut most of it down last weekend, but another bloom already popped out.

This is the newest small one next to my Pampas Grass. If its a flower I will leave it. If its a weed, out it comes!!



A close-up of the bud that is coming out



This is the huge bud that popped out already from one of the stalks I cut off last week. It will flower.
I'll try to get a photo of it flowering later.



The stalk is almost pithy inside, very soft. It also is a purplish color stalk.



Any ideas what it is?

[Sadie G]

I found out the unknown in my garden is a weed, but some consider it a flower and edible at certain times.

Have you heard of the song Poke Salad Annie? Yup, its a pokeweed. I looked it up after I found out what it was and it is highly poisonous. The native Indians used the berries to paint colors on their horses, it was used for different medicinal things at times long ago, and some people eat the leaves in salads at certain growth stages. But what it kept saying over and over was, poisonous, poisonous, poisonous. The birds can eat the berries, but poisonous to all mammals.

So if you see this interesting plant in your yard, you won't have to ask what it is!! Like I did