Mr Toad Visits The Garden…sounds like a children’s story, doesn’t it? Normally, I would love to have a toad in my garden. They eat all kinds of pests and are a bonus for sure, but this bad boy is a 2 pound Colorado River Toad. Ick! Ick! Ick! They emit a poison from their backs that can kill a dog in just a few minutes. Read the rest of this entry »
Thats what the Mars Lander reported. If my garden soil measured that, I’d be in a hurry to set me up some raised beds and not even try to correct that problem. It would be too much to take on, since the acidity or alkalinity of soil has a big impact on our plants ability to take up nutrients from it. My sandy, desert soil is alkaline (thats means my pH number is high, although not as high as Mars), so I ammend my garden soil with elemental sulphur, and lots of compost. Read the rest of this entry »
Our last update had the fruits withering and dithering. I hastily took some advice about a calcium supplement administered via foliar spray. The plant immediately responded within the first hour of application; I could feel the constriction in my chest begin to ease. The addition of spraying calcium on the plant completely stopped the black rot from spreading. Read the rest of this entry »
To any of you Tucson gardeners who have extra produce there is a new Farmer’s Market forming at 2740 S Kinney Rd. It is for locally grown produce and products made from locally grown sources only. It’s first day was July 11th [and is open] from 8am to Noon and will be [open] one Saturday per month now. This market is free of charge to vendors, but to sell you must pre-register. Call 578-8795 or email CATMOUNTAIN@COMCAST.NET . It is really nice to be able to recoup some of the cost of the water, ammendments, etc… and to share our local food with others. As well as pick up some choice produce from others as particular as I am. Anyone besides me interested?
Squash Vine Borer
Well I thought it was a wasp. Now I wish it were a wasp! In fact I think that I would rather it had been a wasp, and that it stung me and left me alone to suffer the pain of the sting. I grabbed my camera, and of course I was thinking that it was something that could attack me.
So I carefully watched it fly from squash to squash with a specific interest in only the squash, deftly avoiding all other vegetation. Read the rest of this entry »
Red hybrid earthworms.
Each one ingests its weight in organic matter every 24 hours, and excretes highly nutritious fertilizer called castings. These castings are the most perfect plant food known to man and contain 5 times the available nitrogen, 7 times the available phosphorus, 7 times the exchangable magnesium, 11 times the available potash and 1.5 times more calcium than 4 inches of good topsoil. Castings do not heat and will not burn plants. Like I said, black gold.
Ok, I know there are more seeds in each packet than is needed for planting, but I wanted to actually use the whole packet of seeds for once. They age, you know and as they age, germination isn’t guaranteed by planting time next year. Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve got cucumbers!
These are my first and are good looking and tasty!
I planted along the fence and they have climbed well with very little help from me and are producing well. Nothing special and easy to grow and so far no critter issues of any kind. I should have plenty to share.
They did not die! I thought I’d get right to the point.
In spite of my bad timing, the peppers that I relocated to a new bed appear that they are going to survive. Read the rest of this entry »
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