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Beeker's Blog
Aaaahhhh!!!!!! C-c-c-c-ooooollld-d-d-d-d-D-D-D!!!!
Category: Vegetable Gardening | Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2014 5:33 pm I guess it's almost that time. I got a good scare last night. It fell into the 30s. I'll check my tomatoes when I get back this afternoon. I checked the weather, and THEY SAY that it should not fall into the 30s again until the end of the month. I'll probably pull my toms next weekend. Time for the other dirty work! Pull everything, compost what I can, Move the shade bed and fill new bed with whatever I can, Plan for next year and experiment with indoor veggie gardening!!! I'll start small and see how it goes. Maybe lettuce, carrots, radishes and celery. If it goes well, maybe some peppers and tomatoes. I just need more space. Hm, more light would be good too. A lot of planning to do. If anyone wants to share ideas, I would love to hear them. Maybe I can use some of them. This blog entry has been viewed 283 times
Finally... Tomatoes!!!
Category: Vegetable Gardening | Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 1:09 pm Things are finally picking up with my tomatoes. Yesterday, I went picking through my plants and got about 5 lbs of tomatoes. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there are some plum tomatoes among my volunteer plants. I got mostly cherry tomatoes, but I also got a bunch of plums and two beefsteaks! I also found the brown, shriveled remains of my hornworm with the wasp cocoons hanging off one of my yellowed tomato branches, in the same place I saw it last week. Anyway, I brought my tomatoes inside, rinsed them off, and divided them up into four piles. One beautiful beefsteak with some nice cherry and plum tomatoes goes to my mother. She was very happy to get them. She started eating some cherry toms right away. "Heavenly," she said. Two piles of cherry tomatoes, there are some large ones and some regular sized ones (there must have been some cross pollination), one pile for each of my grandmothers. The last pile is the other beefsteak and the rest of the cherry and plums that split, for me. The small pile of cherry toms from last week went to my brother and his family. So, there. All of my promises are fulfilled and there are still PLENTY of green tomatoes left on the vines. This blog entry has been viewed 302 times
Picking veggies and pulling some plants.
Category: Vegetable Gardening | Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 3:26 am I had a somewhat productive evening yesterday. I got another three pound zucchini and decided to pull the plant. There weren't anymore blossoms, and the leaves were turning, so I figured this plant did more than enough for me. It had a great season. I got three huge zucchinis and 5 average sized ones from that one plant. One of my acorn squash was getting yellow and a bit mildew-ish, so I pulled that plant out too. I got two good sized acorn squash from that plant. I still have another plant growing on the other end of the garden, so I'm looking forward to more. Again, I must thank Sjoerd for his wisdom and advice. I cut the blossoms and tops off the tomato plants to make sure the plants' energy will go into ripening the tomatoes that are already grown instead of wasting it making the plant grow taller and putting out more blossoms with the season almost over. I was able to pick about 2 or 3 pounds of cherry tomatoes. I promised tomatoes to certain family members, so I'll fulfill my promises first, and once that is taken care of, I will save the rest for myself. While I was going through the jungle of my tomato plants, I found an exciting discovery: 
Tomato Hornworm with Braconid Wasp cocoons ( photo / image / picture from Beeker's Garden ) I am quite excited and have been planning on how to make my gardens more hospitable for these little babies. I was a bit surprised to see that the hornworm was still munching on my tomato plant even with its back so loaded up with cocoons. I read that they stop eating once they are infested with the eggs, nevermind the cocoons. I'm not that bothered about it though. The branch the hornworm was on isn't an important one, it is almost the end of the season, and it is carrying cocoons. Yes, hornworm, keep munching, make sure you are a healthy meal for my baby wasps. I didn't realize what I was looking at, but last night, one of the wasps tried to come into the house. I shooed it away and closed the door. I know only my fellow stewbies can understand and appreciate my excitement over my hornworm. This blog entry has been viewed 303 times
Picking some veggies in the garden last night...
Category: Vegetable Gardening | Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2014 2:14 pm This season is miserable for my warm weather veggies. The only plants that are giving me anything to harvest right now are my cucumbers and my zucchini, and, boy, is my zucchini producing! My first was normal, and tasty. When I picked my second, a couple of weeks later, I found one more HUGE one. It was 4 lbs.! I've gotten a couple more regular sized ones since then, and then last night, I found another huge one along with another regular sized one. I don't know why that one plant is doing so well and my others are pathetic (I've gotten one yellow squash so far and only one more funny shaped one growing now), but I won't complain about it. I also picked 4 more purple beans off of my one little plant and 4 cucumbers yesterday. I have a box of my uncle's pickling spices. I am not sure how old it is. How long do those spices keep? I'd like to give it a try on those cukes if the spices will still be safe to use. My uncle made the best pickles. I also picked my one ripe cherry tomato and shared it with my better half. It was the first of the season to ripen. Yum. I also took a very wise bit of advice I received and put it into action, picking off the rest of the blossoms from the tomato plants so the plants can focus their energy on ripening the little green marbles that are already there. I have so many green tomatoes. It looks like I will only get one Softball-sized watermelon this year. My experiment failed. I have one other watermelon on the vine that is about a baseball-sized and a couple of marbles. Oh well. Say it with me folks, "There's always next season!" I'll try that same spot again for the watermelon, but NOT use that awful "alfalfa" feed CRABGRASS!!!!! Can you tell I'm irritated? I'll try harder to hide it. **Edit: added picture below and also added pictures to previous blog entries. Take a look! 
( photo / image / picture from Beeker's Garden ) Last edited: Fri Aug 22, 2014 12:31 am This blog entry has been viewed 302 times
The leaves are already changing.
Category: Vegetable Gardening | Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2014 1:44 pm Yellows and reds are starting to poke through the green leaves on the trees. They are appearing a month early. And, one red poking through my green garden. I noticed that one of my cherry tomatoes is finally ripe. One. lol. My eggplant has two more blossoms and one little purple bulb growing on it. My pepper plant has a blossom, and I was able to pick one yellow squash. I am getting a bit nervous about the blossoms only now forming on my warm weather plants as the leaves are beginning to change and autumn nears. I am getting the paper bags ready for my tomatoes, as I don't believe I have time to leave them on the vines to ripen. I guess I just have to gain more experience with gardening. The timing of planting being one of my weaknesses is a zone issue and an issue of unpredictable New England weather. I plan to use some containers to shield seedlings from excessive rainfall in the spring and make some other minor changes. This is the second season I've lost plants to spring rains. But, if I wait for the rain to slow, it would be too late in the season to bother planting a garden at all. I am thankful for the volunteer tomatoes. They more than made up for my lost plants, even if they are still only green. With the sun shining brightly this past weekend, my better half and I tried to plan where we will be moving our second bed to. If we can get enough cinder blocks, it will be bigger, yippy!! Our only issue is leaving enough room to be able to get in and out of the shed. Hopefully, we can get started on moving and filling it soon, so we will have less to do come spring. Last edited: Mon Aug 18, 2014 1:46 pm This blog entry has been viewed 289 times
Plans for autumn...
Category: Vegetable Gardening | Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2014 4:49 pm I ended up pulling that broccoli. At least I have some room to walk now. I read that my zone 5/6 (I'm right on the line) has a little more time to plant for an autumn harvest. I plan to do that this week and coming weekend. Maybe I can get some broccoli after all. We finally had a weekend of sunshine so I could see where our shade bed will be moved to. It only needs to be moved about 8 feet and, if I have the materials, I can make it larger. I have made plans to change the veggies around a bit next year so there won't be cross pollination among my toms and squash. *fingers crossed* Since we use cinder-blocks for the border, I plan to use the holes for the carrots and radishes, that way the resident rabbit can't get at them. The plans are all there and drawn out. I just hope that I get enough space. *toes crossed too!* This blog entry has been viewed 304 times
Can't get in!
Category: Vegetable Gardening | Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2014 12:47 pm Thank you to all my volunteer tomatoes. It is a pleasure to see so many happy plants. BUT, start producing already! Anyway, first thing is first. I know it is caused by raking, but all of my volunteer cherry tomato plants are in the very front of the garden. I can't get in! Yesterday, I had to step on some of my broccoli just to get over to the squash and check to see if there are any little yellow sausages on the sad little plants. One. Pretty pathetic that I got excited over that, but that is how bad the season is. I'm only starting to see green cherry toms now. I noticed my cherry toms are usually ready sooner than the beefsteak or plums. I have been getting some cukes and some zucchini. I have a few watermelon that are currently softball sized and some acorn squash on their way. My peppers are just leafy plants. I have one blossom on my eggplant. Broccoli are large, leafy green plants, but no heads at all. The kohlrabi is doing well. Lettuce is looking good. The baby spinach is growing like crazy. I'm strongly considering pulling the broccoli just to get some walking room, as I've given up on the possibility of heads. Any thoughts? 
( photo / image / picture from Beeker's Garden ) 
( photo / image / picture from Beeker's Garden ) 
( photo / image / picture from Beeker's Garden ) Last edited: Fri Aug 22, 2014 1:09 am This blog entry has been viewed 316 times
What I do when I'm too exhausted to work in the garden...
Category: Vegetable Gardening | Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 12:40 pm This past week has been very busy, and the coming week will be the same, but for different reasons. I'm exhausted just thinking about it. So, I'm just going to sit and plan next year's gardens. One problem that needs adjusting: My shade bed gets too much shade. At the time I built it, I had no choice. It was the sunniest part of the shady area. But, with so many storms causing problems for people, I am actually one of the people who has benefited. I couldn't take trees down to make more sun in the garden because none of the trees are mine. They all belong to neighbors and grow so large that they shade my garden too. The latest development is, with this latest string of storms, one neighbor has decided to take down their tree, which will lead to more sun in my garden! As soon as it's done, I'll have to start watching how the sun falls and move my shade bed. Perhaps it will become another sun bed! This blog entry has been viewed 289 times
Starting to see some action!
Category: Vegetable Gardening | Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2014 5:00 pm My watermelon plant is starting to produce! Last year I got 4 from it but I watered it too much so they weren't sweet at all. Any advice? The steps I've taken so far are: Moved the watermelon plant from the bottom of the hill to the top, where the rainwater won't settle. Haven't watered it myself, but have left crabgrass around it to hold moisture and absorb excess rainwater. The crabgrass is getting tall, so I'm considering trimming it down, or possibly pulling it entirely. What do you think? I picked my first zucchini! I'll have it in a salad with some fresh spinach from my garden tonight. I see some little green tomatoes finally. I also see some tiny cucumbers and squash. There are a lot of male blossoms on these plants but only one or two female blossoms. Is there anything I can do to help the plants along in producing fruit-bearing blossoms? This blog entry has been viewed 224 times
Crabgrass pros and cons...
Category: Vegetable Gardening | Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 2:13 am I pulled the rest of the crabgrass, leaving some around the watermelon a little while back, but now I'm wondering about that. I noticed that the crabgrass seemed to hold the moisture in the soil. I guess the dew would drip down to the soil and since the crabgrass was so thick, it stayed wet along the bottom of the blades. Once I pulled the crabgrass out, I noticed the soil dried out very quickly. It is raining again and I'm not sure which is better, to leave the crabgrass or pull it. Pulling pros plants are getting more sun more nutrients are available for the plants Pulling cons It hasn't happened yet, but I'm worried about rain washing out my plants Moisture seemed to be held by the soil longer Does anyone have any thoughts? This blog entry has been viewed 250 times
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