Philadelphia area gardening thread - Page 9

Fiishergurl · July 24, 2016

I topped my tomato plants today and pinched or cut every non producing sucker I could find. We will be leaving this house Sept 30th so I'm trying to encourage the plants to finish the tomatoes they already have and not end up with a bunch of small green tomatoes.

Plus we went to Linville Orchards yesterday and picked some peppers and peaches. That was fun to see.

And last.. does anybody know what this is?

Its a volunteer vine from the compost pile so could be anything. Below is the vine its on... the second one back.

Thanks
Ginny

JRinPA · July 24, 2016

butternut squash

JRinPA · July 24, 2016

This one was about that size last week. I grew them for the first time last year, on a crw trellis, and they did well. This year they are doing okay, but the location has a lot more sun and this last 3 weeks has been hard on them. Every day with this heat the leaves are droopy.

Fiishergurl · July 24, 2016

Oh that grew a lot!

Can mine mature in 60 days? We leave in 70.

Ginny

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Fiishergurl · July 25, 2016

How bout that rain this morning! Loved it! So did the plants.

Ginny

gorbelly · July 25, 2016

How 'bout the torrential rain in the afternoon? Wow. Hope nobody had to deal with flooding or outages. I find that PECO's system is unusually vulnerable to power outages. It's very annoying. Of course, having lived in NYC most of my adult life with my power lines safely underground, I guess I'm spoiled. But I grew up in the NJ suburbs and don't recall so many power outages back then.

I guess the good thing about having tomatoes that refuse to ripen is that I don't have to deal with the disappointment of almost-ripe fruit splitting because I can't get to the garden to pick them!

Fiishergurl · July 25, 2016

Had 2 power outages here in the neighborhood. I didnt know the storm was the reason but makes sense with all these humongous trees around.

Ginhy

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Fiishergurl · July 26, 2016

And basement flooded.

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gorbelly · July 26, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fiishergurl

And basement flooded.

Oh, no! What a pain. Sorry you have to deal with that.

Yeah, the suburbs in this area are old and established (some of them VERY old and VERY established), and there are tons of big old trees. So that could be part of it.

In tomato news, the striped armyworms are out and about. They are vulnerable to Bt when small but are harder to deal with when they get larger. I'm undecided whether I'm going to sit back and see just how good my caterpillar-eating population of beneficials and birds are or just go out and spray spinosad, which worked for me OK last year.

Fiishergurl · July 26, 2016

It didn't end up being a big deal. Just came in and went back out eventually. We mopped up some of with towels but the home owner said it was normal and dont worry too much about it. Guess I have to google striped army worms.. :-)

Ginny

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gorbelly · July 26, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fiishergurl

Oh that grew a lot!

Can mine mature in 60 days? We leave in 70.

Ginny

Not sure whether that one will mature, but I would think so.

Any future ones that set can be eaten while young and tender like summer squash.

gorbelly · July 26, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fiishergurl

Guess I have to google striped army worms.. :-)

The ones that blow in to my yard look like the black caterpillar on this page. Black with yellow stripes down the length and reddish-brown head.
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/s...a-ornithogalli

Not hugely destructive, but not quite minor, either.

Jonnyhat · July 26, 2016

sorry for the late post, but Paul Roberson > Black Krim by a significant margin, you have to let paul ripen otv until it gets the brick red color though, picking him early really reduces the flavor profile. the BK I had was great, but more flavor forward and acidic, the PR was like a glass of fine scotch.

Fiishergurl · July 27, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonnyhat

sorry for the late post, but Paul Roberson > Black Krim by a significant margin, you have to let paul ripen otv until it gets the brick red color though, picking him early really reduces the flavor profile. the BK I had was great, but more flavor forward and acidic, the PR was like a glass of fine scotch.

Interesting... when i started my seeds for fall (will be taking the seedlings back to Florida with me) I started Paul Robeson, but not Black Krim, but only because my list is short and I already knew that I love PR.. :-) Now Im curious to tasted BK to see if our tastes are similar.

Ginny

Fiishergurl · July 27, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by gorbelly

The ones that blow in to my yard look like the black caterpillar on this page. Black with yellow stripes down the length and reddish-brown head.
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/s...a-ornithogalli

Not hugely destructive, but not quite minor, either.

I havent seen any here yet :cool:

Ginny

July 24, 2016	#121
Fiishergurl Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Oak Hill, Florida Posts: 1,781	I topped my tomato plants today and pinched or cut every non producing sucker I could find. We will be leaving this house Sept 30th so I'm trying to encourage the plants to finish the tomatoes they already have and not end up with a bunch of small green tomatoes. Plus we went to Linville Orchards yesterday and picked some peppers and peaches. That was fun to see. And last.. does anybody know what this is? Its a volunteer vine from the compost pile so could be anything. Below is the vine its on... the second one back. Thanks Ginny

July 24, 2016	#122
JRinPA Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: SE PA Posts: 972	butternut squash

July 24, 2016	#124
Fiishergurl Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Oak Hill, Florida Posts: 1,781	Oh that grew a lot! Can mine mature in 60 days? We leave in 70. Ginny Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

July 25, 2016	#125
Fiishergurl Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Oak Hill, Florida Posts: 1,781	How bout that rain this morning! Loved it! So did the plants. Ginny

July 25, 2016	#126
gorbelly Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania Posts: 1,069	How 'bout the torrential rain in the afternoon? Wow. Hope nobody had to deal with flooding or outages. I find that PECO's system is unusually vulnerable to power outages. It's very annoying. Of course, having lived in NYC most of my adult life with my power lines safely underground, I guess I'm spoiled. But I grew up in the NJ suburbs and don't recall so many power outages back then. I guess the good thing about having tomatoes that refuse to ripen is that I don't have to deal with the disappointment of almost-ripe fruit splitting because I can't get to the garden to pick them!

July 25, 2016	#127
Fiishergurl Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Oak Hill, Florida Posts: 1,781	Had 2 power outages here in the neighborhood. I didnt know the storm was the reason but makes sense with all these humongous trees around. Ginhy Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

July 26, 2016	#128
Fiishergurl Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Oak Hill, Florida Posts: 1,781	And basement flooded. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

July 26, 2016	#130
Fiishergurl Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Oak Hill, Florida Posts: 1,781	It didn't end up being a big deal. Just came in and went back out eventually. We mopped up some of with towels but the home owner said it was normal and dont worry too much about it. Guess I have to google striped army worms.. :-) Ginny Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

July 26, 2016	#133
Jonnyhat Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2015 Location: Downingtown, PA Posts: 337	sorry for the late post, but Paul Roberson > Black Krim by a significant margin, you have to let paul ripen otv until it gets the brick red color though, picking him early really reduces the flavor profile. the BK I had was great, but more flavor forward and acidic, the PR was like a glass of fine scotch.