A portion of the back garden in August
Dear Carol, Mary Ann and all of our gardening friends,
I know we normally do our letters on Sunday, but tonight is my first chance to write. I have the Back-to-School Blues which are composed of meetings, supply runs and uniform shopping. Bear starts back on Wednesday, and the other two returned to school last week. Hard to believe I have a junior, a freshman and a 5th grader (who is smarter than me, by the way).
Little green tomatoes
We have tomatoes!!! With the lower temperatures in the 90s, the tomato blossoms have turned into lots of little green tomatoes. There should be enough time left for them to ripen. We had three inches of rain last week, and it is supposed to rain tonight. I will need to watch for blossom end rot, which happens when water is inconsistent.
Today’s harvest was two small eggplants, five green beans from the pole beans, three cucumbers, a pepper and three strawberries. Go figure. Something happened to some of the bush bean plants. I now only have three plants out of twelve. I don’t know what happened to the others, but I could replant them for the fall. Today, I pulled up the remaining squash plants which only produced a few squash. I also pulled up a tomato plant, a German green one, because it was diseased (not late blight thank goodness), but it didn’t have any green tomatoes and no blooms. Into the burn pile it went, but not the compost because I don’t want more disease.
As for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day, I have more.
Rosa 'Marie Pavie'
With the rain and deadheading, the roses have returned. Almost all of them are blooming again, including the Austins. The antiques, like ‘Perle d’Or’ and ‘Marie Pavie’, are especially pretty now.
Rosa 'Perle d'Or'
Considering that we are in the middle of August, normally one of the hottest months of the year, the garden looks pretty good. Blooms are a bit more sparse, but the overall effect is one of delicate beauty.
Rudbeckia, 'Becky' shasta daisies and butterfly weed
The Phlox paniculata is still blooming, but it is starting to wane. However, I noticed ‘Mt. Fuji’ was strutting its stuff next to the autumn clematis. It is a soft contrast to the photo above.
'Mt. Fuji' phlox
Carol, thank you for once again hosting Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day. It was fun to see what was blooming in my garden this month.
Thanks for passing on John's response. Milk has 285 to 300 mg of calcium per cup. True it is in solution and easily washed away and that's why I suggest you use it as a supplement after the rains, being in solution it is readily available to the plant. I think the problem with the eggshells is that although they provide a constant supply of available calcium as they decomposes your sudden down pours can wash away the available calcium just when it's needed most and you need to supplement. It's not that the plants are unable to take up the calcium, it's more likely that the calcium is unavailable to the plants. I irrigate too and over watering is known to wash away essential and trace nutrients, that's what may be happening when you get the rains.
Since I live in the desert where we only get ten inches of rain a year and I have no experience with getting a three inch downpour but I have used this remedy in container plants with great results. Could you do an experiment and try the milk remedy on a select few plants the next time you have such conditions and see if it helps? Couldn't hurt, it's only milk.
Sure, Eric, I'll give it a try if I start to have trouble. I'll be honest though, I have an intolerance to the casein in milk and therefore, have a natural aversion to it. Not the milk's fault though. I'll let the kids pour it on. 🙂 ~~Dee
Thanks Dee, I’d love to hear what he says. I stumbled across your blog thru a link somewhere and found it so delightful I bookmarked it. Good luck in the photo contest.
Thanks so much Eric. Jeff did respond, and here’s what he had to say, “I never did look at the Ca in milk — and it might be quite significant — though it would probably wash through the ground quickly with a lot of rain…Definitely worth looking at.” I appreciate your thoughts and Jeff’s and may try it myself in the future if I need to. In the meantime, I’m counting on those eggshells I placed in the bottoms of the holes at planting time to pull me though.~~Dee
Bottom end rot on tomatos is caused by a lack of calcium in the soil and is more common with container grown plants in sterile potting soil. Since calcium is a trace element a simple cure is a cup of milk diluted in a gallon of water per plant or you can buy calcium supplements at your gardening store. oh, by the way, when I said “cure” it will not correct bottom end rot that has already occured, it only prevent new fruit from getting it
Hi Eric, glad you stopped by. Yes, you are correct that blossom end rot is caused by a lack of calcium in the soil. In Oklahoma, however, when we get a lot of rain all at once, it can cause the plants to be unable to “take up” the calcium. Usually it is hot and dry here in the summer, and the only moisture the tomato plants receive is from irrigation, which I try to keep pretty stable. To combat blossom end rot, I crush eggshells and incorporate them into the planting hole at the time of planting. As to your milk cure, I’ve never heard of that helping. However, I contacted Jeff Gilman who wrote The Truth About Garden Remedies for his opinion. I have heard that milk dissolved into water makes a good fungicide for roses, although I’ve never tried it. Again, thanks for your comment, and I’ll let you know what Jeff thinks about the milk remedy.~~Dee
So now we know where Carol’s rabbits went … she sent them to Oklahoma! For shame!
That first photo is so lovely, I just want to step into the picture and sit a while. What are the purple blooms by the fence on the right at about 3:00?
.-= Cindy, MCOK´s last blog ..On This August Occasion, Let Us Celebrate … =-.
LOL! Carol wouldn’t do something like that would she? She hasn’t had any rabbits this year though. Hmmm. Those are dwarf crapemyrtles. Pretty things and virtually no care other than a bit of pruning.~~Dee
Love the first photo of your garden. Mine is getting sparse too. My phlox are resting but will bloom again later. Still have hundreds of Japanese beetles so can’t let the roses bloom until September.
NOt a good year for tomatoes here. Very disappointing.
Marnie
Not the best. That’s for darn sure.~~Dee
oops, hit wrong key see above
We had our first vine ripened tomato this week also. It was still warm from the sunshine on it. There is no other tomato like it. You wait all winter for it and it is well worth the wait. Last year we had so many, this year we don’t. We will savor each one. Good luck with yours.
things are looking up!!
.-= MA´s last blog ..Dear Friends and Gardeners, Week 24 (24???!!!) =-.
It sure is wonderful to be finally picking and enjoying tomatoes. My beans are not as prolific as I had hoped they would be, and the broccoli is a dismal failure, though the wild rabbits love it when I throw the plants over the garden fence.
Your flowers sure are very pretty.
.-= keewee´s last blog ..What are these? =-.
Sooooo much going on in your garden. You certainly have alot of beautiful blooms.–Randy
.-= Randy´s last blog ..Westinghouse Solar Lights =-.
Your garden looks beautiful Dee. We need some of that rain now. After such a wet spring and early summer we are into our usual droughty August weather. Things are beginning to show the stress. I just love seeing your roses. I am always amazed at how many you have. Always something new for Bloom Day.
Dear Dee, It bears repeating~~your photos are splendid and your garden is beautiful! I love the photo of the green tomato and the purple leaves reaching over to touch them! Thank goodness the rains have returned…What a summer that you celebrate temps in the 90s! Gail
.-= Gail´s last blog ..All Gold Things Must Pass =-.
I’m so happy you have little green tomatoes. Maybe you should pick some early to avoid blossom end rot & fry them up. The Roses look lovely in the late summer sunlight.
.-= Mr. McGregor’s Daughter´s last blog ..August Bloom Day -The 2d Blogaversary =-.
Hi MMD, I probably will before it’s all over, but I really want to eat a ripe tomato from my garden. The ones I bought at the farmer’s market weren’t very good. I think they were refrigerated. It’s nice to have the roses back to visit.~~Dee
Your garden looks beautiful, full of flowers, especially that first picture. What a wonderful place to be.
But just five green beans from your pole beans? I wonder why that is? One year I planted them and had none, this year they’ve produced quite a bit.
That’s why I like to try veggie varieties two, three times before I give up on them.
.-= Carol, May Dreams Gardens´s last blog ..Win A Cobrahead! =-.
Carol, I’d love for you to come visit sometime. It’s a nice place to sit in the spring and fall, and August with its weird weather feels like fall. I don’t know about the pole beans, but I think a rabbit is living in my garden and ate the bush beans. It’s not been the best veggie gardening year, although I have enjoyed the flowers. Everyone should go to your blog and try to win one of those Cobrahead weeders. They’re fab!~~Dee