We should wait until late September but harvest our butternut squash before the first frost.
http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/squash/butternut-squash-harvest.htm
New notification feature added to site
Hello to all,
I have been working to enable notifications so that subscribers to this website are notified when a new post is added to the website. It seems to be up and running now. Thanks to all for your patience as this was a bit of a technical challenge for me. Be sure to check your junk folders to make sure that your email is not filtering out the notifications as junk or spam email. Once you let your email service know that the updates are not junk or spam, you should receive an email notification in your inbox whenever a new post is added to the VCG website. Thanks again for your patience and let me know if anyone is having problems with the notifications either through Joyce or Geri.
Emil
Seeds organized and all together in the shed
The seeds are behind Ron all in one place. The pictures don’t show the extent of Kathy’s labeling. Thanks, Kathy Rhoades. Now we’re going to get an insulated container so the seeds can be stored safe from temperature extremes.
Getting ready for next stage of planting August 2015
Kathy is organizing the seeds, some of us are going to a seed savers’ workshop offered by the Valencia County Extension Service, and Geri started putting the greenhouse in order. Note the before and after pictures and the amazing eggplants that survived the heat in the greenhouse earthbox–without being watered! We’re thinking of installing some of the watering hoses that came with the greenhouse. They’d allow us to water from above to keep the place humid. Right now the temperature in the greenhouse at mid-day is over 100 degrees!
For more on NMSU’s seed saver workshop and library, go here
Composting toilet
Pickling Workshop at VCG August 5, 2015
Suzanne set up and showed how, and the kids worked hard making refrigerator dill pickles for us.
Weeds!
http://giantveggiegardener.com/2015/08/06/is-it-a-weed/
Check out this post by giant veggie gardener in Santa Fe.
Picture taken July 29, 2015 by Linda Heinze
Looking for squash bugs among the melons and tending tomato plants
Picture taken July 29, 2015
Preserving fruits and vegetables
Peaceful Valley/Grow Organic has some good tips for freezing.
http://www.groworganic.com/organic-gardening/articles/preserve-your-harvest-in-the-freezer
And here’s the University of Georgia’s Cooperative Extension chart on blanching times for veggies:
Pruning tomatoes
Pruning tomatoes—when, why and how
Tricia at Peaceful Valley tells how to remove suckers.
http://www.groworganic.com/organic-gardening/articles/pruning-tomatoes-when-why-and-how
new developments at the garden: composting toilet (in process) and solar fan on the greenhouse
View of beets in foreground, the circle beyond, and new seedlings in the bed of greens
6.10.15: New broccoli is under row cover to protect from white cabbage moths already fluttering around, and tiny eggplant seedlings transplanted from the greenhouse are mulched, protected from invading chickens by netting, and marked by red reeds.
Wednesday June 10, 2015 at the garden
Thanks to Suzanne and everybody else who gave Deb and Geri a surprise bon-voyage party. Such good eats and lovely gifts. We know you’ll all take good care of the garden while we’re in Turkey, and we’ll come back to it much advanced. Keep an eye on the new broccoli, eggplant, and tomato seedlings we planted today. In the first photo, you can see a bit of the lovely garlic we harvested today. It’s at the elbow on the left, but it doesn’t show the surprisingly big bulbs. More pics soon of it drying in the greenhouse.
Curly top virus on tomato plants: how to recognize and what to do
Link
Curling leaves with purple veins on back may indicate curly top virus, but you need to rule out other possibilities. Though it’s not catching from plant to plant, a beet leaf hopper, feeding on an infected plant, can transfer the virus to healthy plants. Dry conditions in June, lack of shade, or lack of row cover contribute to susceptibility. One solution is to plant tomatoes later. All this according to giant veggie gardener in Santa Fe.
Growing potatoes
Advice by this gardening guru says to make the soil slightly acidic by adding oak leaves, sawdust, or pine needles to the soil, dust seed potatoes with sulfur just before planting, avoid adding manure or lime, but add bone meal (high in phosphorus) and mound periodically with new soil before the plants start to flower. But don’t hoe after that because you’ll disturb the shoots the potatoes are forming on.
Never add a fertilizer high in nitrogen to your potato patch as it will produce plants as large as you but no potatoes will develop. Go here for more details: http://rainyriverrecord.com/node/4553
You can also add sulfur to lower the ph. To calculate ph to know how much sulfur to add to the soil before planting, go here: http://homeguides.sfgate.com/add-sulfur-potato-beds-93337.html