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Well, I figured it wouldn't be fair if I only show you when things go
well, since many times they don't. My poor garden! It's not as beautiful as it was last year, sadly. I have been so busy, and I have neglected it, I'm afraid. As in, we have a heat spell and I forget to water. My beans have really taken it the worst. They are really sad looking, but I pulled all the beans off to try to give them time to rest and hopefully recuperate, at least some of them. They did put out a great harvest, though, and I have several pounds of beans in my freezer.
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But here's the really bad part: aphids. It was like one day they were not there, and I swear, like 2 days later, there were billions of them! Only on the Swiss Chard. And worse than the aphids, were the ants who were herding them. Apparently, aphids produce a sticky "milk" that the ants love, so they shepherd the aphids to collect it. There were so many ants I couldn't walk down that path in the garden or I'd be swarmed. And they bite!
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So, I gave up. I know I could have tried ladybugs--and there were many ladybugs there, doing their ladybug best--but it's not like Swiss Chard is my favorite thing, and I just couldn't deal with it at that moment, so out they came. I booted up and gloved up, and went out with my shovel and just pulled up all the Swiss Chard and dumped it. And boy, were those ants mad then!
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But on a lovelier note, here are my first three striped tomatoes, which I think are so beautiful. I need to make a BLT, I think. With extra T.
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All of the tomatoes are doing well. Here are the yellow pear tomatoes, which I can't stop eating off the vine, warm from the sun. I wish my kids were home to help me keep them eaten!
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I have two varieties of paste tomatoes growing, which are really my favorite part of the garden, because I love to make my own sauce and put it up for all winter long. This top plant is a San Marzano, which is prized as being the best paste tomato in the world. I did not know that at the time, but I am so excited to try them! As a plant, the leaves are thinner and the plant itself is more open than the Romas, which grow very bushy and thick, with much wider leaves.
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This is one of the Roma tomato plants, where the tomatoes are starting to turn red, finally. I can't wait!
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I've also done a lot of jam making this summer as fruit has gone on sale. There's strawberry, apricot-peach, blueberry, and mango-vanilla. It is all so yummy! I made 35 pints all together, but we've eaten some and I've given some away. Still, I think we'll be fine through the year till next summer!
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I guess we're having lots of jam on homemade whole wheat bread, pancakes, muffins, and waffles this year! But I'm not complaining!
4 comments:
Except for the aphid/ant thing, I think you are doing spectacularly well! It's so exciting!
Maybe we could do a jam exchange. Are you up for trying some quince or some rhubarb?
Luisa, that would be wonderful!
I can't wait for my tomatoes to turn red. I have big plans for them! That BLT sounds really good right now.
For my 5th Grade science fair project I tried a variety of household mixtures to see what would kill aphids on our rose bushes. The winner (besides me): 1% salt solution. Safe and a great chore for Conner. Just mix it up and put it in a spray bottle.
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