Comments on: Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer

By: Loretta Nall

Loretta Nall — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 18:24:59 +0000

Kyle…I have found Sevin dust to be very useful in controlling the awful green worms. Put some in the foot of a pair of pantyhose and sprinkle it all over the leaves…the underside too. Also sprinkle some on the ground around the plants so that anything without wings and with an appetite for tomatoes will have to crawl through it. Works wonders.

By: Birmingham Blues » Blog Archive » First Cherokee Purple

Birmingham Blues » Blog Archive » First Cherokee Purple — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 19:51:13 +0000

[...] look purple, and it doesn’t look like liver. It looks yummy! Kyle, I hope you beat back the onslaught of green worms and have a bumper [...]

By: K. Whitmire

K. Whitmire — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 02:54:26 +0000

I’m still waiting on my Cherokee Purples to ripen. Meanwhile I’m using chemical weapons on the little green worms (and still losing). Enjoy.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 02:30:08 +0000

Lisa, does it smell wonderful when you walk on it? I’ve often thought it would be nice to have a yardful of mint or some other herb so I could smell it with every step.

Last summer we ate lots of Chandler Mountain tomatoes from the JeffCo farmers’ market. They’re the closest to my dad’s I’ve ever tasted. He always grew Better Boys, and they were delicious.

By: Lisa in Hoover

Lisa in Hoover — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:55:56 +0000

I have gotten two tiny tomatoes from four heirloom plants. One plant has kicked the bucket. I am going with Better Boys next year! In the meantime, there’s a farmers’ market every Wednesday downtown so DH picks up some Chilton County ‘maters for me.

On the other hand, my herbs are doing great and the oregano is now officially a ground cover.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 21:19:33 +0000

I think I might have overdone the Miracle Gro on my tomatoes as well. I need to stake my giant plants, which have far overgrown their baskets, and then I’m going to prune like crazy. Way too much foliage, although they are producing some nice fruit too.

Wish I had some brilliant advice about the herbs. I specialize in benign neglect, which seems to work well for some of them but not so much for others. Having most of them in pots at least forces me to notice the ones that are dying from lack of water.

By: Del

Del — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:42:46 +0000

I planted wilt-resistant basil last year from seeds I got from Park’s, and had much better luck than in the past. Most of what’s out there right now–in fact all of it–are volunteers from last year’s crop, and now I’m worried that the wilt-resistance might not carry on to the next generation; the seeds were a hybrid, after all. I did notice one of them drooping the other day and yanked the whole thing out of the ground before it could infect anybody else.

Our peppers are doing wonderfully, ditto the eggplants - something called “Fairy Tale Hybrid” (also from Parks) that is incredible grilled, and I don’t even like eggplant. But the huge, sprawling tomatoes the yard guy planted have already shut down production. Probably because our nights are so hot, but he has a heavy hand with the Miracle Gro and I don’t see how that can be good for them.

By: Nancy

Nancy — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:02:28 +0000

We’ve had 1 banana pepper. Tomatoes look like they will come to fruit while we are gone. Taking all procautions (snake - fake of course - pie plates - etc.) to keep the birds and Dennis the Menace next door out. (Jon is Mr. Wilson!) My herb attempt is going to be WEAK - 2 of 6 are dead already. Dill and Sage died…basil going fast. Secrets please?