First Harvest on Peas

I love crowder peas! We planted Pinkeyes last year, and they're good. They're easy to pick because they tell you when they're ready (their hulls turn purple), and they taste a bit like black eyes.

But crowder peas... they're delicious! They turn a dark red when cooked, and they produce a dark burgundy to brown pot liquor that's to die for.

 

So we brought in several hand fulls of peas. Some weren't all the way "ready" but with crowders it's harder to tell. The smart thing to do is probably to blanch and freeze them and wait til another mess comes off the vines. But what I want to do? I want to eat 'em. 

We're gonna have peas and cornbread, and I guarantee you, it will be delicious! 

 

 Dad's got deer meat in the freezer, add some squash and zucchini from the garden, along with crowder peas and fresh cornbread, some sauteed sweet potato in browned butter, and some rice with au gus gravy... So excited! 

Pests and Problems

Work work work.

I had begun noticing strangely bare branches poking up all over my tomato plants earlier this week. It looked like something had gotten into the yard and was helping themselves to the leaves!






















I really had no idea what was going on until... I saw this guy.  
I pulled 14 of them out of my tomatoes. All but two were on a single plant!

 I will be Dusting my tomato plants pronto, as soon as the breeze dies down. We're having regular afternoon thunderstorms right now, which means the Dust will get washed away, but frankly... after finding 14 of them, I'll Dust every afternoon if I need to, til the infestation is curbed.

Further problems include strange white marks on the leaves of my tomatoes, peas, and squash, all in about the same area of the garden: right smack in the middle. I have no idea what's causing the burn-like spots... Any ideas?

I'll be going armed this weekend: fertilizer, bug spray, Seven Dust, rose spray, and clippers. I'd enjoy having some idea what I'm up against with these strange white scald marks. Hmmm.

Lily ID # 3

The last lily in my garden has bloomed!

In the shade, the yellow in these lilies becomes much lighter. The fragrance is distinctly different than the other lilies, and frankly, this one is absolutely my favorite! I think it is named "Gold Band".

Lily ID # 2.5

I think I misidentified the last lily. I didn't realize I had two different dark pink lilies until I cut several and brought them into the house together. Then I got to looking more closely, and I realized one was a stargazer, and one was not.

The one on the left is the Stargazer, while the one on the right is currently unknown... Perhaps it is "Black Tie"? Any ideas?

Zucchini Bread

What to do with all that harvest? I've brought in over 6 lbs of squash and zucchini, so I decided to bake some bread.

I love baking bread, I love zucchini... so what better than Zucchini bread?

I'm thinking about posting more on what I make with the fruits (or vegetables) of my labor. I love BLTs, sauces, and stews with tomatoes, and I often make bruschetta for my pasta. Sound fun?

New Daylily

So, my neighbor has a clump of day lilies growing at the fence corner, and it has spread through the fence. Dad cuts the emerging bulbs down with the weed eater, but this week he left them standing so I headed out with a shovel and collected two for myself!

I've no idea what the name of the day lily is, but it's got three layers of petals and a very lovely dark orange stripe on a lighter orange flower.

With this addition, I now have four varieties of day lilies.

I've been reading a lot about hybridizing your own day lilies by cross pollinating the ones you have in your yard and collecting the seeds.

Once my lilies get situated and a year or two more growth on them, I think I may give it a try!

I now have a good selection of size, shape, and bloom times.

Any idea what this orange one is named?

Garden Update for the End of June

Growing Strong like the Tyrells.

Beefsteak tomatoes on the vine.

Squash and Zucchini plants, getting huge!

Crowder pea vines. Some pods have as many as 20 peas.

I've picked about 6.0 lbs of squash and zucchini from my four plants, and I've almost gathered a pound of cherry tomatoes from a single cherry tomato plant.

It seems like the more bounty I gather in from the garden, the more problems I encounter. I've gotten the mildew under control in the squash/zucs, but now half my yellow pear tomato decided to die. I've got black spot on the roses, and my strawberry plants, which have been under a net and really haven't been getting close attention, are full of ants and aphids.

I cut out the dead parts of the yellow pear and gathered the green tomatoes for frying. And while I haven't sprayed the roses yet, I did get the strawberries uncovered, watered, cleaned for dead leaves and branches, and sprayed for bugs. 

Work work work.