Seasoned Eats - Learning to Garden and Grow in Ohio

I've been picking tomatoes at a pace faster than I can consume them. Oh the joys of Heirloom cherry tomato plants. I will definitely be planting more next year. The fruit is as sweet as candy. The powdery mildew really did a number on my zucchini and cucumber plants. I picked what I think will be my last two zucchinis this past weekend. I have late blooming eggplants; however, there is a destructive critter in my garden - an unidentified eggplant targeting slug-bug critter. My first eggplant was severely wounded by these little guys and so are the leaves to the plants. I haven't a clue what to do. Here's the culprit hard at work. LAST BUT NOT LEAST...I've got a new crop just starting to fruit: Acorn Squash. I've got a little learning to do in order to know when these guys are completely ready to be picked, but it does feel good to have a new little thing to look forward to.

I was looking for ways to spur a little growth out of my pepper plants since they are one of my only crops left now that my squash plants have taken a turn for the worse. An internet search yielded this suggestion: Crush up eggshells (I actually put them into my coffee grinder) Mix the shells with water and let them sit for 24 hours. Pour the mix at the base of the plants. Maybe it is coincidence, maybe it is not - but my pepper plants are definitely in production mode. Try it if you are looking for a way to get a higher yield off your plants. Let me know if you see the same success.

Instead of duplicating content...I'm going to send you over to my other blog Firing up the Canon for the lesson I learned from my sunflowers! Enjoy.

This has been clean up week in my garden. If you've been reading for a while you already know that I've been battling the powdery mildew on my zucchini and cucumber for weeks now. So after hacking a majority of leaves off of the zucchini plants I was able to get a good look at their root systems. I wasn't surprised to find whole lot of root rot snarling at me from the soil. I pulled up three of the zucchini plants in the garden and decided that their time had passed. I had to admit defeat. My cucumbers haven't produced anything edible at all; however, they did manage to rope themselves around every last plant in my garden. I decided to admit defeat there as well and give them the old heave ho. So now I'm down to one zucchini plant in the garden and two thriving on the side of the house. Fine by me. I was a bit overzealous with my intended zucchini crop at the beginning. I overcrowded my plants and have learned my lesson. I've been pondering my late summer

When planting my garden I decided that in addition to vegetables I wanted to add a little height and color. I purchased a packet of mixed variety sunflowers and sprouted them with everything else. They are now wildly beautiful - the photos speak for themselves.

Not too much has changed in the past couple weeks as far as the garden is concerned. I've reduced the amount of powdery mildew on the plants by cutting leaves and by doing a milk spraying. It's still there, but I'm producing zucchini so I'm not worrying too much. My cucumber vines are plentiful and flowering, but not producing any veggies. I'm perplexed. It was suggested that I try a fertilizer high in phosphorus - the middle number displayed on fertilizer. I'm going to have to try it. I have a feeling that my acorn squash is going to be a slow producer as well. I haven't seen anything on the vine. My beans are producing modestly, but enough for me to pluck em off a couple times a week for a small serving - which is good enough for me. Most of my tomatoes are still green, but I do have one or two cherry tomato plants that are beginning the process of turning red. I'm excited to share them once they have fully ripened. I haven't picked lettuce or