i-rant

Why arent my tomatoes turning red?

Here is a web-page that makes some pretty strong comments about garden-center grown Tomatoes and the challenges they present.  Lucky for me I planted mine early and have a long growing season here in Atlanta. I hope my tomatoes do turn red soon – I have plenty growing now.  Will take his advice next year and plan on building a hot-house in the basement under artificial light for Tomatoes and other seedlings. 

you must start your plants from seed eight weeks before your last frost date. Even if your local garden center carries the variety you wish to try, it will be weak and spindly, and considerably behind schedule. Finally, the manner in which you bring your seedlings up to the setting-out stage is of critical importance. Ideally, the plants will be about 14 to 16 inches tall with dark green leaves and sturdy stalks almost 5/8 inch diameter so that no protection or staking is required to insure initial survival. The roots of the plants ready to set-out will be in a phase of rapid growth. How is this possible? These seedlings need strong light at least 14 hours per day. The tops should be gently brushed on a daily basis to persuade them to grow hard outer cells on their trunks. Ventilation should be constant 24 hours per day, but you do not want to see actual leaf movement. Seedlings must be potted-on when any portion of their leaves extends over and beyond the sides of their pots. At the time of setting-out, my seedlings are always in 8" pots. They are dark green and very sturdy. When I give a few plants to other people, they are always amazed at the size and shape and health of the plant.I do not pinch suckering growth. Keep in mind that tomatoes ripen in the heat from the sun, but not in direct sunlight, so a lot of pruning prevents the plant from shading its fruit. My plants are spaced on 36" centers for good air circulation and grow straight up inside 24" diameter cages of concrete reinforcing mesh. When they reach the top of the cages, I trim them a little bit so that the plants do not become too top-heavy. I allow the plants to do pretty much as they please as long as they stay inside the cages where the fruits will be shaded. More…

This Garden Is Illegal – A Garden Blog

is a great resource for information on gardening and related activities.  As the writer states, gardening is an obsession; which is pretty much the way I’ve been running lately.

Eco-Terra Landscape Consultants has a great article on what to do with this frost damange here in the South. Here is the little Maple I planted last year, It had come in so nicely and I had pruned it back a bit on the interior to give it a nice look. That’s probably all that would have survived, so I blew it. I have dead wood all the way down to the trunk. I’ll cut it back and hope for the best. I just deep watered them, will do that once a week.
Here is one of the Crepe Myrtles that got wacked . I had just pruned them The Article says to just let them grow, they should come back.

I’m going to get to work on landscaping the back yard.  The kids can’t use it, it looks like you know what and its time:

Backyard Project 

Crickets! Ghann’s Cricket Farm, Inc. – Worldwide supplier of live crickets and mealworms; one-stop shopping for all your pet food and live bait needs

this looks like a good place to buy worms for the bluebirds we are accumulating in our back yard.

We have a pair of bluebirds –

I hope I can get in place what it takes to keep them here. I bought some mealworms today. Not sure how Stephanie willfeel with them in the fridge

Looking for info, here is some info I foundfrom Audubon Omaha

MEALWORM FEEDING

FEEDING Bluebirds

Bluebird Box