Growing Hibiscus Indoors in Washington, DC – part 1

Growing for the first time Hibiscus and in the winter

I inherited a couple of Hibiscus trees, being the practical person I am, I would have not bought.  When Summer ended I hoped to dispose of them but could not bring myself to throw out plants.  I kept them on the deck until the end of November, and took them in when real freezing was predicted.

After loosing some leaves, the two trees florished for the next 6 weeks.  The flowers kept blooming and unlike the outdoors flowers that fell off after one day, these stayed on for 5 to 6 days each!

As they fell off I trimmed the new buds off and cut off the branches to create a smaller tree.

The Last Harvest Before the October 28th Frost

Those Who Labor Will Enjoy the Aboundance

On Friday, with the many warnings of the approaching storm, we rushed out to pick all the vegetables and herbs that are not frost resistant.

We got some Basil and Mexican Mint for pesto and all these crops that could be seen in the picture.

There was no real snow in our area, but a colder night followed.

We got them just in time, and are grateful for the extra warmer days in October.

These tomatoes are SO much juicier, and tastier, than one can purchase, even when they are indoors for a few weeks!!!

They will last at least through November and December.

Only draw back with growing our own…we are reluctant to buy cucumbers and tomatoes in the winter, because they are so tasteless.

Harvesting Potatoes Grown in Container

We planted a few potato eyes in the  summer in a pot.  We also planted green beans in that pot to add nitrogen to the soil.  The beans and the potatoes got huge and looked healthy, even after the deer dined on them once.

By the end of August, we removed the bean plants to let the potatoes get all the sun and space.

On October 23rd, we turned over the pot and were so amazed by the dark reddish color and the size (11.5 x 4.5 inches) of one of the potatoes.  The rest of the potatoes were much smaller.

Conclusion: Next year, we will start right after the last frost date, and use two full size trash cans with drainage for the sweet potatoes and for the regular potatoes.

I highly recommend trying this in your garden and enjoying the best potatoes you would ever have.

Do you know What Kind of Worm is This?

Who can Identify this Worm?

It is October 9th, and our tomato plants are continuing to produce lots of fruits, while others report dismal tomato crops this year.

We have no idea how we did that.  Maybe, the new soil has something to do with our bumper crops late in the season.

This worm showed up on about two tomatoes.  In both cases, I eliminated the offenders.  We will see if the problem has been eliminated too.

This worm does not look like the Tomato Fruitworm, or any other listed online.  What is it?

A Front Yard Enigma: Two Hibiscus bushes Two Results

Seldom Bloomed This Summer

Why are this two identical Hibiscus tree shaped have a different look?

They are planted in similar soil and in the same location.  They were both deeply pruned over the winter.  While separately potted on the southern side of the house, they produced similar number of flowers, and looked about the same. Now, in ground planted on the northern side;  One is constantly blooming and the other has beautiful large green leave, with very few flowers.

The one with the larger greener leaves was favored by the deer, before I started spraying the near by with Deer Fence.

They will both probably die with the first deep freeze, but I am wondering what could b

Best Methods to Keep Ants of Okra

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Finally by September, the okra seeds I sowed in May in the intensive, raised beds garden made it..  It had to deal with deer attacks, lack of space and shade.  But now, it sprang up to about 6 feet, developed many lateral branches, flower buds, and all together looks very healthy.

At this point, the ants came.  They were covering the flowers  and marching up and down the stem.  I did not like that at all.  I found out that there are a few organic solutions.

These are the methods one can use:

Sprinkle ground cinnamon on the ground and leaves.

Sprinkle Equal sugar substitute, it is supposedly deadly to ants. Checking the plants 24 hours later, I see that it did not work.

Spread coffee grinds around the plant.

Mix one cup of sugar with one cup of Boric Acid and spread around the plant.

I chose to first experiment with Equal.  I sprinkled it on the flowers and at a few spots were there is a noticeable ants infestation. I will check the results by the end of the day.

Today, I am trying the coffee grinds around the Okra plants, because the Equal did not work.  The ants are still in full force.

A Glimpse at My Garden on August 18, 2011

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After the rain, I thought it would be a good time to photograph some of my vegetables and watermelon.

When is a Spaghetti Squash Ripe and a New Recipe

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These beautiful healthy spaghetti Squashes grew from seeds I saved last year. We have been picking them, some even while very small.  Our baby grandson loved them, when he was here.

We also shared some with friends who wondered why they are not yellow like the one purchased in the store.

Does anyone have an idea how to tell when is the best time to harvest?

In the past, I served this Squash as one would serve pasta.  I added chopped Basil, Pine Nuts, chopped Garlic and grated Cheese.  This week, for our company we experimented and created a different dish.  Here are the instructions for our new dish:

Cut in half, remove all seeds, sprinkle with Cinnamon and Nutmeg.  Grate an Apple and sprinkle with unsweetened coconut.  Top it off with a few pieces of Butter and bake until soft when you poke it with a fork.

We liked it and so did the company.

Oh, No! Strawberry Plants with Brown Leaves

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For years I have not bothered with growing strawberries, because I found them too difficult to keep healthy and protect them from animals.

This Summer, I planted one 4 X 4 raised bed.  I am getting lots of brown spots and not much pleasure, since I have been removing the fruit, as instructed.

Probably covering the entire box with the red plastic would help keep the moisture level even and a drip irrigation would prevent the brown spots.

Do I have to spray to eliminate the fungus?

Experimenting with animal damage prevention

Can I outsmart nature?

Every night some animal removes one large green tomato and chews it just a little.  The tomato is left in the raised bed, and I dutifully throw it out every morning.

Today, I decided to leave that green tomato that is already lost to us on the ground.

What do you think will happen tonight?

Would the animal pick a new tomato, or go back to the partial consumed one?

I cannot wait to find out.

Oh, I also remove most of the larger green tomato to ripen in the house.  I am tired of letting the birds, squirrles and chipmunks devour our tomatoes.

Growing Tomatoes: Dealing with Pests

I already admitted one mistake:

1.  I planted too many tomatoes in a small area.

2. I did not know to add calcium to the soil and plants, early on.

The plants are fed once in 3-4 weeks with Miracle Gro and in between also manure.

Now, I would like to know what I can do to get the leaves greener looking and to eliminate the obvious issues.

I have some pest eating the leaves and I might have some pest in the stalks, too.

Here are the pictures of the not very healthy plants.