June 21 - Okra, Kohlrabi, and Squash

On this longest day of 2011, it was a relatively cool evening, good for doing a little garden maintenance.

I planted more okra, filling in the skips of the original rows.  I also planted a package of kohlrabi seeds that my daughter-in-law gave me.  Who knows what kohlrabi is, or how to grow it, or how to cook it?  Not I!  But I had the seeds, so what the heck.  I also planted three more hills of crookneck squash, hoping to extend the picking when the original squash plants poop out.

I chopped/pulled grass out of the onions and potatoes until I thought my arms would fall off, and still didn't finish weeding those rows.  Most of the potato plants have shriveled up, which I suppose means the potatoes are ready to dig.  The withered purple potato tops have the strangest things on them - two hard, greenish little "berries," the size of cherry tomatoes.  No clue what these things are, unless they're seed pods.  Do potatoes make seed pods?

Verdict - Tomatoes in Potting Soil Bags:  Over a month ago, we planted a few tomatoes directly in 1.5 cu. ft. bags of potting soil.  We set two plants per bag.  Maybe our bags of dirt weren't big enough, but these tomatoe plants have just been sitting there, doing nothing except trying to die, despite the fact that we've kept them well watered.  I have been threatening to dig them out and plant them in the ground, and tonight I did that with some of them.  When I pulled them out, they were like bonsai tomatoes, small and heavily rooted, but ancient.  Hopefully, they'll take a growing spurt and make some tomatoes before the summer is over.

Most of the other tomato plants are, thankfully, doing well.  Some have green tomatoes big enough to fry, but we never fry any green ones until we've had at least a taste of a ripe one.  It seems that my "attack the problem before it starts" regimen of spraying fungicide has worked this year, as we don't have any blight so far (knock on wood).  I need to dose them again, as we've had a good bit of rain during the past couple of weeks. 

As I was chopping today, I un-earthed a few worrisome-looking worms, some green with black stripes, and some plain green. Cabbage worms, I'm guessing. If I can move my limbs tomorrow after all the chopping, I'll go back to the garden and sprinkle some insecticide before these worms find the garden plants.