Your cart is currently empty!
Rain Barrel Tips
Rain barrels are a great way to collect water to use on your lawn and garden. Here are tips on how to save on your water bill.
Your cart is currently empty!
There is a lovely flower that I have started to grow as a cucumber companion plant that attracts a huge number of bees. I like growing cosmos but the orange cosmos I found seems to be a real bee magnet.
Greetings fellow gardeners,
This week I melted! It was so hot and there never seemed to be a break from the heat. I am hopeful that we will soon see rain. Regular watering is so important and I also moved a few tender potted plants into shadier spots.
I have had a number of inquiries about slow-growing or no growth on cucumbers. While we often have problems with cucumbers due to lack of water, a primary reason for this slow growth is lack of pollination. It is one of the major reasons that I include flowers in my vegetable garden. There is a lovely flower that I have started to grow that attracts a huge number of bees. I like growing cosmos but the orange cosmos I found seems to be a real bee magnet. Just one plant is huge and produces a large number of flowers. If you continue to find that there are no cucumbers forming, then take a small paintbrush and brush the yellow flowers and do the pollinating yourself.
At present I am hoping that my vegetables will hang in there until the heat breaks. The plastic bottles that I pushed into the pots of my tomatoes have been invaluable in helping to get water to the roots. The black Krim tomatoes have been ripening well and are quite juicy while the tiny yellow pear tomatoes are always in my salads. Heritage tomatoes are very fussy and are not happy with this heat, so my yield has been reduced. Pots of lettuce appreciate my daily watering and the vining vegetables are continuing to produce. The new pole beans are loving the heat as long as the water continues, and the zucchinis seem to be happy to grow. September is ready to make an appearance so many of our vegetables are ready to finish their run. There is still time to plant lettuce and chard and other leafy greens, while carrots and parsnips will continue to thrive well into a hard frost.
Last week I picked a large number of tomatoes and excitedly set about preparing my salsa. My salsa turned out very well and I got a request for my recipe. This recipe is for canned salsa, but you can make salsa without cooking it so that you can eat it right away or store it in the refrigerator.
8 or 9 cups of chopped tomatoes (you can peel them, but I don’t)
2 ½ cups of chopped green bell peppers
2 ½ cups of chopped onions
1 – 4 jalapenos (depending on how much heat you like. I used one.)
6 – 8 cloves of garlic chopped
6 teaspoons pickling salt
1 cup of white vinegar
1 (12 ounce) can of tomato paste
Put everything in a big pot and simmer for at least 20 minutes
Boil your jars and then add the salsa. You can do a hot water bath as well if you wish.
Enjoy your week. Judith.
Contact Judith through her Website https://www.lapisdragonarts.com/. Find more weekly Veggie Bites experiences on the Veggie Bites page.
Rain barrels are a great way to collect water to use on your lawn and garden. Here are tips on how to save on your water bill.
Discover our resident and migratory birds in the Vallarta Botanical Garden! This February, the Gray-black Warbler (Setophaga nigrescens) brings its buzzing song, grayscale plumage and yellow dot to the garden. Join us for our Bird and Nature Festival to celebrate the diversity of these feathered travelers and explore our coniferous and oak forests while they hunt insects and their larvae! Listen to the Warbler's song: http://bit.ly/3kPMpP6
Snake Plants are available in various shapes, colors, and sizes. Here are a few Sansevieria varieties you should know about.
Learn how Maranta leuconeura, also known as the Prayer Plant, showcases a distinctive leaf mechanism that sets it apart from other plants.
Discover why mushrooms in your garden can be beneficial, the different types of mushrooms, and whether you should remove them.
GardeningCalendar.ca gets some funding from advertisers. If you click on links and advertisements at no cost to you, the site may receive a small commission that helps fund its operation.
© 2025 J&S Calendars Ltd.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.