Black Gumbo

Its been three months now, time to fertilize again. I used Miracle Grow Potting Mix for the containers, a great medium which I am now sold on. It has a time release fertilizer that releases a steady 10-10-10 fertilizer for three months, so I've applied a booster of 10-10-10 in all the pots - also time released and said to be sufficient for three months. We'll see. I had hoped to go totally organic but my compost from previous years is just not enough to keep up with so many potted plants. I've not used any pesticides so far, natural or otherwise, but have not had many problems. There is a large colony of red assasin bugs in my garden and they earn their keep by patrolling for unwanted pests. They are generally beneficial insects so long as water is plentiful. If it gets dry they will extract water from your plants, but otherwise they are predators and feed on the bad kind of bugs.

Tomatoes are producing like crazy, especially the small varieties. I ate my first Cherokee Purple and it was outstanding! I've been harvesting a couple of pounds of tomatoes each day and eating them as I go, but the majority of the last days harvest has gone to soup (see previous post).

The cowpeas are bearing now and the carrots are putting weight on their roots. I samples one this week and it was, well, a carrot. I'm growing Amarillos, so they are yellow. They are supposed to make a decent summer carrot crop so we'll see.

My beets are getting beat by the sun, they are looking haggard on the topside, but the roots are putting on weight. I think I'm going to make Kvass with some of them and give the others to a friend for the same purpose. I ate a few of them raw last week and they are pretty good, not like what I remember from childhood (those were canned, pickled beets, yuck!).

The mustard greens are gone now, I ate enough of them but with the heat the bugs were eating more than me. I replaced them with more cowpeas, Ozark Razorbacks from Baker Creek. They are up and have their first true leaves. My Black Crowders are now producing, it will be a few more weeks before they are producing enough to make a meal. These ought to produce into the fall, judging from previous years. Very prolific. So far I've got one bed of them climbing some stakes, but they seem to be really viny, I'll need to build a better trellis. The other bed, with the Sugar Creams, are growing on a string trellis.

Looking forward to more good gardening! Here are some pics:

I love how things are getting taller	Sugary 123
An oddball variety, Green Sausage	Jalapenos keep producing.
Cowpeas starting to produce	Big Beefs, very tasty!
I pickled a batch of Jalapenos	Sliced, with olive oil, salt, pepper and a little Parmesian.