I finally grew food!

[adorshki]

That just triggered a scent memory: We used to have a lot of commercial tomato growers in the area, growing for Campbell's Soup. I'd be on my motorcycle on some back road in the middle of our South Jersey farms, and the unmistakable smell of tomatoes would permeate the air. Then you'd run across the tomato slick caused by all the tomatoes falling off the truck on the way to the plant. That stuff was slippery.

San Jose had 5 tomato canneries operating 24/7 for about 3 weeks every August. Bolstered by the aroma of the ripening garlic fields carried on the morning breeze from twenty miles south, the whole valley'd smell like an Italian kitchen, I'm not kidding.

 

[adorshki]

Considered a firearm by the state of NJ, requiring a permit.

Even spring loaded? I'll be darned. Actually it's against municipal code to shoot at birds here (type of weapon not being defined, meaning "any weapon"), but I'm willing to bet nobody knows it.

 

[RBSinTo]

I want to go full sniper on them - I have a window overlooking my raised bed that mostly out of view of the neighbors, but the last thing I need is the SWAT team showing up and tossing flash bangs into my house.

gjmalcyon,
Well then, perhaps Fluffy, the Pet Anaconda is the way to go.
RBSinTo

 

[Opsimath]

I'll try that, but my frame of mind at the moment cries for painful and sadistic forms of death.

I can relate. Absolutely been there!

 

[Opsimath]

This thread is sadly missing pictures, Cynthia!

Congrats, BTW. And that's hardly a "little thing." Never grown anything but tomatoes in my entire life.

Kajari melon, about 1 1/2 pounds. They're pretty, but not as sweet as I prefer. Next year may go with cantaloupes.

 

[Opsimath]

Red noodle beans. Trim the stem end, cut or leave whole, and saute. These are quite good. Will plant lots more next year. They did well here but I think I read they do better in cooler areas, but could be remembering that incorrectly.

 

[Opsimath]

Red noodle flower. Does anyone know what kind of bug that is? Looks kinda like a honey bee shape, but it's black.

 

[Opsimath]

Two Carolina Cross melons (one is hiding), no blossom end rot so far. May get to sample these.

 

[Opsimath]

Florida Giant melon. Not giant yet, but I hope they're good!

 

[Opsimath]

I have now
(1) learned a little better how to insert pics, and
(2) increased my post count - gaining on you 20,000-ers!

 

[Opsimath]

Am I allowed to laugh? It's kinda mean, but funny!

 

[Opsimath]

This thread is sadly missing pictures, Cynthia!

Congrats, BTW. And that's hardly a "little thing." Never grown anything but tomatoes in my entire life.

I have not had much luck with tomatoes, but I'm starting earlier next year. They won't set fruit in high temps, and we get a lot of those here. Florida in summer, who would have thought it gets hot?

 

[Guildedagain]

It is a bee, a wild bee of some sort, gathering pollen and pollinating at the same time.

This is some food we grew, a successful mushroom crop from the cunning Mrs. GA, garlic, and a morning pan full of food, one of my specialties, breakfast scrambles/omelets, this one with duck eggs from a neighbor, we trade extra vegies for eggs.

 

[Christopher Cozad]

Thanks for those photos, Cynthia. Now we know that your garden truly happened.

(Those vegetables look lovely!)

 

[Christopher Cozad]

Am I allowed to laugh? It's kinda mean, but funny!

Not mean, at all. Those rascals are impressively agile and resilient.

We solved our bird feeder issues years ago with the Droll Yankees Yankee Flipper. I can't prove it, but I think that over the years a couple of squirrels have found it as entertaining to watch as we do.

 

[FNG]

Red noodle flower. Does anyone know what kind of bug that is? Looks kinda like a honey bee shape, but it's black.

Looks like a bumblebee. Or maybe a carpenter bee.

Looks good on the garden! I guess you don't have to hull those noodle beans?

 

[adorshki]

Considered a firearm by the state of NJ, requiring a permit.

I had a brainstorm. Drone with a hawk silhouette. Kinda like a digital scarecrow. Squirrels probably won't like 'em either.
Sure enough, a quick Google search yields:

https://www.sharperimage.com/view/p...PujltbX1n4lk3XOWq_lO5hIYmeLu7YThoCoH4QAvD_BwE

Saw eagles out there too.

 

[adorshki]

I have now
(1) learned a little better how to insert pics, and
(2) increased my post count - gaining on you 20,000-ers!

Ever heard of "french intensive" gardening system? Used it when I was a kid.

 

[Opsimath]

Looks like a bumblebee. Or maybe a carpenter bee.

Looks good on the garden! I guess you don't have to hull those noodle beans?

No need to shell the noodle beans if you pick them early enough, before the seeds fill out a lot. Some filling out is okay. I wouldn't bother trying to use them as shelled beans because the seeds are spaced so far apart but they're supposed to be usable as fresh or dried beans for soups, etc., just like kidney beans and such.

I pick them young and use them like a "green" vegetable, even though they're red. I read that they taste the same as the green ones, but because they're red (1) they're easier to find in the foliage, and (2) pests don't bother them. All this I learned after I had planted them, though. I picked the seeds out just because it was something different. I like to try growing stuff that most people don't grow. Maybe that's why I've had so many fails!

I think they are quite good and if you have a fence to plant them next to you'll have deep green foliage, lovely flowers with a nice smell, but you have to get close enough to sniff, plenty of pollinators, and attractive long maroon beans that are quite tasty. Supposedly they can reach a yard long but my longest ones, the ones I let go to seed, have only managed about 2 1/2 feet.

My little packet of seeds only had 25 in it and it has fed us quite well. I'm saving seeds for next year and if I plant them all and they produce well we'll be drowning in beans. I'm okay with that. I plan to plant a few outside the chicken pens. The chickens get some shade and can have whatever beans they can reach.

 

[Opsimath]

It is a bee, a wild bee of some sort, gathering pollen and pollinating at the same time.

This is some food we grew, a successful mushroom crop from the cunning Mrs. GA, garlic, and a morning pan full of food, one of my specialties, breakfast scrambles/omelets, this one with duck eggs from a neighbor, we trade extra vegies for eggs.

That all looks very good! My goal is to be able to go outside and harvest a meal. We'll see.

I've wondered about duck eggs. Are they bigger than hen eggs? Is there any difference in the taste?