Kitchen Gardens, Southern Style

Add a Comment

21 Comments

Comment by Pamela Poor on June 28, 2009 at 9:33pm

The photo looks a bit stretched out vertically, these 'fruits' are much more rounded than this photo shows.
Maybe the leaves can also give a clue to whether they're pumpkins or not.

Comment by Pamela Poor on June 28, 2009 at 9:31pm

Comment by Pamela Poor on June 28, 2009 at 9:30pm

This morning I went out early to do some weeding and, of course, check on my new friends. The tree was humming like crazy and few bees were on the outside, but enough to stir the curiosity of our pup. He stuck his nose into one of the two holes that the bees use, jerked back, shaking his head, and then got a sting on his leg. He is such a tough little fellow, he just licked it and backed away from the tree. Now I realize that fence I'm wanting to put around the tree will be for him as well as the relatives' young kids.
About Pumpkins, we haven't planted any but something has 'risen from the grave' of the compost bins and we think at least one of them is a pumpkin vine, maybe both are but different kinds of pumpkins.
Here's a photo I took this morning of both of them. Can you tell me if one or both are pumpkins?

Comment by Tamra on June 27, 2009 at 11:50am

Congratulations Pamela. I an so envious. I want to keep bees, but have not gotten around to adding them to my garden yet. To have the show up would be great. Now you will have the best pollinated garden. Do you grow pumpkins? Some years I have to hand pollinate. This will never be your problem.

Comment by Pamela Poor on June 27, 2009 at 5:48am

We have recently discovered that we have a hive of honeybees living in the hollow at the base of a tree in our backyard. At first I wanted to get a beekeeper out her to move the hive to his place, but he was patient in explaining to me how difficult it really is to get them from a tree, unless that tree has fallen in a storm. He encouraged me to look upon the bees as partners in our garden, but the thing that truly convinced me what when he reminded me of how many honeybee colonies have died off in recent years and each new one is a blessing. So, the bees are staying, and I'm treating them like butterflies, with a shallow container of water near the tree and will plant flowering plants that are bee and butterfly friendly around the tree and add a small picket fence around the tree to protect the smaller but very curious family members when they come over.

Comment by Diana on May 28, 2009 at 11:34pm

African blue Basil...tried it last year as an ornamental and it was fantastic! Found it again this year. It roots readily from cuttings in a glass of water (only buy one plant) and quickly forms a lovely purple-green mound, fragrant, and for some reason last summer, the deer stepped over it to eat other things. bees love it. Drought and my lack of care didn't kill it last year. I could eat it too....So now that it's a wet spring, we'll see how it grows.

Comment by Diana on May 28, 2009 at 11:02pm

looks like poke weed, an annual. Don't let it get any bigger - it races to 6 ft with those inky purple berries that birds just love. Edible if you cook out all the toxins and only harvest certain portions at certain times...too much trouble for me. I'm sticking to purslane, chickweed, and the like....and the things I purposely plant.

Comment by Amy Lockhart on May 14, 2009 at 6:37pm

Hi, Maria! Not exactly sure what they are, but boy, they look healthy, don't they?! We have a "nuisance" plant/tree that sprouts up here in central Florida, and it looks a little like that...can't think of the name, but you could send the photo to your County Extension office and they should be able to identify it for you!

Comment by Maria Schultz on May 9, 2009 at 4:32pm

These are lasagna beds, so anything could have sprouted from below.

Comment by Maria Schultz on May 9, 2009 at 4:31pm

Good day Southern Gardeners: I need some help. I have these plants growing in my garden and I can't figure out what they are.
They are relatively organized, so they may not be weeds, I don't remember planting them, but there are a few scattered in other areas, not the garden beds.
I have attached a picture.
Thanks

• 1
• 2
• 3