The recent heat wave has done two things:
1) killed off the smaller plants in my garden
2)made the cucumbers and tomatoes grow like crazy. My tomato plants are up to my elbow. The cucumber leaves are big enough to hide a rabbit or two. (This is not hypothetical.)
Today I picked the first cucumber of the year. (It was really, really good.)
The tomatoes are growing as well, but something has been eating some of the green tomatoes. I'm not really sure what - mostly the wildlife leaves the tomatoes and cucumbers alone, although a local raccoon has been known to eat the only ear of corn and leave the cob on the back step (as an insult, I assume).
Sadly, this amazing growth has not been limited to the great outdoors. That's right, the fruit flies are back. This year they like the teakettle, the outside of the fruit fly trap, and the kitchen tap. (Note to fruit flies: none of those things are food.)
As a result, a "no dirty dishes of any type on the counter" rule has been instituted. (Yes, this includes a cutting board that has been used once.)
(Sadly, the fruit flies don't care - they seem to like plastic more than anything else.)
(How do I not have a fruit fly tag? I whine about them every year.)
Planning And Pizza
1 day ago
I'm getting a bumper crop of green (and yellow) peppers, but not many tomatoes yet. I've seen a few almost-ripe ones, but the next day they're half gone; something keeps eating them.
ReplyDeleteSon #3 was having a fruit fly problem at his house, and this seemed to have a lot of good ideas: http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Fruit-Flies
I don't plant peppers since I don't eat them. I wonder if they would grow? Like I've said, I really only get cucumbers and tomatoes. I'm surprised that animals would eat peppers.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the fruit fly suggestions, they're down to a bearable level today.
I planted my first garden this year and the cucumbers are going nuts here too. They climbed all the way to the top of the fence and beyond and I'm curious what will happen next :)
ReplyDeleteI have a bunch of tomatoes coming in,although a bunch mysteriously seem to have rotted on the bottom. Kind of gross, but the majority still look good.
Fruit flies make us crazy here too - good luck!
Lara, I have that problem with tomatoes, too. It's some kind of blight, but I often cut off the bottom half and eat the top half, and I'm still alive.
ReplyDelete