Peppers are truly a tropical vegetable. As we reach the final day of the month of May, the time is ideal for setting out pepper plants in the sweet, hot, and very hot varieties. Peppers are tropical in nature and thrive during warm days and nights. In sweet peppers, you can select California Wonder, Keystone, Bit Bertha, and Door Knob. Keep the hot varieties a distance from sweet varieties to prevent bees from cross-pollinating them and causing all peppers to be hot.
Peppers need to be caged or staked. The thunderstorms of summer can blow pepper plants over and at harvest, pepper plants need to be supported from wet soil to prevent rot or damage from critters plus making peppers easier to harvest by causing them to be more visible.
Robins on the lawn and birds in trees. Robins are on the lawn as they search for worms, grubs, and insects. There are birds with straw and building materials for nests in their beaks and sipping water from the birdbath. There is plenty of action on the lawn and at the edge of the garden. Keep the birdbath filled with fresh water every day and also keep hummingbird feeders filled with nectar twice a week. This will attract more hummers to the feeders and make your lawn and garden more bird-friendly.
Last opportunity to pick-your-own strawberries. Tomorrow will be the first day of June and also this week will be the ending of this year’s strawberry season. If you go to a field this week, call to make sure they are open and if they have the berries you need, especially if you want ready-picked berries.
Making a strawberry cream cake. This strawberry recipe is a great way to end the strawberry harvest season and so very simple to prepare. You will need one cup plain four, one and a half teaspoons baking powder, one-fourth teaspoon salt, half-cup light margarine, one cup sugar, two large eggs, one teaspoon vanilla flavoring, one cup milk, one three-ounce box Jello instant vanilla pudding mix, one quart fresh strawberries. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt together. Cream in sugar and margarine. Add eggs and vanilla flavoring, add one third cup milk. Place batter into two nine-inch cake pans that have been greased and floured. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes, until cake springs back when touched. Allow cake to cool after removing from pans. Combine vanilla instant pudding mix, with one and a half cups milk and whip until thick and set aside. Prepare fresh strawberries by capping and cutting them into quarters and mixing with half cup of sugar. Spread pudding mix on first layer and then cover with layer of strawberries. Repeat with the second layer. Chill cake in refrigerator and top with Cool Whip.
What is as wonderful as the aroma of honeysuckles on a warm late spring evening? The wonderful colors of pale orange and white flowers of honeysuckles emitting their sweet scent wafting through the country lanes, woodlands, and on the edge of highways in the Piedmont areas of Surry and Stokes county as well as through out the Carolinas. It’s no wonder that hummingbirds are attracted to them. No other flower except the Carolina Jasmine can produce such a perfume. The unforgettable scent of the honeysuckle is so gentle, sweet, and kind to the nostrils.
Planting a pot or container of the unusual Dragon Wing begonia. This unusual type of begonia produces clusters of hot pink or red blooms continuously all summer on glossy oblong leaves. Only one of these plants is all you need to cascade over the pot or container like a huge umbrella. Give it a drink of water twice a week and an application of Flower-Tone organic flower food once every 15 days and you can enjoy beautiful blooms and foilage all summer long.
Keep setting out a few tomato plants each week. This week is the first week of June and even though most of the tomato plants for the harvest of summer’s bounty has already been set out, continue to set out a few more plants each week for as long as you can find healthy plants. This will assure a long harvest and plenty of tomatoes over a long growing season with plenty of tomatoes to share.
The corn crop should be planted soon. Most varieties of corn requires a 75- to 95-day growing season for an abundant harvest and few insects enemies, corn should be planted very soon. This needs to be done within the next week or so in order to have enough season left to plant another crop to succeed the corn later on. You can choose from Silver Queen, Golden Queen, How Sweet It Is, Early Sunglow, Kandy Korn, Illini Chief, Butterfruit, and Golden Bantam. Plant as many as three or four rows for wind and bee pollination. Thin to two plants per hill when the seed sprout and as the corn grows, keep soil hilled up on both sides of the row to support corn from storms and winds. Fertilize corn every two weeks and hill plant food into the rows. Keep a close eye out for Japanese beetles all during the summer and spray with Sevin to control them, especially at tassle time when ears begin to form.
Applying food to thriving tomato plants. Do no use 10-10-10 fertilizers or chemical fertilizers on tomatoes because they do not need nitrogen but calcium and other nutrients that promote healthy growth as well as better production. There are plenty of tomato foods and some that prevent blossom-end rot. Consider using Dr. Earth’s special formula tomato food sold in three-pound bags at Home Depot or Ace Hardware. You can also use Vigaro calcium-enriched tomato food sold in two pound bags. Miracle-Gro liquid tomato food is also another tomato food you mix with water and pour around the base of tomatoes. The very best of tomato foods is Tomato-Tone organic tomato food sold in three pound plastic zipper bags at Home Depot, Lowe’s and Ace Hardware. Dr. Earth is also great, finely textured and a little goes a long way. Most of these foods are totally organic and blend quickly into the soil. Sprinkle a little on both sides of the tomato plants and pull the soil up over the tomato food.
Planting rows or beds of lima beans. Lima beans are also a crop that is very tropical and thrives in the warm soil of summer. You can choose from Henderson Bush, Fordhook 242, Dixie Butterpea. They require a 75 day growing cycle. They will grow quickly in the warmth of June and July. Sow them in a furrow about three or four inches deep. Apply a layer of peat moss in bottom of furrow and sow seeds on top of the peat moss and then cover seed with another layer of peat moss. Apply a layer of Black Kow composted cow manure and then a layer of Garden-Tone organic vegetable food. Hill up soil on both sides of the furrow and tamp down with the hoe blade. When the beans sprout, side dress with Garden-Tone and pull soil up on both sides to cover the Garden-Tone. Feed every two weeks.
Watering hanging baskets daily. With June coming in tomorrow, keep the hanging baskets, containers, and pots of annuals watered every day. Apply water until it runs from hole in bottoms of the containers. Use Flower-Tone organic flower food every 15 days and stir it into the soil.
Planting a colorful container of rose moss. Add color to the porch or deck with a huge container of portaluca, also known as desert rose, cactus rose, and rose moss. One of the qualities of rose moss is it comes in four and six packs and is already in full bloom so you will know the colors that you are planting. The moss comes in colors of red, yellow, orange, pink, white, wine, burgandy, tan, and other colors. They produce a show of different color patterns every day because they have new blooms every morning. Keep them fed with Flower-Tone organic flower food every two weeks an water each day because they love full sun.
Hoe-Hoe-Hoedown: “And mother makes two”- A daughter engaged to be married said, “But I don’t want to leave my mother.” Her dad said, “I understand but don’t let me stand in the way, take your mother with you.”
“Wrong Doctor”- A farmer fell and broke his hip while he was plowing, and his horse galloped five miles into town and returned carrying a doctor on his back. “That’s a pretty smart horse,” a friend said later. “Well, not really so smart” said the farmer.” “The doctor he brought back was a veterinarian.”
“County Church Sign”- The sign outside the county church said “You are not too bad too come in.” “You are not too good to stay out.”
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com