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Mottled Squash Leaves
I was a little concerned that my largest and most vigorous squash plants had a disease, so I went digging on the garden forums to try to find a picture similar to mine (the picture above is of my plants). Sure enough, there was one, but it was for zucchini. Someone even commented “that’s how zucchini leaves are supposed to look.” That’s when I got confused. Isn’t zucchini a summer squash? Why are some called squash and some called zucchini?…
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Planting Corn
Growing up, corn was always at the dinner table in the summers. Mom and dad swore on the superiority of Silver Queen and I remember mom pulling back the husks to check the ears before buying them. There were several roadside stands on the way to our house, so getting corn was never a problem. We almost never had canned or frozen corn growing up, which is why for me, corn is a delicacy of the summer. Dad grew it…
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Strawberries (Pics)
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I Really Love Your Peaches
I’ve been watching the peach trees ever since they were covered in blossoms to look for signs of summer fruit. This afternoon I went out to check, and to my delight, the older tree was covered in these half-inch peaches. The tree we just planted even had several fuzzy ones! I am crossing my fingers that we beat the birds and bugs to the ripe ones this summer. It also looks like my blueberry and strawberry bushes are in business…
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Thursday is Planting Day
After Thursday, Raleigh’s evening temperatures are predicted to stay above 50 on the ten day forecast, which is perfect for tomatoes. April 1 is also our area’s last killing frost date. I still don’t have enough spots ready for all seven breeds I’ve started indoors. To avoid cross-pollination there should be about 20 feet between breeds, or netting should be used to block access for bees that travel back and forth between closely planted tomatoes. I may isolate a couple…
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Hot Box
We never did put hinges on the hot box (or is it a cold frame?), but I put it out yesterday and left the tomatoes in them for the afternoon and overnight. Not knowing how well the box retains heat, I was worried that the temperature had dropped too much for them overnight, but today they were still perky and even looked better than they did the day before. I brought them in this afternoon and will continue to take…
