Home Grown WTJX - Latest Comments

Re: Gardening Tips for the Month of February

Manufactured Home — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 01:10:02 -0000

I am very happy to read this site.

Re: Gardening Tips for the Month of February

VI farm Girl — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 09:28:15 -0000

I just wanted to personally say thank you to WTJX and all who help to bring the Home Grown project and show to fruition. I watch it every week sometimes twice to make sure I have not missed anything. It has truly inspired me to continue with my own home garden. I am telling others in different places about the show. Hopefully my friends in the mainland and other islands will be able to podcast or get a copy of the program. Also the calendar is really appreciated. Keep up the great work.

VI Farm Girl

Re: Many medical uses for papaya

Murchison — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:54:27 -0000

THANKS A LOT FOR THE INFORMATION

Re: Turnip Greens and Cucumber

WTJX Channel 12 — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 09:17:13 -0000

Thanks for sharing the photo, Marc! Looks like your box garden is off to a great start.

Re: Tomato Harvest

mary louise — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 20:50:01 -0000

Thanks, Carlos! I planted new seedlings on the other side of the box, as I am still getting great tomatoes! I added Thai pepper seedlings, also, which should withstand spring heat. I will let the box rest over summer, with lots of manure added in. The only pests I have encountered recently are some aphids on the okra and on the new red bean growth. I am using soapy water on them.
mary louise

Re: Tomato Harvest

Carlos Robles — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 12:04:13 -0000

Hello Louise.

That is a gorgeous harvest of tomatoes. Since this is the first crop of tomatoes in that area, you can grow a second crop of tomates without concerning yourself with disease pressure. If all of your plants had a major out break of early or late blight or some other common tomato disease, then I would recommend rotating with beans or another crop immediately. You can always add the manure and mulch to improve the soil quality. Happy home grown!

Re: Harvesting Basil

crobles — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:08:54 -0000

Good Question Anonymous!
It depends on how much you want to use at a given time. If you have more than one plant, then harvest sections of one plant every 3-4 weeks.
Six inches above the soil is probably the lowest point at which you should harvest basil.

What you need to look for is a section along the stem where the leaf connects to the stem called the node. Make a 1/4-1/2 cut above the node using a sharp hand clippers or knife. Sometimes small, new leaves can be seen at the node junction where the leaf attaches to the stem. Avoid cutting those leaves because that is the new growth that will replace the harvested portion.

Note: If the basil plant flowers or shows signs of flowering, prune off that portion as described above. Flowering signals the end of life for that plant. Pruning will slow down this process and cause the plant to actually grow wider and thicker.

Re: Home Grown’s Garden Tips for February

errol.chichester — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:46:10 -0000

A common problem when growing cabbage is the presence of the Diamondback Moth. The larva stage is a small, green caterpillar that consume the leaves from the underside. If the holes are small, that could be your problem. In this case, you could apply a natural spray such as Bt (Dipel or Thuricide). If the holes are larger, it could be grasshoppers. It may even be snails or slugs since you said that you can't see what causing the damage. Snails and slugs come out at night and by 6 a.m. they retreat to their hiding places, usually under rocks or other debris. You could check at night, using a flashlight. If they are what causing the damage, you could do couple things: 1) place some sand around your boxes, tires or borders of your garden. The sand will stick to their slimy underside and damage it, or 2) dig a hole in your garden and place a shallow container/saucer with the top of the container level to the soil (i.e. a pool and deck). Place stale beer in the container. They will come to drink the beer and fall in and drown. 3) or you may want to apply a sanil and slug bait around your garden. Before you decide on which approach to use, you must determine what is causing the damage.

Re: Home Grown’s Garden Tips for February

linnette.gallimore — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 06:44:01 -0000

Reaping our lettuce this week, got to take pictures! Some kind of insect is eating my cabbage, although I can't see it, it might be a caterpillar, what do I do?