Beautiful color of blue Kevin. You don't see too many flowers of that color around.

I have lots of Salvia, but none that color.

Not a flower but it's still pretty. It's a Cherokee Purple Heirloom tomato. This one weighs in at 14oz..

wow that is a biggie. Don't tell me you grew that from that tomato patch of yours?

Yep, it was 100% organically grown in my backyard tomato patch.

I have lots of fruit on the vines.

saw this in a garden store last month.



and this in front of some guys home:

I LOVE Cherokee Purples...have grown them myself. I have only one heirloom this year...Eva Purple Ball. They are open pollinated so they reseed and we grow the volunteers every year.

Those sound great, 2-ton. I think I'll try 'em out next year. They're supposed to love the hot weather so they should do well here.

I know another thing that loves and thrives in hot weather...it is those dam bugs that are eating and stripping the leaves off all my flowers. It is very frustrating.
I replaced a lot of them already and it is still happening. Since insecticides are banned here in Canada and they are selling all this stuff that is supposed to be environment safe, all it does is break your wallet, it doesn't work and it is three times the price of Killex, which we used to use, but can't get unless we smuggle it from the States. grrrr

You can try BT (Bacillus Thuringiensis) for caterpillars and other leaf eating insects. It's an excellent natural biological product.

http://homeharvest.com/bt.htm

Also,

Soaking a couple of garlic cloves in mineral oil, with a little pure non-detergent soap, makes a good organic repellent.

Below is a link to a nice list of organic repellents you can make yourself.

http://www.comfycountrycreations.com/bugspray.htm

we use sevin powder...probably not legal in Canada either. It kills the japanese beetles that love to eat flowers but it also can kill bees...I try to powder the blooms before they open enough to get the powder on the pollen areas.

We used to use sevin all the time too 2-ton but they have stripped everything that contains any kind of insecticides off the shelves.

I have made several batches of the home made stuff and none of them worked. I have used more garlic than I would in two years. Anyway, I just made up another batch from the site Tux posted and started using it yesterday but I won't be able to tell if it is effective yet.
This one after you puree up the garlic, you let it soak in mineral oil at least 24 hrs.

Sevin would be ok for flowers but I prefer a natural/organic solution for garden veggies. I try to avoid chemical nutrients and chemical insecticides, whenever possible. I got a late start this year but my tomato plants are already 6' tall and still growing. I'm gonna need a ladder to harvest the fruit at the top.

Using BT is a great method for ridding yourself of caterpillars and other leaf eater. I picked up Garden Safe brand at Lowes and it works great. After two applications, I haven't seen any more bugs.

http://www.gardensafe.com/Products-and- ... iller.aspx

You could also consider Diatomaceous Earth. It's an all natural product that works well for certain insects. It's also ingested by humans and livestock to kill parasites, like worms. Just don't breath it in or get it in your eyes. It's made from the fossilized remains of diatoms, a type of hard-shelled algae, which acts like razor blades to small insects and cuts them to pieces.

http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&rh=i%3A ... rth&page=1

I haven't tried hot pepper sprays but I hear they work well too.

Btw, if you want a good organic nutrient to use during flowering and fruiting, try Age Old Bloom. It's some good stuff, with no odor and a balanced PH.

http://www.ageoldorganic.com/13/age-old-bloom-5-10-5/

I used to use BT, then couldn't find it for years...but I'm going to check out our Lowe's...it works perfectly and then I can use much less sevin!

Calling all Green Thumbs. I just need an ID of, (I believe) some type of fern. It's at my Brothers place. He quite often just gets a cutting of something and sees what he can grow.

IT's one of the asparagus ferns...there are a couple varieties.
http://ag.arizona.edu/pima/gardening/ar ... lorus.html

Thanks for the info, 2-ton!
It does look like it from the pictures at the link. This one doesn't produce fruit or flowers. It a mystery and there's just too much information on the Internet for me to figure out.

I used to have some of these. Some did get the little minute flowers and developed berries, others did not. Perhaps there are male and female plants.

these are from the local public garden



speaking of bugs.....

according to mom growing mint helps control the bugs. seems to work ok.




this was growing in the herb section but I didn't see what it was.

that looks like chives.

Never seen pink garlic flowers before Cecilia; at least that's what that last flower looks like to me; even the stems with it.