A couple of garden things...

So, I wanted to do a post about garden things that don't necessarily fall into a category with other things, so here goes.

First- the strawberries.

This is my second picking from my little 4X8 foot patch. This is the second year for the patch so there's a lot of mature plants in it that had a lot of flowers. I pick them with the stems on because they stay fresher for longer that way. Now I just need to figure out what to do with them. Possibly jam...

Next- zucchini blossoms. There have been a couple of discussions about the flowers on zucchini plants in some of the garden posts that I've read recently, so I thought I'd talk about it a bit.

This is a male flower. It won't grow a zucchini. You can see the long slender stem of the flower. Also, the male flower stands up on the stem.

This is a female flower. You can see the start of the zucchini behind the flower. Usually, the female flower is laying down, or at an angle off the vine, not standing up.

Once you've seen the difference, you'll know which flowers will give you zucchinis, and why some flowers just fall off the plant.
This is also the way pumpkins and some other squash work. I don't know if all squash plants are like this, but I haven't grown a lot of different kinds of squash yet. I have my favorites and tend to stick with them.

Last, but not least. I had to take all of my pepper plants out of the greenhouse last week. They were all getting aphids, and I couldn't control them in the greenhouse. All the plants are in self watering buckets, so I was able to move them without much problem. That's what a handcart is for, right? (some people call it a dolly)
I hope the sun and predator bugs will help me control the aphids. Where are the ladybugs when you need them...

Thanks for stopping by and reading my post, eh!

(here's where I shamelessly beg for upvotes.. :-)

As always, feel free to leave any comments or questions you might have...