top picture is definitely the squash bug. sorry bastages took out my squash and zucchinni plants this year.

That vine borer is the little bastéd I saw flying around my garden. I shall declare war on those little bastages next year.

Thank you for posting that...I haven't seen those before. I have the squash bugs I posted...I'll keep my eyes open for the other suckers...Then I'll send them to JDavis...

I wanted to let y'all know a way to freeze some of your access peppers...

Slice the peppers into strips and rinse them off. Dab them dry with a paper towel and then place them on a paper plate in the freezer for 15 - 20 minutes. Then take the individual strips and stick them in freezer bags. This should keep the slices separated and good for use in the future...

vacuum sealer works good for me.

Hey LSS, I decided to pull all remaining vegetables today and now have a sink full of green tomatoes. How long will it take them to ripen in cardboard boxes or whatever?

Will all green tomatoes eventually ripen?

talk to me.

I believe they should , it might help also if you put them into some paper sacks. I remember reading that it helps to put some ripe veggies in also. Something about the chemicals coming off the ripe ones will help push the green ones along. BUT, dont forget fried green tomatoes . Man , my mouth is watering thinking about them,lol. I think some one also posted a recipe for "chow chow" made with green tomatoes.

hmm. FIL mentioned chow-chow. never had it. Might be worth entertaining, since I have almost 1 full 5gallon bucket full of 2-3" tomatoes.

Chow-chow is always a good idea...You can put tomatoes in a box, put newspaper over the tomatoes and then close the box.

Anyone know how to get rid of aphids??? Little suckers have invaded my peas and butterbeans. I had a bunch of ladybugs out there at one time but now they are gone. I guess the birds finally got them all.

Ladybugs again, that's the best way. Unless you have a HUGE garden where they can breed and hide, you have to put ladybugs out at least twice a year.

Do you have ants all over the place, they will farm the aphids. Aphids are attracted to plants with a lot of nitrogen , peas and butterbeans being nitrogen producing plants. Best treatment will be this IMO.

1 cup vegetable or white mineral oil
2 cups water
2 teaspoons dish soap (without bleach) or Murphy’s soap

Spray this homemade aphid control mixture ("ON THE APHIDS"), NOT THE ENTIRE PLANT, every few days until the aphids recede. This home remedy to get rid of aphids will suffocate the aphids. Make sure that plants that are treated with this solution are keptout of direct sunlight as the oil may magnify the sunlight and burn the plants.

Also, spray the plants with a blast of water , concentrating on stems and under leaves. Spray the plants with enough pressure to knock the bugs off but not to kill the plant. This will help greatly...
This will eliminate Aphids with out harsh chemcials.

Fall radishes going strong.

Those look great...I've tried to grow radishes here, but I guess the soil just isn't right...Good job...

I've taken sand and mixed in real hard soils for my radish and carrot beds. So far it's helped.

I may try that in the spring...I get great radish tops, just no real radishes...

Okay, this year is almost winding down...I'm starting to plan my garden for next year...I'm not sure if I'll plant onions for the upcoming growing season, but I am looking at putting some different varieties of cucumbers in the space normally reserved for onions...I like the heirloom Lemon Cucumbers and the Crunchy Munchers...Both of these grow on the standard vine. I'd like to try some bush plant cucumbers. Has anyone grown these, and if so, which ones turned out the best for you?

I love lemon cucumbers. I helped my grandparents grow these up in the Panhandle and they were probably my favorite veggie out of the garden.

Just moved to the North Texas area and I'm ready to grow some things down here. I'm limited in backyard space so it looks like I'll have to research doing some container gardening.

Still cant stop looking at those. Those things are nice.

I did a little experiment this season with some containers and I was impressed. In the summer though it would not hurt if you could bury the container to insulate the roots from the extreme heat.
Heres a good link on soil.
http://www.organicgardeningguru.com/soil-care.html

Well guys and gals, this is my final harvest from 2010. Well, I still have some Tabasco peppers, but I'm not picking them tonight...



I had to stand in a chair to get that picture...That's the chain from the ceiling fan dangling there in the picture, not some new variety of lighted peppers (although how cool would that be?).

In addition to the peppers, there were 6.5 plastic bags (like what you get at the grocery store) full of tomatoes harvested today...I didn't wash or photograph those because I'm tired...It took 2 hours just to wash the peppers...

Nice haul LSS. This is what I picked this morning. There are plenty of Habaneros and Tabascos left too

Very nice, Frank...

My mom was down this weekend and with the upcoming freeze at the end of the week, I decided it was time to just do a final harvest and be done with it...I am very grateful she was here to help, because there is no way I would have been able to get it all done by myself...At least not in one day...Almost 14 grocery bags full of vegetables came out of there...Hours were spent picking them...Besides, our water bill reset on Friday, so this way, I won't have any water usage that isn't for the household...

Still time to grow some lettuces and other cool weather crops, folks, as long as you cover them at night to keep the frost off.

Yep. I am not going to do that, however...I have a lot of cleanup and prep work to do before next season...Besides, my back needs a bit of a break...