Flowers (annual and perennial)

Snow on the Mountain

Snow on the Mountain is a native weedy plant found around in pastures in the area. Belonging to the family of Euphorbias, which are a family of succulents. This means they are drought tolerant and need full sun. Like its relative the poinsettia, the plant has colorful bracts (mostly white) with tiny yellow-green flowers. Like all Euphorbias, the juice in the stems is a bitter, milky-white sap. This makes them resistant to deer, rabbits, grasshoppers, and other pests.

Snow on the mountain

The new cultivars are more colorful (white bracts) and come in height up to 4 feet. This makes them useful for a focal point, borders, or as a cut flower (being careful of the sap which causes some people skin irritation). This was one of the plants that Lewis and Clark found interesting and took back with them.

Snow on the mountain

The photo of this plant, stands 4 foot tall and 3 foot wide.

Vegetables

When are Onions Ready

When are onions ready to pull and store? Rule of thumb is when 2/3 of the tops have fallen over. You can bend over the rest of the crop. Also, stop watering. Leave the onions in the ground for a couple of weeks.

Maturing onions

Pull or dig the onions out of the ground not removing the tops. Do not clean the bulbs. Take the onions into a shady spot like a garage or under a tree without crowding them. I place the onions on an old window screen sitting on blocks so the underneath has air circulation. Leave until the leaves are brown and brittle.

Now you can remove the tops and roots but leave the dry skins alone. Store in a dark, dry, and airy area. Use milk crates, burlap sacks, or mesh bags. How long they will store depends mainly on the variety. “Sweet onions” do not last very long. The variety I plant is “Copra” which lasts an easy 6 months.

The onions I planted were ground for seed started 10 weeks before transplanting outside. I found the onions growing from seeds do not send up flower stalks like the onions planted from sets.

Garden Pests

Blossom End Rot in Tomatoes

Blossom end rot in tomatoes shows up a browning or blackening areas on the bottom of the fruit. It is more common than not on the first ripening tomatoes. Pepper and eggplant also get this condition, but to a lesser extent.

Blossom end rot in tomatoes
Blossom end rot in tomatoes

Often end rot is blamed on lack of calcium in the soil, however, it is very usual for our soils to be lacking in calcium. What happens is during rapid growth early in the first fruit stage plants are able to take up enough soil calcium.

The cause is mainly environmental due to uneven water in the soil, fertilizing too early in tomato growth, or wide soil temperature variations.

Solutions, apply a mulch to keep the soil moisture and temperature even. Make sure the soil drains by adding organic material or sand in clay soils. Early varieties are more susceptible than later varieties. Adding liquid soluble calcium at a certain time may help the plant to absorb more calcium and certainly will not hurt to add eggshells or Epsom salts, DO NOT add limestone to our alkaline soils. The calcium buildup will increase the pH of the soil, especially in clay soils.