Not at all laborious and proven quite effective over many years, not to mention often recommended here. I can clean aphids off a 50' row of squash plants in about 15-20 min. with gloves and a sprayer filled with water. And no, since most aphids can't fly not to mention most are squished in the process, they don't just go right back to the plant. I'm not an organic grower nor opposed to the use of some pesticides but you have to do the same things - lift the leaves and get under the leaves - if spraying insecticides as you would with spraying water but you aren't creating generations of pesticide resistant aphids with the water either. And only specific pesticides are listed as effective against aphids anyway. But no, there are very few aphid resistant plants much less aphid resistant vegetable varieties and serious infestations are often caused simply by the use of excess nitrogen fertilizers. Dave

Hi Silvia, I am happy with my successes, but just look at all the empty ground where things have been planted and destroyed. I am trying again, though. I didn't know you could keep sweet potatoes in the ground year-round. Dont they develop diseases? My foliage is good now, but I don't know if it has really formed potatoes. I will find out in a couple of weeks. My tomatoes have done better this year than ever. I think it's because of the regular spraying with serenade and spinosad, and because I've planted the varieties I've had success with in the past. Yes, we are having caprese salads. I have more mozzerella in the fridge right now. I will have to look up the green lance broccoli, although I don't mind waiting for the broccoli as it yields for me for so long. I like the smaller heads that follow, and we eat most of the plant eventually. I am taking note of when the queen's wreath blooms this year, as Tom asked the question last year and I didn't know. Mine bloomed in February, April, and had a few inflorescences here and there not worth taking a picture of after that. I did prune it severely after it bloomed in April. It is big now, but I don't see any buds coming yet. Silvia, with all the advice you've given me, and all the ideas I've copied from you, I am so happy that I could ever give you an idea about anything! You made my day. Anna

I like this idea. However, I can suggest something. You want to kill any and all mold spores on the surface of the pepper so they do not grow. You can do this by dipping the peppers into hydrogen peroxide. the HP will kill off the spores. then dry good and store them. You can and probably should dilute the HP with water. You might try from a squirt to an ounce in a quart of water should do the trick. the stronger the HP the faster it will act. a teaspoon to a tablespoon is probably about right. You should wash the peppers in plain water before adding to the HP solution since any impurities on the pepper will use up the HP quickly. If you put an impurity into a strong HP you will see it bubble up as it reacts with the impurity. This obviously uses up the HP ions in the solution until everything is simply water once again. this type technique is use by commercial operations for example with bagged chopped lettuce. they usually use different sterlizers that on an industrial level they are not going to buy bottles of HP. But on the small scale the HP is the most cost effective. you can also spray the HP solution on your garden to kill off mold spores on the plants. but if you are into spraying a lot then you should move up to a product called ZERO TOLERANCE which is basically a stronger HP. it is Hydrogen Dioxide. H2O water H2O2 hydrogen peroxide HO2 hydrogen dioxide or Zero Tolerance Garden supply houses sell Zero Tolerance for killing mold.

Zach, I've grown the green zebras before, and just like a purple tomato tastes different than red tomato tastes different than a yellow tomato... the green ones taste different as well. I seem to remember not being overly crazy about the flavor, but then maybe we were picking them before they really were ripe? All I know is it was difficult for the "other" (AHEM!) harvesters to know when they were ripe, so likely we were getting some "green tomatoes aren't supposed to be THAT green" in our kitchen. I do recall that they grew well but weren't as prolific as some of the other varieties that we grow. You should try them, so that you can decide for yourself if you like them!