Has anyone heard that you should “tickle” your tomato flowers to aid with pollination? One of my favorite garden influencers does this and I started doing it this year because why not?!
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Yes, everything for pollination is present in the single tomato flower, it just needs to be *vibrated" to make the magic happen. I like to go by and shake my tomato cages occasionally to get things moving. I’ve read of people using electric toothbrushes to vibrate individual flowers.
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It’s hot as Hades here and will be for at least the next week. BUT guess what I harvested today?
FRANKINCENSE SEEDS! From my frankincense tree in the backyard. And there’s still dozens more seed pods ripening on the tree!
And Mr Toad came out to play. They always show up when monsoon season has started. 
Mrs. Toad lives in the backyard, too…she’s a tad smaller than he is.
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What do you do with these seeds??
I’m going to be sending them all to a gardening friend in OK. But you basically try to germinate them in order to try to grow another frankincense tree. It’s very hard to get them to germinate. Usually only 10% of the seeds germinate and out of that, maybe 10% of the sprouts will survive to be a seedling. Definitely requires more skill than I have.
This is the same tree that’s mentioned in the Bible when the 3 wise man brought gifts. Boswelia Sacra is the Latin name of it. I bought a small rooted cutting of one 5 yr ago from an Iranian guy who used to run a small research garden in his backyard entirely devoted to this species of tree. He wrote a whole book about it.
Mostly bought it because I thought the idea of growing an actual frankincense tree was pretty awesome. Planted it in the ground the following May and now it’s about 4’ tall. Looks scraggly like it’s about to die. But that’s what this tree looks like all the time.
You can’t water it very much or else it’ll get root rot. And the soil has to drain really well (which is why 2 attempts of mine to root cuttings from this died, because I planted the cuttings in clay soil). And if it’s too cold of a winter and you don’t set up a heat source on cold nights where it dips below 32 F, it’ll die.
So interesting! I’ve never seen one.
That tree is very cool. All you need now is to get some Myrrh seeds so you can have a Myrrh tree.
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Dog vomit fungus!
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I have seem globs (about fist size) in the front yard and the backyard. The backyard has wooden fence enclosure, and we don’t have a dog. Maybe cat?
Yup, it is a dog vomit fungus!
spotted! Kahuku Gold from my saved seeds.
It’s not actual vomit. It’s a fungus…in the mushroom family actually. Here in AZ, we get all excited when it shows up because it’s a good sign that proper decomposition of your mulch is happening. 
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Between the frankincense seed and vomit fungus discussion…I love this thread! So much to learn.
Lots of stuff coming ready all at once in our garden. The cuke production is overwhelming, have started giving them to our neighbors. We got our first beefsteak tomato yesterday and there are loads in various stages of blushing to follow. We harvested our potatoes all at once on Saturday. Shishito peppers abound. We have a forest of basil ready to pluck.
As much as I love growing and eating this stuff, I do get overwhelmed with the pressure to use or preserve it all when it’s ready. My kids are away this summer and we still planted like we were feeding a family of 8 
.
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Lol, on your first sentence. 
This is always one of my fav CC threads - and gardening is always just a fav activity to learn about!
I get ya on the abundance. Giving some away to friends and family is fun to do and they appreciate it. You might be able to donate to a local food bank as well - it will go well used. Sometimes in the summer neighbors will put out near the drive or sidewalk extra produce in a cute little basket or on a table. I love when I see that! Even on our fitness trail - homes that back up to it will put out extra produce.
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I’m unlikely to have over abundance, except zucchini. But we do have a great program at local non-profit that accepts produce. There is encouragement to “grow a row” of extra in the garden, help others.
Moving my amaryllis seed pod saga to the gardening thread. This involves the waxed bulb I bought at Trader Joe after Thanksgiving 2021, thanks to suggestions from CC-ers in the gift threads. It bloomed beautifully twice that year, and again this spring. I had originally peeled the wax, potted it outside, and basically left it alone. Suddenly, a few weeks ago, a seed pod sprang up.
I’ve been keeping an eye on it several times a day, waiting for it to open. I read up on how to handle the seeds. It was still closed mid-afternoon. Then I stretched out for a nap and half an hour ago, husband says, oh, the pod opened and the seeds looked all dried out so I buried it.
Yikes!!! I scrambled up and outside and husband rescued the pod from the dirt. I was able to salvage almost all the seeds and they look exactly how the instructions say. Whew.
I’ll let them continue to dry for a couple of days then attempt to sprout them in water (one of three methods; others are on a damp paper towel, or in potting soil/vermiculite). We shall see.
Edit: remember my comment in another thread how husband goes by his opinion instead of facts…
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Well, it’s now going on almost 3 solid weeks of temps here hovering around 110. My grape vines are crispy and almost dead despite me watering them twice a day. So I’m going to stop trying and let them go the way of the dodo bird and croak. And then in Sept or Oct, I’ll plant some native vines instead…they won’t require as much work!