Zones 8-9 Spr/Sum 2011 Veggie Gardening is UNDERWAY Part IV

I am starting this thread to share with Dave's Garden members my summer harvests and help each other to solve problems during this crazy time of the year.
Right now my garden is under extremely heat stress.
Here in Dallas in two days we will reach the history record for more than 42 days with temperature over 100 F degrees.
When I moved to Dallas, six years ago, I took a class at the Dallas Arboretum by the great Jimmy Turner about though perennials ... he titled his lecture "GARDENING IN PURGATORY" ... and now I think I know what he meant.
Right now my Okra plants are going crazy. I might harvest 6-8 pods every other day.
My first plants of cucumber is done, but the second ones I planted at the begining of july are starting to produce a lot and the leaves are beautifully green.
Eggplants are in a shock .. no fruits ... but alive
Peppers are half dead, the remaining one are producing very small fruits and full of seeds.

Here what I harvested yesterday:
a funny shaped Trombetta Zucchini, a few Okras and Cukes and one small zucchini

and today:
one zucchino, one cuke, lots of small peppers (really hot), okras and tomatoes (???)

I enjoy the pictures, even if it's not a HUGE haul... :)

ZZs babiez ... I know ...
In the picture below is what I was harvesting exactly one year ago !!
This year is just crazy. I am really lucky to have still plants alive !!

August 11 harvest

This is my harvest today.
I was gone for just 4 days and look what I found.
Delicious cukes.
Next year I will do the same. July 1st, I will seed cucumbers under the tomatoes.
The tomato plants will shade the cucumbers - so I will have a second harvest.
Lots of Okras and eggplants are starting to produce again. In the picture is "Violetta di Firenze"

Anybody else is harvesting right now?

My harvest today: huge sunflowers ... I will roast them tonight
Lot of okras , which I will slice and freeze to be use later in my gumbo or etouffee.
A few zucchini ... which they are a lot to me ... considering I was never able to grow them because of the Squash Vine Borer.

Can you cook and Ship? I love to grow stuff but hate to cook.

I love to eat and to cook, that's why I grow vegetables ...
isn't it funny ?
i am addicted to roasted sunflower seeds. They are like french fries ... once I start ... I cannot stop eating them ...

drthor, your sunflowers look like a lot of fun. Do you roast the whole sunflower or pull off the seeds first, or just what? And -- do different varieties have a different taste. Any favorites? Sorry for all the questions but I'm fascinated. A friend gave me some sunflower seeds for planting but I haven't done the research to know when to plant or if they are a type that would be good to eat.

I planted the Mammoth sunflowers.
Here what I do:
remove seeds from sunflower heads
soak seeds in salted water for 12 hours (so they swallen)
dry them on a paper towel under the sun for few hours
lay them down on a parchment paper on a tray and roast them at 350 for 30-40 minutes .... yummy !!

My harvest today ...
still zucchini .... ah ah Squash Vine Borer ...
some cukes and some okras ... small peppers ...

anybody else is harvesting?

Thanks for the sunflower info. I'm game to give those a try!

And congrats on your continued harvest. Seems you outwitted those squash vine borers -- at least you fooled some of them!

well... I harvested more zucchini that I ever did before.
I sneak squash plants in between my flower garden. The squash plants have been out there since the spring ... I bet they will start to produce as soon as teh weather will start to cool down ... maybe ...

My harvest today: cukes, zucchini and okras ... yummy ...

We harvested this morning and left beans and eggplants to go a few more days. I made a huge batch of pesto that went into ten little storage cups for ten dinners. Tomorrow I'll deal with cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes. There are lots more tomatoes than in the photo. Our Christmas beans are drying and I'm starting to collect their pods. We will thin arugula tomorrow. The babies will give us a week's worth. There's tons!

very very nice. Congrats

Thanks. :) I'm envying your zucchini. Wish I had planted a late batch.

I am enjoy zucchini too.
I still cannot believe that I fulles the Squash Vine Borer ... now the plants are stronger and I am sure they will start to produce more.
By the way the variety is a parthenocarpic called PARTHENON ! This has been the only one producing zucchini in this crazy heat !!

Nice harvests, drthor and MaypopLaurel!

Just curious, drthor. You wrote earlier that you planted your squash in amongst other flowers, with the (successful!) idea of fooling the SVB. I'm curious to know what type of flowers they were, in case it should make a difference. Do you think height, color or size of blossom helped?

LiseP,
no I don't think the flowers near the squash made any difference. They are all different kind.
I just planted the squashes far away from my veggie garden, in the front of the house.
I might have lost 5 plants either to the SVB or to something else. The others kind of seat there for a while and now that it is getting cooler (I hope) they start to produce.
The only one producing right now is PARTHENON ... I am guessing the others will produce soon.
I planted them in April in a very poor soil and forgotten area ... go figure !

Thanks, LiseP. We've been very hot but I think you Texas gardeners have had a real challenge this year. We plant among flowers, bird baths and water trays on the ground. The flowers and baths attract birds and the ground trays are for the turtles and the toads.

Drthor, I'm into sustainable gardening to the extent that I try to save seed from everything possible. I grow as few hybrid veggies as possible for that reason.

MaypopLaurel,
when I moved to Dallas I took a class at the Dallas Arboretum on hardy perennial.
When I arrived there , the first slide of the presentation said "GARDENING IN PURGATORY" ... and now, after this incredible never ending summer ... I know what that title meant.
I just feel lucky to be able to harvest something at all.
Normally at this time of the year I might harvest 30 eggplants and 50 peppers each week ... now ... almost notthing.
But still something that keeps us eating from the garden ... I don't remember the last time I bought vegetables from the store.
Here what I did harvest today.

And your hibiscus are so pretty! Hopefully it will cool off soon for your Fall garden. You asked about kale and distance between plants somewhere. I thin down dwarf kale varieties, like Blue Curled Scotch, to 8" apart and keep it that way through part of Fall. Then as the weather starts to dip I take out every other plant, side dress the ones that stay and mulch for winter. I grow my kale in blocks of four and keep the same distance between rows so I have to take out two rows. I then take the thinned plants and blanch them for the freezer. We like them in cannellini or borlotti bean soups come winter. We lose about half the remaining plants in Winter but the other half go through Spring to early Summer and I plant a new batch in April. Anywhoo, if you're needing more seedlings you could try removing some of the babies on the edges of your pots and into little mouthwash cups with holes on the bottom or other pots. They transplant pretty easily when they are little.

I planted a few tomatoes in Atlanta but can't maintain gardens in two different places. I haven't picked a single tomato from the two plants that went in last April. It's been too hot and the flowers keep falling off. It is cooler up here in the mountains, only eighty five miles away, and even though it's been a very hot and dry summer the garden has done well.

About your okra...I stir fry it with a little garlic and olive oil. A DGer, Kell, said she had it grilled in a Japanese restaurant so we decided to try grilling it last week and now I want to have it grilled every night. If my SO grills it before dinner is served we keep picking at it until there is nothing left to go with the dinner. It's fantastic!

WOW grilled okra.
Do you just slice it in half? or you keep it the all pod when you grill okra?

We toss the whole pods in a little olive oil and smashed garlic. Don't cut the stem edge off. Make sure they are going in the opposite direction of the grill grates. Cook on medium heat, turning when they have nice grill marks for a total time of about eight minutes. They are not gooey. To stir fry/hot saute cut them up in about 2 c.m. pieces. Start with a little plain olive oil and a medium hot pan. I then add smashed garlic that I make and keep in the fridge in a container with olive oil. We grill zucchinis, yellow squashes, eggplants and red peppers the same way...olive oil and garlic, and use them all week long in sandwiches, on salads or rice and pasta dishes.

Thanks I will try to grill the okra this weekend.

LMK what you think.

My harvest today

Maypoplaurel
I dunno how I survived before without eating GRILLED OKRA.
OMG ! delish ...
Next year I am going to grow millions of okra plants.
By the way I tried some okra pods green from my friend and they were so slimey.
The red okra I am growing (Red Burgundy and Jing Orange) are not slimey. Also I can see when they are cooked because they will turn from red to green.

Isn't it great? So glad you enjoyed it. We have Kell to thank for inspiration. Next I might share my recipe for okra fritters. As for slimy okra, color should not effect that. I've grown burgundy, green and now a pale green variety. It's all in the way you cook it. Personally, we have not cared for the burgundy as much as others but that's what makes the world go 'round. :)

Here it is my harvest today. Still lots of okras and cukes and zucchini weeeeehhh

My harvest on August 31st

My delicious harvest today

This message was edited Sep 2, 2011 3:23 PM

Today I harvested some Swiss Chard.
I steamed the tender green parts for 6 minutes, and 30 minutes for the white stalks.
Dressed with olive oil, salt and pepper and added vinegar just before serving. Yummy !!
I also seeded some more Swiss chard directly outside.

Finally my Eggplants are ready again. This is VIOLETTA DI FIRENZE, the best variety that survive this crazy weather.

Ah ah Squash Vine Borer ... don't scare me this year.
This PARTHENON ZUCCHINI is producing like crazy now ... weee

I am still harvesting zucchini, cukes and okra

My amazing harvest today. I am very surprise to have so many vegetable after the horrible summer weather.
The eggplant variery is VIOLETTA DI FIRENZE. It did never do very much the other years, but it must like the heat because it is the only one producing.
It is also less bitter and just beautiful to look at.

Anybody else is harvesting?

This message was edited Sep 11, 2011 3:19 PM