Vegetable gardening

Good news Jumper.....More rain here today & tomorrow, Meredith....

What is everyone's experience with blueberries picked before fully ripe? Will they ripen well afterward? Where do you leave them to ripen?

I don't know about the blueberries, but I'd like to hear the answer. I got my Green Beans planted today.

they do not ripen after they are picked

I read the opposite online. That's why I asked. Wanted personal experience.

I never pick blue berries that are not ripe as I never had any luck having them continue to sweeten once picked, only had them rot. They are ripe when when they sort of just fall into your hand, don't take them if you have to tug or if they are cracked as that seems to just causes the whole box to go bad sooner. We only have 7 high bush ones and I actually don't care much for their taste, but I love to pick them for others. I am just not a berry eater. A couple of ours were on the property when we bought it and are huge and we planted the other 5 in the early 80's. This year they seem to have a pretty good set forming, but not ripe yet. Patti

Jen & Patti are correct....blueberries will soften, but not ripen, after they are picked......if you like them tart, pick with a little pink left by the stem....otherwise pick fully purple....I should go to the back of my property more often....found lovely ripe black raspberries yesterday.

I watched a parent Cardinal feeding one of my blueberries to a youngster who was not impressed by the taste! When I saw them in the bushes, I grabbed the grey stray and put him in the house! No birds for him!

I also picked gooseberries and champagne currents yesterday and stuck them in the freezer. It was too hot to do anything else with them.

Memory, that must have been so cute! My sister brought gooseberries over yesterday, but only about half were ripe....I'll have to cook them up....

They make the best jam!

Will not ripen after they are picked...as you already heard. :)

Darn CROWS (and thats not the word I used) plucked every last bit of corn!!!! 700 ft. of corn GONE!!!!

No! Terrible weather, nasty crows! Not a good gardening summer......In '82, we had the wettest June on record....Doug sent Garret into the garden to see if he could replant the corn....Garret was a skinny kid & he sunk to his calves....no corn that year.

OH NO!!!!

Pixie have you ever tried one of those motion activated sprinklers? I was just looking at one on one of the big box stores websites. Wonder if it would work on crows.

Brian and Jason are expert shots!! Crows are yummy. Taste like chicken.

The problem with Brian & Josh shooting them is you can't see the crows unless you go down there and sit all day. Makes for a wasteful day!

I remember on the farm that they put out Zon(spelling?) guns that were went off periodically to scare them away from the fields of corn. My dad didn't time it well once when he was checking on it and it went off right by him. The sound wave burst his eardrum on that side of his head.

Whoa! Powerful sound waves....How about the audio recordings my son's FIL was looking into for the blueberry farm? The recording is supposed to be of a predator of that species....I guess owls would be the enemies of the crows....get some hoots out there, Pixie!

I have owls, deer, coyotes, bears, raccoons ...you name it but this year I have an over abundance of crows...BIG ONES!!

Of course they're big.....they've eaten all that corn!

Heehee. Piggy crows!!

with all this rain, heat, and humidity I am starting to worry about tomato blight - will be spraying fungicide again this week

Yes, even without blight it will not be a great year for them.

anyone use epsom salts on the tomatoes?

When their feet hurt.

Victor, too funny! I can't walk into the tomato garden, it's too squishy!

not so sure about a bad year we have a ton of little t's out there right now.

I found 2 yesterday....froze 3 pints of peas.....only 2 heads of baby bok choy grew.....will grill them.

Yay for peas!!!

the T's are loving this heat

Do you make sauce, Bill? I usually make & freeze stewed toms.....

Lookin good! MIne are a bit behind yours. I do have some tiny Cukes already though! :)

no cukes here yet

yes we just skin/seed them, can them, and make sauce later. Have a couple cases still in the basement. do our own dill pickles too - should have enough until next year.

We are a huge amount of lettuce still and some bush beans, but not much of anything else except herbs, but everything is coming except the pole beans which got eaten by slugs. They have been hopefully sent off to a slugdom in the sky and won't be back anytime soon. Patti

Your garden is way ahead of mine......no slugs in the veggies, but I found one in my per. bed....usually have no problems with them, but this rainy summer has given me some.

My first cherry tomato of the year

Hooray! Still waiting here.

YUM!!!

Nice!

Looks yummy!