the cosmos in my garden bed are really exploding with color now.
a full gallon bag of blackberries from the wild vines around the yard, and still plenty left out there
and before anyone asks, that is dried basil, LOL!!
Summer Gardens 2014, Part 3
JUMP OVER TO THE NEW THREAD...
I am confused: is there a new Summer garden thread #4?
I know that there is a new FALL garden thread.
Drthor, they've decided they're planting fall gardens now, so the FALL thread is the continuation!
Continue posting summer garden stuff on this thread. Post fall gardening stuff on the new thread.
stephanietx thanks
we still have lot of summer harvests ... and looking at what I have frozen I will have summer bounty for the all year .. maybe I will not even need to plant a fall garden ... smile
Happy gardening
I don't consider okra or any warm weather crops as fall gardening. To me fall gardening is cool weather crops, yes some need to be started soon. Ie broccoli, cabbage, root crops...I'm sowing pumpkin seeds tomorrow if the ground isn't too wet but I don't consider it fall gardening just more summer gardening. Lol
Good, thing, cuz I'm just about to pull my Spring pea plants now! And i have yet to get a ripe tomato, 'though i saw the first one today that's started to color up. I think shortly I will plant some kale, see if I can finally get some later in the year. I didn't get any this spring.
My daily harvest: tomatoes are definitely going downhill.
Okra is producing heavily. Today I pickled 6 pint jars of okra.
Cucumbers are producing average, but at a good "eating speed". The curved cucumber is Suyo Long and I think it is the worst looking cucumber ever, tons of spines and really gross ... I will not grow Suyo Long ever again !
I did harvest some of my peppers green. The surviving plants (after the tortoise's attack) are doing not so good. I am sure they will recover in the fall.
A few squash and eggplants too.
On picture2,3 & 4 you can see my new SVB trap in the middle of my squash bed!
I bought it here: http://www.greatlakesipm.com/readytousekits.html
I read great reviews and decided to try it !
I put the trap up Friday night and today I opened and found one wasp, one cucumber beetle and ONE SVB !!
Maybe lucky ! I should have taken a picture ... but I was just so happy that I threw the SVB on the tortoise bed for a snack !!
Let's wait a little longer and see if this trap work.
Harvested 4 pounds of Pantano Romanesco tomatoes today as well as a pound or so of other tomatoes.
This morning I was checking my favorite La Cordon Bleu site and I was so happy to find a video about melons ... perfect for me at this time of the year. In fact every morning I am checking my melons to see if they are ready. Enjoy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-sLWMGjJYQ
I am not sure about that. Store bought melon anyways.
Garden melons are ready when the stem slips off. That won't happen until it turns yellow. After you pick it, go by the color in the grooves. They will turn golden color. More gold as it gets riper.
In the picture, the largest one & the one marked $3.25 are the ripest.
two huge cucumbers from the vine this morning, of course someone had to thoroughly inspect them ;)
jmc, I have an inspector as well, though he's of the feline variety.
Steph, wow those tomatoes just look perfect!
Drthor, I am anxiously awaiting updates on that SVB trap.. Who knew there was a trap for them?? Not I..
Tomatoes are trucking right along, despite me failing to mulch them.. Honestly they're looking pretty stressed. 'Peperone de cuneo' peppers appear to be almost ready, maybe later this week. Squash plants are all getting ripped out tomorrow to make room for various melons and pumpkins..
All that IF I can manage to get in the ball. What a crazy summer!
my tomatoes are proving to be quite bull headed stubborn. they seem to want to hold onto their hard green fruits forever, lol.
SVB traps were designed for commercial farms to find out when they needed to start spraying. It'd be awesome if on a home scale they just trapped most of the buggers!
quite a good size cuke harvest this morning, the lemon cukes are about to start producing next.
No cukes yet, but I finally harvested zukes last night! A little onion, a lot of garlic, smoked salt, oregano, cumin.
Something besides lettuce or peas, what a treat.
Hello all, I'm just back from a week long family reunion down on the Gulf Coast. Exhausted but happy to be home. However, the deer decided that we'd moved or something and came out in force. Five deer have decided that my garden is their buffet, LOL! The green beans are gone. We got the highest ones this morning and I don't think we'll have any more this year, but this morning's harvest was 5 pounds so I will be content with that. Apparently the deer don't like anything else I planted and have left them alone! Also, I let the tall grass grow over my sweet potatoes so those are okay also. I'm counting my blessings. Picked a number of Waltham Butternut squash this morning as well as okra. Thinking of making a casserole and some fried okra tonight.
I think I have caught up with your posts. As usual, very inspiring and informative! Can't decide what to plant for fall. Looking forward to the new thread.
Ah, FINALLY! signs of a ripening tomato! LOL!
Mystery solved as well about the volunteer seedlings that popped up in my compost early this year, looks like they are the cherry tomatoes that mom buys from the stores, she must have thrown in some scraps from one that still had a few seeds attached.
Hey, it's still a tomato! Lol. I have small red and yellow tomatoes (too big to be cherries more like salad size) but I didn't sow seeds for either one of those this year, and these aren't from the volunteer batch...oh well
Yahoo! I ate tomatoes today! One Stupice and three SuperSweetie cherries. Summer is here! Yum!
(They didn't make it anywhere close to a camera.)
A few of the tomatoes we sold Thursday.
CountryGardens, wow great display.
I wish you were near me, your prices are very good.
Here what I have harvested this week and soon my Long Beans will start to make pods
Lots of melons ... but how long do they take to ripe??
I opened my SVB trap after my first week.
I trapped 2 SVB ... weee !
Maybe this trap is working ...
ok now i am tempted to get one of those so i can attempt growing squash and zucchini again, lol. its like they are literally watching me as i plant them
I set out my melon plants May 21. They were on green plastic mulch with a clear row cover. That came off when vines were starting to run. So just at 60 days from transplant. But remember, we have longer days in summer than you do. On June 20 sun is up around 5:30 AM & sets at like 9:30 PM. That 16 hours of sun, nearly 17 hours of daylight.
I think I transplanted our my melons before you ... I just cannot wait !
Thanks
Happy gardening !
Aw Lois, bummer about the deer.. I hope I never have to experience firsthand the damage they do.
Turtles, nothing better than popping em straight off the plant and into the mouth, eh? Reminds me of childhood, picking wild guava, rub it on the shirt and CHOMP! Nothing better.
Drthor, nice (as usual), but the pic I am most dying to see is your deep freezer at the end of this season!! Then the jealousy will ensue and I'll wish you hadn't posted it! LOL just kidding ;)
Jmc you pick that mater yet?
Anyone know how many melon plants I can cram into a 6x6 raised bed with vertical supports? Think 9 is too many?
that little mater is a bright pumpkin orange right now, should be totally ready in another day or two, and the others are starting to show subtle signs of color change, so they wont be too far behind
Drthor, they will turn orange and then they will slip from the vine when ready. Gently pull on the stem. If it comes off, then it's ready.
ok ... I will wait for this melons ... no patience here!
StillPlaysWDirt these are pictures of my new freezer ... it is hard to see ... but there are 2 rows on the upper left of roasted onions and tomatoes and 2 rows of just tomatoes ... weee
Here are the pictures of my new freezer
This message was edited Jul 25, 2014 7:17 PM
Oh my. Lust.:~)
Holy smokes! Call me when dinners ready ;)
Seriously though, nice haul (so far!), that's inspiring!
Yes Becky, I go from gardener to browser!
drthor - Very Very Impressive - freezer full. I've looked at what you have frozen a couple of times. Curiosity has the best of me. Whole tomatoes with peeling - I think? How will you use those? Also I found it interesting that you must have used a vacuum packaging on some items, which is a great idea. Your zucchini looks to have been grilled ahead of freezing. Is that a real plus? What I have frozen in the past has been watery. You have surely been very busy with all your freezing. One other thing - all the frozen liquids - what kind of a dish will you make with those?
Thanks for sharing.
** jaw hits the floor ** LOL!! MAN thats nice!