Color, the Veggie Garden

[digitS']

Do you worry about your Halloween display if nearly all of your pumpkins turn colors this early?

Used to be that they would not change color until well after frost. With 2 kids, I thought I should have 2 Jack o'lanterns. One year, one was orange, one green .

I didn't grow many plants but decided if I was going to do better, I'd better not just grab whatever, off the shelf. These are Rock Star pumpkins. They can get fairly big and nearly all of them will be orange by the first frost .

Steve

 

[ninnymary]

Beautiful pumpkin Steve. We once grew one that looked just like that. It took up too much room so we never did it again. I sure wish we could.

Mary

 

[Lavender2]

GREEN is a color! Hey, it's carrots, it has to count.

The melons are still working on some color, so here's the beets. Biggest, best looking beets I have ever grown! We shared one for dinner tonight, it was delicious! Some will be pickled, hopefully this weekend. My grandson's favorite veggie at the moment. I will leave some in the garden for a couple of frosts and try to store some fresh.

 

[thistlebloom]

Great color @Lavender2 !

 

[digitS']

My beets nearly burned up in early summer, @Lavender2 . But, you know what? They are kinda okay.

That foliage is what I missed, this year. My favorite veggie may well be baby beets, leaves and all. That harvest was a swing and a miss! The plants looked like they had been hit with a blow torch there for a few weeks.

One good thing may have come of it. I haven't found one leaf miner in the leaves the plants now have.

Steve

 

[Lavender2]

You did have some unusual heat this season, @digitS' . Hopefully you will still get a harvest to smile about. I don't remember, have you tried them for a fall/winter crop?

I almost pulled the beets early, fearing a week of upper 80s-90s. They sure look awful in the heat of the day, but I'm glad I left them. I think all the rain we've had helped, although I deeply wish some of that would have dropped on the fires and drought out West!

Slugs were a big problem early this year. I'm not sure if pulling the mulch back helped or the older leaves just aren't as tasty to them. Anyway, I know I will have Detroit Dark Reds in the garden again next year!

 

[digitS']

The guy who set up the first irrigation system for this area intended to grow sugar beets. He did ... it was just not on this soil. He went off about 50 miles west. There were still sugar beet fields when I first got here, off in that direction.

Beets can do okay but we most always have hot dry weather in July and August (just not June!) I've had trouble getting them to start late.

I've got those white beets this year, along with Red Ace. They aren't sugar beets, just white. They are doing better than the reds! I gotta decide now if I'm gonna eat them or try making sugar ...

Steve

 

[Smart Red]

The small white beets are delicious. The large white beets often called mangels are good for sugar.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

been harvesting some of this year's Glass Gem corn. lots of colors!

 

[so lucky]

Love the colors in that corn! Do they stay pretty colorful when dry? Those two bottom ears are just the whole rainbow!