Finally! Warm-Season Veggie Harvests!

[NwMtGardener]

My basil has also been really nice this year. Made several small batches of pesto...pesto pizza last night with grilled chicken on top, some cherry tomatoes, and a sprinkling of hot pepper. But the BIG NEWS is i have a red big boy tomato!!! You cant even believe how happy that made me. Of course there were several likely candidates to be the first to turn red, and i had been out there poking at those every day...but this was an unexpected one, it just all the sudden appeared, red! And i have a lot of green ones on five different plants, so crossing my fingers for a great harvest.

 

[so lucky]

So happy for you northern gardeners getting the warm season crops finally! I hope the nice weather holds up and you can get your full harvest out of the plants. Enjoy them while you can!

 

[digitS']

Congratulations on that Big Boy, Heather!

It is kind of surprising how we react to tomatoes. They are fruit. And, the plant has to go thru its entire process to arrive at -- fruit!

A Big Boy seems a bridge too far for this risk-averse gardener . . . I haven't behaved well when frost is predicted and I'm out there looking at a plant that I've babied for 8 months and that has produced not one darn thing for me. Okay, I haven't kicked it . . . but I've scuffed at the ground as I've walked away, leaving that plant to its fate.

Steve

 

[NwMtGardener]

This is how cheap i am...i've had this stinking pack of big boy seeds for like, 6 years or more!! I grow so few every year, that i just cant empty it out! Believe it or not i still get really good germination. I'm going to get something different next year...i better like it, cause i'll probably have the next pack for that long too!

 

[digitS']

I appreciate the well wishes from the gardeners in places where the growing season showed up early and strong. Yes, I like greens. Stir-fries are a favorite. Good thing I like 'em, too!

This rolling in produce is a good thing, also! I've never been one to deny the compost anything. Nope. I am almost as happy to feed it as to feed the stove, & the fridge, & the freezer. I've gotta be careful with the chickens at anytime during the growing season. They like greens & cucumbers too much. A hen can't make a high protein egg from a cucumber.

It's the sugar, don't you think? I want sweet greens just like I want a sweet greenbean. Now that I've got all these SunSugar cherry tomatoes, first up from the corn patch: Sugar Snow!

Heather, you should begin selling a few tomato plants each year. If you can give testimonials about Big Boy, they'll be gone in an instant. Scouting around for the best heirlooms for my garden, I've got to throw away seed! I just use some arbitrary "pull date" and save new seed about every 2 years. I have to set limits on # of plants in the greenhouse. It's reality.

Yesterday, I saw my neighbor with a plastic bag full of cherry tomatoes and peppers walking down the road. I give her plants every year. Now, she's giving someone the fruit.

Steve

 

[cityfarmer]

I am right with Steve with late harvest. I harvested my first 2 early girls on Aug. 9th, first 4 cucumbers on Aug. 12th, and 3 cherry tomatoes on Aug. 12th. This seems to be an interesting and late season. I hope we don't get a frost in Sept. Ah, the joys of gardening.

 

[so lucky]

I think this gardening season is a testament to the stubborn nature of gardeners. Even in the worst of gardening seasons, we are still looking forward to next year. There is a garden up the road from me that looked wonderful early in the summer. Then the gardener must have gotten sick or something, because it has absolutely gone to weeds. I can see tomatoes hanging ripe on the vines, peeking through 3 foot weeds. I am so tempted to take a lawn mower up there and clear some paths. (Well, actually, get my DH to take the mower up there and mow.)

 

[digitS']

I was curious how things were going for the Colorado gardeners. While you are probably less than 1,000 miles away from me, Cityfarmer, things have been quite a bit different for you this year with that very early heat & drought.

Right now, my tolerance for heat is kind of running out. (That might be what happened to your gardening neighbor, So Lucky.)

Here, there were 8 July days with afternoon highs above 90F and, so far, 10 August afternoon with the thermometer running above 90! The Weather Service scared us with 100 prophesied early in the week for yesterday. They were wrong and the 96 wasn't even the third hottest day of the year, I think. Not that I'm complaining.

We often get thru the summer without breaking that 100 mark but I don't remember having so many days, coming so close!

The warm-season plants are well established and handling the heat fairly well. Of course, the cool-season things were fried long ago. The dahlias hate this much heat . . . actually, it is the dahlia mites that love, love, love the heat and dry air. They are trying to beat up the plants even as I speak! I am about ready to go over and blast the darn things every which way from Saturday with the hose. After they dry off, I will be back with some chemicals to send them on to Kingdom Come, I hope.

It is interesting how some plants can handle more heat. Baymule was saying, there in Southeast Texas, that her cherry tomatoes are covered with fruit while the other tomato plants are struggling. I can imagine that sweet potatoes & okra would handle it well - altho' I don't have much experience with them.

I am afraid that the zucchini will begin showing some real problems with mildew soon. Interesting how that fungus that we associate with wet conditions beats up the plants when we've got terribly low humidity and only an official "trace" of rain over the last 30 days!

Meanwhile, those zucchini & all the other warm-season plants are producing by the bucketful so - I'd better be happy !

Steve

 

[cityfarmer]

This harvest will be interesting. I am beginning to think it is going to be a month behind of usual dates. For example, this morning I was able to harvest enough English peas to freeze for later winter use although I have been snacking on peas for a few weeks now. Judging by what is hanging on the plants I will be able to harvest enough next weekend to freeze as well. This 2-3 week"pea explosion" for me usually occurs mid Julyish. I am wondering if each crops "explosion" period is going to be a month later due to being stunted by the bad hail in June followed by the extreme heat and drought. Time will tell.

On another note, weeds do very well under these conditions. I have never seen so many weeds. Until this year, I loved the heat. Many of us have commented that here in Colorado the sun feels more intense this year. It seems to just drive into you. I know the weeds are not helping the harvest, but when it is in the 90's by 8 in the morning, weeds win. I am done with hot weather.

 

[plainolebill]

Well yesterday we harvested only our second eggplant but it looks as though we'll have enough to see us through the end of summer.

A number of years ago there was a little restaurant in Eugene that made an eggplant burger: Grilled eggplant slice with cheese on top, red onion slice, tomato slice and a dollop of pesto. That's what we did with it. Yum.

That Applegreen Eggplant looks great, I have a variety that I'm going to boot so I may give that a try next year.