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

I keep harvesting tomatoes, blacberries and rat tail radishes

Finally my cucumbers are ready.
Okra too.
I have started to harvest the OSO P20 BLUE tomatoes (in the middle)

I'm starting to get okra as well..my melons are looking ok (although I need to feed them I think) just waiting for advice on another thread about those. I can't wait for to have enough okra to do my once a year fried okra fest. Tomatoes sadly are about dead, but another season is coming so I'm not upset.

drthor your haul looks fantastic

More Cucumbers today .. I swear they grew 4" in none night !!
All of those cucumbers are parthenocarpic varieties from Johnny's

here is the picture

It seems so hard to believe we all live in the same general zone. I am just about to start harvesting peas... my tomatoes have finally started to show a little fruit (though the plants are only about two feet tall and in good years they can get as big as a Mini Cooper). My cukes have yet to produce their first blossom!

Oh, when will this rain end?

I harvested half my potatoes last week and yesterday I picked lima beans for the first time. After shelling it yielded about a quart of beans. Ive gotten a few edamame, about a cup full and they need to be picked right now. My one egg plant has produced about a dozen beautiful fruits and still going strong. My pepper plants are producing but slower I think than before it got so hot. ate my first cucumber last week and It was soooo good. It is called sugar crunch and it really lives up to its name. I have some winter squash that are about size of a softball but no summer squash yet though they are blooming well.

My tomatoes are producing some but have really slowed due to the temps so high. Lots of green fruit but they are turning red way smaller than when it was cooler. Plum tomatoes look like cherry tomatoes. Vines still look OK. Stink bugs took some of the fruit but I seem to have picked most of them now. They probably laid eggs so I have another round to look forward to.

I forget to take photos but I did get one of the taters and the beans. Will post soon.

Here's my garlic haul!

*G* I told ya so about the cucumber! I looove em!

Drthor, BLUE tomatoes! How cool is that! Let us know how they taste. I was gone for 4 days and bugs got 2 tomatoes but still have lots sitting there ripening. Getting lots of cucs, eggplant and my okra plants really took off while I was gone. Sweet peppers are a little slow this year. I am about to finish getting a new bed ready and plant zucs and cantaloupe. Hope it is not too late. Janet

OSO P20 Blue taste really good.
The plant didn't produce a lot of them (maybe only 10).
The fruits are blue/purple on the top and red on the bottom when ripe.

Janet- I say just do it, we don't have the humidity that you do but everyday I go out and see new little tomatoes that have been pollinated even in this unrelenting heat. If nothing else you can hand pollinate them. Isn't that what make up brushes are for?

Janet, check out this thread: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1184654/

It's just about time to start planting for fall!

I don't plant for fall I just I use the same plants, but from now on all the plants I put in the ground are not late for summer but early for fall. Lol I'm shocked that tomatoes are setting in this heat but everyday I go out and there are more little tomato buttons.'
I need to post the planting guide I have for the different regions in Tx. I cant do it on this iPad. I have found it very useful.

We've had exceedingly low humidity this season. I think the pollen has been free to fly, fly, fly! We might not see a season like this again for years, so ride the wind while you can!

Thanks Lisa and Stephanie. I'll now be watching the fall gardening thread. I've not ever started tomatoes from seed. I just finished reading Dr. Carolyn's book and want to try most of the 100 top heirloom tomatoes!!

And Linda, the low humidity has been awesome! This is the first year fungus hasn't hit the cucs, ever, for me! Gotta make some pickles right now, actually...

Bariolio,
I'm having my best tomato crop EVER, but my vines are collapsing under the weight of the large indeterminates that are just now about to start blushing. I have one with about 10-15 huge Black Krims, and the vine is buckling.

Total Bummer!

But, all is not lost. There is still "fried green tomatoes!" And, since the plants are still healthy, I can take cuttings for the fall plantout on August 15th!

Don't give up on the tomatoes. I accidentally knocked a big one off and it was totally green. I put it in a bag with another tomato and it's getting pink now, after at least a week. It may taste like .... I'll find out today when I make some tabbouleh.

I keep harvesting tomatoes (but not as much as before)
The cucumbers are staring

Yesterday I harvested a full basket of SWISS CHARD.
My Swiss Chard is a perennial from last year. WOW !! It grows all summer long under our TX heat

This morning more tomatoes, rat tail radishes, ONE Okra and cucumbers.
By the way ... those cucumbers are growing 4" or more in one night !
They are sweet and delicious.
I have noticed NONE of those Cucumbers Bettles (the yellow ones with the black dots) ... I don't know if they got all killed this winter or the Sunflowers I planted between the cukes and repelling them.
Any thought?

Awesome, drthor! You inspired me to plant my leftover swiss chard seeds in the pots I have. I just bought a pack of Rainbow Chard. It looks like it will be beautiful! I'm going to plant it in my main garden when the time comes. Also trying a few new things for me: bok choy, Little Finger carrots, Bloomsdale spinach. Also have Dinosaur kale and Lolla Rossa lettuce. I need to start the lettuce in the shade so I can have the whole salad growing at the same time lol! I also got a free pack of Johnny's seeds "Ovation Greens Mix" so will plant that in main garden too. I have arugula growing now. My cucs are great, never grew better eggplant and still waiting on the tomatoes. I just read on the SETtomatofest website that you don't need to let tomatoes ripen on the vine for better taste. Once they blush, pull them and ripen on counter or paper bag. That's good to know--I can beat the bugs to my tomatoes :)

You are right Bariolo.
I always pick my tomatoes when they start to turn color and let them ripe in the kitchen.
In this way no pest or bird or rat will take them.
My eggplants are growing just beautiful.
I have planted CAT NIP on the bottom to repell flee bleatles ... and it seems to work !!
Lots of green peppers, which I will leave on the plant untill they turn color.
So far so good.
Finally my tomatoes are slowing down .... I have to admit ... I am kind of tired ....

I'm apparently gardening in spite of myself this spring/summer. I found 2 volunteer watermelon plants in my garden beds and then there's 2 of something else out by my compost pile. I think the latter are both squash plants. Out of the 16 bell pepper plants I planted, 5 didn't get dug up by the squirrels or plucked out by the birds and they've started flowering and putting out baby peppers. I've been pinching the buds off because I'd like the plants to get a bit taller and stronger before starting to bear fruit, but I've missed a few apparently. There's also swallowtail cats on my self-sown dill plants that I've been ignoring.

Watermelon (notice the dandelion??)

Red bullnose bell pepper

Stephanie, that's hilarious! Maybe we should all just see what volunteers in the compost pile. :-)

WoW Drthor!! you just keep agoin don't ya!! hahaha. I am very happy to say that I am getting a little harvest this year!! woo-hoo! No photos yet but I am very happy just to get something!!
I learned a few new things this time around which have certainly come through!

Now...if we could only get the rain!!

I had volunteer potatoes in my compost early this spring. I guess we don't turn it enough. LOL

Today I harvested more tomatoes, delicious cucumbers, and SUNFLOWER heads.
It was the first time this year I greow sunflowers and now I am a huge fun.
I harvested the heads, removed the seeds.
Soaked the seeds in water and 1/2 cup of salt for 12 hours.
Dried the seeds outside for a few hours.
Baked them at 300 F for 40 minutes.
Added some salt and some drops of olive oil and yummy !
To me sunflower seeds taste like healthy potato chips ... I couldn't stop eating them !!

Fantastic drthor. Someone gave me some seeds for a "tangerine" sunflower variety but I haven't tried it yet. Do you think we can assume that any variety of sunflower is edible? I would think so, but then I've encountered non-edible cabbages and other things, so I thought I'd ask. I love sunflower seeds but am allergic to peanuts and I have given up trying to find sunflower seeds that have been packaged in a peanut-free environment.So i guess growing them would be a great solution!

I picked 2 cucumbers yesterday and made a nice marinated cucumber salad with them (they were small but delicious). And then yesterday I also made a Kale/bean crockpot thing that is good over brown rice, and I was able to make it using my own garden kale for the first time as well as onions from the garden. That was very satisfying.

Don't know about sunflower but I just came across a brand of almond butter that is made in an "almonds-only" facility while looking at Amazon.com. But it's much less expensive to just make your own almond butter!
I also am in the cuc-recipe making mode. Yesterday I made a tabouli recipe using barley instead of bulgur. It is yummy! And today I will make the cold cuc soup. After that, I'll try to give away some! Too bad you can't freeze or dry them...
And Drthor, making your own sunflower seeds is so cool!! I remember eating them in class in 9th grade. I had a nice English teacher :)

I hate my sunflowers seeds and I am still alive !
Today I have started indoors 18 plants of "Russian Mammoth" and 19 of "Grey Striped Mammoth" sunflowers. I am addicted now !!

keep harvestong tomatoes
Lots of delicious sweet cukes
one Okra every 2 days !!

today more tomatoes
one okra
1 eggplant, but lots more on the plants
10 cukes .... yeaaaahhh

peppers are starting to turn color

Eggplants this year (so far)look just beautiful with no flee beatles damage.
The catnip I planted on the bottom is keeping them away !!

look how nice the skin is in this eggplant

Yellow Pear and Sun Gold tomatoes are still producing like crazy. Even in this heat !!

Zucchini ... maybe !!
Finally ... I have planted my Zucchini plants in different area of my flower beds ..
I didn't want to give them prime realstate in my veggie garden because every year the monster Squash VIne Borer destroy my plants !
So I have planted them in different areas ... away from my veggie patch ... I applied sulfur on the hole at planting time ... and guess what ?
I might have some zucchini soon !!!