What's Going On With Your Veggie Garden: Part 4

We came from here:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1257023/

Dave's not here.....haven't seen a post from David [dreaves] in a while. Hope all is well on that front. Someone please d-mail me some news if there's any.

My peppers are really starting to take off - finally. Other than them, my garden is almost fallow. I'll sow some more summer squash today, the last batch I was trying to train to grow up an old grapefruit tree and that did not work as hoped. Oh well. And I must have waited too late to sow bush beans, they refused to germinate and I'm guessing the soil was too hot for them. Next year I'll plant in March, not May, and they may do better.

What's happening out there??

This message was edited Jun 24, 2012 5:29 AM

The color of vegetables and fruit will usually indicate the nutritional value. The darker the color, the higher the nutritional value.

I don't know if this also applies to the skin color of fruits and vegetables.

I like using this website to balance out the nutrition in my diet:

http://nutritiondata.self.com/

Go here to see some of my latest offerings to the public.
www.countrygardensmn.com
Click on At the Farmers Market

This message was edited Jun 24, 2012 7:03 AM

Very nice Bernie. Looks like you have worked hard and built up a good business that serves your community. Good job!

harvesting string beans, peppers, and cukes. gotta watch the cukes and beans every day now so they don't get too big. I have a ton of huge bell peppers on the bush but no immediate use for them now so I'll just wait until they change colours. Jalapeno, New Mex, Anaheim, Ancho are producing like gangbusters! Still waiting for the tabasco, scotch bonnets, chocolate habs to change colour. The bermuda grass is also doing very well, grows faster than I can pull it up lol


-Vaughn

We've dug up Bermuda grass repeatedly, and still it returns in the areas outside the raised beds! We've tried smothering it with a 12" deep layer of leaves, and it grew through that, too! It also creeps through from the neighbor's yard, which doesn't help.

I hate Bermuda grass!

Vaughn ~ what on earth will you be doing with so many bells?

When I get excess, I slice and loose freeze them on a waxpaper covered cookie sheet. Then I'll pack them in a baggie where I can remove what is needed for cooking. Of course cooking is the only way to use them once they are frozen.

Kristi, I don't really like them green (heartburn), but I love them red, yellow, orange so I got a little wait before they change. In late summer we do a lot of fajita cookouts so we'll use them lol

-Vaughn

It's hot out today but I took some pics anyways *grin*

1. peppers on the back row, then string beans, then onions

2. the cuke jungle

3. okra in a pot

4. Bell Pepper

5. Tomatoes, peppers, okra, etc on the deck

Oh, all very nice, especially the deck containers.

Today I see the first bloom on the beans. On my Spanish Musica. Hopefully there will soon be more blooms and on the Blue Lakes also. Really I can't wait to taste these. I am growing both of these in containers.

I have some cucumbers in a bowl type planter too. Salad Bush which has baby cucumbers already. But I have plenty more cucumbers in ground.

Rita, My bush beans are blue lake and they are tasty and for a small bush it produces a lot of beans


-Vaughn

I am looking forward to making stir fry with my beans. Have a long time to wait though!

Thank you for the new thread, Mary.

Bernie, garden looks great!
May not be a big deal, but your bottom links to the site are not properly directing.


Podster, are you harvesting Beck's okra, yet?

I agree on Bernies' garden. The crops look excellent and hoping to excessive rain hasn't affected it for him.

No, on the Becks yet but it shouldn't be long.
I started the fall tomatoes, squash and more cucumber seedlings this week.
Feels like I'm jumping the gun but it will fall just right.

Did you start your stuff inside or direct sow?

Starting everything outside, in the heat and sun and in containers.
Quick germination on the cucumbers merits a photo.
Thanks for letting me share.... lol

Picked our first melons of the year this morning. These were three volunteers. They tasted great, and gave enough to share with my daughter and neighbor.
Also picked some tomatoes. They weren't quite ripe, but if I had left them there, the squirrels would have eaten them.

This is my first harvest of potatoes- the bigger ones are Yukon Gold- from some I didn't find last year! The others are fingerlings that I put in a half barrel just for fun. I have 2 more half barrels that I will let go longer. I wasn't sure when to dig these, since the tops had started to die back, but I think I was early.

Yum on the melons. Can't wait for ours to show up.

No ripe tomatoes yet but can see them on the vine. Plenty of peppers and other things to pick right now.

Picked a couple of Sun Gold, Tomato Growers Supply, tomatoes. They are delicious!

Slicer cucumbers are starting. I have 48 for market today.

Hey, Kristi!
I'm right behind you on the seed sowing outside. My "kids" will sow seeds this weekend in the painted seed trays, for broccoli, cauliflowers, and cabbages. I'm leaving them outside, under the patio cover. This'll be my first time sowing ANY seeds for these veggies outside, but, if I miss, I'll still be right on target to resow come August 1st.

Nothing beats a wish but a try, huh?

Linda

I'm about ready to rip out my lemon cucumber vines. They just don't do well when the temps get up to 105º!! Besides that, they were looking really bad. I'll probably take out the Marketmore cukes when the last of the cukes mature. I am also ready to rip out the cantaloupes. They've pretty much finished producing and are looking half dead. The tomatoes, okra, and pole beans are still doing great, tho!

stephanie, do you start a second crop of cucumbers? Seems to me that you would have plenty of time left to do so if you started seeds now.

Nothing too exciting here. My cucumbers have baby cucs but that is all. Well, they have lots of flowers.

Today I am mulching all my tomato plants with straw. I should have done it already as some are really tall already but just getting to it now.

It looks like one last decent harvest of the zucchini but we'll still hopefully have some tomatoes if this 100-plus temperatures break soon. Looks like we'll also be pulling the zucchini and summer squash plants out. Going to cut the cucumber vines at the base and let them dry out, since we are only going to get another 6 or 7. Actually got a single Mr. Stripey to fruit and it's turning color. Not much bigger than a golf ball.

Watermelon... "It's what's for dessert"... Well, okay, August dessert. All four kinds are doing good. Have some Congo's, Crimson Sweet's, Little Gem's and Bush Sugar Baby's.... Finally got the pine bark mulch down outside the fence for the melons to sit on... I've counted about 10 melons but I know a lot more are hidden in all the leaves..

I've got a couple of pics of our zucchini plants and they are covered by what I would expect to be Powdery Mold, can someone confirm this by the pictures?? They will probably be pulled out by this weekend, anyway, but want to make sure what I have been dealing with.

Today's harvest... Zucchini plant & leaves... Watermelon patch.. A couple of Congo's

Kevin,
you got a dmail.

Also, those cukes are the sweetest I've had this season! What variety did you give me?

Is anyone else starting seeds anytime soon?

Some more of the WM pics...

Didn't notice until just now the last pic, there are 3 Congo's...

Is pic #3 a Bush Sugar Baby... don't have the seed pack and forget what it looks like...

Linda, the cukes were either Marketmore 76 or Salad Slicers.. Those are the seeds that I froze after last year. I still have a few left and will use them next year...

Rita, I will start more cukes for the fall, just not while it's 105º+ outside, tho.

Oh I see. Too early to start fall cukes for you right now. I was wondering about that!

This morning, I harvested my last lemon cucumber and all of the remaining carrots. I pulled up the lemon cuke plants and half of the cantaloupe plants that looked half dead.

Dragged out the hoses and wetted down all the beds this morning in anticipation of 100F temps this coming weekend. Threw more BER infected tomatoes into the compost. Added fertilizer to one row of peppers, pulled a row of onions, and added mulch to the peppers and beans. Tripped over something and am now resting a pulled muscle in my back! My little dog Chloe thought mommy had a new game to play!

I know there's some squash out there calling my name, so perhaps after lunch I'll venture out.

Awe, but it was a good run, Stephanie! I'm not ready for summer either, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Think I'll be pulling out the armenian cucumbers soon.

Hope your back heals quick, Honeybee. Sweet pup there!

Eggplants picked today.

Left to right:
1 - Money Maker II
2 - Bride
3 - Hansel
4 - White Lightning
5 - Swallow
6 - Bride
7 - Hansel
8 - Money Maker II
Top: Tiger

ooooooooooooh, Rich,
Thanks for posting the pics! I'm growing Hansel AND Gretyls. Had no idea what to expect!

How do you cook them? I've got my stewed eggplant with shrimp and ham recipe down pat. And, I've been told to cut them thick and grill 'em with some S&P & EVOO.

Any other recipes are surely welcomed!

Linda

rjogden
I am always very impressed on how good you are naming your vegetable varieties.
I have a question for you: your eggplants look so beautiful, don't you have flee beetles in Gainesville?
I don't see any little holes on your eggplants.

Rich, is Tiger a tomato? I love the 'markings'.

This message was edited Jun 27, 2012 3:54 PM

This message was edited Jun 27, 2012 4:34 PM

Cocoa, it was a great run! I'm actually thankful for pulling all this stuff since I won't have to water as much and I can plan for fall. Also means I won't have to be out in the heat as much.

No, it's one of a number of types of Thai eggplants. They also grow long types in Thailand, but the small round ones seem to be a specialty. "Tiger" was from Kitazawa. Johnny's sells one called "Kermit" that looks identical. Evergreen Seeds (http://www.evergreenseeds.com/oreg.html) lists a staggering number from all over Asia.

If you Google "Thai eggplant" you'll get links to dozens of photos and recipes. I'm still trying to decide if the little ones are worth growing. My single plant has been incredibly productive, averaging one fruit per day. Some recipes/instructions say to remove the seed cavity, others use them seeds and all. Some indicate they are bitter, but I braved a bite right out of the middle (raw), chewed up seeds and all and did not detect any bitterness. The bitterness some experience may be a function of age - these were all picked small, before the seeds hardened. It seems to me if you had to scoop out and throw away the seed cavity, you'd need at least a half-dozen or more fruit to make a meal.

I still lean more towards the long Japanese types, but that is partly because of their reputation of producing well in the heat. I'm not sure how you'd tell - all the eggplant I'm growing (with the exception of a "Green Goddess" that got off to a slow start) have been productive - but we're just now getting to the really hot weather down here.

The two earliest to produce fruit BTW were Tiger and Swallow. But I have a very small sample of varieties (unlike my peppers), and didn't even include any "traditional" European-style varieties. I wanted to see how some of the different Asian varieties compared in my garden.

-Rich

I have been fortunate this year. Come to think of it, I haven't seen any since I moved to my current location. I have no explanation. I do periodically release green lacewings and ladybugs, but I don't know if they have any influence. Maybe just lucky so far?

-Rich