Spring/Summer Gardens 2015 Part 3

JMC, I have grown Muncher cukes for the past 3 years and LOVE them! Crisp, tasty, no burps, and prolific.

really loving the bursts of color that are starting to pop up from more things starting to bloom

also some of the tomatoes and peppers were harvested today, along with the usual cup of black raspberries, and a few green beans.

Did I show ya'll pics of my "Sweet Ozark Orange" Tomato?

You have GOT, GOT, GOT to get some Sweet Ozark Orange seeds! I finally tasted it last week, after trying to get the plant going for the last TWO seasons...sheesh!!!!

Oh, but it was worth that wait, LOL! It is now on my short list of tomato favorites. It's is firm, meaty, with just enough juice, and on the sweet side.

When I tell you, flaming, Japanese Sun golden red-orange, believe it! And, HUGE fruits! Hurray!

Pic #2 (right) on 6/14/15 isn't fully ripened, but, I had to snap it early, to save it from my bird(s)
Pic #1 (left) on 6/19/15 is ripe and ready to be eaten! (.88 lbs.; there's one on the vine at least a lb.)

Sam Womack (Ozark) on the "Tomatoes" forum, developed the "Sweet Ozark Orange" (SOO) tomato. It is now in the F6 generation, and stable.

Ozark will send seeds to anyone who requests them, for as long as they last. Send him a SASE (self-addressed, stamped envelope), and he'll send you some seeds, along with a description sheet on the SOO.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1384864/

I've already fermented seeds! They're drying out and will be ready for replanting on Monday. I'll be rooting cuttings tomorrow, and will plant a couple of seeds, as well, for a little side x side experiment. If the weather cooperates, I should have "Sweet Ozark Orange" on the Thanksgiving table!

Hugs!

This message was edited Jun 19, 2015 1:39 PM

jmc - Enjoyed seeing the variety in your garden. I think flowers and veggies were made to be together.

Gymgirl - Impressive tomato!

Thanks, Brendak654!

I've been making moves to get flowers and veggies to the altar! Jmc1987 hasn't sent my lesson plan, yet, LOL!

LOL. well basically, everywhere that i plant a food crop, like a tomato plant or pepper plant, i stick a flower beside or at least nearby it that have been listed as favorites among pollinators.

Two rows in my bed i have dedicated completely towards flowers, to help draw in the pollinators all that much more. Thinking it may be time to start a second generation of borage though, the ones in there now look like they are wearing out.

I have ordered some of those "Sweet Ozark Orange" Tomato seeds too. I will try next year. It is good to see that it is growing well in our TX heat.
jmc1987 well done in your garden !

I harvested my garlic, now it is curing outside. This is the smallest garlic I ever grew !
I did follow suggestions from a friends ... who I thought she was a gardener ... instead she just Google the information ... grrr ....
This year I decided to plant peppers ... but not to care much about them ... off course I have tons of amazing peppers.

and tomatoes off course !

This weekend I am planning to try to make a: TOMATO CHUTNEY here the recipe (just open it with Google Chrome and translate in English):
http://ricette.giallozafferano.it/Chutney-di-pomodorini.html

Roasted tomatoes
Tomato sauce
Pepper jelly

oohhhh

I am hardening off my okra and I will plant out next week.

JMC, love seeing your garden grow!

Linda, your tomato is beautiful!

Here's the tomato harvest after Tropical Storm Bill came to visit. We had to pick all the ripe tomatoes or we feared they would split. Some had already started splitting. It's a good 10 pound harvest. There's also a good handful of green beans under there as well as some tomatillos.

All of those tomatoes are amazing and to be envied. Mine are still hard little green things, but this is the earliest set I have ever had here on the Oregon coast. I have two SOO's (Sweet Ozark Orange) set on one plant and none that I can find on the other. I am very anxious to eat one of those big oranges. My tomato plants look fantastic this year, so far. Best ever.

Bee, that's great about your tomatoes! Waiting is the hardest part of gardening.

Steph,
Oh, that basket is wonderful!!! I long for the day I can bring in such a basket!

Whatcha gonna do with your tomatoes?

Bee,
I recall Sam mentioning the SOO can withstand some cool temps, so your temps shouldn't hurt it, once it gets to cranking em out!

Great showing of tomatoes, especially! I'll probably have to wait a month to get a good home grown tomato. But they are worth the wait!!!

We have been getting remnants of Storm Bill from TX. Can't imagine how it was in areas of TX along with all the other crazy weather there this year.

ah, finally my cosmos is in bloom, one of my favorites for sure!

I love Cosmos! Don't have any growing, but I should toss out some seeds this fall.

Brenda, sorry about the water logged garden. It's been a rough year for Texas gardeners. We're used to gardening in drought conditions, not in rain and mud. However, most all the rivers and lakes are full (or overflowing) and things are green, which is unusual.

Here's today's harvest along with some shots from my garden

We harvested some Muncher cucumbers, a few more tomatillos, a few more tomatoes, several jalapenos, some green beans, and 3 okra pods! The okra really struggled with all the cool, wet days in May.

Something's growing in the compost pile....LOL

Today, I'm making salsa verde (green sauce) with the tomatillos and a cucumber salad with the cukes. We eat a lot of the tomatoes, but hope to can some salsa with some of them.

Wow Stephanie those are beautiful, it looks like an advertisement. How many plants do you have?

I'm having issues with Tomato Worms, for the first time in yrs, but I just noticed that the wasp's nest is gone. They really seemed to help with keeping the horned worms under control. But on the bright side I guess I can plant a passion flower vine. I didn't like hosting the cats knowing the wasps are waiting....

How many of which plants?

Stephanie toss your Cosmos seeds now. They are a heat loving annual that can be seeded with Zinnias and Sunflowers.

Brenda I didn't realize that Bill had gone so far North. I don't know how to garden in sticky mud.

Drthor...peppers grow great in Tx they love the heat. Some are even native to Tx. I'm with you, a little goes a long way...you can just stick them in the freezer. They will lose their consistency but not their flavor.

Last night the weather report said 20% chance of rain for the weekend..well, it was raining this am with a 50% chance of rain. The weather people must have changed their minds. Lol

Oops how many tomato plants?

This message was edited Jun 20, 2015 11:11 AM

wow, not long after posting those photos of the cosmos a hard gust of wind came through and laid them all flat against the ground, i took some thin metal craft wire and tied the ends to the garden fencing, and made a big loop to go around each plant to hold them up. Thankfully no stem breaks

We planted 24 tomato plants this year.

also with all of the rain we have had lately, it has made the compost bucket really smelly (there are holes poked in both top and bottom for air circulation).

What would you guys advise about a compost bin that has gotten too much moisture lately? First thing obviously would be to put it somewhere that rain cant fall in the holes, but i mean what could i do to help with the moisture that is already in there thats causing the rotten stink?

cover it..

It just turns into compost tea, cover it will dry, drain and use is fine too

took a closer look down in there after posting about this, and it turns out it had compacted into one big brick, which could also explain some of it, so i worked that loose as well

Wow, everyone's gardens and harvests are just so beautiful. Even the flooded one. As soon as the water sinks into the soil it will probably look as though nothing happened. And, you Texans don't seem too unhappy about all that water. We have been reading for years about the Texas drought. It really must be lovey down there now being so green.
jmc....did you have to wear a gas mask to stir the pile? LOL

I'm not thrilled about all the rain, but there is nothing I can do. I know we need it but it won't stop. A storm just blew through....rained like crazy, wind, lightening and thunder. My decks are soaked. Now there is a 60% chance of rain tomorrow. Just need a day or two to dry out.

I really like the looks of those purple tomatillas. Hope you are putting them to good use.

There are different varieties of tomatillas apparently. I saw this huge tree in a botanical garden in Northern California. Temp. was cool there, I don't know why these trees were wilting. Everything else were growing like crazy in the community garden. I'd like to try to plant some in the future.

Seriously, I could use some of that rain. This is the hottest, driest June in a long time here. Usually we don't get our dry heat wave until late July when the plants are more ready for it.

My breadseed poppies are in terrible shape. The rectangle over the septic tank is dead already, and my blackberries aren't far behind. The garden proper has irrigation, but I usually don't have to use it until August, instead of 2x per week. Given the size of the garden, that's 3 zones of watering. I was out of town for a few days and hubbie was watering the peppers and blackberries by hand with a jug because the rainwater tanks are leaking and are dry. That takes about 2 hours. He's on board with checking out that back yard plumbing system again!

Poppies are long gone in Tx even with the rain. Sorry to hear about the water issues. At this point I can't even get in my garden ad the grass is taking over but I've had this happen before ad I still get a decent harvest. Actually saw a frog today, haven't seen a frog since the summer of 2007.

Lily, yes there are a different varieties of tomatillos....the fruit grows in a papery husk. That tree in your picture looks like it might be a Tamarilllo or Tree tomato, but I'm not sure.

1lisac, I believe you're correct. I have mistaken Tamarillo for Tomatillos. NicoleC, hope the condition improve soon for y'all.

I think I'm going to start selling my rain. :) Seriously, I'll take all the rain, just not the flooding and humidity! We picked up another 1/2" this afternoon while I was napping. I woke up to gray skies, wet veggies, and thunder in the distance. No wonder I napped so well!

Here's the harvest from today's post-rain trip through the garden. Good thing I harvested more tomatoes. I took a big basket full to church to share with our LifeGroup this morning.

Great going Stephanie! When you're given a lemon; make lemonade out of it!

definitely a decent sized harvest today

Just a tad muddy and extremely humid in the garden this morn. I managed to pull a few weeds and scrape away a few weeds and get my shoes and britches legs good and mudded up. Didn't make it far enough in to check out the cucumbers, the beets or the zucks. But the dill is doing great. The troboncino squash is just getting started and I'm not sure exactly what to expect of it.

Finally, looks like i have a watermelon in progress! :D

One of the two zucchini plants that i am keeping under tulle mesh until around july 4th, they say thats around the safest date to remove the cover because SVB activity has nearly ceased entirely for the year.

Finally getting some bulbing action out of my beets (they sure to take a heck of a long time to bulb up contrary to what seed packets say), i sowed these around march 1st, and only just now seeing the roots swelling up

It looks like i will have a pretty decent amount of carrot seed for this years autumn planting come mid to late august.

And these tomatoes, the photo doesnt show it too well, but they are turning into absolute monsters!

And photos of the entire garden bed in general, so much color now that most of the flowers are blooming, and im about to get some color out of the Coneflower that i planted earlier this year, and even a couple of blooms out of the Indian Blanket flower that i started from seed this year. totally surprised and pleased with that, as i was not expecting any flowering from them until next year.

Canned my salsa today and used up all my tomatillos!

Y'alls gardensn are looking great! Now we Texas get to watch you all bring it in!!

But, not for long, LOL! We're gearing up for the fall/winter gardens down here!

Steph,
You'll have to post your salsa recipe!

This message was edited Jun 22, 2015 8:30 PM

Here it is! I substituted the purple tomatillos for the green ones, but followed this recipe otherwise.

http://www.theyummylife.com/roasted_salsa_verde