Summer Gardens 2015 Part 4

We came from here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1395535/

The okra and melons are finally flourishing! Hooray!

This was my harvest a few days ago. Just needed a good pic for the thread.

and its definitely one that can make a guy (or gal) hungry, lol!

The blue of chicory along the roads is less blue this year- we dont have that flower as far south as we live tho...

Today's harvest.

I think most of my tomatoes have blight. :( After all the wet weather and now it's hotter than blue blazes. My plants look terrible, but the tomatoes don't seem affected much.

I did get one pretty coneflower that the beetles didnt butcher up, lol. Thankfully looks like more buds are on the way.

eggplants starting to roll in

and a pleasant surprise for me, i received some tomatillo seed early this year, and my goofy self, reading about their care being similar to tomatoes, planted just a single plant in a pot, thinking that they would do like a tomato plant does and produce on just one plant. Then later on i read that i needed TWO plants to get any fruits at all. Well i decided to leave the plant growing anyways to let the flowers provide nectar for the flying critters out there. And then much to my surprise im seeing these starting to pop up on my plant. So much for that "you MUST have two plants" rule, lol.

This message was edited Jun 26, 2015 12:18 PM

Yay for your tomatillos!

Wow...everyone's gardens and produce are gorgeous. To me a beautiful veg garden is like a lovely painting...especially when flowers are added.
Here is my blue flowering perennial which I have forgotten the name of. It lives near the tomatoes.

Actually, I think it's a penstemon called Crater Lake Blue.

Now I gotta find me some tomatillo seeds!

This is one summer that I can say that it's not the heat, it's the humidity. Lol We've hardly gotten to the low 90s but the heat is more then I can take, during the day.

I forgot to mention all the bugs too.

Lisa,

I had to take more water and rest breaks last Saturday in 4 hours than I've probably taken in a month of Saturdays working all day.

That heat and humidity will put you down, fast!

Linda, I can save some and send them to you in the fall.

Thanks Linda...I keep thinking its only me. I wish I had gotten my garden in earlier but life and the rain got in the way.

This is a bit off topic- hope it's OK- I just want to tell you southern gardeners--if you feel at all envious of us way up north in the PNW, take a look at what we have to endure for the next two weeks or so--106 today and climbing! I don't know what to expect of my veggies when they are exposed to it- probably no more setting of anything as long as the temps are triple digits.

no way !!!

With those nighttime temps in the low 70's, they might keep producing, JoParrot. At least is you keep them watered. 100's is extreme for ya'll, isn't it?

That's thanks to the big high pressure system that was hanging out over Texas. Sorry!

stephanietx, are you saying that our high temps are the fault of Texas??? Shame on you! LOL!
yes, I am keeping them all well watered, although we also have irrigation water rationing because the mountains didn't get enough snow! We can only use irrigation 2 days a week but can hand water any time, so everyone has hose snakes all around!

I can't believe how hot it's going to be in the PNW. That's incredible! I do think the cooler night time temps will really help your plants. Let us know how it goes.

Two great finds today on my walk with the dog, Butterfly weed, and Perennial Cornflower, they were just growing in the ditch in the side of the road, unkempt by anyone. I just had to take them home with me, lol! I snipped off the flowers and some of the foliage because i hear that it would just make it all that much harder for them to adapt to being moved, so i figured i would make a little arrangement out of those.

this seems to be what i found

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/125137/#b

All the crazy temps people are not used to. In mid Feb we saw a negative 15 (maybe that will help cool off the thought of 106 degrees). Anyhow - I never remember it getting that cold in our area - never, and I've been around here for a good long while. We had several trees (whitebud & Yoshini Cherry to almost die because of the cold, still not sure they will make it. They have hardly any leaves. Last week we were in the mid 90's and oh - so humid. Today we had cooler temps - YEAH!. At least we have adequate moisture in the ground now. The most our recent rains were remnants of TX Storm Bill from what the meteorologists indicated.

Picked a few cux's, some garlic and dill this morn. I figure 24 hours from vine to brine, so I will brine them early in the morn. Also check out my tromboncino squash which will probably get about 2 feet long. First time growing the tromboncino - so not sure exactly what to expect. Anyone familiar with growing/using them?

Cukes look great what kind are they?

Whatever I had on hand. Some kind of pickling cuke.

Yup! Heat setting records- 111° in Yakima! Owch! Cant wait to get home, setout more plants tho. Squash probably now.

another nice round of tomatoes, and another eggplant.

Today's breakfast offering.

SWEET OZARK ORANGE, weighing in at 15.2 ounces

thats quite a whopper there, i can hardly wait for my monster tomatoes to ripen up so i can weigh them also, lol. Not much longer to go, its about halfway colored up.

Thanks Lily Love....You are right. I remember now. Salvia....Crater Lake Blue. It blooms all summer long. Just love it.
Jo Parrott....You should jump in the car and head for the coast. It's lovely here today. Warm, no wind, and Not Hot. I do feel so sorry about how awfully hot it is in eastern WA and Or. The valleys, too, west of the Cascades. Just too darned hot! Come put your toes in the great Pacific Ocean.
Gymgirl...That SOO looks awesome. Can't wait for mine, but that will be awhile yet. The set on ones are very green yet. LOts of blossoms though. I give them a little shake every day.

Today's harvest: some okra, a couple tomatillos, several Muncher cucumbers, a bell pepper (because it was getting sunscald), and 10.82 pounds of tomatoes! My largest tomato today weighed 9.8 oz, which is impressive for us.

Pretty Marmande tomato. I think these are such pretty tomatoes!

Found the first Pike Cantaloupe (muskmelon) in the garden today. They are somewhat elongated it appears. Very interesting. This is the first year I've grown them, so we'll see how they turn out.

This is my neighbor's cat, Mew. He had finished his breakfast and was settling in to oversee the birds and bugs in the garden. He pretty much lives at our house.

I had put down my basket to go inside for something to hold the rest of the tomatoes and snapped this pic of my basket as I came out the back door. Thought it was just a pretty little shot.

beebonnet, how I would love to do that...We have been here over 8 years and I have never been to the coast- probably never will since my husband is very disabled and can't travel. I have all I can do to help him around home transferring from his chair to scooter or bed. My therapy is my gardens and sewing. I do enjoy reading all the posts here- it makes me feel that I am still in touch with "real" people.

Stephanie-I can't believe how many veggies you're harvesting, especially tomatoes. Mine are starting to set but I dont know if I'll ever get 10lbs at one time.

im beginning to think that the purple / black bell pepper only grows to that small size naturally anyways. Here it is beside the other bell pepper that i just picked this evening. Oh and more tomatoes.

finally one of those "old Kentucky" tomatoes are ready, this isnt one of the monster sized ones though, lol. and more cukes!

You might be right on the smaller bell, as long as its edible. Lol Now you know what your looking for with the "old Kentucky". Everything looks great.

And now the moment that i have been waiting for, that monster tomato is finally ready, weighing in at a honkin' huge 1LB.

Earning itself a permanent place in my garden.

This message was edited Jun 30, 2015 4:23 PM

NICE yellow tomato - could we all be so lucky?

I was out early this morn and got a second picking of cucks.

JMC1987,

That is a BEAUTY!!! Congratulations!

Do you know if you can save seeds from the Old Kentucky?

Put me on the list if you do!

This message was edited Jun 30, 2015 5:01 PM