Early July Vegetable Update

 These twice monthly status reports are very helpful to me to look back on and gauge the relative progress each year.  I checked back to last year's post and I can see that the corn and tomatoes are doing well, the cucumbers are ahead this year and the beans are behind.  This is due mainly to the weather because the weather initially dictates when a crop can be seeded and then the temperatures will makes changes in the growth rates.  Initially, cold night time temperatures in early June stalled some things (tomatoes) and then the extreme heat affected others (pole beans).  Overall, it is a good year and things are on track.

Solstice Sweet Corn

Gotta Have It Sweet Corn

Both varieties of sweet corn showed tassels this weekend so I side dressed with fertilizer and put another layer of string to keep them from being blown over in the wind.

The cantaloupe vines are short but flowering.  The Sunflowers down the center are doing great.

I think the cucumbers are ahead.  There is fruit set on the earliest vines.  The zucchini are flowering like crazy, but the male flowers just started so the earlier flowers did not pollinate.

The Blackberries and Black Raspberries are growing great and I will get some Blackberries to taste.  This bed will need support, but I want to see the growth habits before I make any final decisions.  I think I will sink a post in the middle of each end and run a cattle panel down the middle.

Grapevines

The Pole Beans are behind despite getting a good start.  They suffered in the extreme heat, and I should have gotten them mulched ahead of time because the leaf tips nearest the soil burned a bit.  Now that they have mulch and cooler roots they are growing again and putting out flowers.

The early peas are pretty much done.

The vines are dying and I can start pulling dried pods.  Harvesting for seed is different than harvesting to eat and satisfying in a different way.

The later peas are in their prime.

The tomato plants are doing very well.  They have been trimmed and supported.

The early fruit set from when it was transplanted is growing, and the vines are flowering again.

The bell pepper plants are looking terrific.  These were pretty pale and spindly when I planted them, but they love the container set up and the partial shade from the fence rail and they are branching out well from the lower leaf nodes despite having shed all of the original lower leaves.

They are flowering and setting fruit.

My Havasu Hot Peppers are having a great year.  They grew well under the lights and were setting fruit at transplant time.

The peppers are just beginning to show some ripe (orange) color around the stem.

The onions are behind this year but I side dressed with fertilizer and they loved that heat wave.

All in all it is a good, average year.  No disappointments yet, and just your average challenges.  I didn't say much about the cole crops because I was too lazy to uncover them.  The Broccoli was good and the plants were healthy enough to leave standing for side shoots.  The Cauliflower has been slow and small.  The one that we already harvested was small but exceedingly sweet and the next one is about ready.

The Romaine Lettuce has been excellent and the Cabbages are ready.

Status Report

 Yesterday I planted my single and 2025 Bee's Choice dahlia tubers.  I still have a tray of Bee's Choice from seed in 4" pots that I am planning to plant after peas like I did last year (in July)

The first planting of peas is not yet blooming.  I'm going to have to bump the Dahlias up to larger pots.

The cucumbers, summer squash and sunflowers are on the move.  My pickling cuke seeds were old.  I've reseeded what has not germinated.  I'll give that a shot before I reorder seeds.

In the beds, Cantaloupe seeds are up.

Sweet Corn seeds are starting

Tomatoes are planted and happy in their new home.

Peppers are also happy and starting to produce already.

The Sweet Potatoes are transplanted.

I am just doing one grow bag this year, to maintain my stock.

The Panola pansies are going gangbusters in the everbearing end of the Strawberry bed.  The Strawberry plants are also doing very well and the berries will start ripening soon.  Whatever weeds are still hiding in that riot are sure not bothering me.

I also have pole beans planted but since I am still trying to find a solution an ongoing pest problem with that crop, I will elaborate later when they start to come up.

The Long Awaited Cantaloupe

 Today I picked the first ripe Cantaloupe and it is good.  Not quite as good as last year's, but a lot better than a store bought one.  These are from the seeds I saved from last year's best Cantaloupe.  The ripening date is 10 days later than last year which isn't bad considering that I didn't even transplant these until the middle of June and last year they were volunteers and already rooted in sometime in late May.  I cut it up and put it in the fridge so I can have it for breakfast in the morning.  They are always better chilled.  I have another dozen of similar size (small) out there ripening.  Not bad for six vines.

Yesterday I picked the first of the Chelsea Prize English Cucumbers.  They are not growing very long, but this one was good.  Very crisp.  The variety is Parthenocarpic which means it will produce fruit without pollination.  That actually makes it perfect for this late in the season because since the nights started to get cold there have been few pollinators in the garden.  All of the buzzy things are spending their days in the compost tube where it is warm and they can feast on sweet kitchen scraps.

The vines look deplorable but they are producing and that is what matters.

First Tomato and August Update

 I picked the first slicing Tomato today.  It is my PaPaw's Tomato.  Not a surprise.  It is often the first to ripen.  All of the Tomato plants are covered in fruit so soon I will be giving them away.  But tomorrow, this will be my lunch!

Right now it is all about Corn and Beans!  We are finishing up the early Solstice Corn which has been awesome, and by next weekend we will be starting on the larger Gotta Have It variety.

Gotta Have It

Seychelles

I am having to make water choices now.  I am half way through my water tank and just a 50/50 chance of a thunderstorm mid-week.  The late Corn and the Beans get as much water as they need, and after that it gets rationed to the containers with Sweet Potatoes, Peppers and Eggplants.  The Tomatoes are fine without and the Cucumbers are wrapping up.

I fully expected to pull the Pickling Cucumber vines first.

But today the Gateway slicer vines went over the hill so those came out.  They were showing the first hint of wilt, and since they had no babies coming along, rather than let the wilt get worse I just pulled them out.

Zucchini with Dahlias in the background

Dahlias and English Cucumbers

I have Chelsea Prize English Cucumbers blooming now.  They are obviously not bred for disease resistance because they are a greenhouse Cucumber and usually greenhouses are much more protected environment.

Chelsea Prize English Cucumbers

Last year I did not water the Compost Volunteer Cantaloupes even once, so I am taking the same route this year.  The Pumpkins don't get water because they are just for fun, but the Pumpkins are gaining size anyway.

Cantaloupe and Pumpkins

Last year I religiously watered the Belstar Broccoli and got an exceptional second crop.  But then I did not have Sweet Corn hogging the water.  This year I am watering sparingly and they are still putting out new branches.  You can see the fresh, bluish foliage below.

The Tomatoes and Bell Peppers are disease free and producing.  I would say that the plants are not as thick as they were last year and that is probably due to them stalling out in early June from the weather.  But I also have one less Tomato plant in the row than I did last year.  So far I think that the fruit production is going to be comparable.

Wall-O Tomat-O

The Sweet Potatoes and Carrots in containers are growing well.  The Carrot greens are beginning to get weary.  I haven't pulled a Carrot recently but I am sure they have reached the bottoms of the containers by now.  I also have a row of YaYa Carrots fending for themselves behind the Strawberry cages.  I pulled one yesterday for a snack and they are doing well.  I will leave those in the ground past frost to use for autumn cooking.

Sweet Potatoes and Carrots

Beans!  We have lots of Beans.  I have picked many meals from them a handful at a time and then made my Dilly Beans and tomorrow I will start picking to freeze.  We go through two gallons of frozen beans a year.  I water them well at least every other day.  They have Marigolds at their feet to keep the roots cool and shaded and I haven't had much trouble with them wilting in the hot afternoons.  We are pushing 90F now and they are very happy.  You have to be more careful when maintaining Bush Beans because if they wilt they stub the Beans against the ground and you get a lot of curly Beans.  Pole Beans are comparatively easy.  These look even better than last year.  Last year the yellow Monte Gusto variety had quite pale vines and I never got them to green up and look nice.  These are very happy.

Monte Gusto on the left and Seychelles to the right

The Dwarf Tomatoes and Onions are doing fine. but the Kookaburra Cackle and Summertime Gold varieties are showing quite a bit of disease.  It is not really passing to the Adelaide Festival plant at the head of the row.  Last year that one was very disease resistant.  

The Kookaburra Cackle Tomato will be the first Dwarf to ripen.  It is a brown Tomato descending from Cherokee Purple. We'll see if it is a keeper or not. 

I am down to just a handful of container plants.  A backup Zucchini plant, some Strawberry babies and ornamental purple Peppers.  

Once again I am fighting a losing battle against flea beetles on the Eggplant, but Little Prince does not seem to mind and is producing "an abundance" of fruit just as advertised.

Just look at all of those lousy beetles

The landscape is looking nice and not presenting any problems.  

I just have to keep my eyes open for the occasional weed! 

Turn your back just for a minute!