We've had some beautiful days recently sprinkled amongst our normal hot and humid days. And checking out the 10-day forecast, it appears we're going to have a string of beautiful days with highs only in the 80's. The garden seems to love it all, and has been going gangbusters.
I'm harvesting zucchini already
And the banana peppers look like they're maybe a week or so away from harvesting. I am planning on pickling and canning these. I use pickled banana peppers fairly often in cooking, so I'm hoping I can find a pickling recipe that produces a final product I like.
I planted a ridiculous number of tomato plants. And here's the story:
I couldn't find any 6-packs when I first started looking for seedlings in early May, and finally I asked at a couple of places if I was too late to be shopping for them. At one place, they didn't remember ever seeing any, and didn't know if they'd be getting any. After looking for them at the Lowe's garden center, I asked the same question there. The person I asked started to respond similarly, but thank goodness she asked someone else.
The second employee said, "Hmmm... I think we have some out there with all the other vegetable starts." Since I had already scoured the outside plants, I didn't hold out any hope she would find any, but she did! She found a number of 6-packs that were starting to be a bit leggy, and I think they were marked down. Looking through them, I found several 6-packs that had multiple cells containing two plants! Same with pepper 6-packs. Who hoo! What a score!
As I was deciding how many tomato 6-packs to buy, my common sense shrunk to the size of a peanut. Suddenly all I could imagine were jars of spaghetti sauce, and all the chili I could make with preserved tomatoes. I even imagined myself making and canning salsa - which I've never done in my life. The stars in my eye blinded me to just how many tomato plants I was actually going to take home with me when I carried three six packs of them to the check out.
Now... remember there were two plants in some of the cells of those three 6-packs... This week, I finally decided to face the reality of what I had done, and I took an inventory. I counted 25 tomato plants, divided more or less even between Rutgers and Romas. And I must not fail to mention I also purchased two cherry tomato plants. There are so many tomato plants, I can't get them all in one picture. I'm almost embarrassed about the situation, except that I'm NOT. 😆
Part of me wishes tomato plants didn't take up half my garden space, but I get over that by imagining all the experimenting I can do with the bounty I expect. And it will be fun to give some away, too.
Of course, this is all IF a blight or critter doesn't take them out. We (and our neighbors) have been graced with a skunk visiting our yards a few times in the last week. As I was looking up how to deter a skunk from spraying around the house, or better yet how to persuade it to leave the premises altogether, I came to learn these nocturnal animals can decimate a vegetable garden. 😟 I've set out a gourmet dinner in the backyard; this skunk isn't going to be in a hurry to move on.
So now I'm researching ways to deter the little striped terror from eating my produce - just in case I start seeing nibbles.
At the moment, I've got beautifully globed Rutgers:
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For good measure, and for entertainment value, I've also planted some things in pots:
I've got some herbs and flowers, and even some eggplant growing in containers.
Not adequately pictured, but also in the garden are a bunch of green beans (pole bean style), more and various peppers, and zinnias, dahlias and sunflowers. The zinnias are blooming already, and the sunflowers are above my head.
My lovely garden has practically transformed my normal disdain for summer. Enjoying 80-some degree days instead of 90+ days doesn't hurt at all, either.
How do you enjoy, pass or survive the hot days of summer?
I am so very thankful for the invention of air conditioning. I'd never survive Florida without it!!! Your garden is beautiful and so therapeutic!
ReplyDeleteIt is therapeutic, Barbara. Yesterday it was in the 70's here and after spending a couple of hours in the garden weeding, trimming the bottom leaves off tomato plants, and then watering, I spent the rest of the afternoon puttering around doing other stuff outside. Except for an hour or so when a friend stopped by and we sat in our sunroom, I spent practically all day, into the evening outside. To do that in my own backyard was kind of amazing. I am so thankful for this place.
DeleteWhat a lovely garden. Home grown tomatoes are the absolute best! Will you be canning zucchini too? Have you seen the skunk? Or just smelled it? You do know marijuana smells just like skunk too. My neighbors use it in the evenings and the smell carries over to me.
ReplyDeleteMarsha, no I don't can zucchini. I think some people might, but that sounds dreadful to me. lol The only way I know to preserve zucchini is to freeze it after shredding it. I use it in zucchini bread, cake or cupcakes, but it can also be added to things like spaghetti sauce (probably soups, too, though I haven't tried that). We mostly enjoy eating zucchini fresh and then I either freeze or give away what we can't eat before it goes bad. I'm planning on making a zucchini lasagna either tonight or Thursday - the zucchini replacing lasagna noodles. I'll report in a later post if it is good.
DeleteMaybe you can get a small sunshade for your cucumber plants?
ReplyDeleteYou still have a bit of cloth, if I remember right, is any of it gauzy?
Some people on fb claim to only ripen tomatoes on the counter. Perhaps that may be an option if something starts enjoying your buffet.
Your garden is a blessing! I am glad it is making you smile. :-)
Be safe and God bless.
What a lovely garden. We’ve had lots of cucumbers here in my greenhouse and it’s been cold and grey most days so I suspect yours are getting plenty of sunlight. They don’t like to go to bed with a wet bottom, I once heard on a gardening show, so I water and feed mine in the mornings. I get acid indigestion with tomatoes which is a shame as I love them and your plans sound delicious. I’m growing some but with the foreseeable still being rainy and 50sF I can’t see us getting ripe fruit unless there’s a massive shift in the weather end of a July and August. It’s never occurred to me to think what do skunks eat. I’m certainly glad they aren’t in this country.
ReplyDeleteLiz (Highlandheffalump)
DeleteWhat a bountiful garden! My potted veggies aren’t producing much, but it was worth a try!
ReplyDeleteHomegrown tomatoes are the best! I love them! We haven't had a garden in awhile, we don't really have a good place (we're surrounded by woods, and the soil is poor). But in recent memory we planted tomatoes twice, and blight got them each time. So sad. I was really looking forward to those tomatoes. But yours are looking wonderful!!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, gardening is so therapeutic. The fresh air, exercise and vitamin D just can't be beat.
You're harvesting zucchini already?! They look perfectly scrumptious. I'm impressed with all your tomatoes, looks like no weeds and stakes right next to each one. We have so many weeds, but 8 healthy tomato plants with little green globes now. No cucumbers for us this yr sadly, however I do enjoy swiss chard and have some growing well. Your heavy posts are wonderful, I like being vulnerable, because it's helped me connect to others who are also going through a rough patch and form a friendship.
ReplyDeleteLooks great Becki!
ReplyDeleteMy goodness - harvesting zucchinis of that size already? It seems really early, at least for my part of the world. RC's balcony garden is going gangbusters too and he's now regretting having so many tomato plants because they're starting to form a jungle out there. He made the mistake of buying a tomato he hadn't tried before and didn't read the label before he brought it home. He was rather taken aback that it can grow up to 9 feet tall and by the look of it, it could very well happen. Will be interesting to see if all that growth will also translate into fruit.
ReplyDelete