2021 Garden plans

This topic has 167 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated 3 years ago by Mike Nolan.

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August 16, 2021 at 12:59 pm #31024
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
Those are definitely some nice looking tomatoes and peppers. I picked my tomatoes pretty heavily yesterday so I was sure I had enough for my relish, I wound up with probably about a double batch, but it is very good on hot dogs and my wife had some with her beans and wieners for lunch today and said it was great!
August 16, 2021 at 3:12 pm #31025
RiversideLen
Participant
BakerAunt, a little Epsom salts might help your peppers.

This year I mixed some ground up eggshell in the soil to give it some calcium. I really cut back on the fertilizer, in previous years I would give it a shot of Miracle Grow about once a week, this year I've only done it twice. I also gave it, both peppers and tomatoes, a couple of doses of Epsom Salts. I think I'm doing pretty good on the volume of tomatoes considering I have only three plants. The peppers in my pic are sweet seedless, my jalapenos has really slowed down. I grew those sweet peppers last year and they kept producing until the frost.
August 16, 2021 at 4:34 pm #31026
Janiebakes
Participant
What a lovely haul of tomatoes and peppers Riverside Len! We didn't grow any tomatoes this year but are trading herbs for cherry tomatoes from friends. This has been a banner year for parsley, sage and basil and cucumbers. The basil is trying to flower so a big batch of pesto is on the to do list this week. My DH loves moles, and I found a recipe for a mole negro that needs a chili that is hard to find and expensive when you do find it. As in 96 dollars a pound for the dried chilis and you need a half pound for the recipe. I gifted him with seeds for the chilhuacle negro chile at Christmas and he planted some in pots, and some in the garden. We are getting a good crop which surprises me because NE Ohio weather is nothing like central Mexico. I think we are getting an early Autumn this year. There are only a few fireflys in the evening and last night I heard the crickets singing.
August 16, 2021 at 6:43 pm #31030
chocomouse
Participant
Len, gorgeous tomatoes and peppers! What variety of peppers is seedless? I've never heard of seedless peppers. Do you know how they are propagated?
August 16, 2021 at 7:47 pm #31035
RiversideLen
Participant
Chocomouse, the pepper is from Burpee. I have no idea how they are propagated. This is from the Burpee website,

"Breakthrough ‘PeppiGrande Red’ is the first and largest seedless sweet pepper ever.

Full Description

First of its kind! An innovative red roaster pepper that is…drum roll…seedless! These rich-red, delectably sweet fruits are the largest of all seedless peppers. Roast whole for a delicious treat with no worry about seeds. *Planting note: in the garden to achieve 100% no seed, separate from standard peppers. Planting close to non-seedless varieties can result in pollen contamination—so seedless peppers will contain few seeds."
August 16, 2021 at 9:40 pm #31036
Joan Simpson
Participant
Len your tomatoes and peppers are beautiful!
August 18, 2021 at 10:05 pm #31057
BakerAunt
Participant
Len--my husband thinks that we have plenty of calcium since he uses lake water on the garden. (Yes, he hauls the watering can down and back.) However, he thought the Epsom salts might help, since it would give magnesium.

We have some nice peppers, but we really want them to turn red, as we both prefer red bell peppers.
August 19, 2021 at 7:35 pm #31069
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
I've always wondered how the commercial growers get such perfectly formed and uniformly colored red peppers, mine look like a fugitive from a Dali painting.
August 27, 2021 at 9:41 am #31154
BakerAunt
Participant
An update on our hybridized spaghetti squash: the yellow one has turned orange, and the green striped one is starting to turn orange. They look like elongated pumpkins. My husband still thinks that I should try cooking them when they finish ripening. My thoughts are fall decorations.
August 27, 2021 at 10:12 am #31155
chocomouse
Participant
My spaghetti squash are in various stages at this point. All have had green stripes and are starting or have turned yellow. They are huge! Gigantic! I've never seen any this big in the stores. One would make 6 generous servings. BakerAunt, yes, you should cook at least one. Just pretend it's pasta, hot or cold, and add your favorite ingredients.

This morning I have frozen broccoli, green pepper strips, raspberries, and have a pot of tomato sauce simmering on the stove. I'm going to make a summer squash gratin for dinner, and a tomato tart for some lunches this weekend. The garden is producing nicely now - after a summer of drought for the first couple of months, followed by flooding rains, and over twenty days of temperatures in the 90s.
August 27, 2021 at 10:43 am #31156
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
Looks like spaghetti squash may count as a vegetable on my wife's diet plan (GOLO), so I may have to see if there are any at the farmer's market on Sunday, when the temperature will only be in the mid 80's, so having the oven on for 45 minutes won't be as big a problem.
August 27, 2021 at 12:02 pm #31157
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
I picked 3 large bowls of tomatoes today, in part because I hadn't picked much in over a week, but also because this looks like it will be the peak harvest. Some of the vines appear to be dying off, others just aren't setting fruit in this heat. It is supposed to be cooler soon, but that might be too late to get a final wave of fruit setting.

I'll probably make tomato juice and can it, I'm guessing after culling ones that are too far gone I'll still have at least 25 pounds to work with.
August 28, 2021 at 2:35 am #31163
RiversideLen
Participant
I planted some sunflower seeds in the Spring. The rabbits ate some of the plants and nibbled at others. I didn't think I was going to get any, but some of them survived. I finally have a blossom!

These aren't the giant sunflowers, they are about 3 to 5 feet tall.

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August 28, 2021 at 6:56 am #31167
BakerAunt
Participant
Beautiful, Len! I love sunflowers.
August 28, 2021 at 9:50 am #31169
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
A few years after we moved to Lincoln we had sunflowers planted near the back fence at our duplex. They were about 5 feet tall with heads a good 8 inches in diameter. We watched over the better part of an hour as a squirrel would jump from the fence to the sunflower, which would bend down with the extra weight, knocking the squirrel off because he didn't have a strong grip, so he'd climb back up the fence and try it again.

Eventually he figured out that if he jumped on the back of the sunflower head, rather than on the face where the seeds he wanted were, he could get a much better grip, and then he just chewed through the back of the sunflower to get to the seeds. Persistent and smart!
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