2022 Garden Plans

This topic has 141 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 11 months ago by Mike Nolan.

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August 1, 2022 at 1:20 pm #34829
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
Yeah, tomatoes can hide in all that greenery. I didn't see the 4th of July tomatoes I picked when I was looking at the plants on Saturday, but they were there yesterday. I should look again today, there may be more I missed.

I've also spotted at least a half-dozen melons at least ping pong ball sized that I missed when we were looking at the garden Saturday evening. My goal on the melons was to start two sets of plants several weeks apart in the hopes that they didn't all ripen in the same 2 weeks in August. Not sure I succeeded at that.
August 9, 2022 at 7:37 am #35860
chocomouse
Participant
It's raining!! It smells so good! Not a downpour, but also not a gentle rain! We had 1/2 inch on July 25, and .07 inch on August 2. We are in a drought area, but we've received even less than what is reported for the area; the few rainstorms around here have passed either to the north or south of us. We need at least an inch a week for the garden and berries to produce a decent crop. We've been watering and have an OK but minimal system of buried soaker hoses, really just maintenance level. I'm so excited; I live for gardening and consuming the produce year-round!
August 9, 2022 at 9:01 am #35861
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
Sometimes I'm convinced there's a giant statue at the western border of Lancaster County with a hand held out, directing storms to the North and South of us. The Colossus of Lincoln!

It was 59 this morning and isn't supposed to get above the mid 70's until after lunch. Nice having the patio door open for a few hours.
August 16, 2022 at 10:55 pm #36013
RiversideLen
Participant
My Mountain Magic plant is producing plenty of tomatoes. It's a small variety, similar to 4th of July but a little later. I also have something called a Terra Cotta tomato, so named because of the color. They're not bad but sure are not pretty.

The Mountain Magic have been perfect, no splitting or blossom end rot.

Here is a pic of today's haul.

Here's another view of them.

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August 16, 2022 at 10:56 pm #36016
RiversideLen
Participant
Not sure what happened, my attachments didn't work out as planned.

Now it looks like it worked.

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August 17, 2022 at 7:38 am #36025
chocomouse
Participant
Gorgeous Magic Mt tomatoes; the Terra Cotta not so much! haha! I have a problem eating tomatoes that are not red, in spite of promised great flavor. I tried growing Cherokee Purple once, and I tried eating them, but just could not do it. I'm growing Sweet 100s this year, and love them - not one has cracked/split, in spite of drought and my crazy watering schedule. Your garden produce always looks wonderful!
August 17, 2022 at 9:05 am #36027
cwcdesign
Participant
I was talking to a local landscaper on Monday - even she has given up trying to grow tomatoes down here!
August 17, 2022 at 9:24 am #36028
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
Mostly just getting 4th of July tomatoes here a dozen or more every day or two, so far we've had just one or two First Lady. There are others that are getting pretty good sized but not ripening yet, but they're later varieties like Italian heirloom, Amish paste, Rutgers and Celebrity. It was really cool yesterday, with a half inch of rain, so maybe more fruit will have set.

There are a few melons getting close to the picking point, including a really nice big Crenshaw that hasn't started turning yellow yet. Crenshaw can get up to 10 pounds, this one is gonna be in that range, I suspect.

A friend of ours who likes eggplant picked a big sack of them last night, mostly the white ones but one or two purple ones, but there are lots of them left and I think they're still setting new fruit. I'm going to plan on making an eggplant lasagna-style dish soon, possibly this weekend.

I need to thin out the lettuce in the Aerogarden again. It produces more lettuce than we normally eat, I should try to come up with something else I can grow in it, for variety. My son did bok choi and poblano peppers, but neither of those are high on our list of veggies.
August 17, 2022 at 10:53 am #36029
RiversideLen
Participant
Normally, I would never have bought the Terra Cotta tomato. I was ordering some things from Gardeners Supply and saw they offered a few tomato plants so I included one in my order. It arrived deader than a doornail so I let them know. They offered the Terra Cotta as a replacement because the one I had ordered was no longer available.
August 17, 2022 at 2:39 pm #36031
Joan Simpson
Participant
Len you know you can grow some pretty tomatoes!Nice!
August 17, 2022 at 7:41 pm #36034
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
I stick with red tomatoes, so that I know when they're ripe, with the others I'm never sure.
August 18, 2022 at 6:52 am #36036
BakerAunt
Participant
That's my husband's tomato philosophy as well. I never heard the end of it the year I bought a plant which featured tomatoes with green shoulders.

Congratulations on a splendid tomato crop, Len. We have now harvested three tomatoes from the plant I got at the farmers' market. The two Gurney's tomato plants are disappointing. One finally has some fruit, the other nothing. These were the two that started life under the grow lights that appear to have stunted them badly. Our cherry tomato plant has fruit, so I look forward to their ripening.
August 26, 2022 at 2:36 pm #36152
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
Revised: I picked six cantaloupe today, and the critters got to another one and have it half-eaten.

There's a big Crenshaw getting close to ripe (it has some yellow stripes indicative of ripening, and I finally spotted 3 other Crenshaws, one of which formed in the cavity in a cement block and is too big to be pushed out, so I may have to cut it out when it is ripe enough.
August 27, 2022 at 10:01 am #36167
Mike Nolan
Keymaster
I picked about 10 pounds of tomatoes this morning, mostly 4th of July.

That's enough for about 3 quarts of juice, which I'll probably do tomorrow. Some of the bigger tomatoes are finally starting to ripen, if the weather holds I should be able to harvest tomatoes into October. But I'm seeing predictions of an early frost.
August 27, 2022 at 3:18 pm #36169
chocomouse
Participant
I just picked a 5 gallon pail of huge, ripe Celebrity tomatoes. Tomorrow I freeze sauce and salsa. There are another couple of pails of huge green tomatoes. I think this is the best crop in the 37 years I've been gardening here. Very few of the LaRoma tomatoes are red, but there must be a couple of pails of green ones. The average date of our first killing frost is October 15, so they have plenty of time to ripen.
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