Pics of Your 2014 Vegetable Garden

[monarch64]

I'll play!
This is the first year that I got watermelons to set fruit. Hopefully we have enough time left before the frost for the melons to ripen. Two of them are the size of softballs and two are golf ball size. Anyone know if I should cut back the vines or at least cut off the flowers? I don't know how long it will take for them to ripen or how big these "yellow baby" melons will get...

I have a few tomatillos setting and the plums are just starting to ripen
The black krim tomatoes haven't ripened yet though. The first one I picked had the blossom end rot anyone know how long these take to ripen? I swear they've been green for a month now!

If you take off the flowers the plant will devote more of its energy into the existing fruits resulting in larger melons.

Not sure about black krims. Everyone I know has been having tomato issues this year. My "Early Dolls" took a full month longer than last year to ripen. My Cherokee Purples and Mr. Stripeys still haven't ripened.

 

[Ninna]

Oh those Saltillos look so pretty!
We had major cantaloupe failure so I'm sharing a flowering onion that has been attracting a few bumble bees, unsure if I want to keep it there yet as I'll be pulling out everything in that bed tomorrow.
Here's my little helper after removing bird netting and aluminum pie plates from 'Sunshine' and 'Misty' blueberry bushes.
--Not sure if it's true but we were told that plating two different varieties to ensure higher/larger yield, so far so good!
We used a healthier recipe from Eating well, came out little too crumbly for my taste but with 1 Tb of butter, I'm not going to complaint!

 

[hoover]

If you take off the flowers the plant will devote more of its energy into the existing fruits resulting in larger melons.

Not sure about black krims. Everyone I know has been having tomato issues this year. My "Early Dolls" took a full month longer than last year to ripen. My Cherokee Purples and Mr. Stripeys still haven't ripened.

Thanks for the tip, Monarch I just plucked off all the flowers and buds and I'll keep doing that. With any luck, the melons will get bigger - I'll be super happy if they even get to cantaloupe size, considering the short growing season up here.

Still no sign of colour change in the black krims. I've picked a few sweet millions and sun golds - those were yummy! Harvested just enough for a dinner salad and with any luck, I'll have a bumper crop soon

 

[monarch64]

Hoover, you're welcome. Glad to try to help out a fellow gardener!

My heirlooms are still not showing signs of ripening. It's been uncharacteristically cool here and we've had more rain than is typical this August. Honestly it's been kind of a cruddy month all around! So I'm not surprised my garden isn't responding...just goes along with everything else that's being a downer. Anyway, this too shall pass, and my fall seeds are sprouting, so there is hope for a nice fall crop.

Love everyone's recent pics!

 

[davi_el_mejor]

Our Cherokee Purples finally decided it was time to ripen Plus so did a lot of the others... and green beans

 

[monarch64]

Green with envy, here, Davi, just like MY tomatoes. Those )(*&^%%$!@#'s will NOT/just refuse to ripen.
Anyway, very happy for you, and thanks for sharing your wonderful pics! Gonna go beat my head against the wall again.

 

[davi_el_mejor]

Green with envy, here, Davi, just like MY tomatoes. Those )(*&^%%$!@#'s will NOT/just refuse to ripen.
Anyway, very happy for you, and thanks for sharing your wonderful pics! Gonna go beat my head against the wall again.

Ours were the last to ripen. Every plant had been producing for 2-3 weeks before they decided it was go time. We had a cold spell (like down to the low 50's at night) for a few days and then some very warm days and coolish nights and then they ripened. Our orange/yellow/pinks are ripening WAY faster than the redder reds, so maybe it has to do with the deepness of color and later season ripening.



We're about to pull the zucchinis because the powdery mildew has gotten the best of the plants. What would you suggest for a new crop this late in the season. We have like 6 more weeks before we have to worry about frost...

 

[TooPatient]

Got another cucumber, some more baby tomatoes, a cup or so of blueberries, and a few blackberries.

That brings us up to 16 tomatoes (so far -- more ripening!) including one heirloom, a few yellow pears (may be heirloom), some orange cherries, some red cherries, and a couple of early something.


Lesson for next year -- don't use PAPER to label what the sprouts are
I'm going to do what my grandfather did and use sharpie on popsicle sticks.

 

[davi_el_mejor]

love the orange and yellow tiny tomatoes TooPatient. They're sweet and an easy snack. We like our tomatoes on the less ripe side, any give in the flesh and they're just too ripe. The little ones have a robust skin and can develop more sugars while not getting that weird ripe-ripe tomato texture.

Funny you mentioned the early girls.. They were the last of the "normal" sized tomatoes to ripen LOL.

 

[monarch64]

Green with envy, here, Davi, just like MY tomatoes. Those )(*&^%%$!@#'s will NOT/just refuse to ripen.
Anyway, very happy for you, and thanks for sharing your wonderful pics! Gonna go beat my head against the wall again.

Ours were the last to ripen. Every plant had been producing for 2-3 weeks before they decided it was go time. We had a cold spell (like down to the low 50's at night) for a few days and then some very warm days and coolish nights and then they ripened. Our orange/yellow/pinks are ripening WAY faster than the redder reds, so maybe it has to do with the deepness of color and later season ripening.



We're about to pull the zucchinis because the powdery mildew has gotten the best of the plants. What would you suggest for a new crop this late in the season. We have like 6 more weeks before we have to worry about frost...

Are you zone 5? I'm zone 6, for reference.

Either way, I thought yours would ripen after mine since I am a zone south of you. However, I think the weather plus placement of my tomato plants this year might have had something to do with it. My "Early Dolls" have been producing and ripening, but at a slower rate than last year. I write a gardening blog as you may know, so I have actual records from last year to compare with this year, at least.

Funny thing is, my friend's CP's (just north of me) ripened in her raised beds a month ago! We got our soil for our raised beds from the SAME PLACE. She purchased Cherokee purple plants, and I grew mine from seeds saved from her last year's crop. It's so weird. But it's also fascinating.

Sorry, I digress. To answer your question about fall crops: I sowed seeds for carrots, several lettuces, more basil, spinach (I know, you hate it), winter squash (picture acorn squash, the type you halve and bake in the oven and either season savory or sweet), and pole beans. You could also plant or sow kale, peas (I think), and more herbs at this point. Check out your state's extension program. Guaranteed you'll find a great chart on their website that will map out what dates you can sow seeds by. If not, consult your local garden center peeps.

This has been a crazier gardening season than usual for me, and even for the places in which I volunteer! We are having to keep cutting back strawberry vines of all things because the poor plants are confused by all this cool weather. Same in my yard--our strawberries will not stop growing, and they are June bearing! I'm starting to believe in this global warming stuff. Although, someone told me tonight that due to the horrifically cold winter, the northern mountains are just now melting and causing all of this insanity. Who knows?

Hope this helps and that I gave you some semi-accurate information.

I have two sets of row covers. I'll try to post pics when we install them in a month...or six. LOL

 

[monarch64]

Got another cucumber, some more baby tomatoes, a cup or so of blueberries, and a few blackberries.

That brings us up to 16 tomatoes (so far -- more ripening!) including one heirloom, a few yellow pears (may be heirloom), some orange cherries, some red cherries, and a couple of early something.


Lesson for next year -- don't use PAPER to label what the sprouts are
I'm going to do what my grandfather did and use sharpie on popsicle sticks.

Sounds like you had some success! Thanks for passing along the gardening tips; I can always use more.

If you have extra wine corks you can also label those and use bamboo skewers to mark what you've planted/sown.


'

 

[mochiko42]

Our Cherokee Purples finally decided it was time to ripen Plus so did a lot of the others... and green beans

Those tomatoes are just gorgeous!! How will you use them?

 

[Skippy123]

Davi, those tomatoes look delicious. Mine are ripe too! I did catch my kids playing outside picking them and then throwing them, grrr. Anyway, our tomatoes did well but my green beans didn't. Oh well, next year!

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

Lordy! SHOW ME the veggies!

cheers--Sharon

 

[mochiko42]

Would you call this a padparascha orchid?

 

[TooPatient]

Anyone have any suggestions about what to do with green tomatoes?

We've got dozens of tomatoes (cherries, romas, heirloom, and more) on the plants but they are still green and the weather is turning. I had a few more ripe today but I think the rest won't make it in time.

Any ideas?
Should I pick them (if so, what do I do with them)?
Just leave them on the plants and home some more ripen?
Pull them out and start getting the garden ready for winter?

 

[monarch64]

TP, you can pick the green tomatoes and let them ripen inside, then do whatever you usually do with ripe ones.

I am from close enough to the South that I love fried green tomatoes. With a homemade spicy remoulade... if I had large enough green ones left I'd be frying them right now because my mouth is watering just thinking about FGT's.

I've seen people slice them and add them inside grilled cheese sandwiches.

Here's a link to a few other things you can do with them: http://www.punkdomestics.com/content/seven-things-do-green-tomatoes


In other news, I have pole beans on the vine now, arugula, lettuces, and winter squash. Well, I should say I *did* have winter squash (acorn variety). It got down to 37 degrees here last week and that was low enough to end the squash vines. Grr. ETA: oh yeah, I have carrots growing too! Easy to forget stuff that's growing underground!

 

[Mia16]

I like bring green tomatoes indoors to ripen slowly before critters bite into them. We make two sauces one for pizza/pasta and a smooth one for taco/fish/meat. They freeze very well.