Garden Update

Well I still haven't made that relish yet, but I did putter around in the garden during the early hours before the heat kicked in.  I've got a little jungle going on back in the garden and will need to clean things up pretty soon in preparation for the next plantings but not quite yet.  The green beans have gone wild with the  TLC (fish emulsion) that I gave them last week.  I harvested about 4 lbs of beans between Friday and Saturday.  I froze 3 quart bags yesterday.

The Thai Eggplant is still being as prolific as ever.  The other eggplants have begun to flower but have yet to fruit (probably the heat).  Thanks Rachel for the great idea of marinating them in Balsamic (yumm).

I harvested the first bell peppers of the year, one out of necessity (sun scald) and two out of greed (I'll be making stuff bell peppers for dinner.  This was from the potted bell pepper that I originally had on the deck but moved to a more shaded area because the sun was kicking the crap out of it.

The 2 singular squash plants are taking over the back end of the garden, so I think they will become casualties of war soon. Once I can't stand to see or taste another squash, made my relish for the season and put away enough for my various fall soups and croquettes.  I'm betting another two weeks and they are OUTTA HERE :).

As you can see, the trellised butternut squash experiment is going very well so far.  I've been tying them to the trellis with garden twine loosely as it grows.   My plan is for it to go up one side then the other and then back over again going through the middle.  We'll see how that works (especially as the fruit becomes heavier and need supporting.

The tomatoes are coming along great.  That new Sioux that I planted before has taken off. It unlike the others has actually been setting fruit at temps about 100 degrees F.  Which is excellent for here in Sacramento.  It is bearing midsize fruit which will be a welcome addition to the huge Kellogg's Breakfast and Pineapple.

(Back Side of Tomatoes)

(Sioux)

(Kellogg's Breakfast)

(Pineapple)

The Chili's are doing ok, the Poblanos are doing much better than my poor jalapenos.  I think the jalapeno is being encroached upon by the basil or is not getting enough water.  I'm going to have to figure that one out by starting out by seriously chopping the Sweet Basil and making some pesto.

(Poblano)

Poblanos are the peppers used for Chile Relleno's and when red they are used for Ancho Chili Powder.

(Jalapeno)

My soy beans are not doing so hot on the back fence.  They have produced beautiful purple flowers but no pods so far.  I'm pretty sure they are not getting enough sunlight in this area.  But since I have never grown them before, I may be expecting a harvest from them too soon.

(Soybeans)


The mixed dry beans that I planted in June are doing well.  I should be able to start harvesting them when my green beans have stopped producing (if I timed it right).

(Misc Dry Beans)

I harvested my red onions and I'm hoping they dry well.  After arguing with my other half about hanging (those dirty smelly onions) in "His" garage, I ended up improvising and handing them in the shade under our deck were they should stay cool and dry. It is advised to lay them out on screens, but 1. I don't have any screens and 2. I don't have anywhere that is shaded that I could lay the screens, so we'll see what happens.

(Red Onions)

So my pain in the butt unidentified beetle is back in my garden.  I had these guys last year and they only hand out on my Collard and Mustard Greens.  I've been unable to identify it because it doesn't match any of the beetles that I've researched that would be interested in greens.  Last year I chopped down the greens to avoid spraying pesticides (insecticidal soap didn't work and burned the greens), and this year I probably will again.  They are better in the cold season any way.

(America's Most Wanted)

(Spicy Globe Basil)

Look at her go!  This basil has more than tripled in size in a little over a week.  I called myself pruning it to get it away from light (the light that is now nearly completely covered and look at it now.  I may need to just move the light or keep trimming ever week.  If you haven't tasted the spicy basil, you need to try it.  It's particular good with chicken and fish and has a much smaller leaf than your other basils so you don't have to chop it so fine, thus controlling the strong flavor.

(Okra)

One thing that I have never been able to grow successfully is Okra. Once again I'm giving it the old college try and see what happens.  A have a couple of pods forming, so keep your fingers crossed.

The little dwarf Meyer Lemon tree I planted last spring, finally has some actually lemons on it.  Dad, I've been giving her a deep soaking like you said and I think Joe is jealous of my tree now.  Hopefully we don't have any sudden wind storms that knock all the leaves and fruit off like last year or snow..like last year (yes last year was pretty freaky weather wise around here).

This Week's Deceased

May the leaf lettuces, broccoli and arugula rest in peace.  Especially since you all went to flower on me and harbored criminals, such as slugs, snails and those little pinchie bugs.  Goodbye and good riddance!

I am now scouring my catalogs planning for my late summer/fall garden.  Luckily for us we have a very very long growing season and won't see frost until maybe December.  

My oh my what shall I plant next?

Tomatoes

Even with the late start, the tomatoes are doing well.  They've reached about 6' tall and are doing well with the new staking hybrid system.  I've been using the mini sprayers on the drip line to keep the ground consistently moist while doing a slow deep watering about every 10 days.  I fed them with fish emulsion which I've been doing about once per month.  There are only about 8 tomatoes on the vines and I think this is because the very warm weather we had in the past few weeks. Tomatoes don't really like to set in temperatures over 90 degrees.  Hopefully, the mildness of this past week will make some more of those babies pop up.

I found a nasty horn worm chomping on my plants the other night.  I had seen the signs for a few days but was unable to find the culprit, so I snuck out with a flashlight around dusk and caught him red handed.  Of course I gleefully took out all of my aggression on him.  I realized I should have taking a picture of him before he became a green slimy blob and the after picture was a little too gross to post. So, you'll just have to take my word the he was punished appropriately.

(Horn Worm Damage)

(Horn Worm Damage - branches cleaned of leaves)

I bought this great book the other day called " Bug Off" by Jerry Baker.  It had great natural remedies for getting rid of every critter you can think of.  He has a recipe in the book for a citrus spray for any soft bodied caterpillars, slugs, snails etc.  He says to take citrus peels and boil them in hot water.  Let the solution sit 24 hours and remove the peels from the water. Spray the solution on the plants (not in directly sunlight of course).  I'm going to try this on a test section and see what happens.

On a lighter note the Kellogg's breakfast has a potential two pounder plus hiding in the lower half that is still growing.

(Kellogg's Breakfast)

The Pineapple also has a few nice size ones coming in.

                            (Pineapple)

This is my first time growing the Sioux, so I really don't know what to expect from this guy.  It's supposed to be very heat tolerant, so I'm hoping it will set more midsize tomatoes than the others, but it's been rather disappointing so far.

I'm going to do a little bit a research and see what I can do to help these guys a long.