Newbie's SFG exploded - HELP!

I went away for five days, and my wife watered the garden. When I returned I had color and BIG green plants! My trouble...I don't know when to pick/harvest, and in some cases how. So please bear with my pics.

In the case of the Cilantro...when is it ready and how do I harvest it? Same with the Romaine & leaf lettuce and spinach. The beans look close to ready, and I have a red tomato. But again, not that I got things to grow I'm not sure when to pick! LOL I guess that's not a bad problem! LOL

Cilantro (in center)...is it ready? 



Leaf lettuce (below) coming up big. Do I cut? Pull it all out?



Spinach...same questions as leaf lettuce.


Ooops, more leaf lettuce.


Wax/yellow beans. When do I know they are ready?


 tomatoes


Bigger tomato plant, but don't know why it looked brown. BUT it is developing some fruits.


All feedback welcome.

Thanks.

Overwhelmed in OK!

Wow, everything looks great! What a nice surprise it must have been coming home to that!

I'm a newbie also but i can chime in on a couple of things. The cilantro looks good to start picking. It grows super fast and will eventually start flowering and producing coriander seeds so I would say definitely pick the cilantro as you need it from now. 

The leaf lettuce looks good also! What type is it? I have been harvesting individual outer leaves from each plant so the head can keep producing, but after 2 or 3 cuttings you should cut the whole plant out, otherwise it'll start getting bitter.

Not sure about the tomato, depends on what type again. Check how big the fruit should get for the variety you grew and decide from that. The last picture looks like that tomato has blossom end rot. I'm guessing the plant looks the way it does because of some sort of stress. Underwaterimg, overwatering, too cold, too hot, pests, the list goes on. People say blosssom end rot is from calcium deficiency but I've read and heard that it has more to do with plant stress.

Good luck with your harvest, and enjoy!

phoeg wrote:
Bigger tomato plant, but don't know why it looked brown. BUT it is developing some fruits.

The tomato in the upper left corner has Blossom End Rot (BER) - see the black bottom.  Might as well chunk that tomato.  BER is usually caused by not enough calcium which can be caused by irregular watering.

Thanks, all!

I mislabeled one pic, but it's romaine lettuce in the second image. I read up on how to determine when it's ready to pick so tomorrow morning I'll give it a go. Same with the one leaf lettuce plant. May have salad tomorrow!   

The tomato plant with the BER is a puzzler. We've kept it watered, and I don't think it's overwatering because in our Oklahoma heat the leaves wilt quickly. And the gardens get only about the requisite 6 hours of sun too. they good good sun from sunrise until about 1:30 PM then the shade moves in, so they aren't burning all day. I have one square with THREE tomato plants coming up, and they were planted from seeds late in the planting season! To keep to the "one per square" I may have to remove one.

I'm also learning that bush beans may need more than one square! LOL

It looks great, Phoeg!

I'd start picking lettuce, basil, & cilantro. You COULD pick a spinach leaf or two... The beans look about ready to pick. You should be able to feel the beans in the pod. Definitely get that red tomato & chunk the one w/ BER.

Bush beans will harvest around the same time. I have found that if I cut them back, they'll produce more beans.

Congratulations!

AtlantaMarie wrote:I have found that if I cut them back, they'll produce more beans.

Congratulations!

Thanks! I guess ol' "Farmer Paul" is doing okay for his second garden in 11 years! 

Dumb question of the morning: when you say you cut them back, how exactly do you mean that? Where and which would I cut?

Remember, I'm new to this! 

Paul

Yes, you are! :-)

Well, once I get all the pods picked, I cut MOST of the branches off near the main stem. Then give them some nutrients and let 'em go.

You'll need to leave some leaves for photosynthesis....

I might also add that I grow them for dried beans, so the pods are getting brown & I can hear the beans rattle inside.

Marie, would you please show us before and after photos the next time you do this? I've never heard of it before and I'm not quite understanding what to do.

CC

I'll do that...

Pick the bean pods. Then basically I trim it like a mint plant - I cut the top off, leave some of the leaves. I've had them branch back up like a mint.

My SFGs are now overrun! LOL

I read the advice about starting tomatoes indoors then transplanting. My tomatoes from inside died. So I planted some seeds outside. They are covered with green fruits. The Juliet tomato plant I bought at a plant sale is covered with green ones waiting to ripen. The Jetstar tomato plant that I thought was dying has wilted leaves but 4 tomatoes appeared. The tomatoes have overrun some peppers in the beds, and the marigolds have too. I just wanted some extra color! My yellow pepper plant is coming along nicely. Corn? "Knee-high by the 4th of July" and all that? Sure, if it's the Jolly Green Giant!  Two huge corn stalks. I have had a massive Romaine lettuce crop. One started to seed already so I took it out. 

The beans and peas? Eh, not so much luck. 

But for my first SFG in 11 years it's going wild.