Mid-Atlantic: July 2012 - What's Up?

So is everyone else melting like I am? It's been SO hot here that I haven't even replanted my empty squares. They're going to take away my SFG membership!

Here's just some of what's up in my garden:

These were SUPPOSED to be Chinese Five Color, but the only color has been purple.


Here's some Japanese Eggplant.


Only two Sugar Baby watermelons.


And I've never grown these before, they're called Tigger Melons and in addition to three good sized melons, there are about ten babies.


Here is one of my mixed Heirloom Tomatoes. There are some bigger ones, but these seem to be maturing more quickly.


The yellow & red onions (from sets) are doing nicely, but it looks like I lost most of my garlic - will try again in a few months. The herbs seem to be doing well but I lost my cilantro.

Hello Kim:
All is going well. Just picked some garlic. Should be picking my first cucs this weekend. Beets have been so sweet. Squash is in full production. Tomatoes are about ready to turn. Peppers are getting bigger every day. Little trouble with my string beans. Planted 9 seeds and only 2 came up. I did it again and 4 plants came up. My first planting of lettuce grew to 3 feet high. My corn! WOW! My silver queen is again 8 feet high! My yellow corn is almost ready to pick. I picked one ear of the yellow corn and it was so sweet it tasted like silver queen. Awesome!

How is everybody in the Mid-Atlantic faring in this heat?

Are you doing anything "special" to protect your crops?

Here in NE Pennsylvania I have watered in the morning and again n the early evening. Even so, some plants looked a little droopy at times.

I have been away since last Tues. in Chesapeake Va. visiting family and it's been extremely hot......high 90's-102 degrees all week... Apparently it's been very hot at home also, so luckily my neighbor has been watering my garden until we arrive home Sun.
When we left home I had alot of green tomatoes, baby cucumbers, flowers on my pumpkin and squash plants and peppers. I am hoping to find some veg's ready to pick!

Hi Everyone!
I've been watering our boxes every other day for about 15 min. each. They all seem to be doing pretty well. We've harvested 4 zukes in the last 2 days...woohoo! We breaded one of them and deep fried it today...YUM! Cherry & Grape toms are being picked already with many more on the way. Our pepper plants which really struggled back in early June have really taken off and we now have at least 8 baby peppers between the 4 plants. The leaves on our red potatoes are finally starting to die off so we should be digging them out in the next few weeks. We also now have compost bins! Yeah!!!
Renee
Here are some updated pics:

Zucchini plants


Peppers, okra, red potatoes & onions.


Celebrity tomato



New compost bins.

Looking good Renee!

I've been watering every day or two, but admit I'm using a hose since I don't want to be outside long enough to hand water.

Hey there,
a note on the Chinese five color pepper. They all start purple!
Think of it like a bell pepper. First green, then yellow then red
The 5 color pepper purple -- cream --- yellow --- orange --- red.

Careful with these in the kitchen, any hotter and they would be ornamental..

greenThumbsUp wrote:Hey there,
a note on the Chinese five color pepper. They all start purple!
Think of it like a bell pepper. First green, then yellow then red
The 5 color pepper purple -- cream --- yellow --- orange --- red.

Careful with these in the kitchen, any hotter and they would be ornamental..

Thanks! This is the first time I've grown them.

We need us a tomato Tuesday thread in the mid-Atlantic now that my (and I'm assuming others') tomatoes are beginning to grow and ripen.

Anyway, I've got peppers galore now. While I was setting up a drip hose in my garden I accidentally knocked the only growing bell pepper off the plant, but since the beginning of July I've had several more set. And the poblanos are finally setting fruit, catching up to the Hungarian black pepper nicely.

Onion wise, everything's growing nicely. I am beginning to wonder if it's time to pick my square of carrots too.

Tomatoes are doing well. The Matt's Wild Cherry tomatoes are beginning to ripen, and it looks as if the sungolds will follow closely behind. I accidentally broke the main stem of the sungold while trying to twist it up the trellis, but it had enough offshoots that I still have plenty of tomatoes.

I've only got one fruit on the Aunt Ruby's Green tomato plant and the Jersey Devil continues to have problems with BER. That's weird, because it's in a box with three other tomato plants that show no sign of it at all. Whatever, I found some milk powder and added that to the soil to hopefully help.

The Moreton, Ramapo, and Black Krim are all producing fruit and growing nicely.

All in all, a pretty successful year so far I'd say! I'll see if I can't upload some pictures later on!

My row of tomatoes (from left to right): sungold (just starting to blush), Jersey Devil, Aunt Ruby's German Green, Moreton.


The main SFG in full bloom (minus peas which were pulled before July 4):


Bell peppers:


Matt's Wild Cherry Tomatoes beginning to ripen!


A very large zucchini that must have grown three inches overnight.


Potato plants in 20 gallon trash bins. They've got buds, but they haven't flowered yet.

moswell wrote:We need us a tomato Tuesday thread in the mid-Atlantic now that my (and I'm assuming others') tomatoes are beginning to grow and ripen.

Anyway, I've got peppers galore now. While I was setting up a drip hose in my garden I accidentally knocked the only growing bell pepper off the plant, but since the beginning of July I've had several more set. And the poblanos are finally setting fruit, catching up to the Hungarian black pepper nicely.

Onion wise, everything's growing nicely. I am beginning to wonder if it's time to pick my square of carrots too.

Tomatoes are doing well. The Matt's Wild Cherry tomatoes are beginning to ripen, and it looks as if the sungolds will follow closely behind. I accidentally broke the main stem of the sungold while trying to twist it up the trellis, but it had enough offshoots that I still have plenty of tomatoes.

I've only got one fruit on the Aunt Ruby's Green tomato plant and the Jersey Devil continues to have problems with BER. That's weird, because it's in a box with three other tomato plants that show no sign of it at all. Whatever, I found some milk powder and added that to the soil to hopefully help.

The Moreton, Ramapo, and Black Krim are all producing fruit and growing nicely.

All in all, a pretty successful year so far I'd say! I'll see if I can't upload some pictures later on!

Great idea! Sooooooo, how about YOU start it up? You can title it "Mid-Atl - Tomato Tuesday 2012"

sfg4uKim wrote:

Great idea! Sooooooo, how about YOU start it up? You can title it "Mid-Atl - Tomato Tuesday 2012"

I'll do it late Monday night or early Tuesday then! I just didn't want to usurp your territory as regional forum moderator.

During those 100+ degree days, I was watering in the morning and evening, and had my kids water at noon while I was at work. Even with the heat, it has been a good year so far. Green beans, tomatoes, melons, all are thriving with no sign of disease yet. I planted zucchini for the first time, and am amazed at how fast it has grown. Definitely need the 9 square feet per plant.

Well, my garden came through the 100 degree temps pretty much unscathed. Granted, I watered like crazy.
I have corn that is just starting to come in, about 10 sugar baby watermelons that are about ready and my tomatoes are coming along fine. I did pick my first cucumber but I am eying up my yellow Italian cucumbers that are about ripe. Beans have been disappointing and the peppers seem to be just getting underway.

Been toying around with the idea of trying to start a community garden somewhere in my area. Several open properties have been up for sale in the area for quite awhile (3-4 yrs). Spoke to one owner and he is open to the idea where he maintains interest in the property ultimately. Wants more detail at this point. I have tacit backing from Home Depot and Whole Foods who said they would assist in any such endeavor. Whole Foods is probably the most enthusiastic. Just trying to guage the interest at this point which is hard to do. There just aren't that many in our area and I think it would be well received if placed in a good location which both properties are in. Gardening is fun but I would think community gardening would be more interesting.

SQFTBIX wrote:Well, my garden came through the 100 degree temps pretty much unscathed. Granted, I watered like crazy.
I have corn that is just starting to come in, about 10 sugar baby watermelons that are about ready and my tomatoes are coming along fine. I did pick my first cucumber but I am eying up my yellow Italian cucumbers that are about ripe. Beans have been disappointing and the peppers seem to be just getting underway.

Been toying around with the idea of trying to start a community garden somewhere in my area. Several open properties have been up for sale in the area for quite awhile (3-4 yrs). Spoke to one owner and he is open to the idea where he maintains interest in the property ultimately. Wants more detail at this point. I have tacit backing from Home Depot and Whole Foods who said they would assist in any such endeavor. Whole Foods is probably the most enthusiastic. Just trying to guage the interest at this point which is hard to do. There just aren't that many in our area and I think it would be well received if placed in a good location which both properties are in. Gardening is fun but I would think community gardening would be more interesting.

Where are you located at in Md?
Renee

gregrenee,
I am in the Sparrow Point, Edgemere, Dundalk area.

SQFTBIX wrote:gregrenee,
I am in the Sparrow Point, Edgemere, Dundalk area.

Thanks. Best wishes in starting a community garden!!
Renee

Well, I am truly impressed with everyone's gardens since it has been hot, hot, hot!
I came back from Va. Sun. night so I had to wait until Mon. (lol) to see my garden. It basically needed a bit of cleaning up - picked 8-10 cucumbers, 20-25 pole beans, a few cherry tom (I ate them while in the garden of course) and one large zucchini. I have several more little sugar baby watermelons! But I am still waiting for female pumpkin flowers - I did find one but it is not opening yet.
I just pulled the rest of my lettuce that had bolted.
Thanks to my neighbor who watered everything is good. Of course I will give her some cucumbers when she returns from vacation on Sat. Below is a few pics of cucumber and one of my 1st butternut squash (I now have two) if I do it right....lol.

Sorry, here are the cuc's.

Dunkinjean wrote: Well, I am truly impressed with everyone's gardens since it has been hot, hot, hot!
I came back from Va. Sun. night so I had to wait until Mon. (lol) to see my garden. It basically needed a bit of cleaning up - picked 8-10 cucumbers, 20-25 pole beans, a few cherry tom (I ate them while in the garden of course) and one large zucchini. I have several more little sugar baby watermelons! But I am still waiting for female pumpkin flowers - I did find one but it is not opening yet.
I just pulled the rest of my lettuce that had bolted.
Thanks to my neighbor who watered everything is good. Of course I will give her some cucumbers when she returns from vacation on Sat. Below is a few pics of cucumber and one of my 1st butternut squash (I now have two) if I do it right....lol.

You have more self control than I do! I would have been out in the garden with a flashlight. Glad to hear you have such a nice and conscientious neighbor who was willing to keep things going for you!

Just spent some time outside propping up my peppers and some potted tomatoes (and one volunteer that ended up in the SFG). They took a bit of a beating in the storms yesterday, but really I should have been out there before giving them some support since they're getting pretty tall.

I also put up a stake for my zucchini plant. It's called a cocozelle bush zuccini, but darn if that thing isn't growing like a vine. I'll try to get a picture to post later on, but I'm shocked at the way it's growing.

I'm oh-so-close to ripe slicing tomatoes. I can't stand it. If I walk out tomorrow and the Moreton that's been ripening has been picked by someone, I may lose it (those of you who were here last year may remember me complaining about this)! I really want to see it ripen on the vine.

Dunkinjean wrote: Sorry, here are the cuc's.

Looks yummy!

My climbing (bush variety lol) zucchini.

moswell wrote:My climbing (bush variety lol) zucchini.

Cool!
Renee