N & C Midwest; July 2017 !

Wow, I cannot believe it is July already!  Wet and cool Spring has given way to a nice Summer here in the breadbasket.  

My perennials are on course as usual, annuals and veggies and melons catching up quickly.  

Ripe for picking:Swiss chard, sugar snap peas, ground cherries, kale still, herbs and radish seed pods=yummo!.  I had a couple Early Jalapeño peppers too!

Already harvested> turnips, leaves (spinach, lettuces).  Recently planted more Yukon Gold.  Need to add depth, so they don't get sun on them....grass clippings or something, maybe I can find some leaves left over....

Maters and squash and peppers doing well.  Cukes are being shaded by the large and in charge garlic, which I am trying to tether with not so great results....Melons looking good in the South Annex of containers.  

I will try to get some pictures and figure out the issues with the new iPad and the hosting platform.

What's gong on, Midwest!?

Picking lettuce, spinach, swiss chard, many kinds of herbs. Have immature tomato plants with baby fruits, pepper plants have tiny peppers,  also immature squash, cukes, beans, carrots, beets.  Have many squares open after recently pulling garlic, need to reseed those squares. Soon pulling many squares of onions and replant those too.

llama momma wrote:Picking lettuce, spinach, swiss chard, many kinds of herbs. Have immature tomato plants with baby fruits, pepper plants have tiny peppers,  also immature squash, cukes, beans, carrots, beets.  Have many squares open after recently pulling garlic, need to reseed those squares. Soon pulling many squares of onions and replant those too.

Sounds great!

OK, LM, you already pulled your garlic?  Mine was planted in November and some of the leaves are browning from the tips.  

I have 2 open squares that I plan on carrots. My onions are in dirt..

Scorpio, I normally give garlic a full 9 months to grow from October to a July harvest.  This time it looked ready, a lot of rain and I feared rotting conditions was coming. I was in the mood to dig.  Turns out one bulb was splitting supposedly indicating it should have been pulled earlier.  Another factor - these receive full sun up to 15-1/2 hours/day.

Another thing Scorpio yours were planted in Nov so my opinion is they need a little more time to mature.

llama momma wrote:Another thing Scorpio yours were planted in Nov so my opinion is they need a little more time to mature.

Right.  I will keep an eye on them.

Scorpio Rising wrote:

llama momma wrote:Picking lettuce, spinach, swiss chard, many kinds of herbs. Have immature tomato plants with baby fruits, pepper plants have tiny peppers,  also immature squash, cukes, beans, carrots, beets.  Have many squares open after recently pulling garlic, need to reseed those squares. Soon pulling many squares of onions and replant those too.

Sounds great!

OK, LM, you already pulled your garlic?  Mine was planted in November and some of the leaves are browning from the tips.  

I have 2 open squares that I plan on carrots. My onions are in dirt..

SR - I planted my garlic late like you did, and mine isn't ready yet either.
I have two onion squares in the OSFG, too. And open squares for carrots -- after I get a better handle on the voles and Scotty (the teleporting groundhog.) Great minds...

June was warmer than average, and caused some problems, but the heat has eased off here in KS and things are recovering.

I don't know what to think about the garlic I planted - I'm reading your posts more carefully to see what I should be expecting with that.

Got Rutgers and Early Girl tomatoes turning pink now - woohooooo! LOTS of healthy fruit on the vines. Lost only 3 or 4 to BER, but everything else looks to be making it all the way to ripe with no problems. I got to sample a few cherry toms and they really made my day. Several more coming soon.

Still snipping out tasty sweet broccoli sprouts and kale leaves.

Still pulling green onions that are forming bulbs now, which I like. The "big" onions still have a ways to go, but still look good.

The green cabbage heads are the biggest I've had so far. Red is good, but hope the heads get bigger in the next week or two. The net I have over that bed got a gap in a seam and the cabbage moths are getting in, but so far no sign of larva damage... the plants are close to harvest, so they might make it without having to apply any treatments.

I know what you mean about that first taste of cherry tomato!  One of mine is dangerously close to ripe, but I exercised a valiant amount of restraint and am waiting a day ot 2.....

Just got in from weeding and tying up maters.  Moved a flailing pale stunted Big Red tomato into one of the 2 Reserved carrot squares.  It was getting shaded out by the giant but friendly Romanesco.  

Also picked sugar snaps, Daikon pods, 2 jalapeño peppers, (HOTTTT!!!!!) and a couple green bell peppers and one sweet banana pepper.  Thinned carrots, and will munch on the larger ones of those.  

Here is a link to a picture of my garlic today.  It is tethered to get some sunshine to the cukes near the trellis.  

https://i.servimg.com/u/f11/19/25/77/83/img_0111.jpg

What do y'all think?  

See the little anemic pepper?  Poor baby.  He will like his new spot better.

Scorpio Rising wrote:I know what you mean about that first taste of cherry tomato!  One of mine is dangerously close to ripe, but I exercised a valiant amount of restraint and am waiting a day ot 2.....

I know, the restraint is killing me, too!

Scorpio Rising wrote:
Here is a link to a picture of my garlic today.  It is tethered to get some sunshine to the cukes near the trellis.  

https://i.servimg.com/u/f11/19/25/77/83/img_0111.jpg

What do y'all think?  

See the little anemic pepper?  Poor baby.  He will like his new spot better.

It looks healthy, but doesn't seem to be doing much.  I'm still trying to crack the pepper plant code, myself, but maybe a good shot of nitrogen-rich food would give it a jump start.

Your garlic looks considerably better than mine.  My garlic stalks are all dried up and dormant now.  Not sure if I should just pull them and re-plant in the fall, or just leave them in the beds until spring. I'll post a photo when I get a chance.

CitizenKate wrote:

Scorpio Rising wrote:
Here is a link to a picture of my garlic today.  It is tethered to get some sunshine to the cukes near the trellis.  

https://i.servimg.com/u/f11/19/25/77/83/img_0111.jpg

What do y'all think?  

See the little anemic pepper?  Poor baby.  He will like his new spot better.

It looks healthy, but doesn't seem to be doing much.  I'm still trying to crack the pepper plant code, myself, but maybe a good shot of nitrogen-rich food would give it a jump start.

Your garlic looks considerably better than mine.  My garlic stalks are all dried up and dormant now.  Not sure if I should just pull them and re-plant in the fall, or just leave them in the beds until spring.  I'll post a photo when I get a chance.

OK, yeah, that will help for comparison.  Good thought, I think I have a little fish emulsion leftover from the recent flower "punch" for summer blooms for containers.  (Dog takes care of stuff in the ground!). I will do that, he is really a runt at this point.  I harvested several peppers over the past week or 2.  I tell ya though these jalapeño peppers "early Jalapeño " from PInetree--man are they hot!  My son, with a mouth of iron, took one bite and said Uncle!  One bite!!!!  Normally he dips 'em in cream cheese and eats the whole thing!

Scorpio Rising wrote:
Good thought, I think I have a little fish emulsion leftover from the recent flower "punch" for summer blooms for containers.  (Dog takes care of stuff in the ground!). I will do that, he is really a runt at this point.

All of mine have stayed small and not grown much until just the last week or so.  The first flurry of peppers are gone - many had sun damage, so I took them off the plants early, but found I could just cut off the sun scald and the rest of the pepper was fine, though pretty small.  Most of them ended up in a skillet of potatoes O'Brien.     Then, this last week, they've all started really taking off and sprouting new blossoms again, so maybe yours will be soon to follow...

Scorpio Rising wrote:
I harvested several peppers over the past week or 2.  I tell ya though these jalapeño peppers "early Jalapeño " from PInetree--man are they hot!  My son, with a mouth of iron, took one bite and said Uncle!  One bite!!!!  Normally he dips 'em in cream cheese and eats the whole thing!

Really?  The Early J's I raised last year were not much hotter than bell peppers - seriously.  Maybe there's something about how I grew them, though the Tulas I raised the year before almost burned the house down.

I've got a Gigante Jalapeño and a little Tobasco Jalapeño plant that are finally starting to produce.  These were also plants I ended up buying because I couldn't get my seed to sprout.  Can't wait to try them.  The Tobasco peppers are heirloom, so if it does well and they're as good as they sound, I'll be saving some seeds for future years (and for trading, of course).

I've read that stressed peppers tend to be hotter than "babied" peppers. Some people trying to grow super hots intentionally neglect them, especially withholding water. I would imagine it'd be a stressful and delegate balance, trying not to hurt your yeild but wanting a really hot pepper.

Not trying to call you neglectful SR! Just pondering the possibilities.

Interesting!  

No offense ever taken, Rob, and honestly maybe we just have different hot perceptions!  I like FIRE in my Taco Bell.  

I think these are particularly hot. But, I am gong off my son's experience and IMO he is more heat tolerant than I...and we both like hot stuff....

Will share seeds!  If you wanna try these Jalapeño peppers!  Let me ring in on more than 1 pepper!

Early Girls... all heck is about to break lose!  I've already picked a few of the bush Early Girls - there's a BLT in my future this weekend!


Gigante Jalapeños, finally starting to produce... I'll probably pick one this weekend to see how they are, heat-wise.  Looks like there's going to be a lot of them.


The Lady Bells gettin' busy again, after a short break.  I think this batch of peppers should do better since the plants have grown more foliage that can protect them from the sun.


I found this little guy taking a swim in one of my container reservoirs.  He seemed to be having a pretty good time in there, but I fished him out anyway, because I didn't think he'd be able to get out on his own.  What a cutie!

Love your buddy!  

I haven't been out there, have gotten some ground cherries because I grew then on tables.

Love your pics!

Keep 'em coming!

Oh my gosh, we have had 4 or 5 inches of rain TODAY.  Unbelievable.  Storm at 0530, 2 inches.  Then another downpour at lunch...my pool is close to overflowing!  My beds are in the "Wet Zone" so will wait until tomorrow to go out and check on things.  With Deep Woods OFF!  

The South Annex melon patch is lookin' good.  Might try to harvest my garlic since I am going away for a week....don't want  it to rot after this rain!

Might be time to pull the peas, too.  I will know more after I get a gander.

Kate, I remember you saying that about your early Jalapeño peppers last year, made me nervous, but mine are good and fiery.  Chopped one up in my huevos rancheros this weekend and could feel the burn!  Half a pepper!

Scorpio Rising wrote:Oh my gosh, we have had 4 or 5 inches of rain TODAY.  Unbelievable.  Storm at 0530, 2 inches.  Then another downpour at lunch...my pool is close to overflowing!  My beds are in the "Wet Zone" so will wait until tomorrow to go out and check on things.  With Deep Woods OFF!  

The South Annex melon patch is lookin' good.  Might try to harvest my garlic since I am going away for a week....don't want  it to rot after this rain!

Might be time to pull the peas, too.  I will know more after I get a gander.

Kate, I remember you saying that about your early Jalapeño peppers last year, made me nervous, but mine are good and fiery.  Chopped one up in my huevos rancheros this weekend and could feel the burn!  Half a pepper!

Very glad to hear your Early Jalapeños turned out better than mine.  I may have to give them another try and research what to do differently next time.  I still haven't gotten to try the Js I'm growing this year... hopefully soon.

We got into the 100's today, and haven't gotten much rain lately.  My two rain barrels are about half empty now.

I dug up one of my garlics the other day to see how they were doing.  Their stalks have completely disappeared.  All I see in those squares now is Mel's Mix.  The one I dug up has developed a few more cloves, but hasn't grown at all.  I've decided to leave them in the beds for the winter and see what they do in the spring and next summer.

The kale is still going good, and getting a few broccoli sprouts here and there, still sweet and tender, so good chopped up raw in my salads. I wouldn't dream of cooking it.  Took out the rest of the cabbage - it did really well this year.  Gotta make a decision about the rest of the onions and carrots.  I've got way more of both than I know what to do with.  Good kind of "problem" to have, yeah?

Kate, did you plant your garlic last fall?  Or this spring?  Seems like you put it in around when I did, early November?

Broccoli, I do love it.  Is the plant huge?  That Romanesco i have going has these huge leaves!  No idea what will happen there....

Gonna wade out tonight and see what is going on.  More rain overnight...damaging winds.  

Forecast says 102 Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Probably time for some sort of shade.

For the most part waiting for things to ripen still. Fairy tale eggplant is being pretty productive but I haven't got to taste it yet. Only issue is they are so small small and the harvest will be kind of staggered from the one plant, so it might be hard to make a meal out of it. If I like it, I'll probably plant a total of 3 next year. Get eggplants at once for grilling and the like.

Here's the eggplant. After learning how to recognize when it sets fruit vs the flower just falling off, I've counted 10 set fruit this morning. A lot are teeny tiny still though .

Robbomb116 wrote:Fairy tale eggplant is being pretty productive but I haven't got to taste it yet.  Only issue is they are so small small and the harvest will be kind of staggered from the one plant, so it might be hard to make a meal out of it.  If I like it, I'll probably plant a total of 3 next year.  Get eggplants at once for grilling and the like. 

I had the same problem/thoughts when I grew Fairy Tale eggplants. I ended up just adding them to stirfries as a supporting actor rather than eating them as a main character. They were delicious, but at this point I'm growing Early Long Purple as my main small (but bigger than Fairy Tale)/narrow eggplant because someone gave me seeds, where as I had purchased the Fairy Tale eggplants as transplants my first year rather than starting from seed.

It's likely I'll be adding them to stir fries as well. I really want to try them grilled though. So I suspect I will have them grilled along side some summer squash in order to have enough food for a side, but still get yo try the grilled fairy tale.

Robbomb116 wrote:It's likely I'll be adding them to stir fries as well.  I really want to try them grilled though. So I suspect I will have them grilled along side some summer squash in order to have enough food for a side, but still get yo try the grilled fairy tale.

Anybody who has never grilled veggies is in for a real treat. It's like discovering a whole new food group.

Scorpio Rising wrote:Kate, did you plant your garlic last fall?  Or this spring?  Seems like you put it in around when I did, early November?

No, actually, I planted them in the spring, not knowing it was better to plant in the fall.

Scorpio Rising wrote:
Broccoli, I do love it.  Is the plant huge?  That Romanesco i have going has these huge leaves!  No idea what will happen there....

Yeah, they're about four feet tall, and casting shade on everything else in the bed. I've been pruning them to give the other plants half a chance at some sunlight. And I had to take off the net cage, but since the cabbage is in, I'm not as concerned about cabbage moths any more.

Robbomb116 wrote:
Here's the eggplant.  After learning how to recognize when it sets fruit vs the flower just falling off, I've counted 10 set fruit this morning. A lot are teeny tiny still though .

That is CUTE.