N & C Midwest; July 2017 !

We've had 100-degree heat the last few days, and there are no more new tomatoes setting. They will probably start new blossoms next time it cools down, but meanwhile, the plants are still crankin' away on the fruits that are already there.  Wow, I think this is looking like my best year for tomatoes, ever.

Oh, Lordy Rob, that little eggplant is ADORABLE!!!!  I am not an eggplant fan but have never tried homegrown....Do you like commercial eggplant?  

CK, OK, garlic, I have never grown it before this year, and it actually made it (mild winter here, and I believe our region).  So it is shading out my cukes and I admit I am really ready to pull it...but think it needs another week or2.

Maters looking  good!  

Got my first full size mater, bettered and cracked, but it is a beloved Brandywine!!!!  Deprivation Station!  BLT in my immediate future!!!!!!

Scorpio Rising wrote:
Got my first full size mater, bettered and cracked, but it is a beloved Brandywine!!!!  Deprivation Station!  BLT in my immediate future!!!!!!

 

CitizenKate wrote:

Scorpio Rising wrote:
Got my first full size mater, bettered and cracked, but it is a beloved Brandywine!!!!  Deprivation Station!  BLT in my immediate future!!!!!!

 

I know!  2 years since I have had one....cannot wait!  Might just do a b-fasts BLT for me....my mouth is literally watering.....mmmmm

Lots of ripe cherrys, Sungolds out there, will get them tomorrow, I just was like (snag) coming with me, little red one!

Scorpio Rising wrote:Oh, Lordy Rob, that little eggplant is ADORABLE!!!!  I am not an eggplant fan but have never tried homegrown....Do you like commercial eggplant?:

Haven't had much of commercial eggplant actually. The only time I've had it is my mom's eggplant and zucchini lasagna.

These mini eggplants fairy tale, aren't ever supposed to be bitter like the large eggplant varieties can be if they get too big. It's SUPPOSED to be perfect for grilling and that's what I want to do with it. I read some people plant it as an ornamental. After seeing the flowers and the fruits, I can see why.

CitizenKate wrote:We've had 100-degree heat the last few days, and there are no more new tomatoes setting.  They will probably start new blossoms next time it cools down, but meanwhile, the plants are still crankin' away on the fruits that are already there.  Wow, I think this is looking like my best year for tomatoes, ever.

Gorgeous pic!

Just came in, got a couple small bell peppers, 1 jalapeño, 4 sweet bananas, 2 garlic bulbs (need to get them all, no time) Daikon pods, sugar snaps (almost over) and pulled the stupid and large Romanesco which wasn't dong anything but getting large, no head, and using MM/compost...it is now, compost.  

Also grabbed some ground cherries.

Been picking lettuce like crazy!  Filled a huge bowlful last Sunday; plus pulled the last of the beets and more carrots.  Loads of rain; 2.75 inches yesterday alone.  I can see things need attention, but that will have to wait til Sunday.  The 3 tomatoes that are doing well are as tall as I am and loaded with fruit, still debating on whether to try to baby along the 2 that aren't or pull the plug.

Kate, nice tomatoes!

herblover wrote:Been picking lettuce like crazy!  Filled a huge bowlful last Sunday; plus pulled the last of the beets and more carrots.  Loads of rain; 2.75 inches yesterday alone.  I can see things need attention, but that will have to wait til Sunday.  The 3 tomatoes that are doing well are as tall as I am and loaded with fruit, still debating on whether to try to baby along the 2 that aren't or pull the plug.

Yes, I get it!  LM, we finally got a break with the rain!  I would let the maters ride.....

The rain was ridiculous recently.  Things stayed soggy for days.  Now its days and days of high 80's, high humidity and high dew point..  This tropical feeling is not llama momma weather. It's obnoxious.

llama momma wrote:The rain was ridiculous recently.  Things stayed soggy for days.  Now its days and days of high 80's, high humidity and high dew point..  This tropical feeling is not llama momma weather. It's obnoxious.

You're welcome to come to NE Kansas for a visit. After a few days here, highs in the 80's will feel downright chilly.

I agree, 80s is kinda chilly this time of year for ND too! tomorrow and Friday in the 90s again.

llama momma wrote:The rain was ridiculous recently.  Things stayed soggy for days.  Now its days and days of high 80's, high humidity and high dew point..  This tropical feeling is not llama momma weather. It's obnoxious.

That's exactly what we're having.  Hi 88 today and I didn't find it at all chilly. lol  

It got up to 104 here today, and it's been getting up to around 100 a lot in the last few weeks.  88 would feel heavenly to me right now.

In other news, I saw a few sparrows climbing around in my broccoli plants this morning.  Thought, Huh, I didn't know sparrows liked broccoli... then saw one checking under leaves, then pulled a big fat caterpillar off one leaf and ate it!  Well wadda ya know, all natural pest control!  I had no idea they did that.  I've always been kind of indifferent to sparrows, but after seeing that, I suppose I'll try to be a little friendlier to them.

Oh - and this was the cutest thing...  There are a couple of toads that have been camping out in our backyard.  One morning (after a very hot day the day before), one of them was sitting next to the house when I came out to water the garden.  He seems to know, when I show up, there's water.  He retreated to a nearby hiding place when I got too close.  But when I turned on the water in the bed that was closest to the house, he came dashing out of his hiding place, jumped up into the bed, and sat where he had water sprinkling on him.  He found a place to get his morning shower.... sat there, rubbing his skin and "washing up".  Like I said, pretty cute.  Wish I could have gotten better video.

Cute!

It only got up to 107 F here today. Slight improvement from the 109 we had yesterday... but there's a cool front coming through this evening - rain and cooler temps, FINALLY!

CitizenKate wrote:It only got up to 107 F here today.  Slight improvement from the 109 we had yesterday... but there's a cool front coming through this evening - rain and cooler temps, FINALLY!

Yikes.  How is the humidity?

trolleydriver wrote:

CitizenKate wrote:It only got up to 107 F here today.  Slight improvement from the 109 we had yesterday... but there's a cool front coming through this evening - rain and cooler temps, FINALLY!

Yikes.  How is the humidity?

In the mornings, anywhere between 65-95%. In the afternoons, it's been dropping to anywhere from 35-55%. Oh - and today our AC went out. Fortunately, it's started cooling down a bit, but it's 85 F and around 80% humidity right now, in the house.

Kinda reminds me of how it was when I was a kid, before my family got central air conditioning. We survived it then, so I imagine we'll survive it now. I feel sorry for our pets, though, they're not used to this at all.

Oh my gosh, I cannot believe those temps!  It has been seasonal here, except for the TORRENTIAL DOWNPOURS!  

This cycle continues. I was out of town for a few days, and came home today.  My "rain gauge". (Broken plastic cup) had 4 inches of water in it...dumped that.  Wow.  So then just settling in, and out of the blue, from the north, another TDP (torrential downpour) occurs, dumping2 more inches of rain in a 1/2 hour.....

Unreal. Tomorrow, I will be pulling garlic, and picking up ground cherries.  

Will need attention to the tomatoes, and pick peppers.  Need to check viability of snap pea plants.  And Daikon.  Yikes!

Scorpio Rising wrote:Oh my gosh, I cannot believe those temps!  It has been seasonal here, except for the TORRENTIAL DOWNPOURS!  

This cycle continues. I was out of town for a few days, and came home today.  My "rain gauge". (Broken plastic cup) had 4 inches of water in it...dumped that.  Wow.  So then just settling in, and out of the blue, from the north, another TDP (torrential downpour) occurs, dumping2 more inches of rain in a 1/2 hour.....

Unreal. Tomorrow, I will be pulling garlic, and picking up ground cherries.  

Will need attention to the tomatoes, and pick peppers.  Need to check viability of snap pea plants.  And Daikon.  Yikes!

We got a fairly heavy rainfall last night, too.  Both of my rain barrels are full again, and they were almost completely empty before then.

One thing I've started doing after a heavy rainfall, is to go out and pick all the tomatoes that are at any stage of ripening.  This saves them from starting to split within a few days later.  And it's those that are ripening that seem most susceptible to splitting.

I normally prefer to leave them on the plant until they are fully ripened, but I think, once you start to see a little blushing, that the fruit should still develop that fully ripe flavor whether they stay on the plant or not.  I'd rather risk a compromise between perfect ripeness and avoiding those nasty splits.  Then again, if they do split, I just cut off those parts and use the rest.

Our forecast high temperature for today was supposed to be in the low 90's, but it got to 103...  weather people...

But the interesting thing is, we've been without air conditioning now for 3 days.  And we're actually kinda starting to get used to it.  I started to remember what we used to do when I was a kid and we didn't have air conditioning... how we used the windows and fans a lot more to regulate the temperature inside the house.  Open the windows at night and run a box fan facing out a window to suck the cooler night air in through the other open windows, then close them for the daytime, around mid-morning, to trap that cool air in and keep hot air out.  And cool showers before bedtime, to make us more comfortable for the evening, and help us sleep better.  I was in the kitchen today cleaning and canning salsa... it was hot and humid as a jungle, it got up to 86 inside the house, and was warmer yet in the kitchen, but I was happily working away, and really just not noticing the heat all that much.  Even the pets seemed to be functioning better today, and I was most concerned about them, but they're adapting to the heat, too.

CitizenKate wrote:

Scorpio Rising wrote:Oh my gosh, I cannot believe those temps!  It has been seasonal here, except for the TORRENTIAL DOWNPOURS!  

This cycle continues. I was out of town for a few days, and came home today.  My "rain gauge". (Broken plastic cup) had 4 inches of water in it...dumped that.  Wow.  So then just settling in, and out of the blue, from the north, another TDP (torrential downpour) occurs, dumping2 more inches of rain in a 1/2 hour.....

Unreal. Tomorrow, I will be pulling garlic, and picking up ground cherries.  

Will need attention to the tomatoes, and pick peppers.  Need to check viability of snap pea plants.  And Daikon.  Yikes!

We got a fairly heavy rainfall last night, too.  Both of my rain barrels are full again, and they were almost completely empty before then.

One thing I've started doing after a heavy rainfall, is to go out and pick all the tomatoes that are at any stage of ripening.  This saves them from starting to split within a few days later.  And it's those that are ripening that seem most susceptible to splitting.

I normally prefer to leave them on the plant until they are fully ripened, but I think, once you start to see a little blushing, that the fruit should still develop that fully ripe flavor whether they stay on the plant or not.  I'd rather risk a compromise between perfect ripeness and avoiding those nasty splits.  Then again, if they do split, I just cut off those parts and use the rest.

Our forecast high temperature for today was supposed to be in the low 90's, but it got to 103...  weather people...

But the interesting thing is, we've been without air conditioning now for 3 days.  And we're actually kinda starting to get used to it.  I started to remember what we used to do when I was a kid and we didn't have air conditioning... how we used the windows and fans a lot more to regulate the temperature inside the house.  Open the windows at night to let the cooler night air in, then close them for the daytime, around mid-morning, to trap that cool air in and keep hot air out.  And cool showers before bedtime, to make us more comfortable for the evening, and help us sleep better.  I was in the kitchen today cleaning and canning salsa... it was hot and humid as a jungle, it got up to 86 inside the house, and was warmer yet in the kitchen, but I was happily working away, and really just not noticing the heat all that much.  Even the pets seemed to be functioning better today, and I was most concerned about them, but they're adapting to the heat, too.

Great idea about the tomato picking pre-split!  I am just not super attentive sometimes to that, but it is a good idea, and I will try to give it an honest try....

Yeah, I get it about A/C.  If you have it, you go to place to place and really miss it between.   But I also lived in a house without it and managed...mom did all the things you said, also no light in the house, curtains drawn during th heat of the day.  Cool off in the evenings, open windows, etc.  I still use fans, right now, regularly and ceiling, because my A/C unit is vintage and underpowered for the house.  But it is paid for, ya know?

I don't have anything near canning stage....but I just got home too!  

Scorpio Rising wrote:
Yeah, I get it about A/C.  If you have it, you go to place to place and really miss it between.   But I also lived in a house without it and managed...mom did all the things you said, also no light in the house, curtains drawn during th heat of the day.  Cool off in the evenings, open windows, etc.  I still use fans, right now, regularly and ceiling, because my A/C unit is vintage and underpowered for the house.  But it is paid for, ya know?

Yeah, I get that, too. I was told by an AC service guy 4 years ago that our compressor would probably not last another year. I know we've been living on borrowed time with this ancient unit for some time, but as you say, it's paid for.

CitizenKate wrote:

Scorpio Rising wrote:
Yeah, I get it about A/C.  If you have it, you go to place to place and really miss it between.   But I also lived in a house without it and managed...mom did all the things you said, also no light in the house, curtains drawn during th heat of the day.  Cool off in the evenings, open windows, etc.  I still use fans, right now, regularly and ceiling, because my A/C unit is vintage and underpowered for the house.  But it is paid for, ya know?

Yeah, I get that, too.  I was told by an AC service guy 4 years ago that our compressor would probably not last another year.  I know we've been living on borrowed time with this ancient unit for some time, but as you say, it's paid for.

Oh yeah, me too!  Right now it is off, windows open and all fans on deck!  It is not efficient, but the cash outlay I can't handle.  My dude put sealant and over $300 in that old 22 Freon in it this year...limping.  I have fans running all the time, with or without AC!
Oh, I cannot even slog out to my SFG....ridic.  I got bit by 10-12 skeeters in a few minutes talking to my next door neighbor, and looked down at poor Z, he had them all over his face

Scorpio Rising wrote:Oh yeah, me too!  Right now it is off, windows open and all fans on deck!  It is not efficient, but the cash outlay I can't handle.  My dude put sealant and over $300 in that old 22 Freon in it this year...limping.  I have fans running all the time, with or without AC!

The service ninja came today and diagnosed low refrigerant.  The old R-22.  So my system is still leaking freon and they already ruled out the "easy" suspects last year.  That narrows it down to the coils.  I think this is finally "it".  Time to replace the entire climate control system.  Meanwhile, I spent a few (hundred) bucks to add a couple of pounds of R-22 to get the system producing cool air again.  It's back to its normal pathetic self, but only for a while, while I decide what to do for the long term.

Scorpio Rising wrote:
Oh, I cannot even slog out to my SFG....ridic.  I got bit by 10-12 skeeters in a few minutes talking to my next door neighbor, and looked down at poor Z, he had them all over his face

We've had summers when the little bloodsuckers were brutal, too.  The year before last, I almost gave up gardening.