N&C Midwest—July 2024

Can you believe that it is July already?  I need to get the Butternut plants into the ground.  We haven't had any rain for weeks, and everything is getting so dry. There has been rain north of us, south of us, east of us, and west of us, but there has been no rain here. The weather map shows us as "moderate drought", but not sure how moderate it is.

The raised beds, though, are on drip irrigation and everything is growing great. Going to be harvesting more lettuce, spinach, summer squash, eggplant, carrots, and tomatoes today.

Two more soon-to-be-baked eggplants are developing, and will soon be ready for harvest. I have three plants, one per square, and they are really growing.

What kind are they, OG?

Scorpio Rising wrote:What kind are they, OG?

They are Black Beauty Eggplant. This is the second year growing them. One thing surprised me after growing them last year was the harvest time. The description says they are "Much later, these need a long season and give lower yields than others", but this has not been my experience. These have set fruit very early in the season, and there are a lot of fruit on each of the three plants. I posted a picture earlier of a group of 5 blooms in a cluster, and each one of those blooms has set fruit. The stems of the plants is very strong and not having a problem supporting them.

https://www.rareseeds.com/eggplant-black-beauty

The eggplant are beautiful OG! My eggplant are just beginning to form and I'm looking forward to them.

I can't believe it is July! Pulled up all my dark red Norland potatoes and was so happy. They weighed in at 13 pounds from 1 pound of seed potatoes. They are delicious! I still have Kennebec and Yukon Gold in the ground which I hope do just as well.

Getting quite a few shishito peppers here and just a couple of tomatillos. Going to pull up the last of the spring beets this morning and some of the carrots. 

Bracing for the humidity to return here so trying to get the gardening chores done as soon as possible in the AM.

Happy July!

The plants all seem to be at peak growth and production right now. Some of them appear to be on steroids, or maybe it is the compost.  

Busy with daily harvest of cucumbers, banana peppers, lettuce, spinach, kale, summer squash, onions, and harvesting a few herbs for drying, such as Summer Savory and Oregano.

The Siberian Dwarf Kale is growing like it is on steroids! There are only two plants in this bed, but they are hanging off all sides. Somebody forgot to tell it that is a dwarf variety.

The sweet potatoes are growing in used mineral lick tubs, and they are beginning to climb the trellis.

The sweet potato plants have some beautiful blooms, complete with flies pollinating them

These Straightneck Summer Squash are growing massively. This is an 8' bed, and there are two plants in it, with each plant taking a 4'x4' section.

The squash plants are loaded with fruit

Bees are busily pollinating the squash blooms

Nice!  I got my first zucchini day before yesterday!  I do need to get out there (maybe later, before rain!) and harvest my garlic!

You two have inspired me this week and I planted some prolific yellow squash seeds as well as dragon tongue beans! LOL Found some nooks and crannies in the beds to add these.

Today I'm going to can peaches for the first time. Fingers crossed they turn out well! 

Have a great day!

JAM23 wrote:You two have inspired me this week

We are all here to inspire one another in gardening.

Misting/raining here…no rainfall that has been appreciable, yesterday we got about 3/4 inch of rain==much needed….

When I got home today it was raining.  I want to get out there and see what is ready to come in, and what is not quite!

We got 1.5" of much needed rain from the remnants of tropical storm Beryl.  The storm had some very strong winds, but the only damage was a few broken off leaves and a premature eggplant that had be harvested after the branch off of the plant.

Scorpio Rising wrote:Nice!  I got my first zucchini day before yesterday!  I do need to get out there (maybe later, before rain!) and harvest my garlic!

Did you get the garlic harvested?

The Roma tomatoes are starting to set heavily on the plants. Can't way for them to start ripening and being turned into tomato sauce.  

sanderson wrote:

Scorpio Rising wrote:Nice!  I got my first zucchini day before yesterday!  I do need to get out there (maybe later, before rain!) and harvest my garlic!

Did you get the garlic harvested?

No!  It looks past due.  I will dehydrate last years’ haul, and regroup for next year.  Honestly, the scapes made great pesto.  And my out-of-town commitment interfered with the timing on this….early year.  Normally, I harvest it now.  Win some, lose some…

I just spent 2 1/2 hours watering and harvesting and weeding.  Got 2 zucchini’s, a couple yellow squash, Sungold tomatoes and my first 2 Cherokee Purple!  YUM!  2 cukes, and 4 ping tung eggplants.  By some miracle, I also got some sugar snaps, and a few Dragon tongue beans….

So much more to do out there, but it is hot here….so pool time!

Yesterday when I checked the squash plants, this Straightneck Squash was about 2" long. This morning when I checked the plants, it was huge.  

That is exactly what happens!  One day they are too small, the next—too big!  Or they hide….what are you going to do with them, OG?

They'll be cooked as simple sauteed Squash & Onions dish, SR - the squash & onion are sliced and put into a heated skillet with a couple tablespoonfuls of butter for about 8 to 10 minutes or until the squash & onions are tender.  One of our favorite summer squash dishes.

OhioGardener wrote:They'll be cooked as simple sauteed Squash & Onions dish, SR - the squash & onion are sliced and put into a heated skillet with a couple tablespoonfuls of butter for about 8 to 10 minutes or until the squash & onions are tender.  One of our favorite summer squash dishes.

That’s how I make it, too!  And I add garlic!  Yum!

Apparently I had missed a couple Beit Alpha cucumbers when I harvested them yesterday, resulting in two very large ones.  

I use extras to make refrigerator cucumber lime water.

sanderson wrote:I use extras to make refrigerator cucumber lime water.

That’s a great idea!

I don't think I have ever seen so many blooms on one squash plant at the same time. They are about equally divided between male and female blooms, too. We are harvesting between 6 and 10 squash a day from this plant. This is an Early Prolific Straightneck Summer Squash plant, with seeds purchased from Baker Creek Heirloom.

One side of the plant.

The other side of the plant.

I've been picking small handfulls of currant cherry tomatoes since the very end of June, and now the Red Pear have joined in the harvest.  

Last night.. I picked my first handful of green beans - enough for just me.  The kale is doing well and the shallots are just about ready to harvest.  

Not sure if this link will work: 

https://www.instagram.com/p/C9qWhahpreR/

Just got in from cooking some bratwurst patties.  Harvested this today!

https://i.servimg.com/u/f62/19/25/77/83/img_1510.jpg