Coastal and Tropical August Update

How does your garden grow?? Here in the Panhandle the endless heat goes on. I've had fresh vineripe tomatoes every day, despite heavy attack from stink bugs and tomato fruitworms. BT made fast work of the caterpillar invasions but these stink bugs are unstoppable!! I've had a bit of trouble with BER as well, mostly on the plum tomatoes. I've only gotten 3 tomatoes so far from the Mortgage Lifter variety, but those were outstanding in flavor and meatiness! My best producing tomato this year has been a tie between 4th of July and a volunteer that came up out of my compost pile. The volunteer plant is scraggly as all get out but it has stayed covered in these long skinny tomatoes about the size of a large man's thumb. The only problem I've had with it is the tomatoes fall off very easily after they start ripening. Taste was excellent. The 4th of July variety has been a steady producer of small tasty salad size tomatos, free for some reason of the stink bug attacks. My green beans were a total bust. The bush beans produced a very skimpy crop of small, curled up lopsided beans. The pole beans have grown beyond the top of their 6 foot trellis, but I have yet to see a blossom! I'm hoping if they last out till it cools off a bit that they will start producing. The eggplant has been covered in flea beatle damage, covered in blooms, but so far no fruit. I think I remember from somewhere that eggplant is sensitive to heat. Hot peppers are just now starting to produce some sizable peppers. Overall I'm really happy because of the tomatoes! Looking forward to some cooler fall gardening !

Overall I'm really happy because of the tomatoes! Looking forward to some cooler fall gardening !

I understand this, after never having green lush tomato plants!! I have bushes, not a lot of tomatoes per plant, (pruning is needed) :-D. Im glad you are having fun with the garden. Im not sure how to treat flea beetles myself I hope someone chimes in or you can type in the search of posts and topics for flea beetles I think there have been some threads on them. I too need to sprinkle some BT dust on the plants for safety until all my butternut is harvested. They are winding down it looks like. Would love to see pictures of your place! To see how the garden grows.
Ha-v-v

Still trying to talk myself into pulling my bell pepper plants. I just don't think they are going to do anything but grow leaves and more and more of the leaves are getting a splotchy yellow that I think indicates a virus. Hot pepper plants are doing fine and producing consistantly.

Green beans are the only other thing I've got growing at the moment. Should be ready to produce right after it cools down enough next month. Messed up first attempt at starting seeds indoors for my fall garden. Going to try again.
Will be a bit harder to put in my fall garden as my little boy who was an inmobile infant in the spring is now nearing his first birthday and INTO EVERYTHING.

Keep wanting to build more boxes even though I have so many other responsibilities that go a-beggin' that I really shouldn't. (Y'all are going to talk me out of it, right? )

elliephant wrote:Keep wanting to build more boxes even though I have so many other responsibilities that go a-beggin' that I really shouldn't. (Y'all are going to talk me out of it, right? )

Heck No!