Harvesting Anything?

Every day before dinner I go on to the balcony to pick up my lettuce leaves. You have to make salad in summer. I also have my choice of fresh herbs.

Many tomatoes on the vine not quite ready to be picked though.

Rhubarb is growing strongly, I could start picking but I'll let it get a bit bigger.

The carrots and shallots are ready, and I picked quite a few string beans last week, while very few have come up this week. That, I don't understand.

The rosemary, thyme and basil are thriving, and I use them all the time. Tomatoes are still green. Celery is just about ready. I'll give it another week.

The yellow bell peppers are still green. I'm very excited about those!!

I have been munching on the greens for quite some time now- mizuna, arugula, meslcun. Picked my first batch of sugar snap peas last night and threw them into a stir fry. That's about it so far...oh and the weeds are doing quite well.

I had some basil from my "urban garden" mixed in with my tomato sauce today. yuuuuum!

Linda, glad to hear your weeds are doing so well! ;)

Wishing I had planted waaay more basil, but I will know that for next year. Enjoying new potatoes, tons of lettuce and savoy cabbage. The strawberries and raspberries have been amazing this year. Now, if I could just keep the deer out of the garden...We do have a 10' high fence, but they are going UNDER the fence. I think it's time for a rain dance too. I hope everyone is enjoying their garden as I am.

I went away for two weeks and my gardens are over flowing, Many types of culinary and ornimental herbs...both my annual and perranual flower gardens are ripe for the picking (my wifes a florel designer)Brandy wine tomatoes are working there way,as are my baby yellow beets and ozzete fingerlings. I have been making rose water with some shrub rose petals (rosa rogosa)cultivar.

planted some pumkins that are forming and all my squash blossems have been stuffed,breaded and frozen.

Has anyone been gardening organicly this year?

My composting has really done well this year.
cc

I went away for two weeks also and I just got back around 11 PM last night. I was squinting through the darkness trying to see if my garden was still okay. I was very astonished to find that everything had practically doubled in size. I trimmed back most of the herbs quite a bit before I left because I didn't want them to flower and now they're the same size or bigger than when I left. I have lots of habaneros and of another hot chili pepper. I didn't get a close look at the rest.

I should harvest my first tomato befor the end of the week!

This garden is waay too big, so I started giving away surplus to neighbours and friends. Definitely time to get involved at our Farmer's Market! Iza, you win the prize for earliest tomato. Mine are coming, but not by next week. Congratulations! What variety did you plant?

Islander I planted Roma and a variety of cherry tomatoes. I can't recall the name right now. I'll go out tomorrow morning and I'll let you know.

Well I've been lurking around my tomato plants for weeks now - just waiting- and waiting.

Finally it is going to happen.

Tonight is the night.

I'm going to pick (and eat) 3 tomatoes.

Should I share them with my husband?

Ongoing...raspberries (mmmmmm). Just picked: about 30 cherry tomatoes, two varieties...about 6 large tomatoes (finally...been waiting forever) :) ... still waiting for roma tomatoes, green beans, and sugar snap peas--waiting and waiting and waiting :(

Gave up on corn this year because some little critter always chews them down to the ground, despite wire fencing :D (usually only get about 3 corncobs out of the bunch).

Herbs doing well: rosemary, marjoram, thyme, chives, basil, sage, and (recuperating) parsley.

I got my first tomato yesterday. I would have had two if the ground squirel hadn't dined before I got there. I have big boys and beef steaks, so it's earily still for them. I give them lots of space but they always take more...it's like a jungle. Every year I have to trim back my tomato plants. I'm not sure why, but it seems that it makes a great difference. It seems to speed along the ripening by redirecting the energy to the tomatos vs. the vines. Do any of you trim back your tomato plants? Is there any science to trimming them back or is it luck?

I guess you could say I'm organiticly gardening....more like a absentie landlord if I was honest. My beans were over come by bugs earily in the season. I hardly harversted any before I needed to take out the crop. My potato plants are starting to die back. Although I haven't seen alot of bugs or wilt...I'll have to do a bit of digging to discover if their o.k..

Everything that can go wrong always does...My corn patch seems to have gone unnoticed by the racoons this year. AMAZING!!!!! But I can tell by the shape of a few ears that I've got a fungus happening in some ears. Then I've got these small yellow beatles (I think their beatles but I'm not sure) that are eating the silk part of the ears. I've never had that before, any ideas what that is? Although I have harvested 5 ears and their so sweet it's always worth any hassle.

The baby dear that loves my apples has been gone for a while. Perhaps our drought has taken him further away from my house. Or he's waiting....their starting to get sweet.....he's so cute, perhaps he finally realized he arrives too earily in the day light? He leaves all my neighboors and I buzzing as we watch him with his nieve assertiveness.

Are any of you familar with apple tree care? My dwarf trees are starting to get larger than I'd like. Somewhere I heard that I should have cut my leader to control the growth. Is that right?

My husband thinks he knows why the racoons are staying away from our corn this year. We had signs of them all spring and early summer. Actually they've been quite a battle for several years now. Once they know you grow sweet corn they remember were to dine forever.

Well you all have hear of buying coyote urine and you mark your area (ground around the garden) with it so they won't eat there because their scared it's coyote teritory. We've tried that in the past but it never worked at all, even the night of the day we applied it they came and dined. SOOOOOOOO.....I can't believe I'm telling anyone this but my husband came up with his solution. He desided he was bigger and scarier than all other animals and he's been collecting his urine and marking the garden with it. Now, I know that is gross!, but it's really not any different then what they market and sell at gardening centers. But the reason I'm mentioning this is, it's actually worked totally and completely! Believe me we've tried everything else on the market with nothing stopping them, they loved the lights, the sprinklers and music...

So I'm totally amazed we haven't had one stalk of corn touched since he's been doing this! I suppose in time it won't work, but this year we actually got to eat our own sweet corn and it's out of this world good (even better then the farmers market)!!!

Dear Wendy,

LOL! If I ever grow corn, I will remember your husband's trick forever!

:D

All my tomato varietals are just coming so garden tomato bruschetta on the menu next sungold still my favuorite ( why do home grown toms have such a thick skin as opposed to ones you buy ) the flavour of and smell of a just picked tom is better than *** have had a few courgettes as well and my first early spuds the charlotte a lovely allrounder of a potato my herbs are good at the moment especially the lemon verbena very popular in creme brulee,s or to flavour ices not much else growing in my postage stamp of a back yard oh apart from lavender i use it to flavour shortbreads reminds me of my time spent working in the Luberon by all pompeyams

W., whatever works, right? :D Next time we have raccoons, I'm sending my husband out there!! :eek:

W.DeBord: Your question regarding trimming back tomato plants interests me. I usually pinch back all the sides shoots every year and then I can support that main stem with a stake, but this year even with doing that they have gone beserk and are so large they have outgrown their stakes and are bending and breaking. I really feel like chopping them back so that they will stop growing and spend their energy on the developing tomatoes and not this growth. I am still asking everyone I know if cutting them back will harm them in any way. I hope someone can answer this for us. Thanks.

Isn't that crazy, no lie! I'd die if my neighboors knew...I've screamed at him that he better not do that dirrectly on location!

I think the thickness of the tomato skin has to do with the moisture of the season and possible the heat. If I don't water alot (we been having droughts each summer for that last several years) the skins become thicker then in naturally moist years. Same with my green peppers...

Anyone else trim back their tomatos plants as I asked in a earilier post?

re: tomato plants

I haven't tried this yet but...

my dad referred to "cutting back" tomato plants as "suckering."

He drew a diagram for me showing a tomato plant with lots of branches. In his diagram he depicted every other branch as a "sucker" which he says you should break off "once a week for 2-4 wks...then let grow to shade tomatoes from sunburn."

I also found a couple of websites that might have information on that subject:
http://msucares.com/news/print/lgnews/lg97/970428rs.htm
http://ceinfo.unh.edu/Counties/Hills...h/growtoma.htm

Twila

[ August 17, 2001: Message edited by: twylyn ]

I do cut them back every year. Leaving only the vines with alot of tomatos on them. Otherwise they just keep growing and flowering and they don't focus in on ripening what they have. It works for me, I just never heard anyone else doing that.

I use very large cages and space them out alot. But when you can't get between them or into the center to harvest it's time to cut! I've never had any diseases or insect problems cutting them and I show them no mercy when I trim, I might take 1/3 or more of the plant off.

Hi WDeBord: Thanks for your response. I have been reluctant to cut them back, but something has to be done. Thanks for passing on your first-hand experience - I'll let you know how I make out.

My tomatos are still growing wild. I cut them back rather hard, so I could get between them. Now two weeks later (or so) you can't tell they were ever trimmed. Theres tons of new vines (well over 1'long)setting flowers again. So again today I will cut the new grow off since I know that these new flowers will not have enough time in my climate to mature.

I can't think of the biological names for each of these but I know some plants grow to a certain maturity and stop where as tomato plants continue growing agressively until they die.

Don't be shy about it Islander, it's getting late in the season and it's time to force the plant to ripen what it has and stop thinking about new grow.

Anyone growing corn? This was indeed a strange year for my corn! The racoons never came (thanks to my hubbie) but I totally screwed up. Many of the ears remained half the normal length. I assumed (incorrectly) that those ears had a funcus problem (because that happened before causing dwarfed bazare ears) until I opened them....much to my shock they were perfect looking kernels, just stunted. I also left them on the stalk too long thinking they weren't done growing. What a waste, I ruined 1/2 my total crop by not checking them properly and assuming.......YEKS!


Do you think they were stunted because I planted them too close to each other?

What could be the reason for this?

It was about 1/2 that were small, not all of them were....?

Now I have plenty of drying corn cobs, which I'd like to feed the animals in the winter. Is it best to let them dry totally on the stalk or can I cut them off and hold them in the garage until winter? I worried that they won't dry correctly in a bucket in the garage and then I will have wasted it....any thoughts?????

My apple trees are looking like a record harvest (I know next year we will be appleless) anyway....I'm fairly good at photography but I can't get a descent shot of my trees all the background greenery distracts the shot. I take close ups but it's never as dramatic and this whole tree dressed in red balls. Any tips??? I'm frustrated.

I just called Starks (the famous fruit tree growers) today because I had a couple questions about my trees. I was shocked that they had a recorded message mentioning they were out of business.

Hey isn't anyone else growing apples?