How's Zones 3 & 4 Looking?

[barkeater]

Its looks like it may be a very poor year here. It has been very cool, wet, windy, and cloudy this summer. I just came back after 11 days vacationing in tha Adirondacks and expected more.

Worst off are the cucumbers, eggplants, and peppers. I may not even see a cuke or eggplant this year. I think the cool nights and cold, saturated soil is to blame.

I've got the same blossom set problems you hot climate gardeners have, but from the cold instead. Funny, locals say this is a normal summer, and it has been abnormally warm the past 7. My best fruit set and size is on the following:

Manitoba
Silvery Fir Tree
Sioux
Bloody Butcher
German Red Strawberry
Ramapo F1

I have NO fruit set on:

New Big Dwarf
Box Car Willie
Bulgarian #7

And, there is only 1 fruit per plant on the following:

Brandywine (2 plants)
Big Zac (2 plants)
Northern Lights

[Douglas14]

I ate my first ripe tomatoes of the season. The were small red cherry tomatoes. Don't know the name, as they were supposed to be a smallish orange variety
(some mix up I guess). They were quite tasty though!

[greggf]

We're growing all hybrids this year, and have a gazillion green tomatoes, but just green so far. Every variety is setting like crazy. Everything else in the garden is doing well, too, except for Tenderpod bean, which seems to have mosaic (?).

We've had an almost perfect amount of rain, not too little, not too much. Temps have been a bit on the warm side, but not much. So far so good.

bark, I'm surprised, are you far enough away from us to be getting different weather this season? I know that there can be big differences between us here in central NY and those up in St. Lawrence County on the Canadian border where we used to live (Canton).

[cancolgirl]

I cheated by starting very early with Brandywine tomatoes indoors and babying them. They have been out for over a month now and have probably eaten 6 of them, Yum, with 2 more on my counter for tomorrow. Everything else is taking it's normal time.

[dcarch]

Originally Posted by cancolgirl

I cheated by starting very early with Brandywine tomatoes indoors and babying them. They have been out for over a month now and have probably eaten 6 of them, Yum, with 2 more on my counter for tomorrow. Everything else is taking it's normal time.

That's amazing for your zone!

dcarch

[barkeater]

greggf, it seems all the storms and clouds had been hitting us and missing the central and eastern Adirondacks. Until I arrived, they were in a 2 month drought.

Luckily, I did start my early tomatoes and some of my favorite late tomatoes March 30. Compared to the ones started April 17, they are head and shoulders above, and got good fruit set during the dry period we had the first 2 weeks of June, unlike the later ones.

I had always been a believer in using younger, 6 week old transplants, as they always seemed to catch up to the older ones. Not this year.

[gwnorth]

That is truly amazing for Calgary, cancolgirl! No sign of color yet for me, but most of my plants are farther ahead than last year, lots of fruitset on evrything from Mexico Midget to Brandywine OTV. SIlvery Fir Tree doing very well, Sungold may be the first to ripen. I am surprised that my Kimberly is not farther ahead than it is - still green, only a few fruit. Polish (Ellis) is showing signs of being loaded! Sophie's Choice is being very enthusiastic about being back home (developed in Edmonton, but I got my seeds from Grub in Australia!) But I won't be adding to the BLT thread anytime soon.

[Lilypon]

I haven't had the chance yet to see how many of mine have set fruit...it's been so warm here we are kept really busy watering (ergo the patch is often too muddy to check). I know Red Barn though has maters coming (I've got to find Aunt Gertie's Gold and check it out). The plants have attained 4 times their height since I last posted a picture (the hail and rain did give them a mighty boost though I did find a few larger (relatively speaking green tomatoes were knocked off).

Thankfully temperatures here have moderated, somewhat, and even when we were really hot all nights but one did cool off nicely. Huge change from last year when we were in the high 90's/low 100's for a couple of weeks in June and the nights didn't cool off at all (plants just sat and sulked for a loooooong time that year). I'm really hoping with the longer daylight hours and cooler nights (so far) that I'll get more maters that ripen on the vine this summer. We've got a number of the old reliables growing too (just in case .

[ddsack]

I've had a few Stupice dribbling for the last couple of weeks, but today I found a few others coloring up. I probably would have left them on the vine for a couple more days since they need a little more ripening, but we are leaving for a week long fishing trip in Ontario, so I thought I could take them along to eat as they ripen.

Most of my tomatoes were seeded on March 27th and were planted in the front garden between May 29th and June 1st (I have others in the back garden that didn't get in until June 8th)



I think Black Sea Man especially has a ways to go yet, but I did not dare leave these on the vine for over a week.



We are expecting higher than average temps for the next week, so I expect I'll be coming home to quite a few more ripe toms.

Cukes - Homemade pickles is producing nicely.
Eggplant - Lavender Touch is the first to produce a nearly pickable fruit.
Peppers - I have enough hot for a batch or two of salsa, if the tomatoes would hurry up. There are a few Gypsy hyb and Spanish Spice ready to pick, but the sweet bells are slow.
Sweet corn is higher than my head, and tasseling.

We need RAIN!!!!

Dee

[akgardengirl]

My plants have really picked up speed since putting up a greenhouse about 10 days ago. I cannot believe the difference. I now have tons more blossoms plus fruit set on all the plants including the experimental Grumpies. Can't believe I went all these years struggling to grow tomatoes outdoors! Hope to have some good reports soon.
Sue

[barkeater]

Dee, that dry weather I'm sure really sped up ripening. It ain't all bad. I'm at the opposite end of the spectrum: cold, wet, and cloudy. No matter what though, with the full moon on the 30th, I expect something to ripen by then, most likely Manitoba, Bloody Butcher, or Silvery Fir Tree.

...Plant by the moon, Harvest on the moon...

[Lilypon]

Not the best pic by far but I was so excited to find this plant loaded. I had to check the tag three times.

A relatively large *green* Red Barn (Marianna's Peace is doing well too.....2 plants that I can find the tags relatively easily). Which really surprised me since our temperature today is
High 35C (95F).

Feels Like 41 (105.8 F) Wind S 26km/h Relative Humidity 37% Dewpoint 18°C