Summer blahs

b54red · August 23, 2014

This has been the best year ever for me growing tomatoes and the peppers haven't been too shabby either; but I'm losing my enthusiasm at an alarming rate. It could have something to do with the heat index hovering between 105 and 110 for the last few weeks so that only an hour or two in the morning is suitable for doing the least little thing in the garden. Maybe it's having a sauce pot on the range top for the last two months constantly. Possibly it is because I have had no significant rainfall in well over a month while everyone I know around this area has gotten some good drenchings. Maybe it is having to walk around every day first thing in the morning watering while sweating like crazy just to keep my plants alive. Or it could be the removing of dying plants which is just pure drudgery and trying to clear out some space for fall. I'm starting to have dreams of broccoli and lettuce and the cooler weather that goes with growing them. I think my mood would get better with a couple of days of good rainfall and a little temporary cool down.

Bill

Tracydr · August 23, 2014

Do you have a dehydrator? Start running that and freezing what you want to make sauces later.
We've been sticky and hot here lately, too. I'm trying to establish my new garden so that I can plant something for fall. It's not easy in the stickiness. Mosquitoes usually chase me into the house after I start sweating and my bug spray washes off.

efisakov · August 23, 2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by b54red

This has been the best year ever for me growing tomatoes and the peppers haven't been too shabby either; but I'm losing my enthusiasm at an alarming rate. It could have something to do with the heat index hovering between 105 and 110 for the last few weeks so that only an hour or two in the morning is suitable for doing the least little thing in the garden. Maybe it's having a sauce pot on the range top for the last two months constantly. Possibly it is because I have had no significant rainfall in well over a month while everyone I know around this area has gotten some good drenchings. Maybe it is having to walk around every day first thing in the morning watering while sweating like crazy just to keep my plants alive. Or it could be the removing of dying plants which is just pure drudgery and trying to clear out some space for fall. I'm starting to have dreams of broccoli and lettuce and the cooler weather that goes with growing them. I think my mood would get better with a couple of days of good rainfall and a little temporary cool down.

Bill

Just a reminder, last year you had toooo much rain. Just be patient, it will come.

MissS · August 23, 2014

I agree with Tracydr. Just freeze the tomatoes and cook them in the winter to keep you warm. While opening the freezer it will cool you off from watering. Do not forget to water yourself down while the temps are in the 100 degrees.

If you do not have the space for freezing, well you have had a bumper year. Just pull the plants and take a break from the chores for a week or so...

JLJ_ · August 23, 2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by b54red

This has been the best year ever for me growing tomatoes and the peppers haven't been too shabby either; but I'm losing my enthusiasm at an alarming rate. It could have something to do with the heat index hovering between 105 and 110 for the last few weeks so that only an hour or two in the morning is suitable for doing the least little thing in the garden. . . . I think my mood would get better with a couple of days of good rainfall and a little temporary cool down.

Bill

Been a pretty fair tomato season here, too -- nice healthy plants, quite a bit of fruit on most -- except that we're just getting to the point where we expect serious harvest to begin and it's become rainy and cold -- lows tonight and tomorrow night around 40 F -- if we're lucky -- and no lows as high as 50 F expected before Wednesday night . . . maybe. Snow line is expected to stay a couple of thousand feet higher than we are . . . hopefully.

I'd try to shoo a little of our weather your way, but it would probably cause mile-wide tornadoes in Oklahoma.

AlittleSalt · August 24, 2014

Here too Bill. I have a window to get things done between 7 and 9 am. If I want to sleep late - it means going to bed earlier. I shade plants but the high winds and 100F temps are drying things out, and especially certain tomato plants I have planted. Like I said to my wife tonight, "I can't put the tomato plants in a box - they need air and sunlight." I'll bet there is some sort of fabric made just for that.

I get through it by knowing that October will be here before we know it. The hottest temps I've ever lived through were in September here in Texas. 111-114F. I figure if my fall tomato plants can live through that - I want to shout it out. If they fail, I've learned it's just too hot. To me, that is inspiration because I can plant different varieties at altered times.

What I have found most useful during the blast-furnace temps is using the time to learn. I'm impatient and I stand at the keyboard more often than sit at it. My hands want to create, but sometimes it is more beneficial to feed my mind with facts and ideas.

I hope this helps.

b54red · August 24, 2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by MissS

I agree with Tracydr. Just freeze the tomatoes and cook them in the winter to keep you warm. While opening the freezer it will cool you off from watering. Do not forget to water yourself down while the temps are in the 100 degrees.

If you do not have the space for freezing, well you have had a bumper year. Just pull the plants and take a break from the chores for a week or so...

I can't go out when it is near 100 and usually head in before it gets above 85 but some mornings it is 85 by 8 in the morning and it never cools down below about 90 til after dark most days making afternoons impossible to get anything done. You would think as dry as it has been that the mosquitoes would not be as bad as they are but I have to drench myself in Deet every time I go into the garden along with a good slathering of sunscreen.

I'm not worried about saving all the fruit I pick now that we have plenty made into sauce and frozen in quart freezer bags. I have been giving most of them away for the past month and I just hate to see them go to waste so I keep picking them and giving them away. I must admit the number of tomatoes I'm having to pick have certainly dropped off the last two weeks.

Bill

b54red · August 28, 2014

Wow, when I got up yesterday morning it was 63 degrees and it is 65 this morning. I'm rejuvenated. I managed to fertilize most of my tomatoes and peppers yesterday morning before it got too hot again and hope to finish this morning. It's still getting in the 90s by mid morning but oh what a difference it is having a few cool mornings to get a little bit done in the garden.

For the past few weeks most of the tomatoes I have picked have been small and so it was a nice surprise to pick one over a pound yesterday. It looks freakishly big surrounded by mostly golf ball size toms. It was a Virginia Sweet which seems to keep putting out nice sized fruit right to the end unlike most varieties.

Bill

drew51 · August 28, 2014

The extremes you guys face would be tough. I guess we get them too, but only in the winter, cold to extreme cold. This is the first summer we never even hit 90, maybe once or twice. The lakes are 6 degrees cooler than normal. Which means they will freeze that much sooner. I use a crock pot to make sauce, come back in 20 hours and bag it. OK, I stir it every hour or two, if I'm awake.
Anyway we stayed in ideal tomato temp range, so the harvest is huge. The spring was too cool, but I have a cold frame. So my crop is gigantic.
Currently the fall raspberry and strawberries are coming in. The blueberries are almost done.

efisakov · August 28, 2014

Drew, is this second time this summer for the raspberry?
I have variety that produce twice but my are much smaller now.

drew51 · August 28, 2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by efisakov

Drew, is this second time this summer for the raspberry?
I have variety that produce twice but my are much smaller now.

Yes, fall bearing or ever bearing can bear twice. Fall bearing cultivars usually produce big raspberries in the fall.

efisakov · August 28, 2014

they look awesome

drew51 · August 29, 2014

They blow away anything in the stores, much like tomatoes.
I saved these from the summer harvest, about 1/4 of total harvest. I have over 20 plants.

I grow all colors, purple, red, black, yellow and inbetween.

August 23, 2014	#1
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	Summer blahs This has been the best year ever for me growing tomatoes and the peppers haven't been too shabby either; but I'm losing my enthusiasm at an alarming rate. It could have something to do with the heat index hovering between 105 and 110 for the last few weeks so that only an hour or two in the morning is suitable for doing the least little thing in the garden. Maybe it's having a sauce pot on the range top for the last two months constantly. Possibly it is because I have had no significant rainfall in well over a month while everyone I know around this area has gotten some good drenchings. Maybe it is having to walk around every day first thing in the morning watering while sweating like crazy just to keep my plants alive. Or it could be the removing of dying plants which is just pure drudgery and trying to clear out some space for fall. I'm starting to have dreams of broccoli and lettuce and the cooler weather that goes with growing them. I think my mood would get better with a couple of days of good rainfall and a little temporary cool down. Bill

August 23, 2014	#4
MissS Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Pewaukee, Wisconsin Posts: 3,150	I agree with Tracydr. Just freeze the tomatoes and cook them in the winter to keep you warm. While opening the freezer it will cool you off from watering. Do not forget to water yourself down while the temps are in the 100 degrees. If you do not have the space for freezing, well you have had a bumper year. Just pull the plants and take a break from the chores for a week or so... __________________ ~ Patti ~

August 28, 2014	#10
efisakov Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: NJ, zone 7 Posts: 3,162	Drew, is this second time this summer for the raspberry? I have variety that produce twice but my are much smaller now. __________________ Ella God comes along and says, "I think I'm going to create THE tomato!”

August 28, 2014	#12
efisakov Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: NJ, zone 7 Posts: 3,162	they look awesome __________________ Ella God comes along and says, "I think I'm going to create THE tomato!”

August 23, 2014	#2
Tracydr Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2011 Location: Laurinburg, North Carolina, zone 7 Posts: 3,207	Do you have a dehydrator? Start running that and freezing what you want to make sauces later. We've been sticky and hot here lately, too. I'm trying to establish my new garden so that I can plant something for fall. It's not easy in the stickiness. Mosquitoes usually chase me into the house after I start sweating and my bug spray washes off.

August 24, 2014	#6
AlittleSalt BANNED FOR LIFE Join Date: May 2014 Posts: 13,333	Here too Bill. I have a window to get things done between 7 and 9 am. If I want to sleep late - it means going to bed earlier. I shade plants but the high winds and 100F temps are drying things out, and especially certain tomato plants I have planted. Like I said to my wife tonight, "I can't put the tomato plants in a box - they need air and sunlight." I'll bet there is some sort of fabric made just for that. I get through it by knowing that October will be here before we know it. The hottest temps I've ever lived through were in September here in Texas. 111-114F. I figure if my fall tomato plants can live through that - I want to shout it out. If they fail, I've learned it's just too hot. To me, that is inspiration because I can plant different varieties at altered times. What I have found most useful during the blast-furnace temps is using the time to learn. I'm impatient and I stand at the keyboard more often than sit at it. My hands want to create, but sometimes it is more beneficial to feed my mind with facts and ideas. I hope this helps.

August 28, 2014	#9
drew51 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Sterling Heights, MI Zone 6a/5b Posts: 1,302	The extremes you guys face would be tough. I guess we get them too, but only in the winter, cold to extreme cold. This is the first summer we never even hit 90, maybe once or twice. The lakes are 6 degrees cooler than normal. Which means they will freeze that much sooner. I use a crock pot to make sauce, come back in 20 hours and bag it. OK, I stir it every hour or two, if I'm awake. Anyway we stayed in ideal tomato temp range, so the harvest is huge. The spring was too cool, but I have a cold frame. So my crop is gigantic. Currently the fall raspberry and strawberries are coming in. The blueberries are almost done.

August 29, 2014	#13
drew51 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Sterling Heights, MI Zone 6a/5b Posts: 1,302	They blow away anything in the stores, much like tomatoes. I saved these from the summer harvest, about 1/4 of total harvest. I have over 20 plants. I grow all colors, purple, red, black, yellow and inbetween.