2020 Season: sharing experiences and a Q or 2

[SQWIBB]

[taboule]

Thanks again for all your replies. Quite possible it is a groundhog, no other and better theory at this point. We do have some squirrels on the property, I don't know if they could be at fault.

At this point I continue to tighten the space, covering the top of the cylinder fences for now, and spraying around. One row (about 14 plants) is wiped for now. A few of the stubs are showing small shoots, so I will leave them to see what happens. Although I could scrounge up some spares (I have many large volunteers at the new garden that I could relocate), I'm not gonna invest more energy in such a risky situation.

Sqwibb, I'd love to get a such device if they come big enough for groundhog. I have a couple of haveaheart (what a misnomer) cages that are big enough, but my neighbors are nosy and could snitch on me.

I want to put this behind me a refocus on growing.

[Tracydr]

Rat or mouse?

[taboule]

Greetings, it's been a while since my last update, it's been a challenging time all around and I didn't want to write about that. We continue to have very warm and humid weather here, days in the high 80's, or over 90, with a hot sun. The remaining lettuce and greens started bolting a couple weeks ago, and we finally pulled them out yesterday.

I had been keeping an eye on a 4th of July for the first sign of color, but no luck. It's been loaded with small fruit, all solid green however. This is the first year I don't have a red tomato early July. Then yesterday while pocking around, trimming and thinning out a few side plants I found this.
first-marmande.jpg

In a way it wasn't a big surprise, as I had seen it once a few weeks ago when it was smaller and green, it was the first fruit this season, well ahead of the 4th of july. But I forgot about it, it was well hidden. We picked it, amazing size for so early, a small beefsteak shape, around 300 grams. DW brought me the seeds from Greece a couple years ago, oddly named Marmande. Forgot to weigh it with all the excitement, DW and I sliced it and savored it with dinner.

Now that I'm back in the game, will share a couple more pictures.

Also picked yesterday was this eggplant, rosa bianca, but seems to be mislabeled? Just under 1 pound, the earliest ever for me in this size.
first-egg.jpg

first-egg.jpg

This one is Greek too, looks exactly like an egg, we eat them slided and fried, or stuffed.
tbc..

[taboule]

Double picture, not sure what happened here or how to fix it, sorry.

[taboule]

A couple more. here's GGWT
GGWT.jpg

this one is supposed to be Cherokee Purple, but it sure looks like GGWT. I can't say i did a great job labeling this year.will wait until it ripens to tell for sure.
CP1.jpg

This is a volunteer that germinated from an older, used peat puck, a dud from 2019. One of 4 different plants, sprouted before every other ones, so i kept them all, planted at the 4 corners of the tomato bed.
volunteer.jpg
Another one has fruit that looks like a heart, but foliage is thick and big and lush, very unlike the wispy style of heart tomatoes. Here too will wait and see what comes out of it.

tbc...

[taboule]

Back to eggplant, this is Black Moon, first year for me. A bunch of Black Beauties seeds were late to germinate, due to old seed maybe. So i worried of missing out and bought a pack of these, similar looking but hybrids. Time and taste will tell,it's a pretty plant so far.
black-moon.jpg

Peppers go well when sauteed with eggplant right? Here's a Poblano.
poblano.jpg
And to help season it, this Bronze Fennel plant survived the winter and is growing 7ft tall at this point.All in a jungle of green.

Hope you're all doing great.

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[Melissa S]

What a garden! I hope mine looks that good someday. Like you, our tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash, are all a bit behind this year. I normally would have at least a good selection of ripe cherry tomatoes in the first two weeks of July (I'm in zone 7b), but this year we have only had three ripe cherry tomatoes to date. I have a ton of larger fruited tomatoes on the vine, but nothing is even showing signs of ripening yet. Still, we are on track for a banner season, late though it may be. I think the spring rollercoaster of hot cold hot cold really set us back.

Your eggplants are beautiful! I have a friend who grows a variety called fairy tale, those are adorable.

[bower]

Glad to see your garden looking fabulous as always Taboule!

[taboule]

Greetings, thanks Melissa and Bower for your nice words.

It's been very hot and dry lately here, but most recently we got some nice thundershowers. A couple nights ago I took a stroll in the garden, picked a few things. Everyday now there is something new and different, these 2 samples from earlier this week.
assortment.jpground-table.jpg

That's 3 types of zuchini (Fordhook, yellow crookneck, and Greek) two kinds of cukes (Dragon and Straight 8), long purple eggplant, a Cayenne and a Fiorini peper, and a sugar snap pee for scale.

I missed the boat on the peas this year. I had poor to zero germination on the first planting -used an old pack of seeds. Then struggled to find new seed so purchased what I could find. Replanted late, and although I have good production now, somehow they're not right. Strings and tougher skins, although I recall seed pack said stringless. I thought of pulling them out as they compete with the walla wallas in a narrow bed. Then reconsidered, will let them grow to maturity, then shell them and cook the seeds. Lesson learned, i dont think i'll bother with peas again due to low ROI.

Two nights ago, it was getting darker by the time i finished weeding and cleaning, some of these were taken under flash light. First a GGWT.
GGWT.jpg

Thessaloniki
thessaloniki.jpg

tbc...

[taboule]

This is one of the volunteers that sprouted in an old/used puck from 2019, a dud last year. I usually throw these in a bucket, if I need any in an emergency when I run out of new pucks. This year 4x tomatoes germinated before the new 2020 batch, and they grew so big and vigorous that I had to keep them. This one looks like a heart, although it has tick and heavy foliage, not the wispy type that usually grows on hearts.

volunteer-heart-1.jpg VH-1-day.jpg

First pic on the left was 2 nights ago, flashlight.One on the right from yesterday. See how a second fruit higher up, changed color in less than 24hrs.

Here's a second volunteer, i had a good feel these would outgrow the rest. Loaded.
VH-1-2.jpg

My first year growing corn, only a few plants. When they were smaller,a bunny kept getting in the garden knocked them over, and chewed the tips. Couldn't figure out what he liked about them, considering that the garden had tastier material (lettuces and other greens). For that reason I propped them up with sticks. The pink tassel on this guy is so pretty.
pink.jpg

This bronze fennel looks impressive in person, ~7 ft tall, from last year.
bronze-fennel.jpg

The customary group photo, looking east

east.jpg

tbc...

[taboule]

Last night's harvest, picked right after the rain. Some could have stayed on the plant longer, but I didnt want the risk of them bursting from all the water.
chilling-on-da-deck.jpg

In the second pic, there are 2x Black Krims on the top right, identical. A GGWT bottom corner. Then 3x hearts + the smaller stuff. The big heart is one of the largest tomato I ever picked this early in the season, around 1 lb, 5 oz. I've only grown 2 kinds of hearts in the past, FLO and a French Coeur de Boeuf. My best guess is this is the French type, due to the larger size and the non-wispy foliage. I'll save seeds from it, and may rename it
585g-heart.jpg

Hope you, your families and your gardens are all doing good and staying healthy.