Today's harvest

[pepperhead212]

Looks good, bethzaring and Larry! After a while, we almost end up with more than we can pick!

I ended up with my first batch of veggies in the dehydrator today - the eggplants, though there will be tomatoes, soon.
First eggplant in the dehydrator this year. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Most of the tomatoes are ripening now, even the large varieties. Most of the cherries are producing large numbers.

The earliest and largest tomatoes, so far, are June Pink and Marizol. Already a couple of each over 14 oz, and the others 8-10 oz. Here is today's harvest:
4 June Pink, and 2 Marizol, on R. 7-14 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Those Golden Buddhas started ripening today, with a few starting to blush. Those 42 day cherries are starting to fade out. Not any new flowers yet, but maybe there will be. At any rate, the flavor is better than store bought, but not as good as most of the others, and since it didn't ripen much faster than some of the others, I won't be growing it again.
Two Golden Buddha, just starting to ripen, and a few 42 Day, slowing down production, 7-14 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Those gold cherry/grapes are starting to produce big time! The Sunsugars were the first to produce in large numbers, the Kustengold was earlier, but only a few at a time. Now, it's producing a lot at a time. The Weetang Shebang took longer, but had a large amount suddenly start ripening! These are slightly smaller than the largest sunsugars and kustengolds, but more uniform.
Kustengold, 7-14 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Weetang Shebang cherry, 7-14 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The Wow! Sungold and Burpee Honeycomb are smaller, and more grape shape. And the Wow! Plants are both strangely lanky, with elongated vines, like they are reaching for light! No others are doing this. The two black ones - Cherry Brownie and Chocolate Cherry are larger, and the Chocolate Cherry has great flavor, like most placks, but develops bad spots quickly, like most blacks I've tried - must be used quickly. I'll have photos of these later.

 

[pepperhead212]

I got another generous 4 quarts of tomatoes today, including some of the Chocolate Cherries and the Cherry Brownies - the two "black" varieties I have this season. Both are very good, but the brownies are lighter in color, and not as strong tasting, IMO. The brownies are also slightly larger.
Chocolate Cherries (L) and Cherry Brownies by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[pepperhead212]

The Gold Habaneros are starting to ripen! Only 2 superchilis are starting to ripen (usually my first to ripen, followed quickly by Thai peppers), while there are 6 totally ripened Gold Bullets, which is surprising. I pulled those, and there are many more blushing - once they start, they go fast, like cherry tomatoes!
Gold Bullet Habaneros, beginning to ripen. 7-16 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[pepperhead212]

I halved tomatoes for two trays in my dehydrator, for the first time this year. There were more of each, but not enough of the larger ones.
First two trays of halved tomatoes for the dehydrator, this top one all gold cherries. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[GotGarlic]

We didn't plant much of a garden this year - DH spent April turning my office into a library instead - but we do have a few things in the ground. Cherry tomatoes and banana peppers are starting to come in. And we have one little Roma and a nice green bell pepper.

 

[pepperhead212]

I didn't spend much time out there today, given that heat! I got a couple more bitter melons and bottle gourds, and picked 2 Hong Gochu - a Korean Chili pepper, that is loaded with peppers, and one is just starting to ripen. The green one is good, and not bitter at all, not too hot, sort of like a serrano pepper - maybe 20k. Next, I'll see how well they dry. One I planted in a covered Earthbox, the other uncovered, and the uncovered one has no pepper maggot eggs, which is good. Looks like a keeper.
Hong Gochu, one just starting to ripen. 7-17 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[pepperhead212]

Today I harvested a bunch more tomatoes, plus 10 cucumbers. I have to figure out something to do with all those, as there's a lot more out there! I also found an overgrown bottle gourd - like what happens with zucchini, getting lost under the vines.
10 cucumbers and one oversized bottle gourd, 7-18 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[dragnlaw]

Curious mind

To the best of my knowledge, never seen nor eaten any of the gourds y'all talkin' about. So...

What does a bottle gourd taste like?
What colour are the innards?
Do you cook them like squash?

 

[pepperhead212]

What does a bottle gourd taste like?
What colour are the innards?
Do you cook them like squash?

They have a bland taste, like zucchini and summer squash, and this is why I started growing them - I simply can not grow any non-moschata squash, due to squash vine borers, which usually appear before the plants even flower. I've tried a number of Asian gourds, in place of them, and this one is the only one that seemed insect and disease resistant. The one drawback is that it flowers at night, and, esp. early on, I don't get that many night pollinators, but it is easily done by hand.

I knew I had probably posted a photo of one cut up, and here's a good one, showing the bright white bottle gourd next to some eggplant, showing the relative "whiteness". And that particular dish showed me that they stay slightly firmer than Asian type eggplants, with the same amount of cooking, while eggplant usually stays firm longer than squash, in mixed dishes, like ratatouille.
Rest of the ingredients for Szechwan eggplant. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I put this in many dishes that call for zucchini, and, as I noted, they will last longer, without turning mushy. They also make dishes calling for shredded zucchini, like breads. I freeze it this way, but I'm going to try freezing some in larger pieces - since it stays firm for much longer when cooked, maybe it won't turn to mush when frozen?

 

[dragnlaw]

Thank you pepperhead...

and satisfaction brought her back.

 

[larry_stewart]

For those who grow or have grown cucumbers, Im sure you'll be able to identify. Its amazing how you can go out and harvest your cucumbers , think you did a thorough job, and then go out a few hours later, just to see that you missed a bunch of large cucumbers ( that you have obviously missed for a few days) and are in the most obvious of places.

That happened to me ( again) today. I harvested last yesterday, did a thorough job ( so I thought). Went back out this morning, cause us gardeners always check multiple times a day assuming the plants are going to grow significantly in the 2 hours we were gone. Sure enough, I found this huge Kirby cuke. (pictured next to a normal sized one). Not the largest cuke Ive ever grown ( Ive grown a bunch of 12" + see pic), but definitely large enough to be easily seen and not easily missed .

Went out again before dinner, and found a bunch more ( see pic, the initial big one from the morning in the center of the others).

I find that the lighting from the sun is different at different times of the day, either hiding them in shadows, or making them obvious .

Gallon of Cucumber salad today.
Bring some of the larger ones in to work to share.

 

[pepperhead212]

Larry, I know exactly what you mean about those "hiding" cucumbers! I also had that happen with the bottle gourds, and today, one of those bitter melons, that got lost in all those vines! It's still not ripening, but I have to use it quickly.
A bitter melon that I lost in the vines, and got larger than the usual ones I harvest- 11 1/2 inches by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Today I did a taste test of those 5 gold cherry tomatoes I'm growing this year. I'll start with the two I wasn't crazy about, and won't be growing again. The Burbees Honeycomb, which is a small grape tomato, and is the least sweet of all, and I didn't like eating it on its own. The Wow! Sungold was not like the original Sungold - sweet, but not a well balanced flavor. And this one has strangely lanky plants, like it's growing in a low light setting - something I have not seen on other plants!

Sunsugar is the one of the five I have grown many times, and was the sweetest, which did not surprise me. I harvested a generous amount of those, many of which were dead ripe for the tasting. The other two - Weetang Shebang, and Kustengold I harvested a lot of 5 days ago, so they are totally ripe, for the tasting. These are mostly 3/4-1", the few smaller ones around 1/2".
All Sunsugars, 7-19 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Weetang Shebang, L, and Kustengold, R, picked 5 days ago. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I tried the Sunsugar first, and as I figured, it was sweeter and more flavorful that the first two non-keepers. Then I tried the Weetang, which is slightly less sweet, but much more flavorful. The Kustengold was a little less sweet, too, and also more flavorful, but of these two, the Weetang was the more flavorful and balanced. The Sunsugar tasted sort of bland, when eaten after these. When tasted back and forth after each other, I picked the Weetang over the other, but it's close. The Kustengold was the first of all of my tomatoes to blossom this year, but was only slowly producing, until recently, and the Weetang began, once it started ripening, caught up quickly. Both are growing better looking vines than Sunsugar, but they always look rather sickly, yet they still produce like crazy! I'll take some photos of the plants, later, for comparison.

The red cherries I'm growing are behind these, and the few I've had had not been anything special.

 

[pepperhead212]

I harvested couple more cukes and bitter melons today, a few pole beans started producing, and I started getting some more chiles. It seemed like most of my Numex peppers had stopped growing any more, so I uncovered them, and harvested the full sized ones. The Big Chili plants seem determinate, and the all of the peppers were pretty much the same size. And there were no flowers on the plants. The Giuzeppi plants had a bunch of pretty much the same size fruits, plus a few new ones, with a few new flowers, but it doesn't seem as indeterminate as some.
16 Chiles from 4 Giuzeppi Numex - 44 oz. on 7-20 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

10 chiles from two Big Chili plants, 23 oz. on 7-20 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

After this, before re-covering the tubs, I added some "maxi bloom" fertilizer to each Earthbox - something that I rarely use, but with these things, or tomatoes or eggplants, that have stopped flowering, due to heat, I put a small amount in the reservoir. I only use inorganic fertilizers occasionally in the Earthboxes and other SIPs - the 24 oz of that bloom fertilizer I've had for close to 10 years, and haven't used even half of it.

 

[larry_stewart]

A lot of my tomato blossoms are drying up as opposed to producing fruit. Still have a decent amount of tomatoes on the plant, but definitely something I haven't experienced ( at least at this rate). Im guessing its been the extreme heat.

 

[pepperhead212]

Larry, you're probably
right about the heat doing that. Surprisingly, I haven't had any this season that have seemed to stop flowering (except the determinate 42 day one) - maybe slowing, but that's all. Some of the eggplants seem to be slowing, too, but they still have flowers.

 

[GotGarlic]

A lot of my tomato blossoms are drying up as opposed to producing fruit. Still have a decent amount of tomatoes on the plant, but definitely something I haven't experienced ( at least at this rate). Im guessing its been the extreme heat.

Yes, that happens when it gets really hot here, too. The plants are reserving their resources because they're stressed.

 

[Bitser]

Harvested our first cucumber and a cutting of basil. Nice Sakura cherry tomatoes.

 

[larry_stewart]

Yes, that happens when it gets really hot here, too. The plants are reserving their resources because they're stressed.

I still got a good amount on the plants, so its not going to be a wash out, but could have been better.

 

[larry_stewart]

Tomatoes starting to kick in.
All the smaller Grape, cherry type tomatoes producing daily.
The one size up 4th of July also kicking int.
Picked my first Roma-like tomato today.
I see some of the bigger ones blushing a bit with color.

Did a pear shaped yellow grape tomato. Didnt produce much and the vine didnt look healthy. Yellowish and leaves dying. I picked what I could and removed the plant. Dont want to risk the others catching something , especially this early in the season.

Picked a day or two early to let ripen completely off the vine to try and get to them before the birds do.

Its been on and off hot and rainy so haven't had time to get the net around the tomatoes yet.

In addition have been picking peppers daily and more of those mini eggplants ( did an eggplant with garlic sauce tonight).

Up to 22 quarts of pickles/ cucumber salad and the larger cukes are producing like crazy to the point where Ill be bringing some into work tomorrow to share.

 

[pepperhead212]

I harvested a bunch of tomatoes today. Some of my larger varieties are ripening up now, but, as usual this high rain and humidity increases disease, in the larger and smaller varieties. Our rain in July was said to be close to 4" above average on 7-21. Earlier in the season, we in a semi-drought - in the past, I almost never had to water the plants in spring, but not this season!

A number of the tomatoes are not doing well, due to the diseases, from the rain and humidity. Venus, Marizol, Ruth's Perfect (one of the two much worse; one not as bad), one of the Kustengolds is really bad (but the other is hardly affected at all - more on this later).

However, some of them are surprisingly resistant, despite being OP. The June Pink and Esmerelda Goshina Green don't have nearly as much problems as others, and the Weetang Shebang seems fairly resistant. Here are the photos I took of the one non-resistant Kustengold, and one that hardly got any diseases. And the two Weetang Shebang plants, showing that is growing more compacted, yet both times I got more tomatoes from those!

The Kozachka plant is growing fine in the same EB as the diseased Kustengold, so it's not the soil.
The diseased Kustengold, 7-22. Still got a lot of ripe tomatoes from it. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Much better Kustengold - hardly any disease, compared to the other plant. 7-22 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Weetang Shebang, 7-22. Smaller, more disease resistant than others, and more tomatoes! by pepperhead212, on Flickr

What I'll do is bag some blossoms on the good plant of the Kustengold, and if any of the others I have more than one of seem better than the second one, I'll bag the blossoms on those, to save some.

Here's the rest of the things I harvested today:
7-22 harvest...forgot the eggplants, but Ill probably go out again. lol by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Some of the tomatoes harvested on 7-22, showing the relative sizes. by pepperhead212, on Flickr