July Food Growin' - Page 4

[KariM]

I wanna join!

We have a slow start this year due to the cold weather.

In July we've harvested strawberries, radishes, and mint.

We just now (July 22nd) are starting to get some ripe blueberries and some ripe raspberries.

We have bell peppers and green peppers on the plants.

We have green tomatoes on some plants and flowers on the rest.

We have one pretty good sized acorn squash growing and some flowers on that plant.

Our Romaine lettuce is nearly ready to harvest (CRAZY for late July).

Our cukes and cantaloupe have flowers.

We have tiny broccoli florets growing.

Our green beans and peas have flowers.

We have a good crop of apples growing on one tree and a solo apple on the other (these were newly planted this year).

Our carrots are slowly, slowly growing (I have trouble with them).

Our various herbs are moving along nicely (basil, oregano, rosemary, chamomile, sage, summer savory, mint). I tend to harvest as needed for fresh use and then also harvest large batches for drying.

We have an album of garden pictures up on Facebook set to public view:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/a...&id=1022845461

[cymbeline]

Things have slowed down here in Texas with so much heat. We got about 1/4-in rain yesterday -- the first in almost a month. And BAM! Three new watermelon babies on the vine

I picked two cukes today, and pulled up a dead golden squash plant. One zucchini plant left to go. I have been thinking about pulling up my Homestead tomato plants and the zucchini and putting melons, corn and peas in their place -- any thoughts/suggestions on this???

My bell peppers have stopped growing, never produced a thing, now they are wilting... I think it is time to pull them and start over. I have a packet of yellow bells ready to seed! My bush beans are up. Grow, little guys, grow! Also, a few chard seedlings, but not as many as I would like.

Basil is finally thriving! And eggplants are COVERED in blooms -- oooh, I am in the mood for eggplant parmesan already!!

Anyone know where I could get a trellis arch for cheap? Been thinking about making something like this:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/l...582022244.html

[lmonter]

Honestly, those cattle panels are probably one of the less expensive things you may find. Around here, they're about $20-$25 depending, and one farm store has dented ones for $10/pop. I think our PVC pipe/rebar/nylon trellis netting deal probably cost more and has less verticality... Plus you can plant stuff on both sides of the cattle panels to climb up. Well, in theory at least - ask me again at the end of the season. Three of our arch sides are up against our back edge of evergreen trees so they don't get much sun. User error, oops.

I mine, and wish I'd started out with them first rather than trying the PVC thing before (although I'm still using those suckers for some tomatoes/3-4ft peas/etc. since I refuse to give up and *will* use them somehow).


And I'm just thrilled I have little green tomatoes already!!! Little Kootenais, little Purple Russians, a few Purple Cherokees (one of the few plants I bought rather than starting from seed - totally planning on saving the seed, too!), and some others that I need to check my tomato map to see what's what. Even started tying up some of the tomato plants to their trellising system with little scraps of an old t-shirt of hubby's. We shall see how that one works.

Now to work on that box of apricots, huge bucket of onions, more cherries, oh, and I yanked up almost 40 heads of garlic yesterday.

Can anyone remind me of the curing-garlic protocol again? I'm being a bit spacey it seems.

[SuburbanHippie]

I want to join too! I'm doing the rain dance right now. We haven't had a good rain in over two weeks. Luckily, we have four 55 gallon rain barrels so we had a little bit to get us by. We're on the last barrel now and 3 days of storms missed our house by just miles. :

I have a potato question. We're doing above ground potatoes and one of the pots is doing terrible. It's only been warm (meaning above 75 degrees) for three days and it's shriveling up. The leaves are turning brown and it's not looking promising. Is it because they're in constant sunlight? Or because the pot (actually a culvert pipe standing up) is black, maybe it's too warm? The other one is doing fine though. I know they prefer cold temps and the weather has been cooperating for most of the summer, but now not so much. Any insight?

[Talula Fairie]

Holy moly mamas, my garden hath exploded. It's doing really well now that I moved the containers to the sun. I am feeling a lot better than I was about gardening, now. Yeah, my back garden is completely toast but it's a relief to know that it's not my fault. Between the shade and the elm tree overhead that drops caterpillars in droves, nothing really survives back there.

But yay for my front garden!!! My bush beans are going nuts, my squash is flowering, my tomatoes are fruiting. They are even looking bushy, some of them, not spindly!

Check it out!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2426/...d5ce6772_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2505/...7935e423_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2483/...5e71154a_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2661/...6bc1aa93_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3516/...79849dbf_o.jpg

(if it is easier, you can just see the whole set here http://www.flickr.com/photos/2695462...7619107789818/)

I am so happy I have successfully grown something other than weeds! :

Maybe my thumb is not so black after all.

[Alyantavid]

My zucchini is taking over! I'm just swimming in it. Beans are going so slow. I'm getting maybe 1 per week. I can't do much other than just eat them at that rate.

I got a few cherry tomatoes and one full sized tomato this weekend though. I think the peas are done. And lots of baby pumpkins!

No cucumbers yet though, I've got lots of blossoms so hopefully they'll start soon.

[ms.shell]

Anyone know where I could get a trellis arch for cheap?

I got some metal 6.5' garden arches at the Family Dollar for only $8 apiece and they are working very well for beans.

[KariM]

Finally harvesting something besides strawberries here!

We have harvested 5 heads of Romaine lettuce, two green bell peppers, three heads (small) of broccoli. We also finally got some ripe blueberries and have begun harvesting the raspberries. You *know* it's an odd year when your raspberries and blueberries are ripening at the same time.

[hjrowan]

Got my first cherry tomato yesterday and two more today - it's ridiculously hot here in Seattle, which is helping the toms a lot.

Also lots of zucchini happening and beans (bush and pole) are growing nicely (but planted them late where my lettuces used to be, so I'm not expecting harvest til September). I like this food for (almost) free thing!

[lmonter]

Haven't gotten a ton of stuff yet, but it is just right around the corner... I may even get some zucchini this weekend! Yeehaw! Just pinching basil and stevia, snagging a few early blueberries, a few random strawberries, some peas every few days, etc.

I did can 26 pints of apricots into the wee hours of this morning (yes, it was actually starting to get light out by the time I fell into bed), and the kids and I get to pit a boatload of cherries here today. If I can muster the energy after going to the store and bank. Oy.

[onthemove]

well I finally got in between the rows all hoed and weeded! just in time too as the raspberries are beginning to fall off the branches and I am on the verge of rows and rows of peas and beans, 1st round of carrots, peppers and tomatoes needing to be harvested!

looks like we are going to have a great crop of potatoes and storage onions, zucchini, acorn, green and orange hubbard squashes and pumpkins! This is such an exciting time! We have been fishing and filling the freezer with halibut and spring salmon which are running right now.