Here is a selection of the tomatoes we’ve harvested recently. The two dwarf varieties are growing in five gallon buckets and the other six varieties are growing in a garden bed with peppers and eggplant.
We’ve also harvested a few tomatoes from “volunteer” plants, one that came up in the garden bed where I grew tomatoes two years ago and another that came up in the compost. Both resemble ‘cherry bomb’.
July this year has been great for growing cucumbers. Apparently the heat and occasional (though often insufficient) rain is what they like. We’ve been harvesting lots of cucumber fruits, more than in many recent years.
The two shorter fruits on top in the photo are ‘diva’, a middle eastern variety, and the others are ‘progress’, ‘summer dance’, and ‘southern delight’, Asian varieties. We prefer these varieties for their tender skin and lack of bitterness. Because the vines wander across the trellis and the fruits have a similar appearance, it’s difficult to tell which variety each fruit came from, other than ‘diva’. The six longer fruits are about 8 to 10 inches (20 to 25 cm) long.
I planted the same four varieties of cucumbers as I did last year, planting 4 seeds of each variety in peat pots. Three or four seeds germinated in each pot. I then transplanted the peat pots next to the peas that were growing on the east side of my A-frame trellis. By the time the cucumbers had started to climb, the pea vines were dying off.
Now, the cucumber vines are threatening to take over the bed. Cucumbers and pole beans are fighting for the high ground atop the trellis and the cucumbers are also starting to overrun the zucchini squash and okra that are planted nearby.
The ‘southern delight’ and ‘summer dance’ varieties seem to be growing and producing the best, but that is probably because they are at the south end of the trellis and getting more sunlight. Squash ‘green tiger zucchini’ leaves can be seen in the bottom left corner of the photo. This zucchini variety has also been producing well for us this July.
This year, I saw a new miniature eggplant variety ‘patio baby’ and decided to order the seed. I started the seeds at the same time as the Asian type eggplant that I grow in my garden beds and they germinated and grew quickly. I transplanted all four plants into one of the 5-gallon buckets that I have used to grow vegetables in the past.
After transplanting, the plants grew fast and produced clusters of fruits quickly. I’m not sure how to tell when they are ready to be picked, so I’ve been picking the largest fruits when they seem to have stopped growing. Although the skins are tougher than the Asian type eggplant, the fruits taste good.
You can compare a half dozen ‘patio baby’ fruits to those from some other varieties that I plant. I’m not sure, but I think the two at the back are ‘millionaire’ and the one in the middle may be ‘ichiban’. The ‘patio baby’ fruits are smaller but are produced in larger numbers so the plants in the bucket may be as productive as those in the garden bed.
This year, I didn’t take time to prune my ‘North Star’ cherry tree, spray it, or cover it in bird netting. The result was…one of the best cherry harvests we have had in several years.
After cleaning, sorting, and pitting, we had 3863 grams (8.5 pounds) of cherries, enough for several pies. The cherries are different colors because they ripen at different rates.
Although it’s tempting to do nothing again next year, I should prune away branches that are weak, interfere with other branches, or are too high for us to reach the cherries. Birds had evidently eaten some cherries but most of the fruit appeared to be untouched despite the lack of bird netting. I guess birds’ appetite for cherries varies from year to year, or perhaps the neighborhood cats kept the birds away. Not many fruit were damaged by insects. We didn’t have a big fungal problem, probably because we’ve had dry weather recently. A good pruning program that lets light and air reach all of the fruit and leaves also helps prevent diseases.
Related posts:
I ordered my seeds for this year in early February. Because of the pandemic, it took a few weeks before I received them, but this was expected and the seeds arrived in time for planting. As usual, I ordered from Pinetree Seeds (superseeds.com). I didn’t need very many seeds this year; I refrigerate unused seeds so I can plant seeds from one packet over several years.
The first two on the list are varieties of mustard greens that I have planted for several years. The two types of lettuce have produced well for me recently.
‘Super sugar snap’ is the only variety of pea that I’ve ever grown. I like it but the early hot weather that we’ve seen in recent years has limited its productive life.
Both ‘fortex’ and ’emerite’ varieties of pole beans were out of stock when I placed my order, so I went back to the first variety that I ever planted, ‘Kentucky blue’. It’s quite reliable but perhaps not as productive or delicious as the other two. The two pole bean varieties that I tried last year (see the link to the 2020 order below) didn’t impress me.
‘Sweet banana’ is a favorite type of pepper that produces lots of tasty, yellow peppers with a slight bite to them.
I saw ‘patio baby’ eggplant on the seed company’s website and thought I’d try it. I’ve planted eggplant in containers before and had good results the first time but not the second. Perhaps this variety, which is more compact, will be more reliable when grown in a container.
I always add legume inoculant when I plant peas and beans. It helps these plants extract nitrogen from the air. Since the inoculant is live bacteria with a limited shelf life, it has to be purchased every year. Read more at this webpage from the Colorado State University Extension Service.
Previous seeds orders posts:
Singapore began to encourage the use of rooftops as market gardens to offset the effects of climate change and trade wars. The covid-19 pandemic has accelerated that drive. Read more here.
When I requested more tomato seeds from Prof. Klee’s research project, I got a new variety, known simply as ‘W’, in addition to ‘garden gem’ and ‘garden treasure’.
tomato ‘W’ fruit
The plants have been producing medium-sized, round red fruit since mid-summer. This photo is from August 5th. Production has slowed down lately, which is expected since this is a determinate tomato variety. Flavor is good, and there haven’t been any problems with disease.
Zinnia ‘carousel mix’ has attracted a lot of pollinators this year, including bees, butterflies, and occasionally a hummingbird.
monarch butterfly eating nectar from zinnia ‘carousel mix’
Our milkweed finished flowering before the monarchs arrived, so although they laid eggs on the milkweed, they needed to refuel somewhere else. These large zinnia flowers make a good landing spot. This photo is from July 19th, but butterflies have been stopping at these zinnias pretty much every day, now including some that started life on our milkweed.
We started growing ‘manyel’ heirloom variety tomatoes a few years ago. They have produced good fruit every year even if they were in areas with less light. This year, I decided to give them a prime position at the south end of the bed, and they responded by producing a lot of these sweet, yellow tomatoes.
tomato ‘manyel’ fruit
They started producing fruit in mid-July. This photo was taken July 29th. The plants have continued to produce through August and they are still making new fruit.
I planted zinnia ‘carousel mix’ for the first time this year and transplanted them into a large pot in May. According to the seed dealer, “The inner 2/3 of the petals are shades of red but the tips are yellows, creams, bronzes, and whites.” So far, most of the flowers on my plants look like various shades of pink to me.
bumblebee collecting pollen and nectar in zinnia ‘carousel mix’ flower
Some very large bumblebees have been spending a lot of time in the flowers over the past few days. I took a few photos of them, until they told me to buzz off.
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