re: 2023 Spring Garden Thread

quote:

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resist the urge to try one immediately or you'll end up with a 250 degree burst of (delicious) tomato juice scalding your tongue.

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This is common sense. Sorry for laughing.

My purple beans are looking good. I’m not sure when to pick them? The longest one I measured is 6”. Does anyone know when it’s best to harvest?

They’re either purple pole or blauhide beans. I can’t remember which I planted, or both.

I like to pull them early so they are a bit more tender.

Officially gave up on my broccoli today, pulled 11 plants that were giant with no heads and getting serious insect pressure. No Spring in the Ozarks this year - jumped straight to Summer so bugs got bad much earlier. Almost all my greens jumped from baby to seed as well.

Beets, however, are having best year ever. Tomatoes looking great for July crop.

Went ahead and planted my pumpkin seeds. I will drape fine mesh netting over them for as long as I can to keep the vine borers off of them. I only planted the Gold Medal F1 and the Captain Jack F1 so far. I have to clean up my other raised box before I plant the Sugar Pie.

The blue hubbard vines are still going and I've noticed quite a few vine borer eggs on them over the past few weeks. But the systemic must be working to kill them when they start eating on the plant. Cause the plant ain't dead yet. I notice lots of dead cucumber beetles next to chew marks on the leaves also.

My tomatoes are almost done as well. And I can't wait. I have had just about enough. I've canned a bunch and have eaten more than my share of fresh ones. I'm also about to pull up the last 2 squash plants for the same reason. And the beans.

Cucumbers have been doing well. Not making a ton, but they're consistently producing. One lesson learned this year is I will not be planting Tendergreen Burpless again. The cucumber beetles love them and I'm just not a huge fan of them anyway. Will probably go back to Dasher II next year. The Sumter and Poinsette 76 have been doing much better than them and have had fewer pest issues and overall healthier plants.

We've been harvesting a good amount of purple hulls. I blanched and froze a quart so far, and I've been putting the dry ones in a jar. They're still producing. My wife and kids have been a big help with the purple hulls. I bought a little hand crank shelling gadget and my daughter loves to use it.

Peppers, Eggplant, Watermelon, blackberries, blueberries, and strawberries all still going strong. Although I'm not really getting many good strawberries anymore. Bugs and birds have been getting them. It's too hot and humid and I'm honestly surprised they're still making fruit.

Looks like the irrigation will have to get put to work. Hot and dry spell in the forecast for the next 10 days over here.

Wind from that outflow did a number on my tomatoes. Lost lots of green stuff and young tomatoes.

We got rain yesterday, first time in 2-3 weeks.

I had planted watermelon a few weeks ago at my property. They were growing well but needed some water. Also planted some pumpkins on Monday. Should be enough time for them to to be ready for Halloween.

Sart Roloise Tomato. I think this is my favorite. Hardly any acid. Second year I've grown it. I had originally planted 4 and only one made it through the freeze. I have a second one that I started from a sucker from the survivor. Both are still setting fruit while most of my other varieties have stopped. The plant that made it through the freeze is around 10' tall.






Orange Peach tomato. They aren't getting very big but they're heavy producers and taste great. I'm probably going to can a bunch of these since they're the perfect size.




I'm picking 20 or 30 shishitos every other day. I'm kind of glad I didn't plant more than two of these.



Drunk snack Saturday night. I'd made some confit on Friday with Rosella cherry tomatoes. I smashed them and the garlic up, spread on french bread, then topped with feta.

towards the end of the summer she will hatch a brood and once they are all viable...she will die. We had a massive specimen that dang near netted off a whole end of our front porch last year.

I always helped the bumblebees escape LOL

Since I had so many, I pickled some shishito peppers last night. I'm anxious to see how they came out. I usually like to wait at least a week before opening a jar. Anyone ever pickled shishitos?