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2014 Season, Page 3

Tomatoes Beginning to Ripen

I knew that cherry tomatoes were starting to turn red a week or two ago, but I thought the others would take much more time.  I went outside to pick some cherry tomatoes that were ready and I noticed that many others including Roma and steakhouse were no longer green.

Not all of them are starting to turn but the older ones that have been around for about a month or so are now beginning to ripen.  I would estimate that they are going to be ready before the end of the month.  It doesn’t take long for them to turn once they start heading in that direction. (more…)

Corn May Be Coming Soon To My Garden

It was only a couple of days ago that the tassels began to grow from my corn and it looked like that I was going to get some corn in the near future.  I went outside today and discovered that there were some silks appearing from one of the corn stalks.  This was the first sign that I could be getting corn in a week or so.

Granted this was only one corn stalk, but it signaled that my corn was growing correctly and I have been doing something right.  I would be very surprised if this was the only stalk that began growing ears of corn. (more…)

July 28 Garden Progress Update

It has been a while since I last wrote a post on this blog and I thought it would be good to give you a quick update on what is happening so far.  I now have four pumpkins that are growing in the garden and I may have a fifth one coming soon.  I have been taking pictures of them so that I can easily see their progress over a short period of time.

As you know my zucchinis are coming in one after the other and I don’t see any sign of them slowing down.  Blueberries are starting to wind down and today I think I reached the peak of the blueberry season for this year.  Tomatoes are doing good and will be ripening very shortly as long as the warm weather holds up. (more…)

Cherry Tomatoes and Cucumbers

The latest fruits and vegetables that I harvested this week would include cucumbers and cherry tomatoes.  It took quite a while before starting to see tomatoes turn red this year.  I have many other tomatoes that have not began to turn, but will soon do so over the next couple of weeks.  They will probably all start ripening at the same time.

Cucumbers were also picked this week, but only one of them was ready enough to be harvested.  The others will come in time now that I am starting to see more and more of these vegetables on the vine.  I would say about mid August will be the peak of the season for cucumbers and probably everything else as well. (more…)

The Beginning of Pumpkins and Cucumbers

A busy weekend has gone by and I have some great news about some of my vegetables.  Pumpkins have began to come through and are getting bigger every day.  They have reached the size of a softball right now, but they will get bigger before they start to turn orange.

Cucumbers are also starting to grow and many of the plants are producing many flowers which will eventually lead to a large harvest.  Having them in June is the best time to have them.  Although they came a little bit later than last year I still think that I will get a good amount to enjoy for the rest of the season. (more…)

Finished Setup of Bean Trellis

Setting up the actual poles for my beans was done way in the beginning right after I tilled the garden.  I don’t finish the setup until the beans start growing the runners that they will use to grab on and climb up the poles.  Instead of using the poles I like to add rope which they will use for support.

This is a little bit different from what many others will tell you to setup a support structure for pole beans.  This is just the way I do it and it seems to work for me just fine.  It is basically a string type trellis that I build to hold the weight of my beans.  Take a look at what it looks like when it is completed. (more…)

First Green Bean Harvest of 2014

Today was a busy day with the harvesting of green beans, weeding both green beans and corn, and more blueberries to pick as well.  I will have to finish setting up my bean poles so that my pole beans can start climbing up instead of attaching itself to anything it can find.  That I will do tomorrow if the weather is any good.

Tomorrow there is a slight chance of thunderstorms throughout the day and I decided that it would be a good idea to start harvesting the vegetables and fruit that were ready.  This included my beans and more blueberries.  I collected about two pounds of beans from my bush plants and three pounds of berries. (more…)

Three Zucchinis Picked and Some Blueberries Too

Today I had the opportunity to pick three more zucchinis that were well past ready and they are some of the biggest I have ever grown.  Two of them were about normal size while one of them I could barely hold it in one hand because of its large diameter.  It weighed five and half pounds which ended up being the heaviest zucchini that I have ever picked.  There are others that will be picked very soon as well.

Blueberries were picked recently and after a few more days with lots of sun many more blueberries were ready to be harvested again.  The ones that were close to ready the first time have now been picked on this second time.  I collected about a pound and a half this time.  There is still plenty out there which I can use to make some delicious desserts. (more…)

Staking Tomatoes Using Stretch Ties

Normally I would stake my tomatoes much earlier in the year about the same time that I planted them in the ground or just shortly before or after.  This year I happened to do this a little later, but nevertheless my tomatoes are still growing very well and with extra support they will ripen much quicker.

I used to use old jeans and rip strips and use that for supporting my tomato plants.  This year I decided to try something a little different and see if this makes a difference in the quality and lifespan of my tomatoes plants and the fruit it produces. (more…)

First Blueberry Harvest and Two More Zucchinis Picked

Today wasn’t such a busy day after all the rain we received yesterday from what was left of hurricane Arthur.  The entire garden received enough water for at least a few days and this is one less thing that I have to worry about.  The day before this large rainstorm (which was desperately needed) I was able to start the first harvest of blueberry season.

Blueberries are one of my favorite fruits and you can do quite a bit with them with some great recipes.  This first batch was not that big and I probably can’t do much with the amount that I harvested.  The first picking is usually the smallest as well as the last of the season.  In the next couple of weeks more bushes will ripen and I will pick more so that I will be able to use them and enjoy them for as long as possible. (more…)