Veggie Garden Update-July 09

Skeeter's Veggie Garden Update:

We were away from our Georgia Garden for a few days. We had a surprise waiting for us when we returned! Red Roma Tomatoes! You can see a small purple onion as well. The onions were planted too late so they are not really doing what an onion should do, which is grow!

Where the Onions are lacking, the tomatoes are putting smiles on our faces with their plentiful bounty! I can taste the fresh spaghetti sauce as I type. Yum...

The Purple Tomato (which Dan from the Urban Veggie Garden passed along to me as seed) is still growing strong but not producing any fruit as of yet.

I see blooms but no purple tomatoes. Maybe soon, I say with fingers crossed.

The hot pepper plants are producing for us as well. Maybe some Pico de Gallo will be made from some tomatoes and these peppers. Click Here for the Recipe.

The sweet bell peppers are coming along nicely for us. Ah, another ingredient for the spaghetti sauce!

And of course fresh Basil will go into the sauce also. Yum, I can taste the spaghetti sauce now!

I put some of the puny potted veggies into the ground and they seem to be doing well thus far. No rain again just as last year. We have gone from soggy ground, to late planting with drier conditions to now a dry yard again. I just cannot win for loosing with this area of the garden. No more attempts as we are giving up after this go at it. But no big deal as we are enjoying the tomatoes, peppers and herbs and plan to continue to grow them each year!

Now lets see what Tina has going on in her Tennessee Garden...

Tina's Veggie Garden Update:

July's vegetable garden is doing quite well. The disappointments of May and June are behind us now that we have the summer garden in and growing full force. I was very late this year in planting the summer garden but I think it will work out for the best. My vegetable garden is quite small. It is shaped like a shield and the dimensions measure approximately 25' by 18'. I have six beds I use for vegetables, and one circular bed that contains bananas and a few herbs or the occasional vegetable. My slow down in getting the summer garden in was getting the winter garden out. I have finally done this now with the exception of Brussels sprouts; which are still growing in the garden under the watermelon vines. The shade will actually help the cool weather Brussels sprouts to last longer so not to worry. We've really enjoyed yellow squash. I've cooked it up with kiebalsa and just plain. It has been delicious! Unfortunately, squash vine borers got to both plants. One plant died and had to be removed. The other one is still trucking along. I slit the stem open and removed the young borers. Once they were disposed of, I then taped up the stem and added some Sevin in order to protect it from further damage. So far so good, knock on wood.The watermelons are doing great. My daughter actually identified this watermelon for me. I usually do not plant vining crops like watermelons and pumpkins because they take up so much room, but must've gotten weak this year and dropped in a few seeds. Oh well, we'll enjoy the watermelon once it ripens.

We've had several tomatoes ripen. I enjoy the yellow varieties of tomatoes so I planted a yellow Brandywine. It was the first full sized tomato that ripened this year. Christine and the Jimster did not eat it, but Mr. Fix-it and I enjoyed it very much. Christy says she does not like yellow tomatoes but they are my favorite! We've picked grape tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, but they just aren't the same as the big ones. I made a mistake in not planting enough tomatoes this year. I thought 3 tomato plants and one cherry tomato plant would be enough for us. I have been sadly mistaken and had to add another tomato plant. It seems I either grow too many tomatoes, or too few. There is never a happy medium. Anyone else have that problem?

Also growing in the vegetable garden are: stevia, catnip, green peppers, basil, zucchini (these were just planted this month), green beans (just planted), and cucumbers (only recently planted). While the cukes, zucchini, and beans are quite small, they will have plenty of time to ripen before cold weather sets in and I think planting late may just help avoid all the pesky insects. We shall see. The above picture is a long shot of the vegetable garden as seen from our deck. There is a perennial garden on this side (northern side of the veggies) of the garden. It is a new garden and about the only spot that gets decent sun. If you look past that garden you'll see the A-frame with the watermelon twining on it, the bananas, and part of the trellis I am using for beans. More on that later. This stage of the veggie garden is just right. The plants are well defined yet lush, and there is room to move around in the garden easily. Next month it will not be the same at all.

The really great thing with this vegetable garden is that because it is so full, the plants themselves help to shade the soil. I've only watered one time this season so far. All of the beds are mulched with newspaper and straw. I basically walk through to pick the vegetables and pull the occasional errant weed. You would not believe how many weeds can come up through the bricks in the paths! Urgh! Anyhow, that's it for my Tennessee vegetable garden. I hope yours is growing well!

If anyone has a veggie garden post I will be happy to post it on my sidebar. If you do not wish me to do so, please let me know ahead of time.

in the garden....