31 August 2015, Monday

I was out in my garden and I have two more pictures to post.  Below are my yellow tomatoes.  I love these.  They are very mild in flavor.  Lemon Boy is my favorite yellow variety.  I've tried others, but these perform well, are disease resistant, and for the most part, blemish free.

LEMON BOY

Here are some cucumbers I picked today.  I haven't picked any since Friday, so they are huge.  Even that chubby Armenian on the left side.

CUCUMBERS

31 August 2015, Monday

This is Kinley.  She is 3 years old.  She is the reason I have absolutely no peppers this year.  When I plant my seedlings, she knows that where ever there is a plant sticking up from the ground that directly beneath that is a fun little squishy ball (i.e. my peat pellet) to play with.  She dug up every last one of them.  But just look at that face.  How could I be too mad at her?  Besides, I knew she would probably do that because this wasn't the first year for that kind of behavior.  I usually fence them off so she can't get to them. However, this year, after I planted them, I had to go do jr. high carpool, so I brought her inside for the 20 minutes I would be gone.  But dear old hubby let her out while I was gone.  I tried to  salvage some of the pieces, but peppers aren't particularly hardy to that kind of trauma.

The weather was wonky this year.  I can't say my tomatoes thrived.  I always have tomatoes by mid July.  This year it was more like mid August and I still have plants that have yet to produce a red tomato.  My romas did well though.  I think they were able to set the most fruit before the 100 degree temperatures hit, which this year, came a month earlier than usual.

YAQUI (romas)

So far I have been able to can about 26 lbs.  I've made mostly tomato sauce (on the left) and diced tomatoes (on the right).  I won't be doing any salsa this year because I have no peppers.

My zucchini did well.  I planted 3 types of summer squash.  The two varieties I plant every year is Magda and Barq.  Barq, by far, outproduced Magda, so this is the last year for Magda.  The new variety I tried this year was Golden Egg.  I don't recommend this variety because it isn't very disease resistant.  If you have pristine dirt, then go ahead.  My dirt has lots of "wilt".

BARQ

The above picture is the Barq.  I love the color.  Below is the Magda. And the ratio captured here is pretty much the production ratio.

MAGDA

My cucumbers also did well, in spite of the wonky weather.  I grew several types.
I grew:  Armenian, Japanese, Barese, Sweet Slice, Sweet Success, and  Sweeter yet.  The Armenian cucumbers were interesting to look at.  They are the color of the Barq squash.  They were firmer in texture, but they weren't as sweet as the regular cucumbers.  So, I probably won't grow those again.  The Japanese cucumbers tasted great, but their shape was a little weird.  They were much bigger on one end than the other.  I probably won't grow those again, only because I get better production from the 3 regular varieties I grow.

This picture above is a little dark.  The one on the right is the Armenian.  Below is the Barese cucumber. This was a great novelty cucumber.

BARESE CUCUMBER

The taste was great and texture was slightly firmer than that of regular cucumbers.  I gave one of these plants to my sister in law and her kids loved them.  Mine did too.

Now the other 3 varieties I listed above are truly my favorite "regular" cucumbers that I grow.  They are never bitter, even when they are completely overgrown because they were hiding under a leaf until they outgrew it.  The seeds are a little more expensive, but IMHO, they are definitely worth it.  I will grow these every year.  YUMMY!





Now for the tomatillos.  I love my tomatillos.  These plants are hardy and so very productive.  I only had 4 plants this year, but they are covered with these cute little tomatillos.

TOMATILLOS

I've already turned 5 - 6 lbs of these into my Green Enchilada sauce.  And I have more to come.

My cherry tomatoes have been fun.  They are great additions to salads.  I also take a handful in my lunch when I go to work.

This year I planted a new variety of bean.  It is called the Red Noodle.  In the picture below they look black, but they are actually a burgundy color.  When I steam them, then they look black.  I have put them in stir frys this summer.  They are a novelty item.  I don't think I will grow them next year. They weren't as sweet as the green varieties or the trionfo violetto ones (they are purple).  The Red Noodle pole bean is fine for a stir fry but I don't think I would want to sit down and eat a helping of them on their own.

RED NOODLE POLE BEAN

Here is a picture of some of my garden treasures.

Pictures of my pumpkins are too come.  They did not do so well.  I usually have 30 pumpkins on my porch every Halloween.  This year, instead of a lot of little to medium sized pumpkins, I only have one great big one.  It weighed in at 47.5 lbs.  While it is fun to look at, I wish I had more.