2017 garden

I FINALLY GREW SOMETHING I CAN EAT! I harvested 2 nice sized zucchini today. Now to figure out how I want to cook them..... (psst Sue.....I had mom send you a pic on the phone of me with those zucchini...did you get it?)

Mom's tomatoes are growing like weeds, and so are the two cucumber plants. She says she has little 'pickles' on them.

Yes and I LMAO!! I would slice them in half and make boats out of them stuff them with crab and veggies.

I had my mom try to send you a pic of me with my zucchini Sue...did you get it? I FINALLY GREW SOMETHING I CAN EAT! 2 nice sized ones off the bush zucchini plant, with at least 4 more in various stages of growth. My muskmelon plant is clinging to life, I doubt I'll get any food from it but it isn't completely dead yet. The rhubarb I transplanted is droopy but still hanging in there. Pray it survives.

Hilarious.

My enthusiasm or the picture? If it's the picture can you please post it in here? (you did get it didn't you?)

My black thumb finally didn't work...guess I should've tried zucchini when I had the upstairs apartment and the balcony. Now if only the rhubarb survives (it's in a huge pot).

Plant another round of spinach and Brussels sprouts in early August. They are cold weather plants, and should mature by fall when the temps are perfect.

My tomatoes are all big and green. They're taking their sweet time ripening. The squash seems to have some kind of bacteria or virus. They're rotting on the vines. I also saw squash bugs on one plant. YUCK. I have hopes for potatoes soon, but I haven't felt a single one in the patch.

I can plant more spinach but don't have any more brussels sprouts to put out there. So far so good though. The rhubarb transplants large leaves mostly died off but I have small new leaves sprouting up from the roots. So they aren't going to die on me after all. Just can't harvest any this year and must stash the pots in the lightly heated garage so the roots don't freeze solid this winter. Hopefully I'll have a place to plant them for good by next summer.
Tiny tomatoes starting to ripen, the bigger ones seem to have blossom rot or something like that. Still green with a large black spot that runs all the way through to the stem.

My big tomatoes are taking forever to ripen. I've had one or two, but the rest are maddeningly green.

It does sound like you have blossom end rot. I don't think there's much you can do at this point in the season, but your soil might have too much nitrogen and/or not enough calcium. You can add some lime to the soil next year.

I have zucchini coming out of my ears!!! I'm running out of ways to cook it already. They're not that wet at all, no seeds in the middle either, just a soft center and sometimes a bit of an air space in there.

With all the heat/rain we've had I have at least 5 more almost ready to pick. I still have 4 in the fridge to use yet.....

Last night I used some of that splenda sweetened stuff you squirt into a water bottle to flavor it. Mango/coconut zucchini....not bad at all.

My garden shriveled and died in the drought, so no more plants for a while. I put in some spinach, lettuce, kohlrabi, and radishes for fall. Their leaves are starting to peek out. We'll see how it goes. We've been SO dry.

We've been lucky. We've had some rain but on the whole Joysanna's jungle has died.

The lettuce, radishes, and kohlrabi are happy so far. I need to put some water on them tomorrow, I think. I hope I'll have good fall crops.

I hope you do too.

Looks like no second act for the zucchini. They're dying out. The tomatoes are still going strong, and so is the lone catnip plant.

Catnip is dying off a bit, tomatoes are pretty much done, so are the peppers. Brussel sprout plant is finally setting sprouts along it's stem. I will probably end up bringing it inside the building under a grow light, and try to keep it cool enough to still grow despite the high heat my neighbors insist on having (makes my place 78-82 with my heat still shut off!)

I now have red, orange, yellow, green sweet pepper plants in the garden. Seeds for zucchini, Brussels sprouts, multi color carrots, spinach, and Italian broccoli are in there too. None of the seeds have sprouted yet, none of the flower seeds up front have either.

Nothing from seed has sprouted yet. Too dratted cold so maybe they're waiting for decent temps?

My seeds aren't sprouted either. Cukes and beans are still sleeping. The cold weather plants (kohlrabi, sugar snap peas, lettuce, spinach) are all up and ready to pick. The radishes and beets are close.

Sounds like a veggie feast.

I ate some of the arugula and lettuce yesterday. YUM! The other cool weather veg are looking great. I need to get some straw for mulching the summer plants because the recent rain has already invited weeds/grass to sprout near them. I am not a weed freak, but the young plants don't need the competition. No sign of cukes, beans, or taters yet. I wonder if the taters will sprout at all. They were old when I put them in. (Volunteer sprouts from some I picked last summer)

My peppers are doing well under their water jug greenhouses. My carrots have finally started to poke their heads out of the ground, the spinach and broccoli is a few days ahead of them. No sign of the zucchini or Brussels sprouts though. Could I have gotten bad seeds?

One of the potatoes has started sending up leaves. The others haven't, but there are a few different kinds, so I don't know what will happen. The sugar snaps have started to grow peas. The cakes and beans aren't up yet.

It's hard to tell if you have bad seeds for the summer things. It's early for them to be started outside. If you want to do an experiment, put some of your garden soil in a paper cup and plant a seed. Put it in a room that gets about 12 hours of light/day. If it sprouts inside, I'd say that it's just the seasons playing with you.

I'll try that.....still no recognizable sprouts. I think the tiny green things peeking up here and there in both patches are weeds as they are identical.

Zucchini and baby brussels sprout plants don't look identical when they poke up do they?

Just harvested the first of my spinach.....mmmmmm. Going to have spinach salad tomorrow with I don't know what.
So far I have 9-10 lil zucchini plants, 3 are starting to grow faster now finally. At least 25 Brussels sprout plants (6 I bought, the rest are seeds that finally came up). 4 of my sweet pepper plants are getting flower buds. Carrots are about an inch long underground. Both types of broccoli are about 4-5" high so far. Catnip I planted is growing well.

Mom planted a pot of cat grass last week and it's starting to sprout. Is Bij going to be surprised! The rest of her garden is amazing, except her 6 sweet peppers and 2 cucumber plants haven't really taken off growing much yet.

I don't know what's up with cucumbers in my garden. One seed sprouted and is growing well, the others haven't even sprouted. There's one thing that MIGHT be the first leaves, but I can't tell yet. Tomatoes are getting huge and starting to set fruit. The beans have sprouted, and the potatoes are also going crazy. It's about time to pull out the lettuce, kohlrabi, and sugar snap peas. I am hoping for one more harvest of peas. Yum!