Letter from Dianne 6-15-12

Hi Suzanne, here's an update on the garden….

The one plant that has blown me away is my Early Girl tomato. I quit counting at 47 tomatoes a couple of weeks ago. They are starting to ripen more rapidly now. Not the most luscious tomato, but sure beats the store bought. The Black Cherry has lots of tomatoes but none ripe yet. The other three varieties are similar with many green tomatoes--all looking great with no disease or pests. I have planted basil next to the tomatoes. I always plant plenty of basil because I make lots of pesto to freeze.

Last of the snow peas - I like them steamed with butter

I pulled the snow peas and put in bush cukes to climb the trellis. We are continuing to harvest swiss chard, which is doing great in the warm weather. I read that chard is packed with more vitamins/nutrients than any other green including spinach and kale. The tepee is up and Kentucky Wonders are climbing.

Pole beans just starting to climb

I have several squares each of okra--Red Burgundy and Clemson Spineless, which are about a foot tall. The Dixie Butterpeas are growing and look like they might be climbers. These were seeds in a plain paper bag and no other info other than the name, so I am clueless as to what is going on here. I have been picking the banana peppers and jalapeños, and the bell peppers are ready to pick. About 2 weeks ago the peppers just quit producing blossoms, so no new peppers are coming on. The plants look very healthy otherwise, so I might try some bone meal to see if that will help. In addition, I have 2 squares of carrots which haven't really taken off. There is an Ichiban eggplant which has a few blossoms and one good-sized fruit.

Ichiban eggplant

The lettuce has bolted and turned bitter, so it has been pulled up. Kay from PAR Davies gave me a packet of lettuce seeds that are supposed to grow in the heat--Baby Romaine. I have sown some of these seeds in the space under the tepee, in the hope that the beans will shade the lettuce.  

Last of the lettuce

I am starting to think of a fall garden. I am going to start some cabbage seedlings this month. I also think I will try a fall crop of snow peas. I've never heard of anyone growing peas in the fall in this area, so this will be another experiment. And of course, I will have lots of lettuce from a variety of seed packets I've collected lately.

I am now thinking of making another raised bed. My husband is enjoying all the yummy veggies so much, he thinks I need more room to plant more stuff!! He was skeptical when I first started talking about a raised bed, but he is a believer now.

Dianne