anyone else harvesting smaller than average fruit this season?

i picked my first tomato (Better Boy) and it was no larger than a racquetball. i don't think it's user error. i babied the hell out of my plant. it's producing like crazy -- 15-20 on the bush -- but they're all fairly small

6/29/2010 10:26:35 AM

Not me. All of our stuff is huge, especially the squash, cucumbers, and tomatoes.

We intentionally planted pickling cucumbers so they would be smaller, but if we don't keep an eye on them they get bigger than cucumbers from the grocery store.

6/29/2010 10:45:39 AM

I'm seeing relatively small tomatoes, though this is my first year growing any of these varieties so I don't know what to expect in my soil. None of the bigger ones have even thought about ripening, but the biggest one I've got right now is about the diameter of a tennis ball but shallower.

The golden cayennes have started ripening (to a very bright yellow) and damn, are those things hot. As it should be for a cayenne. Very prolific plant, too. We may be getting a food dehydrator from the girlfriend's family, and if so, I'm thinking plenty of dried chiles and homemade cayenne powder are in my future.

6/29/2010 11:14:02 AM

I know how much you all LOVE seeing the pictures of my garden, so here are some I just took. BTW, I have pickled my ass off, so I will never be able to use all these cucumbers. Shit is crazy, and they just keep growing! If anyone is in Greensboro and wants a bucket full, you are free to come get them. Also, if you like okra you are welcome to almost all of it.

Cantaloupe, and there are plenty more (ALMOST READY!!!!!)


Watermelon (I figure it and it's 4 buddies will be ready in about 2 weeks)


Green Bell Pepper (I have 6 that are about this size, and the few we planted recently are flowering)


FINALLY TURNING RED!!!!! Some of these bitches are HUUUUUUUUUGEEEE!!


Today's Harvest (cucumbers, okra, and a squash). And the offer stands.....if anyone wants to come get some, let me know!!!

6/29/2010 4:13:11 PM

it's not nice to brag

6/29/2010 5:05:28 PM

My pickles getting ready to go in the fridge.

6/29/2010 5:36:57 PM

OMG your pics are making me green with envy! especially the melons . what variety are those tomatoes?

Also a male flower must've appeared somewhere on my cucumber because I've picked 4 of them. They grow so fast and I've had probably 50 unfertilized flowers die! I'd be knee deep in cucumbers if only there were more man-flowers in that goddamn sorority of a plant!

6/29/2010 6:10:46 PM

oops double post

[Edited on June 29, 2010 at 6:17 PM. Reason : ...]

6/29/2010 6:10:46 PM

The tomatoes are German Johnsons. And seriously, if you want some cucs let me know. I am only a 45 minute drive from Raleigh!

On a sidenote, I am going to attempt frying okra tonight because......well......i have to get rid of this fucking okra. Any tips?

6/29/2010 6:13:10 PM

ohhh I would take some for sure, but I live in Charleston now

6/29/2010 6:18:41 PM

boo! but you are right, they grow like crazy! the new plants we planted a couple weeks ago already have baby cucumbers on them. definitely overdid it on the cucs this year.

that being said, I think our squash has run its course. we may get a few from a couple of the newer plants, but they're about done. the new spaghetti squash we planted looks promising though, so fingers crossed.

6/29/2010 6:20:49 PM

I've never fried okra but I figure you just cut it up and then bread and fry it like anything else. probably not necessary to deep fry.

Also you can maybe give it away to neighbors or the homeless or something

6/29/2010 6:23:36 PM

slice the okra into about 1 cm lengths, it will get slimy, but that's ok. rinse lightly with water, bread with plain flower, fry in a pan with hot vegetable oil in it. dont let it burn, because it does easily.

6/29/2010 6:50:16 PM

no egg wash first?

6/29/2010 7:25:27 PM

Soak the okra in milk for a minute or so. That will get rid of the slimy, then bread.

6/30/2010 8:26:36 AM

we never use milk or egg in ours.

6/30/2010 9:55:33 AM

God, my jalapenos and tomatoes appreciated last night's rain!!!

i'm glad i tilled a little before the rain came

6/30/2010 10:23:10 AM

I use 1/2 cornmeal and 1/2 flour to bread

Also, I like mine really dark

I WISH MY OKRA WOULD HURRY UP!

6/30/2010 1:47:49 PM

My okra plants look like small trees. I never realized how thick the stalks get on them.

Now that I think about it, I have never actually seen an okra plant until now.

[Edited on June 30, 2010 at 2:14 PM. Reason : a]

6/30/2010 2:14:31 PM

djeternal, i'm envious of your garden. I didn't realize you lived in such a rural area (with horse and donkey). I always thought you were a greensboro city boy. But mad props!

6/30/2010 2:34:18 PM

YAY!! Ugly tomatoes! The best.

6/30/2010 2:37:21 PM

^^ nah, I live back in the woods, you see
A woman and the kids, and the dogs and me
I got a shotgun rifle and a 4-wheel drive
And a country boy can survive

well, minus the kids. lol. But I'm 15 minutes from Greensboro and 15 minutes from Burlington, so I'm not out in the middle of nowhere. I love it

6/30/2010 2:52:24 PM

very nice, keep up the good work.

6/30/2010 2:58:28 PM

pickle those okras! i <3 pickled okra

6/30/2010 4:58:09 PM

^^ Here are some pics of the property from this past winter:

6/30/2010 6:14:46 PM

BIG ASS MATERS that I picked yesterday:

7/2/2010 11:27:25 AM

Damn, I'm jealous! We finally have a couple of larger tomatoes starting to ripen, but we don't have anything that size. What kind are they?

7/2/2010 1:17:39 PM

German Johnson. They're not pretty to look at, but they get huge and taste amazing. We ate one straight of the vine last night and DAAAAAAAMN! There is nothing better than that.



[Edited on July 2, 2010 at 1:21 PM. Reason : a]

7/2/2010 1:20:44 PM

German (Big) Johnson, apparently.

7/2/2010 10:00:11 PM

Here's some pics DROD900 wanted me to post of his plants.

His red bell peppers have finally turned red:


And here's his watermelons:

He has about 4 on the vine about that size!

7/3/2010 11:43:18 AM

WOW gg on those peppers and watermelons! I have peppers in the ground and they aren't doing that good. Glad they finally turned red ha ha ha

Also I was finally able to live my summer dream - a sandwich with tomatoes & pickles from the garden!!! The other toppings included pesto made from homegrown basil, mayonnaise, sprouts, and mozzarella cheese!!! It was delicious. No deli meat or anything, this sandwich is all about the glory of the tomato. Fantastic. I've eaten these about 4 times and hope to continue all summer long.

7/3/2010 12:44:35 PM

^Seems like the 3 bell pepper plants he has in pots are doing better than the ones in the ground.
And we're gonna eat some watermelon tomorrow!!

7/3/2010 1:06:32 PM

^Seems like the 3 bell pepper plants he has in pots are doing better than the ones in the ground.
And we're gonna eat some watermelon tomorrow!!

7/3/2010 1:06:32 PM

yeah my red bells in the ground all are either still green or are getting some sort of disease thats making them turn brown and nasty. I have three red bell plants in a pot and those have done great. I had 3-4 peppers on each plant, but their size got stunted, so I cut of 1-2 of the smaller peppers from each plant and that helped the remaining peppers grow a little bit more.

As far as them turning red, I came home from work one day when the temps were around 100 degrees and noticed that the peppers were getting POUNDED by the sun. The next day I saw that the part of the peppers that were getting blasted by the sun the most were starting to turn red. From that point on they just got more and more red by the day. I dont know if thats coincidence or what, but that might be the trick to getting them to turn color from green to red.

My watermelons are going off too. I cut off one that is about the size of my head - we're going to eat that tonight and/or tomorrow. I have 3 other melons that are getting close to the same size, so I might cut another one off this week, I'll probably leave the other two on just to see how big they get. there are 2 or 3 melons that are about the size of a baseball now, so those will probably be ready to eat in a week or two. Good harvest for me this year!

7/3/2010 6:22:32 PM

Maybe your pepper plants that are in the ground are being attacked by nematodes?

7/3/2010 8:26:16 PM

Here is my veggie garden:






Here is what I canned this weekend:

7/6/2010 9:57:52 AM

All your gardens look great!

^ I think I'll try canning this year, do you have any tips for someone who's never done it before?

I finally got my garden in the ground, a little late, but I hope we get something out of it.



[Edited on July 6, 2010 at 12:01 PM. Reason : Its late afternoon shade, it gets sun all morning, noon and into the afternoon.]

7/6/2010 11:59:18 AM

I too would like to learn about canning.

7/6/2010 12:01:19 PM

Canning isn't hard.

Head to the store, buy a pack of jars and a package of sure-jell pectin or whatever brand. The package has directions in it for a whole bunch of different jams and whatnot.

The advice I can give is to make sure there's plenty of room in the jam pot for it to boil up, cause if it spills it's a huge mess and it's really hot.

I do it a few times a year, and I don't have any special equipment. Just two big pots (one to cook the jam, one to sterilize and process the jars in), a wooden spoon, a ladle, and a pair of tongs. We had the tongs already, they're not canning tongs, but the ends are bent around in a loop and you can get a grip on the jar with them, I just try to be extra careful.

Kinda like this:

7/6/2010 12:47:39 PM

Can hornworms just pick up and move on? I ask b/c I have a top branch of my tomato plant that's been eaten by something...but not completely. It reminds me of a hornworm. I've searched this damn tomato plant for the past 3 days and can't find it, and have not noticed any new eaten branches.

I mean, the only thing I can think of is he's finally turned in to a moth...so is it that time of season for the hornworms to change?

I also have marigolds, BIG ones, so maybe it did hang out for a bit but got annoyed by that and move on...

it's just puzzling to me.

[Edited on July 10, 2010 at 11:07 AM. Reason : ]

[Edited on July 10, 2010 at 11:08 AM. Reason : ]

7/10/2010 11:05:18 AM

i'm pretty jealous of everybody's gardens in here. i wanted to make my own box garden this year, but i didn't get around to it. maybe next year i'll join the club.

7/10/2010 11:17:54 AM

I picked one of the cantaloupes yesterday and it's the size of a fucking basketball. Still has a little ripening to do, but I bet it will be delicious. We continue to have cucumbers out the ass. My refrigerator is already full of pickles so I have no idea what we will do with all of them. I will have to take some new pictures when I get a chance.

7/10/2010 2:59:27 PM

so all of my plants have finally started producing fruit! Took long enough...

Only question is that there is some sort of caterpillar eating some of my leaves and even getting into our biggest 'mater. I don't have pictures but they look like black and white striped caterpillars. Any good method for getting rid of these things that doesn't involve a lot of chemicals?

7/12/2010 9:27:56 AM

Anyone else (in the triangle, anyway) really hoping that the possibility of rain every day this week becomes a reality? This heat and lack of precip has been a major bummer--our tomatoes are not ripening and have largely stopped setting new fruit (except for the sungold cherry tomatoes, which are now giving us a pint or so every couple days) plus I'm seeing blossom end rot, the bell peppers are getting brown spots, the eggplant isn't getting any bigger and hasn't set any fruit in weeks, and our herbs all look sad and wilty by the end of every day. On the flower side our gerbera daisies, african daisy, and gazanias are feeling the effects of the heat, and the stupid dahlia plants which were supposed to reach 2-3 ft height and produce 5-6" blooms have stubbornly ceased growing at about 6" tall with no flowers in sight.

On the plus side, the sungolds are sweet and tasty, the one eggplant we've been able to harvest so far was quite good, and our swiss chard is holding up quite nicely for something that isn't supposed to be a hot-weather plant.

Anyone trying to plan for fall vegetables now? Going to plant some lettuce seeds probably late this month, maybe some kale too, but I also want to do butternut squash--when's the right time to put that in the ground (if I'm buying seedlings)?

7/12/2010 9:44:57 AM

Sliced into one of the cantaloupes yesterday and it was AWESOME! I gave the other one that was ready to my sister, because we have about 10 more on the vine.

7/12/2010 10:52:14 AM

Pics I just took:

Tomato Plant:


Another mater plant. This one is about done, but had the best fruit on it.


Bell Peppers:


Okra:


Cantaloupe:


Watermelon:


Tomato Harvest:


Sunflowers:


Sunflowers 2:



The rain last night was a blessing, but the high wind definitely took it's toll on some of the plants.

7/14/2010 11:02:19 AM

I took 24 tomatoes and cooked them down into an authentic Italian sauce with the Garlic and Basil that I had also grown. IT IS SOOOOOOO GOOD! I plan on make a few gallon batch and canning shortly.

7/14/2010 11:12:44 AM

^ we are about to do the same thing. and I just found a cucumber soup crockpot recipe I want to try this weekend as well.

7/14/2010 11:14:11 AM

I'm getting thwarted by rabbits. They munched my Edamame and are starting on my rainbow chard. I'd like to trap and eat them, but I don't want to use snares for fear of killing something that I didn't want to kill. Any good trap ideas? I'd rather build something than buy a live trap.

[Edited on July 15, 2010 at 12:30 PM. Reason : Nice garden djeternal]

7/15/2010 12:29:43 PM

We still have the same rabbit from the beginning of the year (and it's had babies, which are extremely cute but also worry me). But he's been leaving our chard alone--it hasn't even had many bug issues. Actually, now that the lettuce is done and gone, he doesn't worry me too much. I don't think rabbits eat tomatoes, do they?

SOMETHING ate a big hole in the side of our first ripe brandywine tomato Tuesday though. I tend to think it was birds. Plants have since been netted. Fuck whatever critter was eating it, we cut off the nibbled half and washed/ate the untouched good half.

7/16/2010 9:07:36 AM