Gardening Milestone

[taxguykarl]

I just picked my fist red ripe tomato today.

It took long enough with this crazy weather... There will be more to come as the other plants are flowering like crazy. I also harvested a bunch of cucumbers as well--they like heatwaves.

[lupo pazzesco]

I'm still waiting to harvest cucumbers, but have getting a few tomatoes here and there.

Picked my first bell pepper last night! And I think I've finally, FINALLY, got a couple pumpkins starting to come in.

Biggest question we have now is - do we dig up the potatoes to see if they're ready now, or wait a week or two more? We planted them back in March. I think....

HOORAY TOMATOES!!!

[Cazzi]

Such harvests

I've had a whopping 2 strawberries off my strawberry plant so far!

[MoonCat]

Nothing is greater
Than a garden tomater
Fresh off the vine
From yer vegetable shrine


No, I didn't write that myself....it's from a cartoon I cut out years ago but I can't find it now. That's all I remember.

[Draper Mel]

My tomatoes aren't ripe yet, but at this rate I'm gonna have a ton of them.

[Greenday]

My grandfather used to keep a small tomato garden. I've never seen anyone grow such huge tomatoes. It was like tomatoes on steroids.

I'm pretty sure he added powdered milk to the soil. Sounds weird but he grew bigger and better tomatoes than everyone else in the area.

[Jetfire]

I've got a lot of green tomatoes but none have gone red yet... but they're getting close.

The strawberry plant has 1 or 2 that are starting to go red. A few more days and I'll probably be able to pluck them.

I've got 1 green pepper that's at a pickable stage. The reds are getting big but aren't changing colour yet. Should be happening soon I think.

And the herbs are growing like crazy. I clip them back occasionally for when I use them but I'm not really keeping ahead of them. (Especially not the chives; I swear they grew an inch a day after we cut them back last time)

[pitmonkey]

Lupo, are the potatoes blooming yet? If they are you can dig for new spuds or leave them to mature after the vines die down.

[taxguykarl]

I'm pretty sure he added powdered milk to the soil. Sounds weird but he grew bigger and better tomatoes than everyone else in the area.

That's one way to avoid blossom end rot--a calcium deficiency in tomatoes. I myself till in bone meal in the fall--it works as well.

Update:
This heatwave has meant a nice crop of cucumbers. I just finished canning a batch of dill pickles, bread and butter pickles and sweet pickle relish. All of which will find their way to a gift basket at Christmas time.

[Andara Bledin]

Ooooh... I wanna be on your gift basket list. *drools*

I love me some nice, sharp pickles.

^-.-^

[lupo pazzesco]

Lupo, are the potatoes blooming yet? If they are you can dig for new spuds or leave them to mature after the vines die down.

They were for a while. Then the plants disappeared, and we've sort of....lost them. So, the plan is going to be to dig up the rough area of the yard they WERE in, and see if we find potatoes.

[Mishi]

Hahaha! You should be able to find some potatoes as long as the ground didn't get too hot. They might be sprouting and ready to go again though, I've had that happen to the odd ones that I missed.
My first lot have flowered and their leaves are ever so slowly changing colour. I've nicked some of the baby Sebago potatoes already and had them piping hot with lashings of butter and a sprinkle of salt. Looking forward to the Kippflers, Royal Blues and Dutch Creams.

[taxguykarl]

Consider a Grow Bag for spuds next time. I used them and can say they work great for all root crops. At Mrs. TGK's request, I' growing beets in mine this year.

[Ellain]

I'm starting to wonder if my plant is even going to blossom. I started with 1 cucumber vine, 2 pepper plans, and 2 tomato plants. I have only a single tomato plant left. It doesn't even have flowers on it yet.

This is the second year I've tried growing things, and I must be seriously impaired when it comes to gardening. Oh well, off to water again...

[Jetfire]

I buy the plants already pre-started so I just have to put them in the pots (if needed) and keep them watered, with a weekly douse of Miracle-Gro. At the moment, I've got stuff to pick on just about everything.

If you can make it to some of your local greenhouses, you may still find some of those started plants available; some with fruit too if you're lucky.

A Grow bag for root vegetables... Hmmm.... Nah, I already take enough flack for all the planters I've got; I don't need another one. (Seriously I don't. ) But it's oh so tempting for next year.