Garden Update, Mid August, 2014
An update of my garden in early Mid, 2014, US hardiness zone 6a, New York State.
It is time for my bi-weekly garden update! I like to keep track of what is/is not working in my backyard garden.
This past week I harvest a few tomatoes and peppers. Hubby told me that “these are the crispest peppers I have ever cut!” Looks like garden-fresh does mean something!
The tomatoes I combined with my CSA tomatoes for freezing. Well, they didn’t get that far actually. Hubby was going to defrost some of the tomatoes I froze a few weeks ago for a soup, and I told him I’d just blanch these for him and he could cut and de-seed them!
The earth box tomatoes have some form of blight. I was going to let them die (I tried to do this garden this year without ANY help… just water), but of course the blight started to spread to my very, very, VERY full (and tomato laden) in-ground tomato plants.
Since I didn’t want to lose those four plants, I started this solution last weekend, and am applying every other day.
Solution to fight tomato blight:
● 1 TBSP baking soda added to 32 oz water in a spray bottle
● To this I added 1 TBSP vegetable oil (to help coat the leaves)
● And 3 drops of dish soap (to mix)
● I sprayed the tops and undersides of my leaves until they were dripping wet.
There is already new, fresh growth on the earth box plants.
I am due to dry another round of parsley. I am torn between removing the plants after this round, or trying for one my round. Since parsley is a bi-annual, I could leave it. But because year two isn’t really for harvesting and I have enough dried parsley for quite some time anyway, I may just get rid of it this year and plant something new in that spot next year.
The chamomile is coming along nicely, and I am excited to finally harvest and use it!
OMG! The picture of my fennel does not do it justice. These things are enormous! I need to harvest, and soon.
The blackberries are officially duds this year. The new plant, I of course expected nothing of… the older plant… even the little bit of fruit that was growing dropped off. The plant is growing like mad, so that bodes well for next year. Next time we get a new roof, I will cover them better.
What are you growing in your garden this year? Tell me, How Does Your Garden Grow!?
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Stephanie B says
I love this post!! My garden is still going strong! We have so many cherry tomatoes that I’ve been giving them to anyone who will take them. The pepper plants I have already harvested more than two dozen peppers and all of them ended up growing more so there’s still a couple dozen out there! My only complaint is i planted 4 different colors and have only gotten green so far. The two that ended up red didnt make it. One fell off and the bugs got to it, and the other an animal ate. One that i gave to my mom turned yellow a few days later. Maybe i just need to be more patient? My husband has been happy about the regular tomatoes because now he has an excuse to make BLTs…you can’t waste these tomatoes you know…lol. I have several onions to harvest soon too.
Ann says
I don’t know Stephanie… I planted 6 pepper plants, 2 red, 1 yellow, 1 orange and 2 green. So far, I’ve seen 1 red and 5 green – and they are ALL loaded! If I can harvest everything in the next few weeks, I’ll end up with over 60 peppers (assuming nothing new sprouts). That’s a LOT of peppers!
Makes me wonder if they mislabel at the nursery though?
Ann
Ann says
Oh I lie! I just took Max out, and saw the orange ones have started to turn from green to orange!
Ann
Stephanie B says
I bought my plants in early spring from the farmers market (can’t beat a 6 pack for $2!) And its possible they could have been mismarked or something. Just yesterday we were out there and notice several more peppers sprouting and the plants flowered again. One pepper is turning purple…of course the one color I didn’t plant haha. I think maybe I am just picking them before they get the chance to turn. We just like to eat them so much that I’m picking them for dinner several nights a week.
The cherry tomatoes are ridiculous. I’ve picked over 100 this week and that’s hardly 1/4 of them from just 1 plant! I’ve never seen a plant get so big. Its more than 4 feet wide and taller than my almost 4 year old who is 42 inches tall.
Ann says
The orange and red one are full blown now, so ready to pick. I will definitely leave those two plants alone until they turn since I know they REALLY are colored!
What are you going to do with all those cherry tomatoes, Stephanie!?
Ann
Ann says
Oh goodie:
From Cornell :
Late Blight Confirmed in Many NY Counties
Late blight (LB) has been confirmed now in Erie, Wyoming, Allegany, Wayne, Yates, Livingston and Genesee Counties, and is suspected in a couple other Western NY/Finger Lakes counties. It was confirmed in Ontario, Canada, this past week, and is spreading across MI. The continued wet weather has been very favorable for development. The disease has spread rapidly where growers haven’t been able to maintain a tight spray schedule due to excessive rain. A new LB strain, Mating Type B, has shown up on two small farms 25 miles apart in Allegany Co. All other LB strains for the past 40+ years have been Type A1 or Type A2. Nothing is known about where this new strain came from, or its sensitivity to specific fungicides, so it must be assumed that it is not sensitive to mefenoxam fungicides (Ridomil and other products). Fortunately, the majority of LB samples from the area that were tested have been US23, sensitive to mefenoxam fungicides.
Ann
Marie says
I rarely wait long enough for my peppers to turn red. This year I cannot afford to wait. Bugs are eating about 25% of them. A hole in the top and then they fall off the plant. A couple stayed on the plant long enough for the bug to eat their way out the bottom. I usually cut the tops of the onions and let them stay in the ground till the tops fall over (I read this is a sign of them getting ready to go dormant). That is except for the few that lasted over winter (2 bloomed!) and they are still growing. Worried that they will be too strong for my husband’s sensitive stomach, I hesitantly cut one and made onion rings. They were quite tame and almost sweet! But not even an hour later his stomach was hurting. But they were delicious anyway! I will definitely grow more! Cabbage takes FOREVER to grow big enough to harvest and they are killing me! Three are still far from making “heads” but the other has his lace bonnet on to protect from the cabbage worms. I’ll harvest when the head is too big for the lacy pink hat I made for the one that didn’t bolt last year.