The 2024 garden is coming along, but it looks like it's going to be a disappointing year for tomatoes. So far there are only two or three tiny tomatoes out of 12 plants. For some reason they're just not setting much fruit, and several of them have yellowing bottom branches. I thought at first that the yellowing was from too much rain a couple of weeks ago, but now I'm beginning to wonder if some sort of disease has struck. After pulling off the yellowing branches, there's still lots of vigorous green growth, but not many flowers. Who knows? At least the cherry tomatoes (in a different spot in front of the porch) seem to be doing well. We'll see.
One of the (very few) small tomatoes that's finally forming. That one is a "Mortgage Lifter".
You know what's NOT disappointing, though? Cucumbers and beans! We're getting two or three cucumbers per day, and on Monday I picked the first rattlesnake beans (sent to me by Ms. Moon, thank you Mary!) and cooked them with our dinner. They were so tender and delicious! And there will be more to follow soon. As for the cucumbers, I'm eating large salads everyday for lunch (and sometimes dinner, too) and I still can hardly keep up. I guess I should either attempt pickles, or else start giving them away.
First harvest of beans!
Today's cucumber haul.
Poppy by the bean trellis this afternoon.
The cucumber vines. I'm growing them in large pots.
The borage is about to flower! This is my first time growing borage. I sowed the seed directly in the bed in front of the porch.
And finally, the volunteer zinnias have popped up all throughout the bed, around the borage and sprawling cherry tomatoes. We'll have zinnias very soon! The bees and butterflies will be happy.
The only other thing of note is that the melons are sprawling all over the end of the raised bed, and have tons of flowers, but so far, no baby melons. I'm trying to be patient.
I love cucumbers, but could never grow them. I'd get flowers, but no fruit.
ReplyDeleteWe have loads of flowers and fruit. We're growing them in large containers with potting soil.
DeleteDo you have a county agricultural extension that could answer questions about your tomatoes? Back when I was a smoker, I ruined one crop of tomatoes with a tobacco disease called "something leaf virus".
ReplyDeleteWe do, actually. Clemson university extension. That's a good idea...thank you!
DeletePickles, pickles, PICKLES!
ReplyDeleteI adore pickles so YES!
DeleteThose beans look great. I hadn't heard of rattlesnake beans. I planted some beans quite late and am still picking a few even though winter is now here.
ReplyDeleteI just realized you're in New Zealand! Damn. It's so weird to think it's almost the winter solstice for you! Meanwhile we're miserable in the heat on this side of the world.
DeleteYour garden is impressive!!!! I have never grown veggies, but love beans and cucumbers. I grow herbs and my blueberries will be ripe in a week I surmise.
ReplyDeletePoppy is supervising I see.....
Blueberries! I envy those. The two or three handfuls our baby bushes produced this year are getting eaten up by the birds and young squirrels.
DeleteLots of delicious things for you to eat (and/or give away), and who knows; the tomatoes might just come round eventually.
ReplyDeleteMy favourite way of eating cucumbers is to cut them in slices about as thick as my pinky, arrange them on a large plate and then simply sprinkle a pinch of salt and a generous amount of freshly grounded black pepper on top. No oil or vinegar. It is the most refreshing snack on a warm evening, or for lunch.
The mulberry tree in front of my bedroom window is loaded with berries, and some of them are ripe already - it is just the first week of June, but everything is about 4 weeks early this year. The cherry tree in front of my kitchen window looks promising, too.
Oh my goodness, how I wish I could give you some cucumbers! You'd hide and refuse to answer the door after a week or so when you saw me coming with more cukes! Haha. They really are abundant. I like them with just salt and pepper, too, although sometimes I dress them with vinegar.
DeleteEverything looks lush... except the poor tomatoes. We canned when we lived in Connecticut. Award-winning (blue ribbon and purple rosette) Kosher dills. And they were delicious, too.
ReplyDeleteCan you give me some pointers on the Kosher dills?! I love sour pickles!
DeleteI’ll see what I can come up with. I think we just found a recipe. SG grew up with canning, so he was a natural.
DeleteThat's weird about the tomatoes. I'm guessing either too rainy or too cool? But I am no expert.
ReplyDeleteIf anything, it's been too hot. I know that's why some of the first tomato flowers failed to pollinate and just fell off. No chance of cool weather in June in SC!
DeleteJennifer- I swear. I do not know what I am going to do with all of my beans. I've already canned plenty for the winter and although I suppose I'll make some pints of dilly beans, I simply have way too many beans to keep up with. As many as I've already gotten, I think that their abundance is only increasing!
ReplyDeleteWe have some good looking cukes and peppers too. More pickles. The few tomato plants Glen got and put in early are doing very well but all of my seedlings, although they are big and strong looking, are not putting out much bloom or fruit. Perhaps you and I just need to be patient? The Mexican Midgets are coming along and one of the Berkley Tie-Dye's is starting to make a tomato but beyond that...
Let's just keep our fingers crossed and hope.
That's all we can do...keep our fingers crossed and hope! We'll have cherries either way. And the beans are a good problem to have!
DeleteFried green tomatoes?
ReplyDeleteWhat about them?
DeleteThere is nothing like fresh produce from the garden. By the looks of your photos, you sure do have a green thumb. I sure don't!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I really have much of a green thumb...I just enjoy messing around with a garden and sometimes things do well....and sometimes not! Lots of it is luck.
DeleteAh, the life of a gardener! Peaks and troughs. Victories and defeats. Smiles and sulks.
ReplyDeleteExactly!
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