The garden is in full swing, and it's turning out to be a good year for tomatoes. I'm glad I planted some sturdy hybrid determinate types, because they're early and produce a lot of fruit all at once. With the exception of one tiny rain-split Berkeley Tie Dye (middle top on the first photo) all of the tomatoes I've gotten so far have been determinates. But! My eight heirloom plants are also loaded with fruit but taking forever to start ripening. Soon!
Here's what I've picked over the last four or five days:
Still going strong.
There are about a dozen cucumbers in the fridge at the moment, but now the vines are almost worn out. It's turning out to be a disappointing year for cucumber production, but I'd rather have a bounty of tomatoes anyway. Last year there were a ton of cucumbers, but the tomatoes did diddly-squat. Now that's disappointing.
So, on to peppers! I haven't picked any yet, because I like to wait until they're mostly orange and red, but there are tons and tons of Jalapenos, Serranoes, Cowhorns, Cayennes, Poblanos, Tabascos, and Giant Marconi peppers...
\And when someone named these peppers "Giant Marconi", they weren't lying! Look at the size of those monsters!
Cowhorns.
Your garden, and your Green Thumb, are very impressive. I love all the peppers and who doesn't like a vine ripened summer tomato!
ReplyDeleteEven the hybrid types taste pretty good, compared to store bought tomatoes!
DeleteHoly moly, those Giant Marconis live up to the name!
ReplyDeleteI'm planning to build a whole dinner around those two peppers....they're going to be stuffed peppers one of these days! :)
DeleteVery nice. All I have a green peppers and tomatoes, maybe if we'd get a little sunshine.
ReplyDeleteThe extreme heat that's hit this week will shut down production of tomatoes, luckily there are loads of green ones that are already ripening.
DeleteI screwed up when it came to planting peppers this year. I just didn't put any thought into it. I am getting some nice bell peppers though. Do you ever make pepper vinegar with the tabascos? Or really any of the hot peppers small enough to fit into a bottle.
ReplyDeleteMy heirlooms are WAY behind the others because I started them so late. They have some good blooms on them but I do not hold out much hope for them.
Your garden is really beautiful this year.
This is the first year I've grown tabascos. I usually make pepper vinegar with cayennes but I have some of those growing, too. Gregg wants me to try to make hot sauce...we'll see.
DeleteYour garden is doing so well this year, Jennifer. What will you do with all of that produce? Keep up the good work and enjoy your summer.
ReplyDeleteWell, I used a bunch of tomatoes to make sauce the other night. If they continue to produce like this I'll either make more sauce for the freezer or else salsa to can. If all else fails, there's always people ready to take fresh veggies off our hands!
DeleteYour tomatoes look delicious! I have only gotten a few so far, but I have very high hopes for a freezer full of salsa.
ReplyDeleteHow do you make your salsa? I'd love to see your recipe/method!
DeleteWhat a wonderful harvest. Your tomatoes look so juicy and full of flavour.
ReplyDeleteThey've been pretty good so far, but when it comes to flavor I'm really looking forward to the heirlooms.
DeleteEverything is looking great! I've always found the problem with growing peppers is that you get more than you can ever possibly eat. Well, I do, anyway (not being a big pepper eater). You've got so many interesting varieties!
ReplyDeleteI know! The peppers I started from seed failed, so I went to Lowe's and just bought a big assortment of pepper plants to try. I'll probably pickle some jalapenos, and Gregg wants me to try making hot sauce, and then there's salsa if the tomatoes keep up the good work. I also have a dehydrator and could dry some.
DeleteAll your Bounty looks lovely this year, also looks to be a good size. I don't have any vegetables but my herb garden is doing really well. But all this rain we've been having and cool weather is starting to wreck havoc on my flowers.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to tell you that I've made ice cubes with borage flowers! Now I just need to have a porch party to use them. (There won't be any porch parties until this hellish heat subsides...maybe in September).
DeleteI’d love to be your neighbour x
ReplyDeleteThat would be so great! I'd share veggies and herbs and flowers, and we could trade pet sitting favors for each other, too.
DeleteWow! Check out those Giant Marconis! I’ve never seen them that big. What an abundant garden this year.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to make those monsters into stuffed peppers for dinner one night!
DeleteLovely to see your summer crops.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I worry that it's boring, all the vegetable pics I post.
DeleteWOW! What a fabulous crop. I used to grow very similar long green Peppers. We ate them stuffed with either a rice mix, or with Brandade (salt cod and potato).
ReplyDeleteI just picked another eight ripe tomatoes this morning! I'm thinking a rice mix for stuffing the peppers might be really good. :)
DeleteYour garden is a treasure trove, and the tomatoes and everything else are like jewels!
ReplyDeleteIn one of your replies to a comment you mentioned that you might dry some of the tomatoes. I LOVE dried tomatoes! When I used to spend every summer on Sicily, my then-husband's grandma had trestle tables set up on the flat roof of their house, where she dried sliced tomatoes. They were the BEST I ever tasted, after they'd been in jars of olive oil with salt, pepper and garlic.
Dried tomato slices in jars of olive oil sounds wonderful! And wow, I didn't know that you used to spend summers in Sicily. That sounds wonderful too! You should tell us more about that.
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