How big is your garden and how many tomato plants?

[hunterridgefarm]

My early girl and better boy have just about stopped producing. Better boy still has a few green left. It seems like the better boy has not produce very well the last few years and I am looking to change to another type next year.

Brandywine is still looking good but a slow producer.

We have picked 3-6 bushels of tomatoes a week for the last 7-8 weeks. I pick peppers once a week and pick only the biggest. Usually get 2 bushel of bells, 1 bushel of sweet banana, and a little over half a bushel of jalapenos.

We have done the farmers market on Saturday morning for the last six weeks. It only last about 3 1/2 hours and we are averaging about $250.00 on Saturday.

Cukes and squash are done but replanted for late harvest. Picked about 10 watermelons so far and will pick 10-12 for this Saturdays market.

Okra is just now starting to produce.

Greenbeans are fizzling out, sold them for $2.00 lb at the market. They were looking good this weekend but went down last night and there is a little yellow fuzzy bug that ate ALL the leaves off the beans vines. Never seen this one before. I sprayed them with seven but need to look on line to see what this one is.

I may get a few more greenbeans but need to save seed this year. The beans we plant have been saved for the last 60 years and I am running low. My FIL saved all his seed.

Half my pumpkin field seems to have drowned. It has been a crazy year for gardens.

 

[Larro Darro]

Tonight after supper we rode down to Abe Springs, where Margie was born. An old family friend had called and told us to come pick grapes. He has a real nice setup. The grapes were easy to get too, and it was clean under the vines. The rain has hurt his production this year. He has about half what was on the vines last year. We still picked about four gallons in just over half an hour. Plus what I ate.

A grape pie should be in my future. As well as some jelly.



I had never seen any vines like the ones in the 4th picture. The leaves are different and it is oblong. There was just a few of them ripe. Next week they should be a lot more. We will be going back.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

Larro,

Those are some nice looking scuppernong grapes, I like the white ones better than the blue. Some people around here call them tame muscadines. I planted 4 this year and lost 3 of them but the one that survived is doing good.

My FAL had about 40 of those planted on overhead trellis that you could walk under and pick. He passed away about 6 years ago and my BIL got the home and has let stuff grow up until it looks like a jungle. Hopefully this fall I can hack my way in and dig some of the vines up.

 

[Larro Darro]

Larro,

Those are some nice looking scuppernong grapes, I like the white ones better than the blue. Some people around here call them tame muscadines. I planted 4 this year and lost 3 of them but the one that survived is doing good.

My FAL had about 40 of those planted on overhead trellis that you could walk under and pick. He passed away about 6 years ago and my BIL got the home and has let stuff grow up until it looks like a jungle. Hopefully this fall I can hack my way in and dig some of the vines up.

I like the white ones better too. Last year we saved seeds from the blue ones, but didn't get around to planting them. This time we are saving seeds from the white and oblong ones. We had some vines of the white and blue ones at my parents' old place. They had let the overhead trellis go back to woods before Daddy died. He started a few vines on cables, since it was easier to tend. I still go over there every year with a ladder and pick grapes out of the trees. Last year I cut a few of the trees, thinking I would try to reclaim the vines. I picked all the grapes off them, but haven't got back on that job.

Where I live now used to be my grandparents' old homeplace. Their grapevines were in very good shape forty years ago when I was a kid. After they died, when the cows would get out, the first place they would go was the grapevines. They messed up the overhead trellis, which was made of split rails. Now they are all in the tops of 75' trees. A few hang down low enough I can pick them with a ladder.

When I plant vines here, I will have to add some clay to the holes and put down drip irrigation. When we first built, I planted a few vines. Our soil is so sandy, only three of them lived, and they have never done much growing.

 

[Larro Darro]

We cut a melon after lunch today. The heart was real good. Closer to the rind wasn't as sweet. The coons got the last two cantaloupes last night, so I'm clipping the melons as soon as they are ready. The rain is causing four or five to spit everyday. The last ones I planted are doing worse. Most of the vines are dying, so what I can get in the next week or so might be all I get.

 

[DFB]

The tale of the tape...yup the tape don't lie!



Harris Classic what we sell for garden planting. A pretty decent eggplant for a short season.

The pepper is an heirloom O.P. Hot Portugal...

 

[wyeguy]

VERY nice looking produce, DFB. I just started picking green beans tonight & got about 6 gallons off four 40 ft. rows. Looks like it'll be a good year for canning green beans.

 

[jinman]

Harris Classic what we sell for garden planting. A pretty decent eggplant for a short season.

The pepper is an heirloom O.P. Hot Portugal...

I've eaten several different eggplant dishes and liked them all, but just never got into growing them for myself. What is your favorite way of eating them? Can you slice and grill them like squash? Do they make good casseroles? Sliced, battered, and fried seems to be a tasty way I've had them in the past.

BTW: My blackeyed peas have been saved from the brink due to drought. I started flood watering between the rows and they snapped back. Now they are covered in blooms, bumble bees, and little peas. I'd say I'll be picking bushels again in two or three days.

Our okra is doing great. It's covered in blooms and small pods. I have a hard time getting my wife to let the pods go an extra day so they become 3" long instead of 2". Even so, we're getting lots of okra to freeze for great gumbo and fried okra all winter long.

Squash continues to produce a bucket full of pretty squash and zucs every couple of days. Tomatoes still producing slowly, but more than we can eat. I have a gallon of cherry tomatoes in various stages of ripeness all the time. My wife made some of the best tomato sauce that I've ever put into my mouth. She smothered steak in it last night and served it over spaghetti. It almost made me hurt myself.:licking:

 

[dave1949]

Jim,

Check out eggplant lasagna. It helps to slice and salt the eggplant to take the moisture out before building the lasagna layers.

 

[jinman]

Dave, my neighbor made me some last year after I did them a favor with my tractor. I didn't remember that until your post. It was delicious and nutritious since the pasta carbs were missing.