More Vegetable Harvests Coming in the Near Future

 So far the main vegetables I have been harvesting over the past couple of weeks and months have been cucumbers and tomatoes.  Mostly cherry and beefsteak tomatoes have been harvested the most while my roma tomatoes are still green and will take some time to ripen.  With the amount of sunlight the garden has been receiving I thought that my romas would ripen about the same time as my others, but that is not the case.  I am sure within a couple of weeks or so they too will start ripening and I will then begin to harvest them along with all the others.

My spring crop plants are still up and producing a decent crop even though the weather is quite hot during this summer especially the last couple of weeks.  As long as the soil is kept cool and free of weeds they should thrive all the way through until the fall and possibly late in the year.  While they are producing I am continuing to pick leaves, broccoli, and soon brussel sprouts as long as they weather doesn't harm them.

Eggplants have also started to grow on a couple of plants in the garden.  Most of the plants look good, but only a couple that actually have some pollinated eggplants hanging from the plant.  I wouldn't be surprised if they were ripe enough next week or possibly earlier.  I don't think they will be ready this week, but I will probably start picking them sometime this month and hopefully by then all my other plants will begin producing large eggplants as well.

I am still picking cucumbers while my vines are still producing fruit.  They have been producing since mid June and I love picking and eating them.  Along with cucumbers cherry tomatoes have also been quite steady with the harvesting and they are perfect for salads.  unfortunately or fortunately my cherry tomatoes are quite large this season and have had to cut them in order to eat them.  They are just too large to eat whole, but there are a few that I find that I am able to eat whole.  I have also picked a couple of beefsteak tomatoes recently and can't wait to slice them up for delicious sandwiches.

 My zucchini seeds were planted quite late this year and I am finally beginning to see some production and fruit from some of the plants.  Most of the plants are still too small to begin flowering and I probably will not be able to get much from them.  There is one that is showing some hope and I hope that the vegetable flower has been pollinated so that I can have at least one zucchini for the season.  I would like to have a few, but with the late planting and lack of room I would be happy with at least one good sized zucchini.

Three Summer Crop Vegetables Harvesting Continues

 It is that time of the season where most of my vegetables are going to be ready for picking and harvesting.  So far I have been consistently picking cucumbers and zucchini and this weekend I started with harvesting my corn for the first time this season.  Corn usually ripens around the same time and I usually pick an entire row as long as they are the same type or breed of corn.  I have two rows of corn and the second row will soon be harvested in a couple of weeks.  For now I picked an early type and that is what I have been enjoying for the past few days.

The cucumber vines in the garden have been growing since the beginning of May and have been just producing cucumbers on a weekly basis.  I have been picking a harvest pretty much every week and yesterday I probably picked the most so far this summer.  I am glad I am picking plenty of cucumbers because I need to make up from last year when I only picked just a couple of cucumbers from one or two vines.  

It seems that I will be picking tomatoes next from the garden.  Many of them are ripening slow because of the cloudy and rainy weather that has been around this year.  I am sure that with a couple of days of some sun most of them will be harvest prone.  These would include all the types of tomatoes that I planted such as cherry, Roma, and beefsteak.  There was one on a plant yesterday that I should have picked, but I will wait another day before I get to enjoy it's juicy flavor.

Eggplants are another vegetable that looks like it will be ready soon.  These plants I started inside because this is one plant that needs much time to mature and it seems that they are maturing earlier than normal which is a good thing.  I would guess that all the plants have at least one eggplant growing from them and possibly more with all the flowers that they had on them.  I would guess sometime this month at least one or more eggplants will be mature enough for harvesting.

Getting as much Harvests Done before Vegetables Start Going to Seed

At the moment the only vegetable that has started going to seed are my radishes which will need to be picked before the radish becomes too small to consume.  They were quick to sprout and very quick to go to seed, but that may be due to thinning them out to late.  I needed to thin them out a little bit earlier and I think they would have been fine, but I can always grow another harvest in the fall. 

Other than my radishes and peas everything seems to be going quite well.  My peas were done long before my radishes and they didn’t produce much.  This might be due to the hot weather and possibly lack of rain.  Even though I watered them the soil might have dried out faster than other parts of the garden.  I should have added mulch around these plants and that would have helped the soil stay moist and would have retained water helping out my cool weather plants. 

I did place mulch around my potatoes this year since after last season they turned brown quicker than I would have liked I thought it best to give them as much mulch as possible.  It seems to be working and the soil is staying moist and the plants are thriving even in this hot weather we have been having.   

They are already producing flowers which is a good sign for potatoes and some of them are starting to pop through the ground.  Place a little bit of soil on top of it to cover it and make sure it doesn’t get exposed to the sun.

Corn will be the next plant that I will have to place mulch around once I do one last weeding and side dress them with blood meal.  After that I can leave them alone in terms of weeding and that they need is lots of water because they happen to be heavy feeders.  I might give them some fish/seaweed emulsion once they silks or tassels start coming in, but that will be it for feeding. 

 
Once I am done with the corn I can start attaching my rope to my pole beans.  They have started producing vines and I will begin attaching them to my bean trellis to prevent them from going all over the place looking awful.

Spring Seeds Sprouting and Some Rows of Corn Planted

The time has finally come to start transplanting some summer crops now that all spring crops should be in the soil.  I finished planting my spring crops last week and all that is left is to place my carrots in the ground.  They were started in peat pots this year so I still have plenty of time to put them in the ground.  I also started planting some corn and looking forward to setting up my bean trellis and planting my beans as well. 

I finished my spring crop transplanting beginning with spinach, lettuce, and then broccoli.  This type of broccoli will probably not last long because they don’t grow well in hot weather unlike the sun king hybrid that I am growing outside in pots.  This type of broccoli can withstand the heat and I am hoping that I can start planting them as soon as they are big enough to withstand the garden soil.

My potatoes, peas, and radishes are all sprouting and they are looking good at the moment.  I will have to thin out my radish and pea plants, but I am waiting until they get a little bit bigger before doing so.  I don’t want to wait too long otherwise it will become much harder to thin them out and might end up harming the plants that I want to keep in the garden.

I added both alyssum and dill into the garden as well and put them all near my potato plants.  I also have some perennial alyssum that is already flowering and will probably last for another week before they are done for the season.  My dill will soon flower and hopefully this will attract the insects that I need in the garden.  I have planted my sunflower seeds and they are sprouting as well which should be a good attracter of bees. 

I have placed corn seeds into rows this week due to the good weather we have been having the past couple of days.  This is a good time to start planting corn, beans, and possibly tomatoes as long as the temperatures are between 60-70 degrees Fahrenheit.  I also have some peppers which will probably be going into the ground about the same time as my tomatoes.

Wondering What I have Been harvesting Today?

Today was quite a busy day with cutting the tops of the onions now that they are dry enough to bring inside.  I also decided to pick the rest of the corn that were on the stalks, picking several cucumbers, picking a zucchini, and putting away the tables that the onions were drying on.  Now I just need to wait for things such as melons, eggplant, and pumpkins to ripen so I can harvest them as well.
 

For the moment I have been continuing to harvest peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, and corn.  The very last of the corn was harvested this afternoon.  There might be an ear here or there still on the stalks, but they will not be very big and not worth the time to pick them.  I will remove the husk from them and place them in my onion totes which will decompose over the winter for nutrients for my onions in the spring time. 

 

Zucchini I have been picking for the longest this season.  I now have four newer plants that were added about a month or so ago and they are at the point that they might be producing female flowers real soon.  This means that I might actually have time to begin picking zucchini from them.  I just picked a large zucchini from one of the older ones that were transplanted into the garden.  This is the biggest so far this season and hopefully will get several more before the season is done.

Peppers are also a very consistent vegetable to pick through the season.  I have started picking them a week or so ago and now most of the plants have plenty of flowers along with plenty of peppers.  This season I planted Chinese giant instead of the normal California bell pepper.  They are very similar except for the fact that the Chinese giant ones maybe a little bit bigger than others.  I guess I will find out with time how big they can get.

What Should I be Harvesting This Month?

At the end of July I got started on picking my red onions.  Then once my yellow onion stems began falling down it was time to start removing them from the totes.  Once they dry I will start using them for as long as I can or as long as they do not rot.  It was then time for my potatoes which I grew successfully this season.  Today I picked several ears of corn that were ready from the garden.

I planted many onions these year including four totes of red onions and six totes of yellow onions.  I had already picked my red ones in the middle of July because the stems were falling and they weren’t getting any bigger.  My yellow onions on the other hand needed some more time before I could pick them from the soil.

Once the end of July cam around I could see that the stems of my yellow onions were beginning to fall over signaling that they were done growing.  It didn’t take long to take them out of the soil, but it will definitely take some time for them to finally dry in the sun.  Since there are many onions it will take a little bit longer for them to dry, but as long as we keep getting these hot days I am sure they will be ready sometime this month.

After I got all my onions out of the soil I turned towards my potato plants.  The plants themselves had stopped growing and turned brown and wilted away.  Since the plants were no more it was pointless to keep watering them and leaving the potatoes in the ground.  I dug them all up and filled up my five gallon bucket with potatoes from the garden.  They were all different sizes, but they all look very good for eating.

 The ears of corn I picked were from this evening.  I had picked a few in the beginning of the week, but most of them only needed a couple more days for them to be ripe enough for picking.  I gave all the others until today and I started picking all the ones that looked like and felt like that were ready.  Only one type of corn was picked toady, and the others will be picked most likely this weekend or next week at the latest.

Short Corn Season with Plenty of Ears Harvested

Although the season for corn was a little short I actually got quite a bit of ears from this variety of corn.  Most of the stalks had multiple ears for picking while previous types of corn that I have planted previously only had one and sometimes two.  Ambrosia is definitely one to grow if you are interested in picking more than just one ear per stalk.

Many of the corn that was picked was frozen so that I can have a little taste of summer during the cold winter season.  I still have others that have been cooked and need to be eaten right away.  As long as you keep corn in the fridge they should be fine for several weeks.   So far it has only been a week or two since I have cooked the first harvest of corn.

Although now that corn is done for 2018 I still have plenty of other vegetables that still need care for a few more months.  For instance my peppers have been growing since I planted them a while ago and it is just about time to pick some peppers off the plants.  One pepper was picked this week and with the amount of flowers on the plants I am sure to get many others this season.

Another harvest of cucumbers was completed this afternoon and they look quite well for consumption.  I wanted to make sure that they stopped growing on the vine before picking them.  I don’t like picking them when they are ripe, but instead wait until they stop growing to their full size.

Not only were cherry tomatoes picked, but on one of my tomato plants there was a steakhouse tomato that was surely ripe enough for picking.  I like to pick them just before they are ready to turn red.  This is the prime time to pick them and they will last a little bit longer than if I was to wait for it to turn a dark red color.  Picking these tomatoes will last longer and stay firm for a good duration

It is Summertime and Ears of Corn are Ready

It wouldn’t be summer without having corn on the cob.  Yesterday was a good day for harvesting much of my corn that I have planted this year.  I would say that I harvested at least half of the ears that were growing on the stalks and there are still many more that need to be picked.  I plan to pick many more sometime this week at the latest.

Thirty pounds of corn is definitely a good amount coming from about forty to fifty plants.  I could have picked a little bit more, but then I would have had some that were not quite ripe enough for eating.  I would say that there are a couple dozen of them still out there that are waiting to be picked very soon.

Then there were my cucumbers that I just noticed were definitely not going to get any bigger sitting on the vine.  Two of them from two different vines were ready to be picked so I made sure that I cut them off and brought them inside.  I ate one of them already in a simple salad that I had for dinner.  After my dinner I had some of my corn that was amazingly delicious.

Along with the salad there were three cherry tomatoes that I had also picked from the garden.  Not many are that ripe yet, but I am sure in the next few weeks or days hundreds of them will start ripening all at once.  So far I have only picked three cherry tomatoes for the season.

Cherry tomatoes were not the only tomatoes that happened to be ready to be picked.  I had one Roma tomato from one of my plants that was grown quite early.  It started ripening about a week or so ago and yesterday it was time to take it off the bush.

Onions Up and Done With Corn and Others on the Way

My onions were picked a week or two ago and I needed to dry them before they can be used.  I dried them outside for about a week or so.  They were dry enough on Tuesday and that is when I decided to bring them in for the first time.  Just about thirty pounds was picked in total along with 170 total onions that were picked from the soil.  This was definitely a good harvest this season for onions.


Corn is very close to harvesting and within a few days or so the majority of them should be ready for serving.  I only got a couple of them so far and these were most likely the early ones that you have every season.  Once most of them are ready I will probably pick them all in one day or within a couple of days consecutively. 



Beans is another vegetable that happened to be ready for harvesting.  Unlike corn I was able to pick quite a few beans for the first of the season.  Approximately three pounds was gathered from all the vines that are growing outside.  Although there are not as many beans growing this was a good number for the start of the bean harvest.  I hope to get many more in the real near future.

Pumpkins, melons, tomatoes, and more are beginning to show the fruits of my labor.  I have many tomatoes that are growing and they are sure starting to turn with cherry and Roma most likely the first to the dinner table.

I think the next vegetables that I will be picking include cucumbers and or peppers.  I have a cucumber that is just about ready, but I want to leave out there for another day or two.  I don’t want to pick it too soon before I have a chance to add lime to the soil.  I don’t want to pick this cucumber and have it taste bitter. 

Melons will most likely be last along with the pumpkins that I have out there.  Only a couple of melons and a few pumpkins are growing for the moment.  The only thing that I am waiting for are my eggplants to begin showing signs of harvest material.  They do have flowers which are a good sign and hopefully they will begin producing fruit in the near future.

Many Fruits and Vegetables Appearing on Most Plants and Vines

It looks like this is the month for harvesting which may include tomatoes, beans, zucchini, melons, and many more.  At the moment I will be definitely harvesting zucchini, onions, corn, beans, and possibly cherry tomatoes.  All the others I might not be picking this month, but most likely in the month of August at the latest.

First on the list is between zucchini and onions.  Since most of my onion plants have fallen over this is the sign that I use when it is time to pull them from the soil.  I would say that my onions are going to be the next harvested vegetable from my garden.  Although I don’t use them right away because I let them dry in the hot sun, my zucchinis may be the first to be used for a meal sooner.



I have a few plants that have zucchini vegetables on them.  The earlier planted zucchini plants will have the first crack at harvesting.  The seeds that were planted a little bit later will obviously take just a little bit longer for some vegetables to be growing from them.



My pole beans are also on the list to be harvested very soon.  Some of the vines already have beans that are ready for picking which is quite soon for them.  The other vines are still in the process of growing and producing flowers and are not ready for harvesting just yet.  I will probably pick all the beans that are ready at the moment in order for the plants to continue producing pods.



Corn is also early this year and is usually picked in August, but this may be due to the new variety that I planted this season.  This is most likely an early picked corn that is growing in the garden right now.  I feel that I will be picking them this month at the latest.



Tomatoes I am also looking forward to because I have many plants this season and I might have enough to last a little bit longer than usual.  I also use many of them for sauces and salsas so none of these tomatoes will be wasted.  Whatever is not used for sauce will be used for sandwiches or salads.

Lots of Transplanting and Lots of Seed Planting

This week was a week full of seed planting and transplanting of many plants and seeds.  I began with obviously seeds that were made for cooler and spring type weather such as broccoli, spinach, and lettuce.  I wanted to get as many seeds into the ground as possible before the warm and hotter weather arrives which should come in a couple of months or so.  Two full rows of seeds should provide a good amount vegetables if they all sprout.

Transplanting both flowers, broccoli, and brussel sprouts I had to finish today.  I started with my flowers since they are much easier to transplant into the ground.  I placed them in between the two rows above and between the two rows of corn that I planted a couple of days ago.

Above is just some dill that I have planted into the garden and I also put both alyssum and wildflowers into the garden as well.  Some of them between corn rows and some between my spring crop rows.

Although it is still spring it was time to get as many corn seeds into the garden as possible.  Two full rows will provide enough corn that I need to enjoy when they start producing some time July and into August weather permitting. 

Thinning out plants is an important part of gardening and that is what I did with my radishes and my pea plants that I had planted back in April.  They were starting to crowd each other and that will cause some issues in the future if you do not remove all the plants but one in a bunch.  I plant the seeds in bunches and if they all sprout they will crowd up all around each other and that is when you start thinning them out.

The last thing I did today was getting all of my transplanted broccoli and brussel sprouts into the garden right next to my spring crop.  I wasn't sure if I was going to plant them today, but I decided that getting them into the garden as soon as possible was the best possible way to get them out of the way.  This way I don't have to think about them later on and is one less plant that I need to transplant into the garden.

So far this is all I have done in the past week and hope to get some more plants into the garden with the next couple of weeks or so.  I will probably start planting some of my squash seeds indoors including pumpkins and zucchini.  I also have some flowers that need to get outside in the near future once they get a little bit bigger.  I have been placing my tomatoes, melons, eggplant, and peppers outside to harden them off in order to get used to the weather.  It was a little cool today so I left them inside for the moment and hope to put them back outside this week again.

More of the Same Harvests With an Eggplant

For the most part I have been picking mostly tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, peppers, beans, corn, and cucumbers.  I did pick most of them this morning and got another good harvest from them.  I did pick quite a large steakhouse tomato that was just about two pounds by itself.  It was just as large as my hand.

I also managed to pick the first eggplant for the season today.  I wasn’t going to pick it today, but it wasn’t growing anymore and it felt ripe to pick it.  A little bit small, but I can still find a meal to use it for and hopefully enjoy its unique taste.



I just wanted to let you in on the progress of my melons especially cantaloupes.  They should be ready real soon and will be the first melons to pick for the season.  My watermelons are doing well, but they take a little bit longer to ripe and produce the sugars they need inside the melon.  Since cantaloupes are smaller they will not need as much time to ripen.

Corn looks like it is done for now and I don’t think there are that many left to pick.  I was able to get about eight more last week and now most of them are done.  I will be removing the stalks from the ground and start using them as mulch or just chop them up and burn them.

How about Some Corn on the Cob?

Yes that is what I was able to enjoy yesterday with a decent harvest of some of my corn.  I like to cook all of them right away or at least the same day that I pick them and with that I got to have some corn to eat with my dinner.  They were quite large and delicious and I can’t wait to continue picking all the rest that are still out there.  I would guess that I have about a dozen or so left to harvest.


Beans are also flourishing and some more of them were picked as well.  I still have many growing on the vines which means I should be getting some more this month and hopefully through September as well.  As long as those buds and flowers keep coming I should have many more harvests.


A few peppers, cucumbers, and a couple of Romas were the harvest of today.  I even had one zucchini that was ready as well.  It is just the second round for my zucchini plants are there are a couple more out there that are not ready, but I should be picking them soon.

More Vegetable Harvests will be Coming Very Soon

I will be very surprised if I don’t start harvesting my corn this coming week.  Most of the stalks have about one to two ears on them and a few of the earlier ones are actually close to picking.  I checked a couple of them today and they are still white which means they should be turning yellow very soon with some good sun in the next few days.

On the other hand some of my tomatoes are starting to turn as well.  Cherry tomatoes as you well know I have been picking for about a couple of weeks, but my other tomatoes I have not started yet.  That should soon change with a few of my regular tomatoes and sauce tomatoes are a light orange color at the moment.

I might also start picking some more zucchini in a week or so now that my plants are producing more of them for me to pick.  It took a little bit longer before they could produce a second batch, but at least they are starting to grow some more for another harvest of them.

Last, but not least my eggplants have started producing flowers and only one has a vegetable beginning to grow from it.  Eggplants take a while to mature and that is why I am not surprised that it took this long to produce a vegetable that I am looking forward to harvest in less than a month hopefully.

Getting a Start on the Garden with the First Seed Planting

I have been planting seeds indoors for some time and these plants will be placed outside when the time and temperature is right.  There are some seeds that I don't start indoors and one of those seeds includes corn.  I don't plant them indoors and instead plant them right into the ground.  The temperature has been relatively cool to warm and the soil is warm enough to start planting these seeds right into the garden.

I only planted a short row for now since it is still a little bit early.  This way I will get corn at different times rather than a large harvest at once.  I can enjoy the corn throughout the season without any of them going to waste.







My lettuce plants are doing quite well and will most likely be the first harvest of the season once I pick them.  The first plants that were put into the garden are just about ready and I should be picking them sometime this week as long as the weather cooperates. 

I did plant some more lettuce in the garden.  I still have plants that are still in containers and I think one more planting I should be done with all the transplanting of lettuce.  Right now I planted eight more into the garden.