2023 gardens

Planted pole beans this year. Blue Lake variety. They went gangbusters for about a week, but are really slacking off now. Is this typical? I thought they produced right up until frost. There are some new ones coming along, but not many.

I do Kentucky Wonder pole beans and have them right up till frost kills the vines. Tasty bean too. I like the Blue Lake for a bush variety but have stopped doing the bush beans because everything with cotton tails and gnaws like them way more than I do…. according to how many beans I fail to harvest from them.

Hopefully mine pick back up some. I planted them inside 5 foot high woven wire and anywhere the leaves poked outside the wire, the rabbits did chew. I have since relocated a few of them.

I’m not sure it’s the same with beans but tomatoes don’t pollinate themselves very well when it’s 85 and humid. The pollen is clumpy instead of light and powdery. Might have just gone through a spell where the flowers didn’t pollinate too well in which case they’ll probably pick back up.

Getting some nice matos finally. This biggest so far.

picklerick wrote:

Not that anyone asked but here’s the pesto recipe I’ve been using:

4 cups of lightly packed down basil leaves
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup Parmesan
1/3 cup of walnuts, pecans or pine nuts
3 cloves garlic

Chop basil, nuts and garlic in blender or food processor until the nuts are well combined.

Slowly

drizzle in olive oil. Pulse or stir in Parmesan. Don’t blend in the cheese or it will get stringy from the heat of the blades. 1/4-1/3 is enough for a pound of pasta. Spoon thirds or quarters into freezer bags and smooth them out until flat while burping the air from the bags, seal and toss into freezer for later.

Thanks Pick,
I’ll be making this with the Belle this weekend.
Didn’t know you could freeze it.

picklerick wrote:

I’m not sure it’s the same with beans but tomatoes don’t pollinate themselves very well when it’s 85 and humid. The pollen is clumpy instead of light and powdery. Might have just gone through a spell where the flowers didn’t pollinate too well in which case they’ll probably pick back up.

Thing is I’m not seeing a lot of new flowers.

Last night the damn beetles were thick on them. So I picked everything I could find, and sprayed them with Sevin again. Maybe this will force them to push out some more flowers.

Another thought I had is related to cucumber plants. If you let one cucumber get totally ripe and turning yellow, the plant thinks it’s done it’s job making seeds and will basically stop producing. From what I’ve been reading it’s normal for beans to stop flowering in the hottest part of summer then start again when it cools down. Some fertilizer with a higher potassium level than nitrogen or phosphorous is good for flowering plants but it’s probably not necessary.

My wife just picked 16 more cucumbers from the garden. I literally eat one every day and cannot keep up lol

Made up summer cukes.

One one a day Gim, ??? I’ve had 2 already, add 2 peaches and 4 tomatoes.

glenn57 wrote:

One one a day Gim, ??? I’ve had 2 already, add 2 peaches and 4 tomatoes.

Haha ya I should probably eat more to keep up. Honestly didn’t realize how many of these things would show up. This gardening thing is brand new to me.

I will see if a couple of my neighbors want some.

Make some cucumber (tzatziki) sauce. It’s good on any grilled meat if you ask me. I bet it lasts in the fridge as long as the expiration date of the yogurt. Here’s a recipe I found. No idea why you would need to blend everything if you’ve already grated and squeezed out excess liquid from the cukes.

2 medium cucumbers
1 (16 ounce) container plain Greek yogurt
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
½ medium lemon, juiced
salt and ground black pepper to taste

Peel cucumbers; remove seeds with a spoon. Grate cucumber on the large holes of a box grater, then squeeze to drain excess liquid.

In a food processor combine the cucumber with Greek yogurt, garlic, olive oil, dill, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Blend until smooth.

Lucky tiger maters. So sweet and awfully good.

Got a bunch of cukes from my granddaughter, turned them into this. Might fine eating.

you fellers that deal with asparagus…….i have a cluster here at home. its getting in the way with its long growth. it never produced the little berries it usually does.

i know yor supposed to let it go after your done picking so it readies for winter and the next growing season. since it grows like a weed i dont see the harm in trimming it down………….unless someone else has an opinion??????

When the ferns start to get in the way and are still green I bundle them up and tie them so they stand up…. sort of like an old time shock of wheat or oaks. I don’t cut them until the frost has killed them.

Yea I figured so, so that’s what I did.

At least my indeterminate tomatoes enjoyed the upper 90 temps here yesterday. Lots of good color in there. Going to pick and process what I can today/tomorrow and take the weekend off up north.

Didn’t look like this many while they were still on the vine. Also picked a quart of cherry tomatoes. Ate about 20 that split while I was picking them, too. Gotta get some sauce going and jars ready.

i went upvto the cabin thursday…….came home today…….my tomatoes appear to be on a ripening strike???? think i picked 4 but a bunch of the lucky tigers!!!

with no foreseeable rain in the future i pulled out my green peppers and tomorrow my cukes are getting pulled……..as i see it there about toast anyway!!!!

Fingers crossed, but my sweet corn looks awful good as of now and the 4 ears I picked the other night for supper weren’t too bad. Most years it looks fine going into late summer and then just doesn’t turn out that well. So far it’s looking good, and I’m glad because grasshoppers were real bad for awhile this summer.

I started eating my corn last week. One for lunch and one or two for dinner. Most of the time from stalk to belly in less than an hour. Some of the best I’ve grown.
Processed 44 ears today for freezing. Left about a dozen to eat this coming week.

7 qts sauerkraut.

If anyone be needing tomatos I am gonna have a crap load of extra ones this year. Guessing easy over 100lbs. Should now by the weekend for sure.

I can never have enough tomatoes. I’m about an hour west of Green Bay. I’m guessing you’re a lot further west than that, considering where most IDO’ers are located.

I did the first batch of salsa last night thinking I would have tonight off. Nope. Lots of tomatoes decided they needed to be canned TONIGHT.
Im worried with the long weekend out of town I may lose some but there will be plenty more next week. I am however caught up on my peppers, for now…It is all happening so fast right now.

If you plan to make sauce, you can just refrigerate or freeze them until you’re ready.

Picked another 5 gallons of Romas the other day. Also had 12 green peppers that were really big and ready to go.

Also, please remind me NOT to plant cherry tomatoes next year. I don’t like eating them straight and they grow like crazy.
DT

picklerick wrote:

I can never have enough tomatoes. I’m about an hour west of Green Bay. I’m guessing you’re a lot further west than that, considering where most IDO’ers are located.

Google maps says im 4hr 59m west of Green Bay

Not understanding the craze of freezing tomatoes??? I never have but mom had some in her freezer, I used them up for something and all they were was mush.