[kleo]

This is my first garden. My zucchini has come in abundantly and is very tasty! I just did 2 plants because I know it can grow a lot. I blanched and froze about 10 cups worth of slices today for later on...plus had some for dinner. Yum yum!

My cucumbers are also coming in and are quite delicious!

I expect to pick the banana peppers any day now...I hear they are very good stuffed with cheese. (Isn't everything?) I also have plenty of herbs growing...

Can't wait for the many green peppers which have started on the plants! I'm also waiting on muskmelons and jalapeno peppers.

The only thing that doesn't seem to be doing well are my tomatoes. Lucky for me, I don't even like to eat them! They are just there for DH...I only liked them cooked. I WISH I was the kind of person who goes on about the delights of a fresh-picked tomato, but try as I might, I just don't like them!

[cottagebythesea]

We decided at the last minute to put in a garden this year, and our veggies are several weeks behind most of you. It's hard to be patient, but everything looks healthy and is covered in blossoms, so I guess we'll eventually be able to enjoy our bounty. But I can hardly wait!!!!

[beachgal]

I have late blight in the soil of our garden. We tried moving the tomatoes to another part of the garden to no avail. So we were advised to wait three years and try again. For now, I get tons of tomatoes from our CSA, and grow some tomatoes in pots, where they seem to be safe.

Our garden is coming along. Something is eating the lettuce and brussel sprouts, so I finally put up the plastic row cover I got to protect them. A bunch of birds fly away when I come near the garden, but they don't seem to be flying from it, merely around it. Very odd. Anyways, yesterday a sparrow was caught in the plastic row cover "tunnel." Poor dear was so frightened! I let him out, but started wondering if the birds could be eating the brussel sprout leaves? That seems odd...

Our Opera green beans are up and starting to produce, but something ate all their leaves, so they are struggling to make it. I planted more and will have to figure out a way to cover them too. Or maybe we need a fence, which would suck, but might be necessary. *sigh*

The best news, though, is that my blue hydrangea has a bud!!!! It produced flowers three years ago but nothing showed up in the last two years, though the plant was obviously happy. This year I refused to prune it at all, and now we have a bud, but go figure, the branch it's on is coming from the very bottom of an old branch--I've never pruned them down that low before. I'm not sure what its issue is, but I'm going to try wrapping it in burlap this winter, just in case. In the meantime, I'm eagerly anticipating the blooming!

[Lexxiss]

Hi

It's starting to feel like fall here. I have tons of cherry tomatoes and they just haven't ripened too fast this summer. I read that cutting the water to the plants induces ripening. I'm also wondering if I should start cutting the new growth on the tops. Any enlightenment would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[CyndiM]

HI Debbie - I've always been told that we should cut off any growth that isn't supporting blooms by now. It's just sapping energy from the plant.

We have late blight here too. It's been all around us this week and this morning I noticed it on my neighbors plants. That's going to mean no tomatoes for me for 3 years because our space just isn't big enough to find an uninfected area.
On the plus side my heirloom drying beans look great and are full of beans. Can't wait to try them. My fall greens are popping up too. It's certainly been an interesting year around here.