MichaelC 2015 Garden

[MichaelC]

I grow vining crops on a nylon netting trellis set up about a foot away from a stretch of SW wall of the Family Room. They shade the wall during the summer.

Southwest is the way that wall faces, could you tell? That's a great idea, using it for shade. Next year I think I'll build a bigger trellis. This one is made of 6' bamboo, you can see it clearly in the early pictures, taken in April. I decided to be cheap this year, and strung it with jute twine. I think next year I'll spring for some netting.

[lexusnexus]

Good idea to prune the tomatoes, especially the limbs near the ground. It does 2 things for you. First, it removes a disease path; and, second, it provides aeration. Clipping suckers seems like a career lately for me. But I'd rather the energy go into fruiting, not unwanted and unneeded plant growth. Your garden and plants look wonderful. Congrats! The ingenuity of people never ceases to amaze me.

[MichaelC]

Thanks, lexus. Time for some new photos tomorrow.

[MichaelC]

Love Apple Farms, the creator of this pink oxheart variety called Sexy Beast, asked me to take a few pictures. This plant is producing prodigiously. To think I almost pulled it when it was young, as it is evidently one of those tomatoes that always looks like it's wilting.

Sexy Beast fruits, still green but hopefully ripe sometime soon...

[applestar]

Ooh never heard of that one -- can't wait to hear the taste reviews.

I have several pink oxheart varieties growing this year, too. I'll post about them as they mature.

[MichaelC]

OMG my Matt's Wild Cherry plant grew so big that it BROKE ITS STAKE.

For now, I've propped it up by pushing the stake back to its original position, lashing its top to the top of another stake I've rested diagonally against the bottom of the fence, and tying the top of the stake to the stakes of the plants on either side for stability.

For the moment it's fine, but I really don't think this will be a viable solution for the rest of summer.

[applestar]

Get some galvanized metal conduit pipes -- electrical section of big box stores -- or T (not U) posts -- I usually get them from Tractor Supply. TWO 7/8" bamboo stakes, 4-6" apart with bottom 12-18" pounded into the ground and tops lashed together with zip ties.

[MichaelC]

A lot has been happening in my garden but I haven't really had time to photograph it.

Having the trellis to themselves, the beans are producing about 3/4 - 1 lb. every week and show no sign of stopping soon. The peppers are still mostly sad, giving me a few tasty but not very healthy looking Padrons a week. The orange bell is the exception, suddenly taking off vegetatively and starting on a good looking fruit.

The cucumbers are doing great, producing something like 3 lb. of fruit a week. The English Telegraphs have been a big disappointment this year, taking up lots of space with wonderful vegetation and crappy, shriveled fruit. I pulled them today so that the more successful Persians, pickling, and lemon cukes can take over the space.

Tomatoes. So far my luck has held up with the jerry rigged stake support I described in my previous post. I think it'll hold for the season. Red Robin and Matt's Wild Cherry have been providing for plenty of snacking, with the occasional yellow pear ripening as well. The San Marzanos have an enormous number of fruits starting to blush. And the Sexy Beast (pink oxheart var.) has just started to ripen its beautiful fruit. I've got some pictures of those, which follow. I suspect I picked the two shown at bottom a bit too early. They look to be good sauce tomatoes, with little seeds and liquid.

On Sunday, I leave for five days, which has me worried!