The Fruiting Vegetable Garden in June

Golden King of Siberia, a giant yellow-gold tomato. The plant has wispy leaves and seems to hate our hot weather but it always manages to produce, interestingly it seems to put effort in ripening one giant tomato at a time. This one is about the size of my hand already I had to prop it up under a piece of string because the whole plant fell over trying to hold it up.

Purple Cherokee really seems to enjoy this year's drier weather. During wet years this variety cracks terribly which means it rots before ripening, either way it really needs to be supported so the tomatoes don't come in contact with the wet ground or be grown in raised beds with good drainage. It's a great variety that puts on lots of fruit, but I don't think we got a single tomato that didn't rot during last year's floods.

All the tomatoes are three weeks to a month behind, I had to replace 40 plants this year due to varmint destruction. Even so, it looks like it'll be a decent year for tomatoes.

Celebrity (F1), I decided to grow a hybrid variety just as insurance against weather related issues. I've grown this variety before in desert country, it puts on two big flushes of tomatoes so would be classified as more of a semi-determinate. These fruits are more pointed at the blossom end than what is normal for this variety and they're not as ruffled on the shoulders, so I don't know what that means breeding wise. I do know it's a cross between a roma-like paste tomato and some round variety.

Homestead, a new variety for me. It's putting on some nice big bunches of tomatoes but they seem to be growing slowly.

Pear tomato, a red Italian variety that's supposed to be nice and big with gorgeous ruffles. The big one is about the size of my palm but still has a long ways to go.

The cucumbers are finally coming on like crazy, there are little cucumbers everywhere which I've been hand-pollinating everyday.

Ahhh, summer squash season is close at hand. The bees haven't found the squash plants yet so I've been trying to remember to hand pollinate, but it's difficult because the flowers don't stay viable very long. I purchased a couple of Yellow Crookneck plants but they've been hit by squash vine borers, they've recovered but aren't much bigger than this seeded plant.

The zucchini plants are massive already, 4-5 feet across. So exciting. I tried pollinating them this morning so fingers crossed.

The Korean melons have set 3 or 4 fruits and they're starting to take over the pepper bed. I'm really hoping this is the same type of melons we ate while visiting Virginia. Unlike the Crimson Sweet watermelon plants which keep growing and growing but no female flowers have shown up yet.

The snap pole beens are infected with rust with all the lower leaves dying out as the disease climbs up the plants, it's unlikely we'll be getting much green beans. They were heavily infested by flea beetles this spring which weakened the plants to begin with.

Santa Fe Grande is setting lots of little peppers. It's one of the hottest varieties I grow. The peppers are thin-walled but have a great flavor which I use in our salsa. We can salsa at varying levels of heat, but the heat does seem to mellow over time. I've increased the types of peppers and tomatoes in our salsa, and it is so good. The flavors are so complex and magical.

This year we have Serrano chile, Anaheim, Numex Big Jim, Numex Joe Parker, Santa Fe Grande, Lemon, and the hot Fish pepper. Sweet pepper wise, we're growing Corno Rosso, Carmagna Rosso, and Jimmy Nordello. Our daytime temps have been in the 100's (38 degrees Celsius) and nighttime temperatures at 75 degrees, so the plants have been aborting their flowers. This week it's supposed to cool down to the upper 80's (31 Celsius), so hopefully the plants can set more fruit before the next heat wave. Otherwise I'll be resorting to store bought peppers, knuckle bite.

An Update on Trellis Plantings

Pole beans have finally started vining. They do seem to take awhile, gaining some size with their first true leaves, before shooting straight up to overtake their poles while on their way to the sky. The dry pole beans seem to have faired better, germination wise, than the snap/green pole beans which had to be re-seeded in places.

I'm growing 3 types of dry beans: Old Mother Stallard which are a beautiful burgundy and white swirled bean, Spagna Bianco a very gigantic white Italian bean, and Lingua di Fuoco a Borlotto type bean.

This is a bitter melon seedling, very pretty with its bright chartreuse coloring. These have been seeded since May 1st, but it took two days in the 90s (32 degree Celsius) before they decided to pop out of the ground. The young green fruit can be shockingly bitter, but as they ripen to yellow/orange their insides sweeten. Eventually the ripe ones will split open showing their vivid scarlet insides and spilling their seeds to the ground.

Most people eat the bitter green fruit cooked. I've seen it scrambled with eggs but my grandma stuffs it with ground pork, mushrooms, and glass noodles before boiling it.

Luffa seedlings look just like cucumber seedlings but on steroids. Their vines are rampant but I just let them run on neighboring trellises or fences, and their fruits can be huge.

The true leaves on loofa even look like cucumber leaves. And their fruit are just scrumptious. One of my favorite vegetables ever. Just lightly sauteed with garlic and salt, it's just so good. I haven't had much success growing it, so am trying for a third year. I usually only end up with a couple fruits by the end of the season, I have a feeling they're fruiting is daylight sensitive.

I used up some ancient cucumber seeds while planting the trellises, and of course the oldest seeds didn't germinate. Only 3 out of 6 varieties decided to sprout, so I purchased some more cucumber seeds and replanted a couple trellises. Fresh cucumbers are one of the pleasures of summer, right up there with green beans and tomatoes for me.

The plants don't last long because of the various viruses spread by squash bugs that always infest the plants by the end of summer. But its always a joy when they're around.

A few of the snap beans are starting to vine as well. I was afraid Rattlesnake had rotted in the ground but after those two 90 degree days they've decided to come up. I had even started replanting the trellis with Greasy Grits beans before I noticed.

The other two varieties I'm growing are Meraviglia de Venezia a yellow type which is supposed to be very early, and Smeraldo a green romano type. I do like my fat snap beans.

There's beetles that feed on bean plants in this area. They come out at night. Mostly.

I've also seen little holes around the bamboo poles and little foot prints which could be squirrels.

Between tomatoes and broccoli I've had to replace 32 destroyed plants. Almost 20 tomatoes. Just today I replanted 5 tomato seedlings and one broccoli, although there's another broccoli that probably needs replacing. It's a good thing I have so many extra plants.

There must be a different flea beetle that bothers tomato plants. Luckily tomatoes grow fast enough they seem to be less affected by the damage, compared to eggplants.

Half of the broccoli seedlings have been replanted. Big sigh. My husband cut some bamboo poles for me so I'm going to be setting up floating row covers in the next few days.

But the Brussels sprouts are doing really well. They're much bigger than last year upon being set out. Last year was my first time growing them and it was a big bust. Sad sad water deprived plants. They're right next to the broccoli this year so I'll be keeping them well watered.

Aphids and flea beetles have found my seedlings so I've been dusting with diatomaceous earth. I spent some time today repotting pepper plants into individual containers. You can see how tiny some of them are to the left of the tomatoes. I had to re-seed a bunch of them due to low germination. A few of the plants have weird crumpled leaves, distorted by aphids feeding most likely.

Okra, Pole Beans, and Cucumbers

The okra that are about knee high are just starting to form little okras, and the plants are forming side shoots as well which means more growing tips and even more okra. Most of the other okra plants are shorter than this because of replanting due to low germination.

The Cherokee Trail of Tears pole beans are thick and lush and have completely overtaken their 6 feet tall bamboo stakes (1.8 meters).

Lots of purple flowers and a few tiny beans can be found under the Cherokee Trail of Tears canopy.

The Chinese yard long beans are much further behind in comparison. The two varieties planted are Green Noodle and Mosaic yard long beans. The Mosaic yard longs beans have yet to blossom and are just starting to climb their poles.

The Green Noodle yard long asparagus beans may not be the most vigorous but they are producing beans much earlier than the other two pole bean varieties.

The Japanese Long cucumbers are coming along nicely, the blossoms have been hand pollinated.

Sweeter Yet F1 hybrid cucumbers are just starting to form.

I have only seen 3 bees in the garden this year. Usually there are bees everywhere in early spring visiting clover blossoms and Asian greens that have been allowed to bloom. Although, I have seen little insect pollinators visiting tomato blossoms this year. Bees are just so necessary for the pollination of zucchini, summer squash, winter squash, and okra.

Hand pollinating has been part of my daily regimen, but I am having mixed results. Zucchini and squash blossoms seem to be fertile for only a few hours in the morning, I have managed to get one zucchini and lots of dead baby squashes. Cucumber blossoms seem to be fertile for most of the day, so lots of growing cukes. I pollinate squashes and cucumbers by stripping the petals from the male flowers and dabbing the stamens at the center of the female flower. I use a q-tip on the okra which are perfect flowers containing both male and female parts in one blossom.

Chinese Yard Long Beans Germinated in Just 3 Days

I noticed the other day the Chinese yard long pole beans have germinated in just 3 days. Amazing.

Usually I pick regular snap beans when the seeds bulge a bit because I like the added texture, but the Mosaic long bean variety needs to be picked before the beans start filling out the pods, otherwise the pods get spongy. And since the seeds are very small they wouldn't make good shelling beans. I am also trying Chinese Green Noodle asparagus beans this year to see if there's a difference in longevity. Maybe long beans just require more water than regular snap beans to stay juicy.

The reseeded Cherokee Trail of Tears pole beans have germinated in the nice warm weather we have been having. The first time I planted them, a cold front came in and only one bean sprouted. Which goes to show, beans need hot temperatures to germinate otherwise they rot in the ground.

Hmmm. The future holds cucumbers for stir fries, baked stuffed cucumbers, and marinated cucumbers. Yum.

The cucumbers have all germinated as well. I planted Sweet Success (F1), Sweeter Yet (F1), and Japanese Long cucumbers around a bamboo teepee support. I am thinking about planting cucumbers all along the tomato rows and letting them climb the fencing, which will increase the chances of getting a good cucumber harvest. It's so difficult growing cucumbers here, they grow few fruits and the vines die early due to mildew and beetles, so I'm trialling a couple F1 hybrid varieties to see if they perform better.

The bush bean bed is filling nicely. Normally I plant the bush beans in a single block with 2 to 4 inches between plants, but this year I wanted to keep track of production between varieties. Plus, it will be nice to see if giving the beans more room will actually increase yields.

The mulch really seems to be helping with the weeding. Instead of hoeing, it's just me and my trusty hand trowel digging up the few weeds that manage to make it through the thick layer of mulch. The mulch does make it harder to plant because layers of mulch has to be pushed away before digging a hole, but it is so worth the decreased number of weeds. Yay, I am finally winning the war against weeds.

The sweet potatoes have yet to start vining, but when they do they will create a dense living mulch ground cover that doesn't seem to compete with taller plants like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. Unlike winter squash vines which seem to bulldoze their way through the garden smothering all others in their path.

Planted Okra and Pole Bean Seeds

Pole beans planted around bamboo supports with okra seeds planted in front of them.

I managed to get the pole beans and okra seeds planted yesterday. The garden measures 15 feet wide by 45 feet long, so thirty feet of okra might seem a little high but with all the wildlife in these parts it's better to over plant. Today's rainfall has thwarted my planting plans for the day, shakes fist at the heavens. Hopefully it will clear up over the weekend and the tomatoes, eggplants, and pepper plants can be planted out in the next few days.

The okra was planted 12 inches apart with 18 inches between rows, the two varieties planted were Cowhorn and Stewart's Zeebest. Four or five pole beans are planted at the bottom of each bamboo stake with 15 inches between stakes. The pole bean varieties are: Cherokee Trail of Tears, Purple Podded, Romano, Marengo Romano, Kentucky Wonder, Kentucky Blue, and Wisely Magic scarlet runner. The soil in my garden is fairly heavy tending to clay, so I plant the seeds shallower than what is called for on the seeds packets, otherwise the sprouts have problems breaking through the crusty soil.

Cucumbers, luffa, bitter melon, edible gourds, and peas will probably all be supported with bamboo stakes same as the pole beans. Seeing the bamboo stakes in the garden amuses me to no end. There's something so charmingly rustic about them.

Looking back in 2012 which was an unreasonably warm year, it looks like I am about a month behind in comparison to last year. The seedling starts are a month behind and planting is a month behind. I was hoping for tomatoes in June again, but that seems highly unlikely.