<p>Tomatoes finally ripening more & I even see a couple peppers. Beans aren’t doing great, but the delacata squash has flowers. Some basil is sad, other is doing ok. Strawberries doing well, blueberries coming along, but I am picking everyday now to keep them away from the birds.</p>
<p>Arugula does well most places, I think you can plant it anytime. ( it also winters over here)</p>
<p>I had to move my tomato plants off the deck railing and onto a table so they wouldn’t fall over during yesterday’s t’storms and big dog ate another almost ripe one. 
Lots of green ones still left. </p>
<p>My basil is looking very raggedy, also. I’m wondering if I should pick most of it and freeze.</p>
<p>My basil seems to have yellowed too…do you think it’s the heat? No doubt…</p>
<p>I haven’t been on this thread before but just wanted to add that I have only 10 tomatoes growing on 16 plants. One of the smaller ones just started turning red. The tallest plant is over 5"; they are a mix of Cherokee Purple, Brandywine Red, and Momotora that I grew from seed for the first time. There are still a few flowers that didn’t just drop off so hopefully will get a bit more fruit now that we’re down from the excessive heat.</p>
<p>My single basil, on the other hand, is thriving since I took the advice of pruning off the older stems. It really filled in.</p>
<p>I am having my best year for tomatoes. That is not saying much since I don’t do that well to begin with. My biggest issue this year is my D’s dog who is staying with us seems to love tomatoes. He doesn’t even wait for them to get ripe. He has totally cleared out my yellow taxi tomatoes and is working on several other plants.
My cucumber plant started out well growing briskly and had a lot of blossoms. I don’t know what has happened. I have had one cucumber that was delicious but since it seems like the flowers are gone but I don’t see any tiny cucumbers. Jalapenos and green peppers are doing well. Tomatillo started out great but has slowed down. My Basil is doing fair but improved over past attempts. Thyme and oregano are growing great. We have had more sunshine hours this summer but the temps are only averaging low 70’s which I think hinders my garden.</p>
<p>Grrrr!!! The <em>$)$^($</em>+@=+ birds got my ONE heirloom tomato!!!</p>
<p>jym-- if you want any of my brown/black/maroon tomatoes (not quite heirlooms, but have heirloom-like flavor)— just ask! Averaging about 2-4/day.</p>
<p>Had to make marinara from scratch in self-defense to use up a bunch. D1 was over to the house and I loaded her up with fresh veggies before she left. (3 kinds of tomatoes, green tomatoes, corn, green beans, chiles, home-made salsa, eggplants. She’s a veggie-phile and so is her roomie.)</p>
<p>My work colleague and I planned out our gardens for next spring. Her minature acorn squash= bust; her minature cantalope=bust. So we’ve decided to plant: Solar Fire tomatoes; chocolate cherry tomatoes; extra disease resistant Big Boy tomatoes; yellow Big Boy tomatoes; pole bean (green and wax); onion sets, Eureka cucumbers (dual purpose slicers/picklers–which she had wonderful luck with this season); Big Jim chile peppers. She has more space (she lives on 4 acres with horses) so might try a few more things. And I’ll plant more Asian eggplant. (She won’t eat eggplant.)</p>
<p>Time for my annual post about what to do with too many tomatoes:</p>
<p>Wash them, cut them up, and freeze them. Freeze cherry tomatoes whole. When you pull them out of the bag, in December and January, and puree them, you will have wonderful fresh-tasting sauce. I add pureed tomatoes to soups, too. They last me until about February, with no decline in taste.</p>
<p>I’m still pinching flowers off my tomatoes so the energy will go into ripening the one son the vine. Gotten a few ripe ones,and certainly more than i have past few years.
[Never</a> say ‘no’ to a tomato | Seattle Times Newspaper](<a href=“http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/text/2018879109.html]Never”>http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/text/2018879109.html)
My bush beans are sad, I eat them off the bush a few at a time. It looks like I am getting a few hot peppers. Really need to find a warmer place for tomatoes and peppers. Next project is making a cold frame to get them started earlier.
I’ve been moving the raspberries around the last few years trying to find a good place for them, so they didn’t do that well, but still they are berries- so the plants are coming up all over.
Blueberries almost gone,thanks to the birdies.</p>
<p>EK4: I’ve had phenomenal results this year from a trial with those water walls (the plastic tubes you fill with water. The tomatoes I used them on are a good two feet taller and have way more fruit (not yet red, but getting there) than the other tomatoes in the same area. My Sungold cherries are doing very nicely indeed, as well, even without water walls.</p>
<p>Today is definitely hot as hades here. I can’t work in the garden so back to posting on CC. I was pleasantly surprised to find a few watermelons out there. I was already given up for this year. No vine riped tomatoes either, I picked them green before somebody eaten them.</p>
<p>The sun has done its damage hereabouts. I had to travel unexpectedly for a brief trip away from home. That’s all it took for the zucchini, tomato and basil plants to roast. Today the ‘tomaters,’ both Golden Jubilee and Black Krim, have a few fruit but certainly seem to be on their last days. By the way, the Jubilees never achieved a yellow color. Definitely orange. Neither plant produced more than 4 fruit. On the other hand, the Husky Cherry Tomatoes have done well. Lima bean Fordhook plant was a bust.</p>
<p>The heat was a boon to the eggplant stalks. Nice large leaves when I returned home. And a few blossoms. Anticipating fruit in September. Already preparing my compost box for next season.</p>
<p>The tomatoes are coming! Paul Robeson, Genoa, Chocolate Cherry, Prudens, Black from Tula, Giant Belgium, and Lemon (though I think something must be off with the lemon seeds, as they are looking like Genoas!) All of them, however, pale in comparison to the purple tomatillos!</p>
<p>Picked 30 or so artichokes this year. Sadly, they shaded the onions, so the onions are small., Just planted overwintering purple broccoli, lacinato kale, apollo raab, and purple brussel sprouts. Way too much lettuce, arugula, escaraole, endive, and kale to eat - everyone who comes by the house gets a bag. My Italian chard goes into scrambled eggs every other morning. Bright lights chard - some huge, some so-so. Gai Lan grew in one place, but not the other.</p>
<p>The cherry & grape tomatoes are ripe, the others not so much.
Going to try some of Ciscoes suggestions.
[Secrets</a> to ripening pesky green tomatoes | Home & Garden | The Seattle Times](<a href=“http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/homegarden/2018922084_ciscoemorris16.html]Secrets”>http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/homegarden/2018922084_ciscoemorris16.html)</p>
<p>I echo the other posters, your garden sounds amazing mini! 
I cant dedicate so much space to vegetables,because some of my yard is too shady. The neighbor promises to take a few branches from his huge oak in the front though, so that should make a difference. ( & about time too, considering he built another story onto his house on my west side)</p>
<p>Something is eating my tomatoes and it’s not the big dog. I think either squirrels or chipmunks as I’ve found half eaten ones in the garden bed. Anyway, I went on Tuesday to the farm stand and bought a container of gorgeous tomatoes for $5. I decided this is much better ROI. :)</p>
<p>Rabbits maybe?</p>
<p>Need help:</p>
<p>The eggplant seeds I threw in the big pot have grown like crazy, and several have white flowers. But they seem really crowded, and some flowers are already shrivelling up. Do I have to thin the plants? I am afraid I’ll kill them.</p>
<p>someone? Help with the eggplant care??</p>
<p>I would thin them and keep only the big plant.
It’s hot and humid here, very unusual, as a result the watermelons are getting FAT. :D</p>
<p>Best way to thin is to snip off the plants you don’t want at the soil line. Pulling up unwanted plants may disturb the roots of the plants you want to keep and kill them.</p>
<p>I grow 3 eggplants in one large 18-20" diameter pot. Wouldn’t keep more than 1-3 plants. Choose the most robust. Snip the rest.</p>
<p>Eggplant is starting to bloom again here. Also have lots of finger-sized chiles on the plant.</p>
<p>I’m pulling up the Sun Gold cherry tomato today. It has stopped producing, isn’t putting out new leaves or blossoms, older leaves are yellowing and falling off and in general the plant is showing signs of dying. </p>
<p>I’ve also given up on the basil and pulled it up.</p>
<p>Gave away 3 bags of tomatoes yesterday, made & froze more marinara last night.</p>
<p>My thyme and chocolate mint, which survived last winter, are thriving with hardly any attention. I’ve got the same basil problem as others on the green one, and keep picking off flowers- we got a few batches of pesto, but something’s also eating into leaves. But the dark purple one perked up immediately and is thriving once I started using liquid Miracle Gro, once/week. Onions were a total bust. As were radishes.</p>
<p>The cherry tomatoes are prolific this year- black cherry tomatoes and Jet Star- and super delicious. Thanks for the freezing tip. </p>
<p>Zucchini and yellow squash are coming. Pretty little carrots (never had a fresh-picked one before and am delighted.) Cucs- great. Also, despite trying to seed about 20 haricots (many tries) only two made it. I’m in the NE and everything’s in pots (elevated) on the one side of the house where I can get continuous sunlight- in the driveway. Fortunately, back far enough that no one sees. Want to add that local corn this year is fabulous.</p>
<p>About bugs: some plants, when you cut or pinch, give off some scent (at the cut) that attracts certain insects- the advice can be to pull those, not cut. Other veggies give off a scent that confusues those same insects, keeps them at bay, which is why they make good companions to each other. If I can find the reference, will post it.</p>
<p>Mini: pots or in-ground?</p>