<p>Yay! My peppers are doing well. This is my first attempt at peppers…I have 3 varieties. Now, I have to figure out what to do with them… ;)</p>
<p>Sage is still doing poorly :(</p>
<p>Patio tomatoes are coming along. Probably need to Sevin again since it rained a lot today.</p>
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<p>Thanks, shrinkwrap! I had no idea. I live in NoVA so in December my lemon tree will be wintering inside.</p>
<p>Here is a picture of my cippolini</p>
<p><a href=“Allium (Garlic and Onions) Forum Forum - GardenWeb”>Allium (Garlic and Onions) Forum Forum - GardenWeb;
<p>I believe they include boretana, Piatta De Bergamo, Blanc De Hatif…anyone know what the purple ones are?</p>
<p>These are what I planted:</p>
<p>[Onion</a> Borettana (43-2) - Seeds from Italy](<a href=“http://www.growitalian.com/onion-borettana/]Onion”>Onion Borettana (43-2) - Seeds from Italy)</p>
<p>They say “long day”.</p>
<p>Are those sweet onions, mini?</p>
<p>Its pouring buckets here. While we desperately need the rain, the storm is blowing the plants all over the place and they were wrecked enough in last night’s storm :(</p>
<p>Yeah, most sources call them long day. Dang. I am in day length denial.</p>
<p>My gosh Jym, it appears that you got both hell and high water!</p>
<p>Mom2Collegekids, congrats on the peppers. My bell pepper seedlings are now up to about 1.5 foot in height and seem to be faring well.</p>
<p>Shrinkrap; Myer lemons…hmmmm, the luxury variety of lemon, according to the NY Times. For the price that they ask for Myer lemons in Manhattan, you should start online sales as soon as the first harvest arrives. LOL.</p>
<p>Mini, you’re a human cornicopia!!!</p>
<p>Oh, I almost forgot; blooms have finally arrived and begun to open on the okra. Just three small flowers but what I’ve read tells me to expect [hopefully] many more.</p>
<p>LOL LakeWashington!! At least with the rain we’ve had it is, for the time being, no longer hot as h*ll.</p>
<p>Are those sweet onions, mini?"</p>
<p>Hmm. How do I describe? They have a high sugar content, and caramelize beautifully. They are also good pickled. Funny - I don’t think I’ve ever eaten one raw - have to do that this year.</p>
<p>“Shrinkrap; Myer lemons…hmmmm, the luxury variety of lemon, according to the NY Times. For the price that they ask for Myer lemons in Manhattan, you should start online sales as soon as the first harvest arrives.”</p>
<p>Ah! But there’s the rub! They do not ship well!</p>
<p>Picked 4 tomatoes (huge- bigger than my fist) 4 eggplants, 3 Big Jim chilis and my first wax beans (all 2 of them) today.</p>
<p>Had my first Black Truffle tomato earlier this week. Tastes good, but the skin was thick and tough which was rather disappointing. </p>
<p>Made apricot chutney and some freezer sour cherry jam over the weekend.</p>
<p>Co worker says her Saturn (doughnut) peaches are almost ripe and I’ve been promised some. Nothing tastes as good as a fully ripe, succulent peach fresh off the tree.</p>
<p>“Nothing tastes as a fully ripe, succulant peach fresh off the tree…”</p>
<p>Except a NECTARINE! We are not fans of the “fuzz”!</p>
<p>It is 105 here right now…6PM.</p>
<p>Has anyone had to deal with Japanese beetles in their area? I had a lovely pot of basil ready to harvest and found the the plant COVERED with them! So disappointing! They don’t seem interested in my cherry tomato plant or pot of lavendar on either side of the basil. Is there a natural deterrent for these pests? I HATE them!!!</p>
<p>It’s terribly confusing at times to figure out which bugs love some of our plants but hate others. You just don’t always know what will deter the little bandits. For example, I found a stinkbug and its eggs on an okra leaf, while the nearby bean plants (reportedly a favorite of stinkbugs) was untouched. Aphids avoided the tomatoes that were surrounded by marigolds, but they marched on the eggplant leaves en masse.</p>
<p>I had hopes that the wasps which seemed to enjoy buzzing in and around my pots would eat the invaders. I was able to remove/deter aphids on the eggplant with the soap spray method.</p>
<p>If there aren’t huge numbers I pull them off and throw them into a jar of soapy water. If there are tons of them, I get a jar with a wide mouth and knock them right into the jar. I have a few beetles on my eggplants.</p>
<p>Thanks for the ideas. There were a ton of them on the basil. There really isn’t anything left to harvest on it. The leaves are all damaged. Have you had those things fly around you?? They land heavy… with a thunk…usually in my hair!! HATE HATE HATE those bugs!!!</p>
<p>How are everyone’s crops and flowers doing??
Our cherry tomatoes are still going gangbusters. In fact some branches broke off due to the length/weight of the branches with fruit. I have tried to replant these. One looks very droopy and probably wont make it. The other is not that bad yet, but is newer in the soil. THe plants are tall and top heavy, and a few have gotten blown over in storms, which also may haave caused some of the branches to break off. But I am getting probaby 10 or so ripe tomatoes a day. Keeping my office very happy with all the fruit I bring in.</p>
<p>The Beefsteaks continue to flower and dry up. Have one, exactly ONE tomato. The eggplant is beginning to flower though! Yay!! Still fighting off the bugs, but they are not as bad. Add finally, some of my flowers in the front are blooming (I forget what they are–perennials, tall long stalks and leaves ) but the $<em>$(&)^</em>& rabbits are eating them.</p>
<p>Continued leafy bonanza. No peppers or eggplants, some but not many tomatoes. Flowers are GORGEOUS. And got decent carrots this year. The onions are undersized but tasty. I’m already planning the fall/winter garden. (and digging up more of the lawn).</p>
<p>I plan to plant arugula (rocket) when it cools down and some of these plants are done. When should I plant that?</p>
<p>I am overrun with tomatoes. Have been giving them away to anyone I can think of. Made homemade salsa yesterday. Yum! But now I have 4 pts of it to eat ASAP since I didn’t cook it for canning, but made it fresh. Might have to can tomatoes in the next couple of days since I have 35 (!!!) tomatoes covering my kitchen table.</p>
<p>Have 8 eggplants in the fridge and more big enough to pick. Roasted about 2 gallons of chile peppers earlier this week and froze them for winter. Looks like I will doing another chile roast next weekend.</p>
<p>Picked my first cuke today.</p>
<p>Big wind last night that pushed over both my Big Boy tomato pots and knocked about 2 dozen green tomatoes off the plants. Looks like I might be making fried green tomatoes and green tomato relish later today.</p>
<p>Basil has been a disaster this year–probably because it’s been too hot. Yellowed early and wouldn’t come back after I pruned it. Have entirely given up on it. Other herbs are doing just fine, but they’re all perennials.</p>
<p>Green beans have kicked in, but I managed to drown all the wax bean plants.</p>
<p>And one of the true joys of summer–sweet corn. I don’t grow it but the farm truck was sitting on the corner on my way home from work Friday so I bought a half dozen ears. Those are all gone, but I’ll buy more on Wednesday. (Truck is on the corner Wednesdays and Fridays. In the Credit Union parking lot Thursdays and Saturdays.) I love Green Chile Corn Chowder! and can’t wait to make some.</p>
