No 'maters here yet either, pablo - lots of green ones. My strawberries & lettuce are by, cukes and zukes are coming in slowly, beans & herbs are great.

Nope. Not yet. But I'm thrilled with growing cucumbers vertically in large tomatoe cages. What a space saver and so easy to harvest! The cages are from concrete reinforcing wire.

Yes, a few 4th of July tomatoes this past week. Also, last week a few cherry and grape (grape agriset) tomatoes. I finally got my first good Hard Rock tomato from my topsy turvy planters on Saturday; I lost some due to blossom end rot-even though I boosted the plants with calcium. I suspect this was more due to heavy rains.

I have gotten about half dozen peppers-frying and sweet and several hungarian wax in the past week. One summer squash so far and yet I have a lot (more than six) butternut squash on the way (both planted late this year)!

Yes, the explosion of tomatoes and other crops is just about here-also the next few days of 100+ heat may help achieve the "tipping point" for my harvest.
Best wishes.

Lawrence

Ya, little chance that BER is from low calcium (as in soil doesn't have enough), but crazy moisture cycling. - heavy mulch solves most any garden problem :)

Never had tomato BER, but had it on a zuke recently... must have had a bad rain at the wrong time.

I'm jealous about the peppers- I have cherry peppers ready to ripen (then be stuffed with cream cheese and grilled... awwwwwlllaaoowwww). Habaneros, bells, anchos, etc. are slower.

We too are on the cusp of a tomato explosion...I think this week will be the week of red instead of persisting green.

Same here.... my romas are just starting to turn. The cherries are still very green. I also have some heritage varieties that are very late. Herbs like basil are going nuts so plenty of pesto for all. Beans are going well except for the plants that the Japanese beetles nearly devoured whole. Oh, and the carrots are growing like weeds too. All in all, a better gardening year than I had hoped considering all the weird weather!

Just started harvesting the cherries in the past 2 days in the Worcester Hills. None have made it to the house yet though :-)

Larger tomatoes are nice, fat and green still!

Picked a couple Early Girls (that's why I always grow them) and some Sungold cherry. The cherries barely make it to the house..it's a snack right off the vine. All the others are green still.

Ahh- thanks for giving me hope!

I've been really slaughtering the lettuce and basil- picking it back until it looks like a Charlie Brown Christmas tree- trying to keep it all from bolting.

Picked basil, parsley, and oregano last night (grabbed clumps and just hacked with the scissors), dumped them in the food processor, and froze it in freezer bags last night- to be added to sauce when the toms come around. Funny how early in the season I was picking a few leaves at a time for my wife to make bruschetta- now out comes the machetta. (OK- machette... but that don't rhyme).

Not yet here, either. Cukes and peppers are containered and we've had a few of each, but the abundance will come in about 10 days. Pickles are planned with dill just seeding. Tomatoes in the ground "Fox Cherry" from Seeds of Change are juuuuust starting to turn. Plants are close to 10' and fruiting is prolific.

Herbs are in their seventh-heaven. They think they are "back home" on the hot cliffs of the Med.

Martie

I've harvested about half a dozen Stupice and a handful of Sungold. I have 10 other plants covering 5 varieties (incl Cherokee Purple) that are loaded with fruit, but it looks like it will be well over a week, maybe 2 weeks, before I get anything ripe from any of them.

I often stop by Verrills Farm in Concord on the way home from work, just to check out the competition as it were. They are usually a week ahead of me and they've had very little to offer. They have had CP's for days, but they didn't look fully ripe to my eyes.

Sungold cherries [winter sown] have been ripe and picking them for the past 10 days, with very healthy leaves. Very tasty.

Champion [from Russell's] just had one ripe enough to pick, but the leaves on the bottom were yellowing with brown spots, despite it being labeled disease resistant. More are ripening now.

Better Boy [from Russell's] had 2 ripe tomatoes so far, but they were split and had one black spot on one and I didn't eat it because of that. Not healthy leaves on it.

Tigerella [from Russell's, but organically grown] is a very pretty plant with lots of sml/med size fruit and all uniform with this mottling that appears like tiger stripes. Those are turning ripe now but not quite ready yet. The foliage is looking healthy. Had to put another stake in it to hold it up it is so heavy.

Mortgage lifter, [heirloom winter sown] so far has only set 4 fruits. And they are all green.

Principe Borghese [heirloom winter sown] is a paste tomato and it is covered with tomatoes, all very green, which is good, since we are not ready to use pastes. [g]

Azoychka, [heirloom, winter sown] also had very little fruit set so far and they are all very green.

My last plant was winter sown and was the only one I planted in the ground.

Black Cherry. The plant is the healthiest looking of all the tomatoes this year. Growing very well, over the top of the stakes, with good fruit set. None of which is even remotely looking like it is ripening. Looking forward to seeing how it tastes.

All in all, a pretty good tomato year so far. Glad to have different tomatoes ripening at different times. I didn't grow my two standbys this year, Sweet Million and Sweet 100. I have to say that none of these current tomatoes are producing as much as those two plants usually do for me.

But, providing these taste as good as they look, [g], I will be happy to grow the Sungold, Tigerella, the Principe Borghese, and the Black Cherry again. The jury is still out on the others. I will try to remember to come back and post :-)

LOL- pmoon- I should trade my groundhog removal services for fresh tomatoes (I could just show up with my bow and plenty of bug spray) :)

We've started (last week) picking Principe Borghese, Taxi (wonderful yellow), Firt Lady and Snow White.

A question for you tomato folks: I found two tomato hornworms on (oddly enough) one of the hot pepper plants I have potted on the patio. Both worms were covered with what looked like white rice kernels, and which turn out to be wasp cocoons (see link - go down to "Biological Control"). I followed recommendations there and, after plucking off the leaves with the worms, went and put them back at the base of the plant, overcoming every instinct in my body!!! Has anyone else done this with wasp cocoon-encrusted hornworms? I've checked ALL the tomatoes, in two different locations, and can't find any hornworms on them (so perhaps it's working and the wasps are doing them in?) Anyway, it was NOT my first experience with hornworms, but WAS my first experience with these decoratively attired ones... just wondering if I should have put them back or followed my instincts to destroy them on the spot!

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato Hornworms and parasitic wasps

I'd leave them be! Promoting wasps that eat them is effective long term, as well as very cool to watch. Always wish I had them!

I use Bt- super effective.

Pablo, I will keep that in mind if the groundhogs don't get the tomatoes first. [g] But it has to be organic bug spray. And as for the bow, well...I am hoping for some new solution to the groundhog problems. I am definitely of the live and let live crowd. :-)

ctlady..very envious of your parasitic wasps..lol! How did you get ripening tomatoes in zone 5 and I am zone 6? Any special early season treatment?

Prairiemoon -- I think we probably are zone 6a or 6b (back when I first joined GardenWeb, I had thought we were 5 so that's what I put -- I'm still not entirely sure since we seem to straddle the line somewhat). But no special treatment, except that all our tomatoes are potted and live either on the patio or in a fenced dog run (best we could do for short-term deerproofing!) and therefore fairly close to the house, so perhaps the temperature was a bit warmer when we first planted them? We also bought all the plants at White Flower Farm's Tomatomania weekend -- we got mostly heirloom varieties, and all were wonderfully sturdy stock so perhaps that helps? I was very impressed with the quality -- worth wading through a downpour at WFF!

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomatomania website

Saw an absolutely exquisite hummingbird moth at my liatris when I was watering last evening - they are so pretty! However, with tomatoes that are just barely starting to turn, I had to run over and check the plants - so far so good, but I'm going to be keeping a hairy eyeball out for those horrible hornworms.

pmoon- Bt is organic- it's a naturally occuring disease that you give them. harmless to humans. Makes me laugh maniacally.

MWUHAHAhahaha

pablo, yes I realize BT is organic, I just have never used it.
Glad to hear that is what you are using! :-)

Finally have my first tomato - a Sasha's Altai. Legend F1 and Pilgrim are on deck.

Picked my first this morning- a big fat Cherokee Purple.

Oh ya.

Just picked 3 each of Romas and patio toms. Yum!

I still haven't got one tomato (Better Girl) that even looks like it's thinking about ripening. Bunch of green ones and some of them are starting to crack. I'm thinking of picking them anyway to avoid further damage and hopefully they'll ripen on a window sill. Anyone else still waiting???

Hi sachapp... I have a number of tomatoes that are still quite green. Azoychka, Principe Borghese, Better Boy, Mortgage Lifter, and Black Cherry. So far, the Sungold has been harvested for at least 3 weeks and Tigerella is a close second. We picked one ripe black cherry but not seeing any others ripening up.

I am wondering too about the cool nights that have started already. Will that slow down ripening or speed it up?

ctlady..thanks for that link. We also straddle 6a/b, but I still think of myself as zone 5 and plan accordingly. Around here you never know what you are gong to get. [g] Sounds like a fun way to buy your tomato seedlings. :-)

Did anyone have any problem with foliar diseases this year?

Pmoon