Nice! I've never even tried to grow sweet corn here because of all of the critters. Fella down the road grows it every year but never gets a single kernel of it to himself. LOL

I was just down checking on my corn today. I planted George's Mesquakie dent corn and found the first few are going into the milk stage. I'll probably pick enough for dinner in a few days and let most of the rest go to dry for seed and meal. But, man, I can't wait for roasted corn on the cob!

Diane

Jay, Your meal sounds delicious. Yes, I have tomatoes and peppers, but my corn is pretty much a lost cause. It is still there and trying, but I think it had too much damage to ever recover.

We had sweet corn last night from a friends field, a couple of different salads, and breaded fried squash. I love this time of year when most meals can come from the garden. I will have to figure out a little spot to put some sweet corn next year and maybe you can teach me how to successfully grow it.

I may have the big tomatoes now, but yours are on the way. You have a lot more plants than I do so you are going to be one busy guy. Dawn just makes me tired listening to her work day.

I have the first cherry tomatoes in the dehydrator (since yesterday), have made five jars of squash relish, and have 17 pints of salsa done. Would have had 18 but one didn't seal, so rather than do it again, we just opened it to use now. I have picked enough peppers for the salsa, enough to eat, and have a large pan full waiting to be frozen. I think I will be making another batch of salsa tomorrow and freezing peppers.

I doubt that I will have another tomato 'rush' like the last couple of weeks have been. I will have a lot more through next week and then I think they will slow down some. I have several plants that I will probably take out as soon as I harvest the fruit in the next week. I have one plant that looks like it is turning white it is so bleached out. It is covered with tomatoes and they have reached the 'white' stage of maturity, so maybe the plant will last until they blush. It is in a container and is at the end of the row, so likely has had far too much heat. Both heat and humidity have been brutal this year. We have been getting misty rain for several hours but still only have about a third of an inch, but radar looks like the mist could last a couple more hours.

Diane made me hungry for roasted corn and I have plenty right now, then you mentioned pork chops, so I had to make a trip to the freezer. LOL I know what I'm cooking tomorrow. Oouu, I could throw some peppers on that grill too, and some eggplant, and squash.....LOL

I have been surprised at the number of large tomatoes I have gotten this year, and to be perfectly honest, I didn't realize I had planted so many beefsteak varieties. All of Royal Hillbilly has been huge and several of the Baker Family Heirloom. Black Krim has been larger than I thought it would be. That 'mystery' yellow one that I finally figured out, was also big. With what I have already picked, I would have to classify this as a very good year and I think I will have tomatoes for a long time, but not from all of these vines. Some of the determinates in containers are just about finished, but good picking from a determinate for 3-4 weeks still makes it worth while because some produce very heavily.

I just happened to think of this while I was typing, but if that plant starts to look any worse, I can take it out and make green tomato relish, most Okies call it Fish House relish because so many of the catfish places serve it. I love that stuff and my source just dried up.

I have several plants of some 3-4 inch hot peppers that I need to figure out something to do with. I think I will let some of them turn red and dry them for powder. So far, the salsa is making use of the jalapenos so they aren't stacking up on me.

My tomatoes didn't so well either. That first round of hail really tore them up, then they recovered some and just went all over the place. I am planting my fall tomatoes today.

However, I got white scallop squash coming out of my ears. So I can see some squash casserole in my future, and I am picking the last of my bush beans today before they come up and fall ones go in.

I have been following the basil thread here closely as I have enough basil to last for a very long time. I am pruning and freezing today, making herb oils.

My cukes did well. I have more pickles..... :)

I love hearing how everyone uses what they grow.

Our garden is looking better than ever. But that's just it, it LOOKS good. Most things got in quite late. We are long past harvesting lambs quarters and the first planting of pole beans, for some reason, never had that initial torrent of production. My guess is, it's the heat. I'm just picking my first Marglobe tomatoes, which are as good as I remember from my youth. But most of our tomatoes are still green.

I decided last year, only to grow one variety of corn per year, to insure purity of seed. We have two, Mesquakie Indian and Cherokee Squaw. I just to in the minimum amount of Cherokee Squaw, this year. But it is in the milk stage and has grown beautifully. Next year, it's Mesquakie Indian's turn.

I saw the doctor the other day and he gave me permission to lift up to 20 lb and work in the garden again! But I still feel like a "old man." So I didn't do nearly as much as I dreamed of, yesterday, on my first day out.

George
Tahlequah,OK

Jay, It sounds like a great harvest and a wonderful meal, to be followed by many more wonderful meals. Congratulations!

Carol, Eating from the garden is the 'reward' for all the hard work we put into it. It is amazing how much of your own produce you can raise, especially when you can, freeze, dehydrate or root cellar all the excess that you cannot eat fresh. Our most recent garden meal featured roast beef with onions, carrots and potatoes from the garden, and homemade peach ice cream made with our own peaches. I love eating "fresh and local" and it doesn't get any fresher or more local than food raised in your own yard.

Ezzirah, The spring weather was incredibly hard on tomatoes. I know many people who have been very disappointed in their spring planting. The nice thing about living here is that we get a second chance in the fall. This had to have been the worst hail year in ages, with hail all over the place back in the spring. At least we don't normally have to deal with hail in the fall garden.....just the unrelenting heat. Thankfully, cooler autumn temps are just a couple of months away (I hope). I hope you get a great fall crop of tomatoes, and think that you will.

George, As long as the garden looks great, you know it will produce well eventually, even if it is late. You really have my sympathy though, because when your harvest starts, you're going to be really, really busy getting it all harvested and put up in a relatively compact time frame.

My garden is doing a better job this year of spreading everything out in a more steady, consistent manner, so I haven't been really overwhelmed by any one crop. Well, except for the fruit, and it is such a rare thing to have a massive fruit harvest that I even enjoyed the exhaustion that accompanied trying to eat and preserve 400 lbs. of plums and peaches in a pretty short time frame. (Saying 400 lbs. blows my mind....that's probably more fruit than we've harvested in the previous 10 years combined!)

Some of my pole beans actually flowered during the cool, rainy spell, and I wasn't really expecting that, but was glad to see it. I think the ones that flowered were Garrafal Oro and Miracle of Venice. The 3rd and 4th plantings of the bush beans also flowered and set beans, which I expected from the 4th planting but not the 3rd. I thought the 3rd planting was 'done' but hadn't gotten around to pulling out the plants, so having another picking or two on them was a pleasant garden surprise too.

I need to get outside and dig more potatoes and I am totally unmotivated, y'all. I've had two snake encounters in the last couple of days, and knowing there's a snake in my garden means I have to be so very careful with where I put my hands and feet. It really slows me down. Those snakes are the kind of garden surprises I don't like.

Dawn

Oh, Carol, I'd sure appreciate it if you could share whatever Fish House relish recipe you come up with. I love green tomatoes and I love relishes. Combine the two and I'll be in heaven!

Dianw

Diane, My sister gave me a few recipes that she had collected but had not used, so I don't know how good they are. I hadn't even thought about green tomato relish until I saw the weak looking plant with big tomatoes on it. I usually think of relish in the fall when you have to pick left over 'greenies' because it is going to frost.

The new Ball canning book has a recipe called "Piccalilli or Green Tomato Relish" that has cabbage in it. Is that the kind you want, or the one without cabbge?

Well, heck, I didn't know BBB had a green tomato relish recipe in it. Of course, I never knew green tomato relish existed. Or did I? Hmm, it does sound familiar.

I'll look over the one in the BBB right now since it's within reach. Oh, ew. No, don't like that one. I was thinking some simpler diced green tomatoes pickled in a sour brine, like dill relish. In fact, maybe I'll just try that and see!

Diane

The "Fish-house" relish we get is in chunks and has onions in it, not shredded or chopped. I love the stuff, wish I had a recipe for it!