Rita, you are so funny! I love zucchini and cucumbers that is the reason that I go the extra mile for them. I am very careful inspecting them when young, later on they can fight an attack.

Cucumbers are grown 3 plants in a pot, only grow the parthenocarpic varieties and I like small size too.

My favorite cucumber salad

I have 4 varieties of squash, 2 are parthenocarpic and 2 are a summer squash and an Italian variety.

My favorite zucchini noodles, I am getting some ripe cherry tomatoes too.Silvia

Hi Silvia! Your veggies look so wonderfully delicious. I got a late start working in the garden this fall because Bobby had open heart surgery in mid-August. But I have started and planted many seedlings...broccoli, cauliflower, kales, swiss chard, bok choy, collards, etc. Planted carrot seeds this morning. Oh, and I did get pole beans planted last month. I was hoping to have a fall crop of cukes and tomatoes too but it was not possible.

Hi Christine! I missed you! I am so glad to hear from you and so sorry about Bobby, my prayers are for him and a perfect recovery...

With all the bad weather that we had, the garden took a break for all of us, I am also late because I had to clean after Irma, made new plans for the garden.

I also planted carrots and lettuce yesterday morning, and transplanted different types of kale. Pole beans are flowering and tomatoes are ripening, getting some ripe cherry tomatoes and soon the big varieties will follow.

Croatian Florentine beefsteak

Silvia

Silvia, kudos on the zucchini!

Our favorite summer cold dish is zucchini (also eggplant) with yogurt spread.

My wife sautes 1/4" slices until very tender, pats dry and places them on a platter (you can also pan fry or grill them). Meanwhile, in a bowl, plain yogurt is mixed with freshly chopped dill and diced garlic cloves. The sauteed slices are generously topped with the mixture and put in the fridge. Serve cold.

Tony

p.s. forgot to tell you I like the new pic with the Adriatic Sea behind you

Hi Tony!

Thank you for the compliment and the recipe, you are so kind. I am going to start collecting all your family recipes, especially the easy ones like the one above and I like yogurt too, I bought a spice at the Greek market to make tzatsiki. I really like raw zucchini ribbons in a salad with a mustard vinaigrette, I add colorful carrots too.

I know that you like tomato reviews, here is my latest on the cherry tomatoes...I am only growing 3 cherry varieties, Maglia Rosa, Sungold and Aperitif.

Maglia Rosa has a nice flavor and shape, productive too. You probably grow Sungold, it has a nice balance and fruity tomato flavor, productive too. And the first time to grow Aperitif, I hope it gets better, it is too productive and the flavor I don't know yet, I tasted the first fruits and while it is sweet, it lacks something in flavor, it is also crunchy. I am going to have to make baskets to give away....

Aperitif tomato plant

Silvia

Some pink flowers in my garden after Irma...

beautiful!

Silva,

You really have a the magic touch! I need to get my garden going this year. I took your lead last year and grew the tomatoes in pots rather than my nematode infested garden. Had much better success! I solarized the beds this year, Irma set me back some but we will see how it goes.

Craig

Hi Tina! it is so nice to see the old time gardening friends posting, tell us more about your gardening, what are you growing? how is everything in your house, your sons? keep us posted....

Hi Craig! yes, Irma set us back for quite some time, I am still cleaning...but I cannot do without edibles and I do whatever it takes to make it work. Going to containers for some crops works well for me, raised beds for other things. It also helps that in the summer I let the garden rest, it is good for me and the soil.

Most of the garden after Irma got a forced makeover, some of the lost plants

The 4 zucchini plants in pots, after Irma they are put in the raised bed with the pots.

I did the same with the tomatoes, they were in the porch and after Irma went to the garden.

And happy fall to everybody in the forum, how are the gardens after Irma? anything growing or blooming? we want to know.

Went to do the Saturday food shopping this morning , here are some pumpkins at the farmers market.

Silvia

Hi Silvia! We are doing very well thank you. My older son Josh just turned 25, works at IFly and base jumps (jumps off of things like cliffs and bridges with a parachute cause he's nuts) and Nick is 16 now. He is a trumpet player and all into the band in school. How is your beautiful daughter?

I don't have a lot in the garden at this time, but I just bought some earthboxes in their sale and some bare root strawberry plants from a guy in Dade City, plus some seedlings from the greengrocers off of exit 17 on I4.

The old gentleman in Dade city was so INTERESTING!!! I found him on Craigslist. His name is Frank and he is on 352.467.0270. I usually go to Parksdale but they sell Radiance and this guy had Sensation (for Sensation UF says The ripe fruit of ‘Florida127’ have excellent flavor and aroma. but for Radiance they say moderate acid content with a balanced flavor so I opted for Sensation) This gentleman raises turkeys, not to eat but just because they are so beautiful, and he sells them. He has different kinds of turkeys from all over the country. He also sells peach trees for $20 and $35, and in Jan he gets bare root peach trees and sells them for $10 each. So I just had a lovely day with my husband.

It is wonderful to read the posts and see your garden as beautiful as ever. I know how hard you work to keep it tip top, it really shows.

Tina

Tina, I am in shock!!! your sons got so big! I guess time flies. I am glad that they are doing fine and enjoying being young, it only happens once you know...:)

It is also good to know that you are planning to garden and you found a good guy to sell you starts. I remember your hubby's paints, they were beautiful!

We are doing fine here, Cheryl went to London and I asked her to go to my favorite chef's restaurant Ottolenghi so she went and got me a signed copy from his latest book, when is fig season I am going to try some of those desserts, the bad part is that I will have to work harder with the quantities in grams.:)

Thank you for the compliments on my garden, it is a priority number one in my life to eat healthy, a lot of vegetables and fruit.

Silvia

Hi Silvia! I miss you too. I think of you often especially when I'm gardening. Lol. I too make edible gardening a priority. Quality is so superior to store bought. Growing the food is the easy part. Making something with it all is the challenging part. You do so well with that!

Bobby got cleared by his cardiologist to begin bicycling again. We bought bicycles last spring and we just love it. I wish I had a trail close to our house like you do.

So what is next in your garden to get planted?

Hi Christine! it is so nice to hear from you and Bobby's progress, good for him! I cannot imagine the scared that you both had. He looked so healthy the last time that I saw him, that is a surprise for me, of course it can happen to anybody and we all have to be careful, good food and exercise helps a lot.

We are lucky to eat homegrown food and have the trail on the back of the house, every morning at 6am I am out there walking, later on after breakfast I take my dogs on a walk, we really enjoy the nature preserve, all the plants and animals....

Every day I look for new recipes where I can use the fruits and veggies from the garden, it is really a fun thing to do. Right now I am harvesting zucchini, cucumbers and cherry tomatoes. Planted 3 different types of kale and a whole bunch of pole beans. lettuce, carrots and eggplants. When is cooler, I will plant beets, I make a very tasty salad with beets, olives and oranges.

On the trail in the sanctuary

and more blooms from my garden, I am taking an inventory on the flowers and see what colors I am missing, red for one, need more of that color...

Silvia

Silvia, I hate to impose on you, and other Floridian growers, but I cannot find a topic that deals with trying to grow watermelons in our super humid summer climate here in MD. The only melons we get from the stores here are from Florida.

We always wanted to have a watermelon patch, but huge ones I'm afraid will rot on our moist ground. We found these very small ones (about 3 lbs avg) and plan to grow them next year on a trellis. Anyone who has experience with such growing on a trellis --- your advice will be much appreciated. Or anyone who wants to try it, we can compare notes next year.

Thanks,

Tony

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/fruits/watermelons/diploid-watermelons/little-baby-flower-f1-watermelon-seed-2495.11.html

Hi Tony

Through my years of gardening edibles, I can say that I probably tried most things, some more successful than others. Few years back, I had a lot of more varieties but when the harvest came and it was more than my family can eat, it is a job by itself to find people to share, These days, I plant less and I still have surplus but not as much.

Looking back at my past harvest pictures, I planted on a cattle panel trellis winter squash, cucumbers and a small variety of watermelons, also on the ground I planted honeydews. It was in 2010 and don't have the name of the varieties anymore but the one that you are going to grow rings the bell.:)

Here are the pictures from that year

Tony, if you have good soil where you live, you can plant them on the ground, if not raised bed or containers, looking forward to see your trail of that watermelon...

In my garden today, I am getting a great harvest of cherry tomatoes and they all have improved in flavor, getting some beefsteaks already, Every day, I eat a tomato salad, after my pole beans are done, I will plant some peas.

Happy gardening!

Silvia

Tony, I found the watermelon variety that I planted, if you want to trial that one too, I can send you.

And today's tomato pickingsSilvia

Sylvia, love your plethora of tomatoes!

Thanks for all the help on melons. We'll be growing the 3 lbs melons on the trellis set up for pole beans, if it holds up well, might take you up on the offer and grow these 6 lbs yummy looking yellows next time.

Just bought the seeds for the Little Baby Flower Watermelons and also got from Johnny's these Orient Charm eggplant seeds. Let me know what you think of them.

Thanks so much,

Tony

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/vegetables/eggplant/orient-charm-f1-eggplant-seed-2201.html?cgid=eggplant#start=1

Tony, you are going to like those eggplants! when I go to the market, those are the only eggplants that I buy, they are never bitter and go well for the dishes that I make for my daughter, she is the eggplant lover.

I was thinking to grow them too, let me know how you do and probably next season I will start one plant. I am growing Listadia de Gandia this year, the same that I grew last season. I am going to keep it trimmed, so I don't get too many eggplants..

Next to the big eggplant is a little one Ichiban that I bought it at the store, planted at the same time after Irma, were both the same size and look at them now, I am getting some eggplants already.

Silvia