These peppers and tomatoes were planted very late about July 1 but it looks like they will crop some at least.

Bumble bee working this lonely volunteer squash. Nothing formed yet but maybe spaghetti which would be good because I did not plant any of those this year.

Two views from west side of hoop house

Tomatoes inside...we are eating a few now every day!

Last two I promise

The trombocino on the left has had no male blossoms yet and it was planted at same time as the Lakota on the right which has several sizing up already. That is an eclectic trellis with squash, tomatillo and runner beans growing all over each other.

Cindy these babies are sizing up so worth the trouble I guess. Maybe we will have better luck germinating next year?

Len - I think you have me confused with vgkg, as we did not get any rain here yesterday whereas he received 1.7" of rain. However, it did rain just three miles east of us. We had a few sprinkles. There is another possibility tonight and tomorrow.

I do tend to confuse people ;-)...as I type this there's another line of rain heading in this general direction, hope it fizzles out, or better yet wish we could send it to Len and many others in dire need.

Vgkg - that must have been an impressive storm to choke a frog. I really enjoy hearing local idioms. I personally would have called a storm like that a gully washer.

Has anyone else been disappointed in the flavor of their tomatoes? I am finding my tomatoes are tasting just a little better than store bought. I'm hoping the recent heat wave we are having will intensify the flavor.

Vgkg, speaking of frogs-they are everywhere this year. I have never had many before, but this year there are scores of them-maybe they are keeping the other insects at bay.

Nice looking garden Len, so pretty and green.

Rgress, I too am disappointed in the taste of my tomatoes this season. I'm growing several new-to-me varieties this year, but so far nothing can hold a candle to Maglia Rosa. I'm so glad that I have four pots of them :).

Linda

rgress - Around here I would appreciate a good ol' "toad choker" of a storm about now. Starting to get really dry.

Things are looking good Len. I enjoy seeing your lush gardens.

I found a fused blossom on my cantaloupe yesterday. I hope it gets pollinated. I'll edit to post the pic from my phone. I am hopeful to be picking the first cantaloupe in a week or so.

I spent an hour watering the gardens today. Tomorrow I have to go in for a new Pacemaker/Defib battery which is dying. It started vibrating occasionally as a warning. I guess it wouldn't be appropriate to use a Diehard battery??

John - I hope that’s a quick/easy fix.

John, was it a defective battery? They should last way longer than yours did. Lithium Iodine batteries should last about 10 years. Lithium iodide last about 7 years. Greatbatch and Electrochem were the only name brands I could find.

Randy, I think all the rain around here eroded a lot of the flavor of tomatoes this year, not to mention the scores of tomatoes split in concentric circles this year. Hopefully the fall season will be better.

John that is a shocking story.

Our tomatoes have been fine with one exception. I usually plant my own saved seed but this year my pink brandywine seed did not geminate well so I resorted to buying Brandywine seedlings at the local nursery. They surely looked like Brandywine plants with the right leaf shape but the fruits are orange and not the slightest bit pink. Is there such a thing as an orange BW?

Vgkg, there are orange Brandywine tomato seeds and sometimes when the temperature is above 90 that it will turn tomatoes orange-I have had several varieties do it to me-including the PPP which was producing nothing but light pink tomatoes at the beginning of the summer and the same plant produced mostly orange tomatoes when it got hotter. I am growing some Brandywine Pink tomatoes now for the fall season, if you need any seeds-I sent some to Cindy and tried them for viability and every seed I planted grew.

Thanks RD for the very kind offer but the original pinkies are on my restocking list. Oddly I bought these 4 plants from a reputable local nursey so something isn't right. I do have other pinkish types growing now (Cher Pur, German Johnson, German Queen) and those are doing remarkably well and staying true to form (all 3 plants were bought back in late March to get a harvest jump). It's been warm here and hot a few times but overall probably normal for us. Thanks again!

BTW, we just got another 1.3" of a quick downpour, glad it passed thru here rather fast as right now it's somewhat stalled over the towns just south of us. Flash flood warning all over.

vgkg - I really, really NEED that rain!!

Margi - I hope it's just replacing the battery or the entire device. They're hoping they don't have to change the jolt leads to the heart. If they have to change the leads I have to stay overnight.

Rich - They told me about this problem about 5 years ago. The device will be 10 years old in November. A few months ago I had a 6 month "device check" and they said it had 2.9 years left on the battery. I think after this procedure I won't have to go every 6 months for the "device check"; which sounds to me like a computer error. I'm thinking of the old status byte after every I/O operation.

Len - Very Shocking!

I've never had an orange tomato on any pink or red tomato plant. If I had any PPP tomato I'd keep checking it's flowers looking for open stamens. I grow Pink Brandywine's; and bought new seeds because I had the feeling I'd mixed up my seeds in last years season. My family had that "Perfect Pink" tomato that we lost but it would grow an occasional plant with red tomatoes. If you saved seeds from the red sport they would grow a plant with pink tomatoes.

I just picked what I believe is the biggest tomato I’ve ever grown. 1 lb 6 1/2 oz. Wes. Recommended by Jack a couple years ago. Last year none of my tomatoes did very well. This year is a different story.

Margi - Do you think that the placement of the tomatoes in this year's garden is a factor?

Cindy , I suspect so. Last year’s tomato position received more shade than they (and I) like from the neighbor’s tree.

Makes sense.

We already have an air quality alert for tomorrow. Code orange.

vgkg - I know there is a yellow Brandywine but not sure about orange. I am getting PINK ping pong tomatoes off of a potato leaf plant this year. I thought PL PPP were supposed to be orange? PPP/OPP is just like me and NOT entirely stable.

Margi - congrats on that whopper! Slices of that thing will easily cover a slice of bread. Wes does get huge. I know mine averaged over a pound the last time I grew one out. They call it a heart tomato but other than a little point on the blossom end it sure seems more like a beefsteak.

Randy - the taste of my tomatoes seem normal this year but we(you and I) have had a lot of rainy periods this summer.

I need rain too. We are in a little heat wave with 5 days in the low to upper 90s. At least it is supposed to cool down a little before we head to the lake Friday.

Totally Tomatoes sells Orange Brandywine seeds-supposed to be the best orange beefsteak.

I'm home after R&R of my pacemaker. They replaced the whole thing. Except they left the leads. I asked how they attach the leads to the heart. The answer was they screw them in! I didn't ask if they use brass wood screws.

Walked around the garden and saw leeks were beginning to shoot up scapes...first time I saw that happen...so harvested them for current consumption. Added to green beans and carrots in my basket. There are lots of smaller beans on to harvest over the next few days. Love the provider beans.

Do they use phillips or torx head screws John?

Just in from spraying Captain Jack's on my eggplant and potato plants because of the darn Colorado potato beetles. I put it off all week because it was supposed to rain. Every day. And we had nada, zip, zero, zilch.

So . . . it should rain now, right? Hope it works.

Cindy - It worked for me the other day. I had no idea there was the possibility of rain. I mixed up my gallon sprayer 2 times with Neem oil to fight spider mites and aphids on most of my garden. Within about 4 hours…rain. <sigh>

Hot, hot, hot here. Yuck!

Here's a pic of my suspect "orange" Brandywine. I'm used to growing Brandywines (Sudduth strain) which ripen up with a crimson/pink blush. These will eventually become a typical hybrid red color a couple of days after I pick them, they taste ok. There are many potato leaf varieties out there. The bright sun washed out the yellow tones a bit, that's not sunscald.

After reading this article, maybe I will can more of my tomatoes this year! However, I'm certainly not going to make ketchup, we don't use enough to worry about that one.

If I could make it rain here by spraying I would!

We are so dry and this area rarely gets thunderstorms, that's more common east of the Cascades (but then they can start forest fires, so not always a good thing).

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/07/28/california-tomatoes-drought-prices/

"In a normal year, Aaron Barcellos, a farmer in Firebaugh, Calif., grows 2,200 acres of processing tomatoes. This year he’s decided to drop to 900 acres on his farm, which is on the border ofMerced and Fresno counties. He’s left the remaining acres unplanted, choosing to focus all of his precious water on almonds, pistachios and olives grown on trellises — crops that command higher prices and represent already-significant sunken costs.

“We get eight inches of rain in a normal year. Last year we got 4½ inches,” he said. “We got zero percent of our water allocation, which forced us to buy a lot of expensive water, and it doesn’t make sense to put it on tomatoes.”"

Margi - It worked! It rained last night and we ended up with half an inch of badly needed rain. Had thunder and lightening and there are small branches and leaves all over the yard.

Congratulations, Cindy, that works for me too, but only when I don't want it too

This tulip poplar lost this branch last night. You can see the broken area near the center top of the photo, has a slight arc.

Cindy your batch of storms was heading our way but missed us by a few miles. I'm glad you got some but also glad it missed us since we've gotten about 3" over the past week. That's enough here for a while, more good news is that the mid 80's will return this weekend and those pleasant temps will stick around for several days. You picking any corn yet?

Cindy - I’m glad you got some rain. Sorry about the loss in the tree.

I picked another 1# 6 ounce Wes tomato this morning.

vgkg - I actually picked two ears of corn just yesterday. One was a little early but the other one was fine. The rain last night should really help get the rest of the corn ready more quickly. Need to go see if any of the corn stalks were knocked down from the storm.

And there's a good possibility of more storms this afternoon/evening with a cold front coming through tonight. Looking forward to those 80s myself.

Is everyone busy in their garden?

John, I hope the storms that went through PA weren't a problem for you

I need to put a note in my seed box-"Be careful what you wish for". I have green beans! My Emerites have started producing, I just picked 1.75 lbs and still have some in the fridge.

Still waiting for the big tomatoes to start ripening, I have beautiful Vernazzas again.

Cindy and Margi,

I have about 12-15 garlic sprouts now from 1-5 inches tall, some are right next to each other and I planted them about 6 inches apart.

The red Florence onions are kind of small but taste great.

Glad you kept the faith Richard! Lea I was out for a few hours this morning, sun beating down now. Picked some shishito peppers, a couple squash a couple peaches and tied up dahlias... They're are a few blossoms so far but many to come. Will pick beans when it cools this evening. Hot today, 🔥probably 90+.

Lea - Emerite has become my favorite green bean! Will be planting more seeds tomorrow that are soaking now.

That's a lot of peppers, Len.

I'm stuck at work! :-(

Richard - Didn't you say that you accidentally ran your tiller through your garlic bed? That would account for some being together...or sometimes cloves split or they are 2, but just look like one when planting.

This morning I picked another zucchini and a few pattypans. I've had a bunch of both. I haven't kept track, but the neighbors are starting to look the other way when our eyes meet. :-)

I'm in a holding pattern waiting for the first cantaloupe to ripen. Hopefully in the next week, and the watermelon should follow a few days later.

It is currently 97* with a heat index of 104*. Ick!

Margi, I only used the tiller on about a foot of that plot and only in the very back corner and the bunching is mostly in the middle of the plot. I am just happy that some of them will produce. The cloves that I hit in the corner were from the garlic you sent me and was very good and extremely white-no yellow anywhere on them. The ones I got from Cindy are the ones in little bunches.

We just got another 1/2" rain from a downburst. I was prepping the last 2 late tomato planting holes and it started up, just a 20% chance today and it may not be over due to that passing front Cindy referred to. I ran into the garage just in time before it let loose, a nice rain, no lightning or wind. I was going to water the late corn since it's earing up now but that splash & dash should do it. Back to those last 2 tomato plants tomorrow.

V-minus 3 weeks to the start of fall planting...

Lea the storms missed us here. There was wind damage in about 4 locations, 3 in Ohio, and 1 fairly far north of here. We got a hint of rain. between the time I decided to go out and get the pulled onions and when I actually got out there. I think we got about 1/100" We need rain bad here. Good news is we're in the middle of 6 days in a row no hotter than the 70's. The city closed all the pools.

I got a letter from my health insurer approving "Removing and Replacing your single lead Defibrillator". I only bring this up because I jokingly said they R&R'd my pacemaker not knowing how up I am on current terminology.

I'm still picking blueberries. I got a half cup today; enough for tomorrow mornings pancakes. There's still lots on the bushes; including some big clusters. I don't think these are from recent blossoms. There were huge quantities on the bushes and they just never completely ripened.

Mine too John...still picking a few every day or 2.

I started plans for winter garden yesterday and put 3 varieties of spinach in propagator to sprout them. The place in the hoop house they go for the winter is full of tomatoes and basil now so will grow them in 2" pots until about first of October then transplant.

I just figured out why I haven't gotten any updates lately...It's AUGUST!

Here's the new thread for the rest of you wondering the same.

August Veggie Tales

:-)