Sweet Potatoes vs Cantaloupes...

Sweet Potatoes vs Watermelons from the other side....

Corn plot #2 almost ready....

Corn #3 getting going.....(followed the Peas)

Some Tomatoes....

The next batch of Tomatoes....

Pears.......

...and tossing in some flowers....

Yikes Almighty!! What a beautiful garden!!

Thanks Annpat, it's a real challenge to go out there today and the next few daze, temps at 100F here with 110+ heat index. I just came back inside dripping wet and exhausted after planting those 7 late tomato plants pictured above, now staying inside the rest of the day other than to go out and turn off the drip irrigation lines. Many of you are going through this extreme heat too, be careful out there!

Hottttt here. Most things are doing really well. Watermelons starting to set on. The older lreaves are huge. Tomatoes have recovered from some spray damage. Green beans which are easy to grow here don't like the weather very well.

How big is the garden, vgkg?

Annpat, I've had to downsize over the years and today our veggie plot measures at ~75ft x 25 ft. I still plant just about everything I used to but have to be more creative to squeeze it all in. My spring crops like cabbages, broccoli, carrots, beets, lettuces, and bush beans have all been harvested and yanked out so that the summer vining crops pictured above can spread out and take over their vacated space. I'll also be yanking out the corn plants once harvested and the squash plants are going too. Cukes are on a trellis to save space and the tomato plants are located on the northside boundary. Once the cantaloupes and watermelons are done by late August I'll yank those and start the fall crops in their vacated space. It's a juggling act fer sure.

I finally got a harvest of "summer" broccoli. We had five 9 oz+ heads on the forth of July and I picked nine tonight, all over a 1/2 pound with two weighing in at 11 oz. 20 more to harvest.

I planted later then I ever had, May 17th, and used a new fertilizer program that removed any sign of transplant shock that made them grow great with no stress . Put my insect net over it and fertilized twice after planting, oh and switched to a couple of heat tolerant hybrids.

When it started initiating heads and temps hit the 80's I put 50% sun shade on the west side and tossed is a layer of mulched leaves I kept wet. this actually dropped the temperature inside the tunnel nearly 10 degrees on the hottest part of the day in the 90's. I really thought they were goners when temps went into the 90's, surprise, surprise! I packed them in with 3 staggered rows on 36".

I dropped the sunshade this evening. and started the seeds this morning for a fall crop.

My garden is coming along nicely, but here in Michigan I was just excited today to find the first tiny little cucumber, not yet big enough to eat, but still there. There are blossoms on the beans and the corn is "knee high" if you use my knee, I'm 5 feet tall, so short knees, LOL.

There are green tomatoes about the size of ping pong balls, and the sweet potatoes are growing back after being completely eaten by the groundhog, so it's coming along.

Annie

Today I harvested most all of corn plot #2, some nice big ears although a few have earworms which isn't unexpected at this point in July. I'll definately need to apply mineral oil to the 3rd plot once the ears start to develope. Also picked the first 2 cantaloupes that turned orange, we'll eat one tomorrow for lunch. Tomatoes are coming in bigtime now, picking around 6-7 per day. Peppers doing nicely too as well as the cukes. Pulled out the last squash plant, they were all showing signs of going downhill. The watermelons are plumping up thanks to the recent good rains we've had.

Oooh, nice tomato! I'm still waiting, and not all that patiently. I did manage to eat the first meal of green beans and potatoes, and I canned 6 quarts of green beans and 8 pints of carrots, but the carrots were from the greenhouse horse-tank-turned-planter.

Annie

^^ Thanks Annie, my late tomato plants are just starting to set some fruits despite the 100F temps of the past week or two. We got about 5 inches of rain over the past several days so our little drought is now over. Temps in the 80's will prevail over the next 7 days or so, so hoping more tomatoes will set.

I picked the first watermelon today and thankfully only one has split open due to the heavy rains. These are Jubilee variety which has done well for me recently since my usual 2 varieties are no longer available (Gold Strike & Raspa). It's in the garage fridge now and we plan to cut it open tomorrow, hopefully it is ripe. Also picking 2-3 cantaloupes each day so giving most of them to neighbors and family.

Nice 2 lb tomato Vgkg, and a variety that tastes good! I may have cantaloupe and watermelon this year.if the the garden gods feel I'm worthy.

There are plenty more in the foliage and watermelons in the back just as big.

peppers are to happy in nitrogen rich organic matter so still don't have mature peppers. No additional fertilizer at all added. They're being watched by four ghosts in the back, it's not smoke or water mist so it must be ghosts.

I won't get any 2 lb tomatoes but should get 500 lbs of small tomatoes.

Mortgage Lifter is one of my favorite tomatoes, so that makes me double envious! Vgkg, you've given me something to aspire to, LOL, if I get a 2 pounder it will either be Great White or the Barnes Mountain Pink, that one gets pretty substantial sometimes.

Things happen quickly in a garden. Today I found a small bucket of cucumbers, a mix of White Wonder, National Pickling and Soyu Long. The Soyu was a free seed packet and although they look weird and are very spiny, they taste nice and mild, I like them. I got a couple of zucchini, a head of Napa and a couple of kohlrabi. Sadly I picked the last head of iceburg in the greenhouse, so that's the end of the summer lettuce. I'll replant and have them in the fall again, sometimes I can keep them in my unheated greenhouse until Thanksgiving. Oh, but the corn is making ears and I found a tiny cantelope, so maybe, eventually.

I planted watermelon but I'm not optimistic, I've grown beautiful watermelon but they never taste like much. Maybe this will be my year. My sweet potatoes are coming along after being eaten down to the ground by the groundhogs. Man, those things are resilient! I have 25 Georgia Jets and 26 white Nancy Hall, which is my husband's favorite. I started my own slips clear back in March and have babied the plants all summer. I read that the vines should not be pruned, it can compromise the roots underground, so I'm hoping that the groundhog damage doesn't compromise my sweet potatoes. I got about a dozen last year from 60 plants, LOL, so this year it was a challenge, I HAD to try again!

Annie

Is it just me, or are everyone's tomatos in Zone 5 behind in fruiting this year? I put plants in the ground starting in mid- to late May, and have yet to pick a tomato.

Susan I'm beginning to believe it lays with the garden Gods as outpaient mentioned above. It has to be that or vghg Z-7 is withholding secrets of gettting tomatos to set when it's 100f. Meanwhile I'll remain humble while picking the last of my grape size fruits and be thankful if it doesn't frost in Texas tonight.

^^^ Nyuk, no secrets. But I do rattle each tomato plant daily to encourage self pollination. I try to time the rattle in the early morning before temps get too hot later in the day.

As Grandmaw used to say "you aren't just wolfing me with this rattle business are you"?

Would kicking qulify as rattling. I kicked one of my heat schorched plants last week but it still hasn't produced any big juicy tomatos. ):

Nyuk, kicking might help but...maybe not. I stake my tomato plants with 10' long /half inch thick iron rebar and it produces a good vibration when rattled by hand.

I think the summer heat has worn me out, too lazy to start up an Aug thread, but will probably do so. I'll be yankning out the cantaloupe and watermelon vines soon to make room for the fall crops to be planted around Aug 23rd, it's a very short window here. Hope it's cooler by then.

I got about 7½ inches of rain this week. Wind with soggy ground has blown corn over some and too soft to straighten up yet....some tomato cages went over some or a lot too. Other things growing well. Late watermeons looking good, especially Sangria. Early ones wilted and died suddenly.

Susan, I'm in Michigan, zone 5b, and just got my first ripe tomato a couple of days ago, a Rutgers. Well, I got a few SunGold, but I never count them as "real" tomatoes, LOL, those are a snack. Yesterday I picked the first ripe Cherokee Purple and we had BLTs for supper.

I hope you have managed a ripe tomato by now. I never get ripe tomatoes until about the first week or so in August, this year it was a bit later than usual but I didn't get plants in the ground until the end of May because it was too cold. Now it's too hot, sheesh.

Annie