Fruits and veggies?

[kvet]

Originally Posted by JScott

I'm pretty sure that Purple Cherokee is my favorite thing about summer. The flavor is amazing. I LOVE a caprese salad with Purple Cherokee tomatoes (I grow a lot of basil too). You don't even need any balsamic vinegar on Purple Cherokee caprese salad, because the tomato is already so flavorful.

Hmmm.. let me understand this correctly, not quite sure you are being clear enough.. you seem to like the Jersey tomato?

[WaterWitchin]

What do you not understand Kvet?!? He said

PURPLE CHEROKEE
The KING of TOMATOES

[JScott]

Originally Posted by kvet

Hmmm.. let me understand this correctly, not quite sure you are being clear enough.. you seem to like the Jersey tomato?

Yeah, I'm not sure what you are unclear about. There is an old heirloom variety of tomato called Cherokee Purple, and I think they have the best flavor of any tomato I have ever eaten. Cherokee Purple tend to produce a little later in the season than some of the other ones, so I plant other varieties as well, but Cherokee Purple is always the star of the show. I've never grown a variety called Jersey. Is it a good one? I might give it a try next year if you say it is one of your favorites.

---------- Post added at 11:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:57 PM ----------

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

What do you not understand Kvet?!? He said

PURPLE CHEROKEE
The KING of TOMATOES

Ain't that the truth!

---------- Post added 07-12-2020 at 12:04 AM ---------- Previous post was 07-11-2020 at 11:58 PM ----------

Originally Posted by kvet

How do you tell when garlic is ready? I've read up on this several times, and it still a mystery to me. Either cut off th scapes and wait, or, just wait for them to fall over after blooming, or bottom four leaves browned. I'm growing some in a couple self-watering pots, and.. they don't look so good, bottom four leaves browned very early. Never shot up any scapes, I was so looking forward to trying some, too.

Cut off the scapes when they are still curled downward and still tender. You can cook them like asparagus, and they have a similar texture with a sweet, light garlic flavor. It's really too hot where i am to do well with the hardneck varieties that produce the scapes, but I grow some anyway, just for the scapes. The bulbs that come from hardneck varieties where i live are certainly edible, but they are much smaller than the soft neck varieties that i grow, but it's totally worth it for the scapes.

[estación seca]

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

...Speaking of which, I spent a lot of summers with my aunt and uncle in central Phoenix. We used to do the same thing with oranges and lemons.

Between November and April every workplace break room in metro Phoenix will feature shopping bags or boxes filled with citrus to take home free - lemons, oranges, grapefruit. The trees are incredibly productive. I am always amazed newcomers to the area will do things like plant 3 lemon trees, rather than an assortment of citrus, because they think they like lemons. They have no idea the enormous number of lemons even a young lemon tree produces. I tell them that, when they wish they had other kinds of citrus, I will show them how to graft, and provide budwood. Citrus are very easy to graft with a T and shield bud graft in early Spring and late Fall.

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

...Purple Cherokee....

In our climate tomatoes must go into the ground as early as possible, because once it gets good and hot, they die. Many years the plants will die by mid May. Our last potential frost date is March 15. That means planting seeds indoors on January 1, setting them out February 15, and being prepared to cover or otherwise protect them from frost.

As a result we can grow only very-short-days-to-harvest tomatoes, with even 70 days stretching it. This excludes all the heirlooms. Most people plant Celebrity or Early Girl. Cherry tomatoes are more tolerant of heat, and the earlier-bearing ones are usually good producers well past the bigger tomatoes.

We can plant tomatoes again when nights begin cooling somewhat in the fall, but if that happens late and we have an early frost, we get nothing. I know people who grow tomatoes in plastic hoop tunnels over the winter, but sometimes we get stiff wind combined with freezing temperatures, and even a hoop tunnel isn't enough.

[JScott]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Between November and April every workplace break room in metro Phoenix will feature shopping bags or boxes filled with citrus to take home free - lemons, oranges, grapefruit. The trees are incredibly productive. I am always amazed newcomers to the area will do things like plant 3 lemon trees, rather than an assortment of citrus, because they think they like lemons. They have no idea the enormous number of lemons even a young lemon tree produces. I tell them that, when they wish they had other kinds of citrus, I will show them how to graft, and provide budwood. Citrus are very easy to graft with a T and shield bud graft in early Spring and late Fall.



In our climate tomatoes must go into the ground as early as possible, because once it gets good and hot, they die. Many years the plants will die by mid May. Our last potential frost date is March 15. That means planting seeds indoors on January 1, setting them out February 15, and being prepared to cover or otherwise protect them from frost.

As a result we can grow only very-short-days-to-harvest tomatoes, with even 70 days stretching it. This excludes all the heirlooms. Most people plant Celebrity or Early Girl. Cherry tomatoes are more tolerant of heat, and the earlier-bearing ones are usually good producers well past the bigger tomatoes.

We can plant tomatoes again when nights begin cooling somewhat in the fall, but if that happens late and we have an early frost, we get nothing. I know people who grow tomatoes in plastic hoop tunnels over the winter, but sometimes we get stiff wind combined with freezing temperatures, and even a hoop tunnel isn't enough.

That saddens me that you have such trouble with tomatoes. They are one of my favorite parts of my summer garden. That being said, I have grown Celebrity, and have enjoyed it much. It is a determinate variety, correct, so you get your whole crop of tomatoes at about the same time? If it is actually Celebrity that I'm thinking of it, and it's nice to have a whole lot of tomatoes at once for canning and making sauces and such.

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by estación seca

In our climate tomatoes must go into the ground as early as possible, because once it gets good and hot, they die. Many years the plants will die by mid May. Our last potential frost date is March 15. That means planting seeds indoors on January 1, setting them out February 15, and being prepared to cover or otherwise protect them from frost.

As a result we can grow only very-short-days-to-harvest tomatoes, with even 70 days stretching it. This excludes all the heirlooms. Most people plant Celebrity or Early Girl. Cherry tomatoes are more tolerant of heat, and the earlier-bearing ones are usually good producers well past the bigger tomatoes.

We can plant tomatoes again when nights begin cooling somewhat in the fall, but if that happens late and we have an early frost, we get nothing. I know people who grow tomatoes in plastic hoop tunnels over the winter, but sometimes we get stiff wind combined with freezing temperatures, and even a hoop tunnel isn't enough.

I have similar issues with the growing issue being too short, but not because it gets too hot. My problem is the opposite, the weather in the Netherlands doesn't stay warm long enough! I have to get them in the ground as soon the last frost date has passed (around May 15-20th), and unless it's cherry tomatoes, the plants are kept single stem as much as possible have to be topped at max 3 trusses since there isn't enough growing season to have more than that.

I'm dying to try the Purple Cherokee everyone is raving about, I can't grow large beef tomatoes in this climate, there's usually not enough time for them to ripen...

I have to grow my tomatoes semi covered. The plastic protects them from the rain to delay the inevitable onset of phytophthora, but doesn't go all the way to the ground. The gutter system is to catch rain water and also prevent all the water from dripping at the base of the plants, which leads to bland tasting fruits. The first season with the gutter system I saw a massive difference, my tomatoes were nearly sweeter tasting than peaches!

I have a mix of Saint Pierre (a french heirloom great for canning), Black Krim and Marmande (THE french heirloom for eating in salads.)

[WaterWitchin]

Oh, I feel your pain. And Purple Cherokee isn't a great big tomato. Just a long set-on period. Two of yours, I had to look up. To each environment, there's always a way, if there's a will. To an extent....

[DirtyCoconuts]

Wow you guys are awesome!

[kvet]

Originally Posted by JScott

Yeah, I'm not sure what you are unclear about. There is an old heirloom variety of tomato called Cherokee Purple, and I think they have the best flavor of any tomato I have ever eaten. Cherokee Purple tend to produce a little later in the season than some of the other ones, so I plant other varieties as well, but Cherokee Purple is always the star of the show. I've never grown a variety called Jersey. Is it a good one? I might give it a try next year if you say it is one of your favorites.

The second triplet has been said
In this fruit and veggie thread
Once JScott recites all three
All hail the purple Cherokee!
(∩｀-´)⊃━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ

(I hope the ascii art makes it through)

----

For all of you with short seasons, do you stay away from indoor growing because you already have a room(s) dedicated to orchids?

----

Earlier I promised no more tomato news from me, but I need help For the last week and a half, I have picked off anywhere from 5-20 hornworm babies, and squished 20-50 eggs -- DAILY! I go out early morning and late evening. This is absurd, especially for only a dozen plants. I am going to order some BTk spray, but I guess my question is: how are they getting here? I haven't seen the giant moth that lays these eggs.. have they evolved with cloaking devices or something? Is there another way for these hornworms to end up here? Ideas?

----

Italian beans, unknown variety! Almost ready to harvest

[JScott]

Originally Posted by kvet

The second triplet has been said
In this fruit and veggie thread
Once JScott recites all three
All hail the purple Cherokee!
(∩｀-´)⊃━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ

(I hope the ascii art makes it through)

----

For all of you with short seasons, do you stay away from indoor growing because you already have a room(s) dedicated to orchids?

----

Earlier I promised no more tomato news from me, but I need help For the last week and a half, I have picked off anywhere from 5-20 hornworm babies, and squished 20-50 eggs -- DAILY! I go out early morning and late evening. This is absurd, especially for only a dozen plants. I am going to order some BTk spray, but I guess my question is: how are they getting here? I haven't seen the giant moth that lays these eggs.. have they evolved with cloaking devices or something? Is there another way for these hornworms to end up here? Ideas?

----

Italian beans, unknown variety! Almost ready to harvest

The moths that lay those eggs are nocturnal, and they are attracted to trumpet shaped flowers, because they have a huge long proboscis and reach down deep into flowers other moths can't reach. Sometimes I grow Datura, and they bloom at night, and I always see swarms of those hawkmoths at the night blooming flowers of the Datura (some call it jimson weed. It's highly toxic, so be careful), and they love it. They are beautiful and fly like hummingbirds and are amazing to watch, but they're a pain because they eat your tomatoes to the ground. You may have just missed the moths because you aren't watching at the right time of night. But the only way for the hornworms to be there is for the moths to lay the eggs on the plants.

If it were me, I'd go ahead with a pesticide. I like to avoid pesticides when I can, but sometimes the situation is dire enough that I think it's worth it. You can pick the caterpillars off by hand, but that's so much work, and they bite, and there's always more. I think you should apply some pesticide.

---------- Post added at 10:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:54 PM ----------

As I mentioned before, it got too hot for my zucchini, and they kind of crapped out. Today I planted four new mounds of zucchini seeds. There's still a lot of summer left, and our fall is so long and warm here, I think I might have a chance of getting a second crop of zucchini this year. Or it may not work at all, But I'll let you guys know either way.

I am flush with cucumbers, and I don't even like cucumbers haha. The watermelons are still coming right along. I'm excited about the watermelons, except I have no idea when to tell that they are ready to harvest, but I'm sure I'll figure it out.