I grow about 17 tomato plants so I can dry them and can them. In the spring I start about 70 from seed and give the plants away once they are about a foot high and the weather is good enough to plant.

last night we had our first sweet corn. This is Bodacious, which is the early corn. Later we'll have Kandy Korn corn.


Tonight I'll make a quiche with that broccoli I picked.

Corn looks fabulous. I really like corn on the cob. I just bought some at the supermarket yesterday. I know it is not the same as home grown but it is very cheap here on Long Island in season and I don't dare try to grow my own with all the racoons that visit here each evening. I would never get ones to eat anyway as I am sure those critters would be feasting!

I am really hoping to try my luck at starting tomato seedlings next spring. Never tried growing tomatoes from seed before but as I really want to try varieties that I will not be able to get as seedlings so might have no choice but to start my own.

Around here I can give away all the home grown tomatoes I can grow. But I can't see how I could give away even one seedling. No one around me grows their own.

Fall peas growing really, really well. I still have some pea seeds I haven't planted but just can't seem to get to planting.

Wow, I have never been able to get a fall crop of peas going. I think our summer are too hot and dry. But my spring crop was good.

Summers here are hot and humid. Secret to fall peas is to get the timing right. They will germinate just fine in hot weather but will not flower and produce. The weather needs to be cooler fall weather by they time they start to show flowers.

All my fall peas are in pots this year. Peas in a pot!

Lots of cucumbers around here lately.


Burpless and China Long (at the bottom) cucumbers


Straight Eight and MarketMore cucumbers

About four quarts out of the six quarts of Juliet tomatoes I picked today.

This has been a fabulous year for my tomatoes. I just pick and pick and pick.

My old tomato gardenbed. I have Early Girl and Whopper tomatoes here.


A new tomato gardenbed put in this spring. I have Big Boy, Cherokee Purple and Sungold tomatoes here.

It's been a very different year here. Years ago we made tomato cages out of concrete reinforcement panels since those three ring cages are useless. This is the first year the tomatoes are tipping those reinforcement panel cages over.
I've got one long bed of Brandywine, Stupice, Betterboy, Sweet Million, Sungold, Bloody Butcher, Black Cherry and Sweet 100s. All are doing well except the Black Cherry. The tomatoes are coming in much earlier than usual.

I just bagged up the tomatoes I dried yesterday and put them in the freezer.

I am afraid my tomato cages are of the rather flimsey variety. Also some of my tomatoes are simply Florida Weaved. That works out well and is fairly easy to do if you don't have too many tomatoes.

I don't know how you get Brandywine to produce fruit. I have tried Brandywine so many times and it is a disaster. Almost no fruit ever. Hot and humid here so I think it simply does not want to set in our weather.

I thought that if one dried the tomatoes then you could just keep them, no freezing. I must say dried tomatoes sound good to me for adding to chili and stews in the winter.

The dried tomatoes in the store usually have something on them as a preservative. I don't use any preservative so I freeze them just in case they might get moldy. I can keep them for years this way.

I used dried tomatoes in so many things - omelets, grilled cheese sandwiches, pesto pasta salads, snacking, on orach salads. The sweet 100s make for sweet dried tomatoes.

When we were getting temperatures over 100 the tomatoes didn't set fruit. Fortunately we're only in the 90s now and the nights are dropping to 60.

Yeah, they don't set if those temps stay too high.

I actually went and looked up how to make Sun Dried tomatoes on the web after reading your post. Aparently it can be done in the oven but I don't turn my oven on in the summer (heats up the entire house). Much less would I turn it on for about 20 hours. So I guess that leaves the dehydrator. Don't have one and don't really want to buy one just to make dried tomatoes. I guess I will just be freezing my tomatoes fresh.

Tabby, could you share with us how you dry them?

I have a dehydrator, and I never think to use the darn thing. I did dry some cherries once, left them dry too long, and they turned into rocks.I'll have to try some tomatoes once I get a bunch. Mine are slowly coming, just some early girl, and one Celebrity so far, Just enough to keep me eathing them, but not enough to do anything with yet. Yes, Tabby, some directions would be nice.

My veggies, all in containers, have all been sorry this year. I'm blaming it all on the weather here, so I won't post, but I think Dave made this a much more interesting forum. Dave!

I am glad I picked lots of tomatoes Thursday and Friday as It rained hard today. Plants need the rain but if the tomatoes are too near ripe they suck up too much water and split. I used to loose a lot of what would have been good tomatoes that way past years. This year I learned to pick them earlier when they are not as ripe and to always pick if they are predicting strong rains.

Tomatoes have been fabulous this year. I keep saying that but I just can't say it enough. Great year for tomatoes here in my garden.

I have an American Harvester that I've had for decades. I just slice the tomatoes into thick slices, removing the top core and dry them until they are almost, but not quite totally dry. I like them better if they have some flex to them. I just cut cherry tomatoes in half and place the cut sides up.

Here's an old blog post about it with some pictures.
http://twentypoundtabby.blogsp...

I have been harvesting some ripe VIVIA ITALIA tomatoes. I will have to get some pictures to post.

If any of you like Romas next time try the VIVIA ITALIA. So much better tasting than Romas and not as prone to Blossom End Rot. Not to buy here at the link but it does have a great picture and description.

http://www.annualflowerstore.c......

My Vivia Italias have just started really producing and these tomatoes are tasty even as fresh tomatoes. I ate some fresh today. Really good! My plants are loaded!

Thanks Tabby for that link. Maybe I'll have to try drying some. That is when I start getting enough. I have many green ones, so I'm sure that they will start to ripen soon enough.

I picked my first big tomatoes yesterday. Black Krim and Pineapple, two of my top favorites. Dinner tonight was Black Beauty zucchini and yardlong beans. I have some red ones coming on, too; I can't wait to see if there's a difference other than color.

Picked a peck of cucumbers and made pickles today. A big two quart + jar of refrigerator dills, and about four quarts total of spiced sweet pickles; some in small freezer packs, and the rest is in the fridge.

Out of the two varieties I planted, I like these the best. They're much crisper and they don't have big seeds.


Some small creature likes my peppercress as much as I do; it's disappearing fast...and it's covered! They're just crawling under it to feast.