I ordered again at Home Depot to take advantage of that free shipping. I got 4 foot posts which I just realized I need for the peppers that I plan on Florida weaving next year. Already have the space ready up on the used to be TB iris garden. Now veggie area..

Raining today so I will not be working out in the garden. I have cucumbers to pick as I forgot to pick any yesterday.

Cucumber updates!

The place I have been planting my cucumbers for the past two years is in the backyard along a path which goes along thru one of my daylily beds. I call it cucumber ally. I trellis. I don't have enough room to just let them sprawl but probably wouldn't even if I did. I like to keep the cukes off the ground.






The longer trellis shown on the left is about 12 feet so it runs the entire bed. The little section to the right is 4 feet.





So I have to get creative to fit more in and I planted a late crop of cucumbers in a raised series of beds I have near my kitchen.





This is the first year I have tried a second cucumber crop so we will see how well that works. I have the bottom ones on tomato cages to give them something to climb but haven't done much with the ones up top in that skinny bed. I will probably pound some posts in and hang string for them to climb.

Oh and here are the baby cuke seedlings I planted yesterday. They have tomato cages to climb.

I can see the difference between Green Tiger and Caserta. Green Tiger has those heavy stripes. Caserta is light green background with dark green mottling. Both of these look to be much prettier than your average dark green common zucchini.





And here is one of the little Poquito's just planted out.


So you might be thinking what difference does it make? It does to me. I want my zucchini to be more appealing and prettier than those dark green types you see commonly at the supermarket.

I like the look of the Green Tiger. May give that one a go myself. And I agree with you Rita about appearance. I try to do some unique (to me, anyway) looking something or other every year. Last year was my 'Nubia' Eggplant (fantastic, by the way). This year it was 'Great White' heirloom tomatoes and 'Wee-B-Little' pumpkins.

This is my first year growing zucchini. First off in spring I bought some no ID type plants at the nursery simply called "green zucchini". Then later bought some called "Elite". Elite is a common dark green, too common. The green zucchini wasn't so bad as it was my first. But now I start my own seeds and bought varieties I thought where more appealing. First one I had this spring was Cavilli which is a very pale green, almost white. Loved those. And looks to me like I am really going to be liking these two that are starting up now. Last is Poquito, which looks like a mini watermelon.

Honestly, my adventures only pretty much applied to zucchini. My tomatoes are red and my cukes are all the green slicer types. My eggplants did include Asian varieties though and I found that I love those Asian varieties.

My cucumber harvest this morning.


I had some Straight Eight.


And some Camilla and Burpless types.


Those tiny cuke seedlings planted out the other day have settled in great and I already see new growth.


And growth spurts on my second planting cukes.

Two melons this morning. The little one is the size I have been harvesting from my melons growing in a pot. The big one is the same variety (Sugar Cube) grown in ground.



Going to leave it on the counter for a day or two before I eat it.

I have these two bean towers and I have Burgundy beans and yellow beans. I have been eating them raw each day, just out there snacking. But today I saw I had a lot, I picked.

Bean Towers


My harvest.


Burgundy pole french fillet beans.


Yellow ones.


Then what to do with them. So I made a green bean casserole. Ready to go in the oven.



Then finished!


I made it out of Campbells cream of mushroom and golden mushroom soup plus one small sized can of condensed milk. On the directions and pictures of green bean casseroles you can see the beans but mine are swimming in the liquid. But it tastes great. I tried it for 40 minutes, took it out and the beans were raw and hard. Maybe becasue I used raw fresh beans. Back in for another forty minutes. Now they are done. I didn't use onion rings as might be traditional. I didn't want to have onion rings on top, just wanted the green beans.

I have never made that with fresh beans. I'll bet it would be extra good!

The reason I wanted that convection oven I use now is because I can't use my big gas oven in the summer and heat up the whole house. But in the summer is when I have the fresh veggies that I want to bake or broil.

I never cared much for the idea of green bean casserole using canned beans. Always thought it should be done with fresh beans. And it really does taste GOOD with the fresh beans and the Golden Mushroom and creamed Mushroom soups combined. Just needed the extra cooking time.

Home grown melons I ate at lunch.

Great bean towers! Talk about vigorous growth!

Newyorkrita said:

• Muskmelon (Cucumis melo 'Sugar Cube')
• Uploaded by Newyorkrita

Home grown melons I ate at lunch.

Yummy!!

I have a few coming along, but none ready yet.

I'm not planting anything else until it rains! Well...maybe a smidgeon of lettuce in a container, but nothing in the ground. Watering and bug patrol is taking up half the day...and most every day.

I can't believe how many large tomatoes are on each of my plants this year. Thanks for all your tips! They all work together wonderfully. I wish I'd been here at the right time to add another layer of Florida weave on my large plants, but the kelp spray is keeping them going anyway...even the stems that are partially broken from falling over are still alive and making fruit!

Stems fall over on my tomatoes all the time. They always keep right on growing. And yes, those tomato plants need feeding all summer long. Best done with those no or low nitrogen fertilizers. I think stuff like Miracle Grow is awful for tomatoes. Kelp feeds the plants and the soil. Great stuff.

I have some peppers I can harvest.


And a Rosa Bianca eggplant and a Purple Rain Eggplant could be picked.



I am not sure if I will try the Purple Rain again next year or not. Not very procuctive but I do really like them when I get fruits. The Rosa Bianca will not return next year. Not found of these at all.

My favorite eggplants have been the Asian Types. Fairy Tale is my favorite so far followed by Gretal. Next year will also grow Hansel. I intend to grow Ichiban again next year too.

So far my only yellow squash. Golden Egg.



Many different varieties of zucchini grown here this year. Started with NO ID green zucchini bought as seedlings.


Then bought seedlings of Elite. This zucchini looks just like your typical dark green store bought zucchini.


Cavilli is very light lime green, almost white.


Caserta is a recent one I am growing. Lovely looking light green with mottled darker green fruits.


And prettiest of all Green Tiger with the nice striped fruit.


I never grew zucchini before and this is my first year. This spring my only goal was to plant some seedlings and get fruit. But I have been learning as I am growing and soon realized that what I wanted was not just zucchini but pretty to look at zucchini. So that when I give zucchini to my friends and neighbors they should be impressed!

Rita, can you notice any difference in the taste of each kind of zucchini?

Let's see. I definitely notice a difference between zucchini and yellow squash. And I had a yellow zucchini this spring. Only thing I could tell between that yellow and the common green was that the skin was thicker/tougher on that yellow. (Buckingham variety). So I doubt Buckingham will be back next year.

On the greens, maybe Cavilli is a tad more flavorful. It does have a creamy texture and I do like it very much. But really not much difference in flavor between varieties.

But I don't have the most best taste buds. I know people told me different eggplant varieties have differing taste. Well, I cook them and I could never tell ANY difference at all except in thickness of skin. No taste differences I could pick up. And yet there are definitely supposed to be taste differences. Just that I could pick up on it.

But I tend to think that once cooked, a zucchini is a zucchini.

Okay. Good to know. I cannot detect subtle flavor differences either.

Changed my Avatar just afew minutes ago to a picture I took today of peppers, beans and some cherry tomatoes. The Avatar picture.


I have some squash and some green beans I can make into something to eat later.