tveguy3 said:I harvested my first thing from the garden yesterday, a bunch of Spinach to put in my omelet. My beans are up, so is the corn, okra, cucumbers and watermelon. I forgot to check the zucchini, it should be up too by now. I'll have to check them tomorrow. My potatoes have blooms already, I need to get them hilled up a bit.

Sounds like your garden is doing well.

I went so overboard with planting tomatoes that other veggies are rather limited this year. Tomatoes, cucumbers, many varieties of summer squash and zucchini and some Basil is about it for me.

The squash patch is huge with a record number of plants so we will see. And of course you all know I went completely overboard on the tomato plants this year.

On the cucumbers I went back to basics planting my favorite Burpless plus some Marketmores. Those both always produce plenty.

I hoisted up a Marketmore and saw another one (of the three) is climbing the andromeda. Does everyone hoist them into place or does anyone let them roam as they please?

I grow mine vertically. Melons too. Not watermelons though. Our cukes are starting to come in heavy now.

pirl said:I hoisted up a Marketmore and saw another one (of the three) is climbing the andromeda. Does everyone hoist them into place or does anyone let them roam as they please?

I have mine to grow up. Of course you have to start them going but after that they do fine on their own. I have a 12 foot row of cucumbers. I have these 7 foot green coated metal fence posts I bought at Home Depot. Along them I put up trellis netting. So I always grow up cukes upwards.

Thanks for the answer, Rita. We have many of those posts but for three cucumbers I'll let one grow on the trellis, one on the andromeda, and find where the other one is headed tomorrow. I hope it's a lot cooler.

I grow my cukes on a trellis, as well -- I've been growing a variety called "Summer Dance," really nice, long cucumbers with small seeds, great flavor -- and they grow so beautifully straight when they hang down on the trellis

Arlene (Pirl), what is "the andromeda" ??

Sandy - the andromeda is a shrub in the rose garden - about 6' tall and 5' wide.

Japanese Pieris (Pieris japonica)

I don't think I've ever seen one of those shrubs... I really need to get out of my veggie garden more often!

Funny! There's a Duchess of Edinburgh clematis growing on the shrub and it's surrounded by lilies, balloon flowers, and a few roses. I'll be ahead of time with Halloween decorating this year.

Hi all - I have just been lurking on this thread so far this year. Its been a slow start in the veg garden for me. I got a few things in early (ish) about a month ago. Pak Choy which is harvestable, if not full sized. Potatoes (yukon gold), which are about a foot high, and sugar snaps which have mostly reached the top of my little 18" trellice, but haven't flowered yet. Carrots and daikons got seeded about then too. Most of the rest has only gone in in the past two weeks. Its been cold enough here that I don't think they would be much further along even if I had gotten them in the ground earlier. Peppers, tomatoes, eggplants I started inside mid March, so they are decent sized and finally out in the sun (when it comes out). A few little peppers are forming, but no sign of a tomato blossom yet. Cukes, also started inside later, are in the ground but not mature enough to climb yet. I even started the beans inside. Mostly Yard Longs, which are slow starters, but were my best yielding beans last year.

I did harvest a goodly amount of Cilantro (5-6 cups chopped) that I had let go to seed last year, it self seeded prolifically. I grew it around the edge of one of my pepper/eggplant beds, which was perfect because I could harvest it the spring before I was ready to move the warm weather loving plants outside. After harvesting it I transplanted most of the cilantro back to the edges, and expect to get another harvest or two before I let it go to seed again for next year.

So………..the veggies are all in. I still have some annuals and perennial seedlings to get in the ground, but that should happen this weekend if it stops raining. Then I can sit back and wait for the harvest (oh yeah, and weed weed weed)

So glad you joined in. Sounds like you do and will have a great veggie garden.

The other day I wanted to weed and mulch up in the veggie garden out back but instead I got distracted pruning shrubs and pulling weeds in the front yard. At least I was productive.

So today I got to weeding and mulching the cucumbers and squash. Well, cukes got mulched with the straw as well as weeded. Summer squash just got weeded. I am out of straw for now having just finished the 6 bales I got this spring.

I really like how it looks when it is mulched with the straw. I don't know why but it reminds me of a farm. Not that I see farmers mulching with straw!

It's a wonderful look and reminds me of a former next door neighbor from when I was a child. He tended his tomato patch so beautifully so I always feel an attentive gardener is present when I spot straw keeping the soil cool. It looks so neat!

This is Tower Square Garden which has my Better Boy tomatoes. All I really weeded and put straw on was the area around the clematis vine in the middle. The rest was already all done.


Now moving up to the veggie patch in the backyard. The cucumber row and the pathway really needed weeding and mulch. But it looks nice and neat now. I started the little cuke vines going up and I saw a baby cucumber already growing.



I have two rows of tomatoes also here and after that the squash.

Beautiful Rita!
I just pulled up my peas. Anyone have veggie recommendations for an empty trellis which won't be bothered by summer heat? I already have beans, tomatoes, cukes, squash (though I could try summer squash again, but it would probably fail).

texaskitty111 said:Beautiful Rita!
I just pulled up my peas. Anyone have veggie recommendations for an empty trellis which won't be bothered by summer heat? I already have beans, tomatoes, cukes, squash (though I could try summer squash again, but it would probably fail).

You want to try something different in beans that love the heat? Try Long Beans. They are very tasty and productive.

And I have so many summer squash plants all sorts of different types.

Rita, your gardens show how much you love doing it!

I need to have a farmette because I just want to grow too many things. I really do love to grow veggies, especially tomatoes!

Malabar spinach tolerates heat and needs a trellis. We weren't fond of it though.