I'm happy to report that I've picked 3 little ripe "Beaverlodge Slicer" tomatoes out of my hoophouse already! The plants in there (which I started from seed a month early and planted in the HH a month earlier than the "outside" tomatoes) are WAY ahead of the others. Hoping to construct a much bigger HH (16x20') that will replace my 8x16 GH and then extend out into my garden where I can plant in-ground. Maybe this fall -- hopefully .

Anderwood said:Newyorkrita they are not as sweet as sugar snaps when big. They are best eaten smaller. It may be me though. Let me know what you think!

How are all your veggies and especially tomatoes?

The tomatoes are just starting up. However I have been picking lots and lots of various summer squashes, cucumbers, beans and eggplants already.

I just planted my peas for the Fall Crop. So I hope that goes well. Trying all sorts of fancy new sugar snap types including Sugar Magnolia and Magnolia Blossom. My garden looks like a jungle paradise!!

I just planted three new shrubs, an Annabelle Hydrangea, a Little Quick Fire Hydrangea, and a Smoke bush. Here's where I put two of them (under a honeysuckle shrub that isn't doing too well this year):

Annabelle and Smoke Bush. They are tiny yet, but hopefully will fill in the space right up to the bottom of the entrance at the front door.


This is the same location, but stepping back and from the driveway. You can see the honeysuckle shrub that they are planted under:

CarolineScott said:
Yes, this is the first attack of the lily beetle in my garden.

Hi Caroline! Nice thread. Lots of fun inspiring gardening to see.
I am so sad to hear so many lily issues the last few years. Lilies are supposed to be stress free and easy going. I have to head out to my own daylily patch this morning in search of bug or disease, and I am just dreading it, So I am really feeling your pain. Are your lilies Asiatic?

I did a little reading about the Lily Beetle for you, and one trick came up, that I had to do with root weevil years ago, tho I didn't much enjoy it, it was an important part of controlling them. I will shoot you a quick treemail, so as not to change the direction of your post. If you have already read the article, sorry about that. I would love to hear what you did and that It was a huge success. Good luck.

Laurie, what is the weather like in Western Washington? Rumor has it that it is very hot and dry. But you seem able to grow stuff quite well.

We are back to our more normal cloudy and cooler weather but the plants are still going wonderfully well. Tallest plants I have ever had with the hot sunny beginning.

I guess my 'fall crop' planting will be confined to greens of various sorts. Will still start peas indoors next spring but will plant a second crop much sooner than this year. Same with most everything else. Now that I know what seems to grow well I will just cycle that stuff through. Haven't tried eggplant but heard it needs quite a lot of heat. While you, Linda, can plant and replant our season is very short and intense so I have to be patient on some stuff. I do have tomatoes this year thanks to the weather but don't know if they will vine ripen. Heard I could take them in and hang they up (the entire plant) to let them ripen indoors when it gets colder outside.

Picking ripe tomatoes (Beaverlodge Slicer) out of my unheated hoophouse!

I'm pretty sure I've never had a ripe tomato of any kind in July before... this variety isn't terribly large, about golf-ball size, and probably not the best tasting tomato that I've ever had, but I'm certainly not going to tell those plants that!! They are definitely light years ahead of supermarket tomatoes! Hoping to replace my aging 8x16-foot Rion greenhouse this fall with a 16x20 hoophouse that will have benches for seedlings and also room (in my established garden) for growing in-ground. I was able to put the tomato plants in the unheated HH this spring a full month earlier than I can plant outdoors, and I think I could have pushed it by 2 more weeks. A huge added benefit is that the plants in the HH do not become diseased nearly as soon as the outdoor plants, giving them more time to produce. If I could grow most (if not all) of my tomatoes under cover I would really be living large! (Diamond jewelry? nah.... I really want a big hoophouse!! )

Weedwhacker said:Picking ripe tomatoes (Beaverlodge Slicer) out of my unheated hoophouse!

I'm pretty sure I've never had a ripe tomato of any kind in July before... this variety isn't terribly large, about golf-ball size, and probably not the best tasting tomato that I've ever had, but I'm certainly not going to tell those plants that!! They are definitely light years ahead of supermarket tomatoes! Hoping to replace my aging 8x16-foot Rion greenhouse this fall with a 16x20 hoophouse that will have benches for seedlings and also room (in my established garden) for growing in-ground. I was able to put the tomato plants in the unheated HH this spring a full month earlier than I can plant outdoors, and I think I could have pushed it by 2 more weeks. A huge added benefit is that the plants in the HH do not become diseased nearly as soon as the outdoor plants, giving them more time to produce. If I could grow most (if not all) of my tomatoes under cover I would really be living large! (Diamond jewelry? nah.... I really want a big hoophouse!! )

You have so many challenges there growing warm weather crops (like tomatoes) that we just don't have here. I mean I was setting my tomato plants in ground out there in April.

LOL, Rita -- THAT's what I'm talkin' about!

Zone envy, yeah... but then again, I recently read that it was so hot in New York (that's a large area and I don't know exactly what they were referring to) that the horse manure was catching on fire...

Yeah. I'll take my weather over the inferno's down south any day. Can't grow a tomato to save my you know what, but good think I like cold weather crops. And I can use my garage as a greenhouse and put covers on my raised beds for mini-hoop houses. This kind of gardening I understand. What do you do when the environment is burning everything you are trying to grow.

Well, I think we all learn to garden in our environment. I would really have to re learn gardening if I moved way up north.

I would be a very unhappy camper if I could not grow tomatoes. And grow them easily, not challenging as in a greenhouse.

I love to grow things. Veggies even over flowers and I love my flowers. But my favorite veggie to grow are my tomatoes. I just love my tomatoes.

Oberon46 said:Yeah. I'll take my weather over the inferno's down south any day. Can't grow a tomato to save my you know what, but good think I like cold weather crops. And I can use my garage as a greenhouse and put covers on my raised beds for mini-hoop houses. This kind of gardening I understand. What do you do when the environment is burning everything you are trying to grow.

Mary, it wouldn't matter if everything was burning up -- it would be too hot to go out and take care of it anyway!

I have been picking pink Princess cherry tomatoes, honey drop cherry, and sun gold.

The end of July I picked 3 Sasha's Altai tomatoes. They are about baseball size, shorter bushy plants, just loaded. They are good tomato flavor.

Here is one called Belmonte Pear:



Sasha's Altai:

Anderwood said:I have been picking pink Princess cherry tomatoes, honey drop cherry, and sun gold.

The end of July I picked 3 Sasha's Altai tomatoes. They are about baseball size, shorter bushy plants, just loaded. They are good tomato flavor.

Here is one called Belmonte Pear:



Sasha's Altai:

Ripe and ready Tomatoes!!

The cherry type tomatoes are extra great because they just crank out the production.

I have Honeydrop cherry myself. It is a nice little yellow tomato. Tastes good!

Newyorkrita said:

Ripe and ready Tomatoes!!

The cherry type tomatoes are extra great because they just crank out the production.

I have Honeydrop cherry myself. It is a nice little yellow tomato. Tastes good!

You should try Honey Drop's companion Pink Princess! It is even sweeter. The flavor is almost as good as sun gold!

Reid, what's up with that huge Belmonte Pear? Was it a double (or triple?) flower or something?

Altai is in Russia. Wonder if it would be a good candidate to grow here. We have rock garden plants from that region in our botanical garden. 'course Russia is huge and covers all sorts of environments - not just the Siberian cold I always think of. Gobi desert?

Caroline,
The lily beetles nearly wiped out my lilies the last few years. This year I used Sevin twice in May and it worked awesome. No beetles.

Here's a picture of the lilies

Anderwood said:

You should try Honey Drop's companion Pink Princess! It is even sweeter. The flavor is almost as good as sun gold!

Maybe for next season. I was overwhelmed with new varieties to try since this was my first year to grow from seeds.

Just popped open today. About 8" blooms, huge