Things have slowed down a lot in my garden. That explains why the posts are less frequent lately. It also has a lot to do with my lack of motivation to get another video out there. I simply don’t have much to show you.
As you know from the last post, my squash and cucumber plants are long gone. Now, I’m counting on tomatoes, peppers, pole beans, chard and Malabar spinach to supply my family’s veggie needs and cross over 100 pounds of harvest for the season. Fortunately, I’m pulling off a few tomatoes nearly every day. If I’m lucky, they last long enough on our windowsill to allow all four of us to enjoy them. However, that’s become a challenge since my oldest daughter Rachel eats two or three tomatoes for breakfast every day!
I made a big dent in the 100-pound goal the other day when my youngest daughter Amy and I spent almost an hour picking pole beans. The more we looked, the more we found. We managed to pull off about seven pounds. Clearly this was way more than we could eat, and I didn’t have the energy to string them all anyway. So with great satisfaction, we hopped in the truck and drove them straight to our local shelter where I was told they would be cooked that very night.
The typical late season challenges of keeping ahead of the tomato fungal diseases has me picking off plenty of infected leaves every day. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep enough leaves on the plants for the necessary energy that needs to take place. As of today, I’ve harvested 91 pounds and anxiously awaiting the 100-pound milestone.
About Joe Lamp'l
Joe Lamp'l is the Host and Executive Producer of the award winning PBS television series Growing A Greener World. Off camera, Joe dedicates his time to promoting sustainability through his popular books, blog, podcast series, and nationally syndicated newspaper columns. Follow Joe on Twitter
Hi, I’m looking for a way to get rid of the gophers in my yard other than to call an exterminator. I had about 2 dozen bush bean plants and the gopher(s) have chewed off the base of the plant and pulled them into the ground. It’s like a cartoon! I have about 6 remaining bean plants left. What can I do? I’ve tried to drown them out, put Juicy Fruit gum in the hole, applied gopher poison, even tried to gas them out with the exhaust from the car. I live in Southern California, if that makes a difference in how to control them. HELP!
Wow, I’m jealous of everyone’s success with tomatoes this year… I got hit with late blight early in NE Ohio, and my dad up near Rochester NY just reported he’s losing his plants to it quickly.
So Joe – you’ve got the malabar spinach going as well! Mine was slow to get going, but it’s really taking off now. Now what do you do with it? LOL I’ve nibbled on some leaves in the garden, but wonder how it is cooked?
Beautiful tomatoes in the picture!
Wow Mike, I can’t believe how many tomatoes you are getting consistently off of 12 plants. I think the heat and humidity of the SE is not the ideal conditions for high volume output of tomato plants.
I am excited about my new show series. Although there is much work to do, one of the hardest things is simply deciding what to feature. There are many opportunities and a 30 minute show does not allow for much time on any one subject. But one thing I do know, I’ll be featuring growing your own food in every episode!
Thanks a lot for the update and keep them coming.
J
Joe, your new show sounds great. You have enough material in your book to drive a whole season. There seems to be a level of public awareness that would provide you plenty of viewers. Good luck with the project.
It seems the ‘Black Krim’ gets yet another nod as being the ‘keeper’ this year. Our friends and family members are grabbing them as fast as I can bring them in.
Another tomato getting high marks this year is the ‘Persimmon’ variety; large, hefty, tasty, nice-textured, reasonably productive and disease free (so far).
We are still getting 30# to 45# of tomatoes per day off 12 plants, with a few more plants coming into their own.
In the Still-out-of-control dept: Gophers this week have eaten 1) our last Zucchini, 2) two tomatoes, and 3) another banana. Two gophers, two melon-loving squirrels and one melon-munching rabbit, however, will no longer be an issue…
Mike, thanks for the kind words. I applaud your efforts at growing a late season crop of summer veggies. I think it might have been better to start sooner but you are on the cusp of having just enough time to get a second crop. I’m glad you are trying this. Be sure to take notes about when you planted, when they germinated and how much production you get out of them. I love experimenting in the garden and this is a perfect example.
The tomatoes you saw in that picture were Bupree’s Big Boy, Barred Bear, Black Krim, and Early Girl. I’ve been really happy with the consistency of the Burpee’s Big Boy but my favorites are the Black Krim heirloom and the Barred Boar. they are very rich and flavorful!
My show on DIY that you are trying to DVR is finished for the season as far as DIY goes. But, I’m working on a brand new series that will air on PBS next spring and I hope you will look for it or email me later to find out more about it. The proposed title is “Growing a Greener World’.
Good to hear from you and keep in touch.
Best regards,
Joe
Hello Joe,
Way to go! I started another crop of cukes , spinach, chard and green beans in hope to get a little more out from my garden.
everything has sprouted a week ago, do you thing I have enough of the growing season left (zone 6) NY?
What kind of tomatoes did you have at the window in the photo?
they look great
thanks again Joe
ps looking for your show on my dvr is that it for this season?
Mike
Thanks Theresa. Tonight I’m finally going to make a tomato pie that finnyknits suggested I try. It looks awesome so if it turns out, I’m going to take pictures of the process.
And about my girls eating fresh veggies and loving the garden, I’d say even if nothing else worked out this season, I’d still consider it a success because of that. Thanks for the good words.
J
Awesome job as usual Joe! Those tomatoes look delicious too.
I am so excited to hear that your kids are enjoying eating the produce and working in the garden. That is a huge accomplishment right there! Way to go Joe!!
TC, sorry to hear about your late blight! it really has been a huge issue in the NE and I’m battling similar issues here too, although not as bad as that. I love my homegrown tomatoes and don’t want to loose a single one!
Vera, sounds like you may be able to identify with my challenge of dealing with so many beans. Not a bad problem to have I must say. Glad to know *your* tomatoes are still producing. Sounds like you are in the minority.
Ah, the lazy days of summer are here! I had to chuckle that you’d rather give away the pole beans than to string them.
I applaud you for putting in the work to get a jump on clearing out the spent plants. I still have to get around to doing that. I only have tomatoes and okra still producing.
-Vera B.
Late blight has stricken here Joe! I doubt if I’ll get half a dozen heirlooms. But other things were abundant, yet, it don’t quite even out. We’re tuned in to tomatoes so much that being without them will really be tough to take.
Thanks for checking in Amy. I just went to your blog and saw the latest harvest. Very nice! I guess you’re right about crossing over that coveted 100 pound mark but the anticipation is kill’n me! Actually, I likely have the difference just waiting to be picked on my pepper plants. They’re loaded with big bells and I just need to go out there and get some of those guys.
I know how your mom feels and hope the same thing for my girls. This season my youngest (9) has really taken to the garden. She goes out every day checking for things to harvest. We’ve watched black swallowtail butterfly larva grow, pupate and transform to butterflies and identified every possible pest and beneficial there is. I think she was definitely bitten by the gardening bug. Yea!
J
Joe, The tomatoes and the huge pile of green beans are beautiful! Barring disaster (invasion by a whole herd of deer, for example), I am guessing that you’ll cross that 100 pound mark in the next week or two.
It is funny how a garden can be seeming to winding down but still be at least as much work as when it is in full production! I am doing the same leaf removal on my tomato plants, pulling out old plants (cucumbers!), re-working the soil, and planting for Fall.
This is the kind of activity that my Mom always hoped my siblings and I would engage in when we were younger, something to keep us all “off the streets and out of the bars.” Not that we were especially wild, but it seems to work.
-Amy, NW of Atlanta
Wow! I just looked at the picture Mike. Incredible! You’re having an amazing year harvesting tomatoes and I can’t hold a candle to all that you are harvesting! Congratulations. I’m thrilled with what I’ve been able to pull out of my garden on $15 and can’t wait for the next seven pounds to take me over 100 lbs! Yes, Black Krim and Barred Boar are the striped varieties. As you said, they are the best taste and texture of all the tomatoes I’ve grown this year. I’ll be sure to grow a lot more of them next season.
Good to hear from you and thanks for including the picture. I have no doubt they were delicious!!!
Best,
Joe
The tomatoes are gorgeous, Joe. And so is the rest of what has come out of your garden this year. At $0.17 per pound, it sure looks nice!
The Black Krim (I think that what the dark-caped one is) is a big hit here. The look and colors get peoples’ attention, but the taste and texture makes them true fans.
I’ll have to look back through the packets (I believe they were Italian in origin), but the real hit this year, taste-wise, is a fluted, pumpkin-like, flat tomato variety.
Our tomatoes have been cranking out 5 to 10 pounds a day for the last month or so, and we are not into the normal hot part of the year.
Here’s a picture of what I pulled off the other day. http://bit.ly/8Gsv3