Hello, all. Zone 7b reporting in from Salem, Virginia.
This has been a mixed season. A very wet spring brought LOTS of mosquitoes. The local FB garden group has LOTS of complaints about that and a few suggestions to deal with it.
But it’s bad enough that going out there is an unpleasant experience this year. A veritable war zone. After I came back inside a few weeks ago looking like I had a medieval skin disease (nickel and quarter sized bites and welts on every exposed piece of skin including my face) I almost decided let it all go to seed.
But I put on my my Big Girl Panties, and knee high socks, long pants, long sleeve shirt buttoned up to my eyeballs, a hat, and copious amounts of Vick’s on any exposed skin and gave it another try. That did work pretty well, and I’m getting out there every other day. The weeds are coming back and have to be dealt with - waiting for a sunny day.
Aside from the wet spring and bugs, the weather has been HOT, muggy, unpleasant, stormy ... some sunny days but it seems it’s been mostly cloudy.
But anyway, I finally got tomatoes! Yay! I’m picking them at first blush; the last 3 years they either didn’t grow at all or went straight to rot.
I’ve got so many I’m either making sauce to freeze or just cutting and freezing them fresh. I never learned canning and don’t think my kitchen is large enough to try.
However, they are all dying back and going brown now, maybe another 2 weeks. looks like late September out there.
Peppers were doing well until 2 weeks ago. I have an overabundance of jalapenos - trying to let some ripen to red.
Bells and bananas are getting smaller and fewer. I planted 3 cayennes because they are great to dry, but only 1 of them is cayenne, the other 2 are jalapenos.
String beans just failed.
Eggplants! 4 plants keep producing. I don’t have enough freezer space. 8 of them went to breaded, fried and frozen slices the other day but I’m reluctant to keep using canola or vegetable oil. There are 8 more on the counter and a whole bunch in the garden. The next batch may be a baking attempt.
Lots of pasta fagiola made and froze - Eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, (and canned beans, onion, potatoes) and blitzed into a thick sauce.
My cukes are done. Got maybe 15-20 before the plants just died off. Tried various slug killers that failed, but, without canning and pickles, there’s only so many cukes one can eat in a day, ya know?
Zucchini - not enough to celebrate Annual Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Day (coming up Aug 8 ??). But, enough to make and freeze bags of zoodles and the pasta sauce, and some in salads. Funny thing, the best plant grew in my front flower garden out of nowhere. Complete Volunteer. Under the holly bush, it went from one scraggly seedling to an 8 x 5 monster. It grows dinosaur sized zukes that are very light green in color. It blocks the walkway and porch but I’m such a Chaos Appreciator I can’t take it down.
Lastly, 2 little watermelons went in against the garage and have taken over a third of the 20 x 20 veg garden. There are some very dark green melons and one light green. 3 years of trying and I still don’t know when to pick them. Out of all that have grown in 3 years we got 2 good ones. The others were not ripe or exploded from lack of picking.
And THAT is my tale of joy and woe from this corner of the earth.
I hope you all are doing better than I am, but I wouldn’t mind doing better myself.
Thanks for that great report! Sounds like some of the same issues I’ve been having in Zone 5a, SW corner of Wisconsin.
I am doing/saving/canning what I can this season and just mentally ‘letting it go.’ I haven’t had this bad of a season in DECADES, so I was due for one. Even the year I broke my right foot in August, I managed a productive harvest with help from friends - who were paid back in veggies. ;)
Luckily, I know where the Piggly Wiggly is, LOL! Pretty sure we won’t starve. ;)
Check this video out - it’s a way to can tomatoes without a water bath. It’s the only way I can tomatoes, usually by the quart. All you need is a stove top & oven, no big canning pot or pressure cooker. I also learned to sterilize my clean jars in the oven from this video & they stay hot & clean until you need them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kmTH_q1usI
I love opening a jar of tomatoes I’ve canned - that fresh tomato smell reminds me of the good days of summer!