pepperhead212's 2024 garden

[pepperhead212]

I don't can too many tomatoes - the varieties I like aren't as good canned, as in fresh, or briefly cooked recipes, and I don't grow canning varieties. One thing I like to do for canning, however, is grill them, to make a sauce for Mexican dishes, calling for "fire roasted tomatoes".

Today I harvested a bunch of smaller tomatoes, as the last two days I haven't been able to, due to the wetness everywhere (I don't like digging through those thick plants when they are soaked). It finally dried up today, with some wind helping, and the humidity dropped some, finally! Next 3 days is supposed to stay that way, but I won't hold my breath.
Just the Sunsgars, from the 2 plants. 7-25, after skipping 2 days. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

About 4 quarts of all the smaller tomatoes, after a 2 day skip. 7-25 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I only picked one of the larger ones, a Oaxacan Jewel - one of those for the "ugliest tomato" contest.
Another "ugliest tomato" - the only larger tomato picked on 7-25. One of the Oaxacan Jewels. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Also got a few more cukes and eggplants:
2 cukes, and 6 more eggplants - 1 Long Purple, 2 Asian Delights, and 3 Ichibans. 7-25 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

Back to the larger tomatoes today, and I even left a number of the blushed ones, just because there are so many!
A 4 qt bowl, and another container of the larger tomatoes ripening. The Green Giants starting to get some, around 10-11 oz each. 7-26 by pepperhead212, on Flickr


Also harvested a few Aruna peppers, which are loaded with peppers, like those Thai peppers. And they are one of those determinate types, which gets peppers almost the same size, and ripen at pretty much the same time, then another flush of blossoms creates more peppers, when those are picked.

Aruna peppers ripening, 7-26 by pepperhead212, on Flickr



And I didn't pick any yet, but the Datil is starting to ripen!

Datil pepper ripening, 7-26 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[JayneR13]

An ugly tomato works just fine in a sauce! Those arunas look a lot like my cayennes. I’m getting a few of those too.

[pepperhead212]

I'm getting more peppers daily, and today mostly the Aruna and the Thai Vesuvius, and the Thai Vesuvius I saw today had some flower buds on them - I might try to bag a stem with some new buds, before they open, and I'll look for some on the Arunas, too.
More peppers - it's that time again! 7-27 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

A few more tomatoes, eggplants, and cucumbers, too.
More tomatoes, from 7-27. Didn't harvest the small tomatoes. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Cukes and eggplants harvested on 7-27 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

Today it was a bunch more of the smaller tomatoes - close to the 4 qts from 2 days ago! And those Sunsugar, Bronze Torch, and Negro Azteka had plants growing so high past the trellis that they were getting to high for me to reach! I'm 6' 6", so they were well over 7'. So I took the cordless hedge clippers I have, and clipped the tips of all the highest vines, figuring this will just make them grow more from below.n
Almost 4 more quarts of the smaller tomatoes. 7-28 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Yesterday I cleaned out the raised bed I harvested my onions and shallots from, along with a bunch of onion sets. I wasn't trying to grow onion sets - don't really know how to do it, but these were all from those scallions I've grown for most of the season - I just cut them down to the ground, and they grow back several times, I guess until it was too hot...maybe length of day thing, or something else. Shallots did best; only had a couple of good sized onions, but I did use a lot of scallions, early in the season. I found 2 more onion sets when cleaning up yesterday, and spread another layer of soil and compost on top. The garlic bed I cleaned out today with only a few weeds that came back, and I cut all those out with my stirrup hoe, then raked them out, before spreading a layer of compost on it. I might plant some fall crops soon, and put those in that bed, and the garlic in the front bed in the fall. I'll have to move the hoops, so I can cover the brassicas.
Bed where I harvested all the shallots, onions, and a bunch of onion sets! they were all from the scallions, that I harvested several times, until they stopped coming back. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Cleaned up the garlic bed Sunday, and spread some compost over it. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

I only harvested a few more of the larger tomatoes, and one bottle gourd. Those snow melons are flowering, male and female blossoms, and the bumblebees already discovered them, so I won't have to hand pollinate them! Those bottle gourd plants hit a block, where all they were producing was female blossoms, so a couple of nights ago I cut every one of the blossoms out! That seems to have triggered something, as I saw a couple of each today.

I planted a few more sprouted cucumber seeds, and Kajari melon seeds - maybe get some in later September.

Larger tomatoes, 7-29 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

A bottle gourd, about 10", 7-29 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

Later on, I spent a bit of time cutting up a bunch of those tomatoes from a few days ago, to put into the dehydrator. Only got one tray of eggplant this time.
All Sunsugar tomatoes, ready to go into the dehydrator. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The gold, mostly Zluta gold, a few leftover Sunsgars. The darker ones are Negro Aztekas, and the lighter reds Napa Rose. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

One of two trays with little bit larger tomatoes, with a few Ron's Carbon Copy, but mostly Bronze Torch and Juliet hybrids. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[FatBeeFarm]

@pepperhead212
I love all these photos! And well done on the excellent harvests. Can I ask what the white film is that is on your produce? Is it Kaolin clay? DE? Something else? What benefit are you getting from using it?

[pepperhead212]

Yes, @FatBeeFarm, that white film is kaolin clay, or Surround. It keeps a lot of insects off many of my plants, the eggplants and cukes more than the tomatoes, but it helps with tomatoes, too. And it doesn't wash off easily with rain, unless it is a very heavy rain, and even then, the undersides of the leaves (where I really try to get it with the EP, squash, okra, and cukes, to keep black flea beetles, aphids, and other things off. I stop spraying the cherry tomatoes when they start setting fruit, as it is a pain to brush off all those small fruits, though it wipes/brushes off the large fruits easily. Same thing with small hot peppers. And I just go back a week later and spray new growth, and it lasts a long time, with this little bit of rain I've been having. And I mix up a 2 gal batch of it, starting with 2 heaping tb of potassium bicarbonate, then added the 3 c of Surround through a strainer, to strain out any bits and pieces in it.

[FatBeeFarm]

@pepperhead212

Thanks! I'm so going to do this too. I need to do something to deter the flea beetles. Will it deter Tomato Horn worms and other caterpillars that munch on the tomato leaves? I primarily rely on the predatory wasps to get them for me but they still do some damage before the wasps locate them.

[pepperhead212]

@FatBeeFarm I never see any of those caterpillars on my plants, or fruits, since I've been using the Surround. It won't stop the SVB, or the pepper maggot flies, simply because it outgrows the area that has the Surround, and eventually, there's something with new growth they will find.
, and those things bore inside quickly. First time I used it was when I got it at a high price, since it was in 5 lb bags, but it was one of those old "buy $50 get $25 off deals, so it wasn't too bad. And soon I found it at Peaceful Valley for $27.99 for 25 lbs, and their good flat rate shipping. About 4 years later, it had gone up to $39.99 (though I used a 10% off deal) and now it's up to $52.99 there (but sold out), so when I got another fellow gardener interested in getting it, she found some at Tractor Supply, but it's sold as something else - a horse poultice! Not sure what their shipping is for it, but it's definitely cheaper, and sounds the same, though I haven't heard from her, if she ordered it. She did ask if they would have it shipped to the store, and she could pick it up, to avoid the shipping cost, but they said not with that.
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/produ ... 15-lb-1977

As much as I use that stuff, it has taken me over 4 years to use up the last 25 lbs - just down to the last maybe 4 cups of it, starting in April 2020. Wasn't expecting that!

[BurgundySnail]

Wow you had peppers and eggplants so early! I will definitely look into this Big Mic pepper and asian delight.

[pepperhead212]

I didn't pick any tomatoes yesterday (though there were a lot more small ones, there are a lot more today!), and all I did was finish trimming (never really finished, of course!), and noticed that the Negro Azteka blossoms that I bagged about a week ago had opened inside the bag. I removed the bag briefly, and buzzed the 4 blossoms; still one unopened, and I'll wait until they all set fruit, then remove the bag, and wait for ripening! At first I thought I wouldn't grow this again, because a bunch got BER in the beginning, which cherries usually don't get, but they outgrew it quickly, like most large ones do, and eventually produced a large number of delicious tomatoes - not a sweet tomato, but a good, strongly flavored tomato, great in all those salads I make, with a few of the Sunsugars, for sweetness, but more of these type of tomatoes. They are the type that the branches turn brown after the tomatoes are picked from that section, so it's hard to keep up trimming it, but they just keep outgrowing it all! One of the two plants seems to have slightly larger fruits, and seems to be a larger plant (though that's hard to tell!), so that was the one I'm saving seeds from.
Here is that cluster of tomato blossoms, that I bagged before they opened, and here are 4 opened, with one unopened still. I buzzed them, and bagged again. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Negro Aztekas next to Sunsugars, to show the relative size, and some of the larger ones, like happens with the Sunsugar. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[AKgardener]

Wow very impressive

[JayneR13]

That IS impressive! I'm having BER problems on a few tomatoes as well. The San Marzano doesn't surprise me but it's the first time I ever had it on Glovel! I've been spraying Rot Stop too. sigh. If it's not one thing, it's another!

What do you do with your dehydrated tomatoes? Powder for sauces etc?

[pepperhead212]

I put some calcium nitrate in those SIPs, for the tomatoes, and most don't get the BER, and the ones that do it's something they outgrew quickly. A few varieties I've gotten, through the years, wouldn't outgrow it, but that's not too often.

The dried tomatoes are sort of leathery, when I finish drying them - not dry enough to "powder" them. They store very well in vacuum sealed bags - I keep a 2 qt mason jar on my shelf in the kitchen, and refill it from the bags. They reduce from 1 lb to approximately 1 oz. What I do with most of these is rehydrate them briefly, in the Vitamix, for however much I need in the recipe, with about 3/4 of the water needed, then blend it to a very thick sauce, then rinse the VM out with a little water. I use these in a lot of curries, Italian, and Mexican dishes, using tomatoes. I find the dishes made with dried tomatoes, this way, taste a lot better than the home canned tomatoes, and less trouble. And with old dried tomatoes, when I'm starting to get a bunch in the current season, I sometimes make them into a paste, and freeze in in small, 1 and 2 oz amounts. I rehydrate it in about 40% of the water, and blend it to a very thick sauce (the skin and seeds totally disappear, in the Vitamix!), then cook it down to a paste, stirring frequently - it doesn't take long!

I just got 4 more of those silicone sheets for the dehydrator! I've had to stop at 4 trays each time, and have had a lot more tomatoes each time!

[MissS]

That IS impressive! I'm having BER problems on a few tomatoes as well. The San Marzano doesn't surprise me but it's the first time I ever had it on Glovel! I've been spraying Rot Stop too. sigh. If it's not one thing, it's another!

What do you do with your dehydrated tomatoes? Powder for sauces etc?

Add some gypsum to your soil. It's a great source of calcium, it works fast and is very affordable.

[pepperhead212]

That's another thing I add for calcium, to the mixes for the SIPs - the Espoma dolomite, or "Garden Lime". About a cup/cu ft of mix.

[pepperhead212]

Yesterday I harvested a few more tomatoes, though no more of the small ones - got out there too late, when the sun comes back to that last row. 4 of those largest ones are from one plant of the Mountain Rouge - a pink variety that has produced well, and that one with the splits was the only one like that, so far. It's a little mild for a pink, but still good. Not super juicy, which is probably why it's milder.

Last night I pulled all but one of the trays of tomatoes and eggplant out of the dehydrator (one tomato tray was slightly larger ones, so not quite finished. Then I cut up larger ones, and oldest ones; anything with any bad spots, or starting to look old. I got 5 more trays of them, cut up a little larger, so it was quicker than those cherries, even though I had to cut the spots and cores out. I used 2 more of those new silicone tray liners I just got 4 more of, since I often filled up those 4 that I had, and would have to stop.
Last harvest of July - a couple cukes, and a few peppers and tomatoes. The smaller tomatoes come tomorrow. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[JayneR13]

That IS impressive! I'm having BER problems on a few tomatoes as well. The San Marzano doesn't surprise me but it's the first time I ever had it on Glovel! I've been spraying Rot Stop too. sigh. If it's not one thing, it's another!

What do you do with your dehydrated tomatoes? Powder for sauces etc?

Add some gypsum to your soil. It's a great source of calcium, it works fast and is very affordable.

I'll do that. I believe I have some on hand, in fact. Thanks!