North Florida Gardening

[PlainJane]

Getting there with tomato planting.

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[PlainJane]

It rained all Thursday and Friday, and yesterday I didn’t get out to the garden.
When I went out this morning I realized there’s going to be a lot of cauliflower on the menu this week.

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[PlainJane]

I could hardly get the fennel out of the grow bag.

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[MissS]

Wow @PlainJane things are really growing down there. Those veggies look phenomenal! I don't think that I have ever seen fennel get that large.

[PlainJane]

@MissS, I should have harvested before the rains came. It sort of exploded in the last 4 days, lol.

[GoDawgs]

H-U-G-E fennel! You win the prize today.

Isn't it amazing how good old natural rain just makes stuff jump?

[PlainJane]

Once the tomatoes have been in the bags for a week or so they start to take off.

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[PlainJane]

I ended up with 41 plants this year, down slightly from last year.
Winner of the earliest fruiting is JD’s Special C-tex.

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[PlainJane]

Very last of the lettuce and carrots, boo hoo.

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[karstopography]

Red Rouge, Merlot or something else? @PlainJane I pulled my carrots a couple of weeks ago, but we ate some yesterday and they are still great. I’ve got three or four Merlot remaining in the garden. No sign of bolting yet.

[PlainJane]

@karstopography, these are Yaya, from Johnny’s, pelleted. Even late as these were pulled they are very sweet and tender.

[bower]

Everything from your garden is gorgeous. The brassicas, the fennel!!! even the last carrots. You'll soon have tomatoes to make up for the lettuce - aw, do you have the same problem I have? I never seem to get all the parts of a salad in prime condition at the same time. I have lettuce salads for part of the year, then all-tomato salads. I need to work on the 'serial planting'... but even here, lettuce bolts in the heat.
Do you have a favorite lettuce that does reasonably well in the heat?

[PlainJane]

@Bower, thank you!
Sadly, no more lettuce for me until at least November. I find that romaine types do better so I mostly stick with those, whatever comes in the MMMM swap. I can keep the chard going for a while yet by putting it in half shade and giving lots of water but eventually it gives up too. I don’t like the taste of the warm weather greens like malabar spinach so I don’t grow them.
If I’m lucky against pickle worm I get some cucumbers to harvest alongside early tomatoes so we eat a lot of cucumber, tomato and feta salads.
Lol, I could be a lot more disciplined about serial sowing. @GoDawgs is my hero there.

[bower]

Indeed, no kidding @GoDawgs
My friend who farms is my other hero of the serial sow - they never stop.
It always seems to me I'm busy enough by the time the warm weather hits, the urge to be sowing is pretty well gone. But then I miss the lettuce and other things that have bolted. Cukes for salad is a great idea though!

[GoDawgs]

@PlainJane and @Bower , thanks for the nice words about the succession planting. I've been really trying hard this past year to actually get it done instead of planning it and then not getting around to it! Writing down actual start and planting dates has helped keep me on track.

Yay for YaYa! I think I pulled the last usable ones the other day; some of the last Yaya and Bolero. There are still a few in the row but they're small and might not size up before it gets hot. But I just now remembered that's not gonna happen. That bed is slated to be planted in Contender beans come Monday.

With carrots I first tried to do it by planting all at once some carrot varieties with different finish times but it seems they conspired to finish pretty much all at once! Good thing they hold well in the ground.

We'll see how the broccoli stagger works this time. Planting times for groups of four were spaced two weeks apart. Two groups of Packman, one of DeCicco and one of Green magic. The first two Packman heads have been cut and used and the next one will be ready in a few days.

Contender and Blue Lake beans were planted the same time last year even though the DTM's were sort of close. A slight difference in harvest time. This year the Contenders will go in followed two weeks later by the Blue Lakes.

The one I'm really pushing is the scallion planting. I've started some every other month since last August. I need to start one more tomorrow. Those might fail in the summer heat but we'll see. You never know until you try!

[PlainJane]

It’s bean season!
Pole bean Rioja with a few Helda mixed in.

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[PlainJane]

Also crazy season for tomatoes with the race to harvest ahead of bugs, blight, heat and thunderstorms.

Dining room table is filling up.

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[PlainJane]

Preliminary 2022 tomato results.

Real stars: Daniel Burson (as always), Mary Reynolds, Polish, Grandma Oliver’s Chocolate, Maglia Rosa, Green Bee

African Queen developed blight early on but muddled through to give quite a lot of fruit.

SOW has lots of fruit but nothing ripe yet; same for Aunt Ginny’s Purple.
Also still coming along are Rawlings, JD’s Special C-tex, Névés Azorean Red, Lime Green Salad, Clear Lake Heirloom. Big Cheef, The Thong, Solar Flare, Benevento F1, Honey Drop.

Busts: Malachite Box, KBX (a surprise, as it’s usually fantastic) and Copper River.

[PlainJane]

Grandma Oliver’s Chocolate

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[PlainJane]

Daniel Burson.
In my opinion you can’t beat this tomato for flavor, health and production.

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