Look…..we have red tomatoes!!
Last summer we never saw a single red tomato after our dealings with late season blight, so I am feeling somewhat encouraged this year.
I roasted our first batch of tomatoes tonight and oh my…what a sweet treat they were! I will share that recipe with you next week. They are SO good!
I am seeing some blight however. The good news is it appears to be early blight which is not uncommon especially here in the northeast. While it is not good to see, it is definitely not as destructive as late blight which what many of us dealt with last summer.
When I first spotted the yellowed, blighty leaves I felt pretty discouraged, but I sprayed them with a natural fungicide hoping to ward off total destruction and so far most of the plants responded well. Can you believe how big these babies are getting? They are almost taller than me!
I am pretty sure that the 2 plants I bought as mature plants from a nursery who no longer raises the plants from seed, but rather imports them in is where the blight came in as they are the only 2 tomato plants that have not thrived. I will probably not purchase any further vegetable plants from them and rather stick with the 2 nurseries up here who only sell plants that they started from seed themselves. I am also thinking about maybe setting up a cold frame and raising my own seedlings. 😉
It's simply amazing how different a garden can be from year to year. Last year everything other than cukes and squash were a daily struggle, but here this year the garden is lush and green. (shh…do you think I may have planted too many bean plants? Oops. 🙂
Yes I probably did plant too many bean plants but I didn't have the heart to pull a few of them out as they all seemed so healthy and happy and amazingly pretty much bug free. Bean leaves are a Japanese Beetle favorite, but so far they have not been fornicating all over my bean plants so YAY for that!
I should be picking beans tomorrow. 🙂
Interestingly enough my pepper plants while very healthy, green and large have not set much fruit this summer. The peppers that I have been getting are big and healthy….but there has not been nearly as many as I usually get. I am not sure why, but the weather here has been pretty dry so that may be part of the problem. I have been watering every other day but it could also be that they need a good fertilizing as well which I will do tomorrow, so we will see.
All in all though when I make my daily trek out to the summer garden this year I always come back with a smile. It's simply amazing what a difference a year makes.
Last year was a tough year for New England gardens with the cool, damp weather, but this year so much in the garden is thriving which keeps us moving on…
How's your garden looking?
The Woolen Rabbit 
My garden is great. I drive to the CSA and pick up my share! Ha! This week we got a dozen corn, 3 green peppers, 3 pickling cukes, 2 regular cukes, 2 summer squash, 2 zucchini, carrots, beans, potatoes, grape tomatoes – I think that was it. Last week we got native tomatoes and oh boy were they delicious!
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My tomatoes are still green, but they’ll be along. Currently eating beans, chard, carrots, and beets from the garden. (Mmmmm… beet greens…)
So happy we’re getting sunshine this year, instead of that rain-every-day of last summer!
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I got so discouraged last year (second year of blight for us!) that I only planted one bush tomato in the greenhouse this year. It’s doing very well, fingers crossed! As for starting from seed, in your neck of the woods, you need more than a cold frame: you need to start them under lights in March and keep potting them up till they are big enough to go to a cold frame. I gave up on that….the whole process precludes any trips to see the grandkids!
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Your garden is beautiful and doing so well. We do not have any ripe tomatoes, not even a hint of pink (or yellow), but they look healthy and strong. We’ve been eating beans and squash for a couple of weeks and loving every bite. Gardening is addicting, fun and hard (but worthwhile) work!
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Oh, peppers. We haven’t had any yet. I think there are some tiny ones starting now but not sure if they are going to make it.
Last year, I was planing my dinners around them.
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Glad your garden is doing so well! The summer crops seem a little slow in my garden this year – the regular-sized tomatoes are still not even pink, though I’ve picked some cherry tomatoes. I have lots of big green peppers, and I think I’ll go pick a couple of ears of corn tonight.
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Your garden looks the way ours used to look before the heat wacked us but good. I planted enough beans that we got 14 pounds frozen in the freezer. I will enjoy them this winter. We ordered more seeds are going to try a fall planting of more beans. Our tomatoes have done well but we found a tomato hornworm the other day. I am not happy! I have make a ton of oven roasted tomatoes and have frozen them for later use. Can’t beat them with a stick for anything! We have one quart of frozen cut up okra and the two plants we have are still producing. We have had a good yield overall from the garden this year and are so happy about it. Good luck with yours!
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Your garden looks great….my vegetable patch had gotten increasingly shady over the years, so I really give up on vegetables. I did plant 2 tomato plants and they are doing fine. One is only about 15 inches tall (Black Krim) and the other is Country Taste, which is about 7 ft tall and seriously tipping over the flimsy cage. I’ve put in some large stakes to keep the plant from breaking. I see you have some spiral supports; how do you like them?
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Yay for homegrown tomatoes! Gardens in this area are finished for the most part. It’s too hot for tomatoes now. Okra is about the only vegetable that can take the late summer heat.
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Kim- I have plans for a more extensive garden next year- but I did grow some tomatoes in pots and there is tons of them.
A banner tomato year.
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Your garden looks fantastic!!! Yummo. We have two beds that are doing well this year too. I think we’ve finally kept out the critters. (I hesitate to even type that!)
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Kim, the garden is beautiful! We had pretty sparse peppers as well. I think we had two peppers on each plant and that was it. They were good though! The thought of roasted tomato has made my afternoon thanks!
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I’m normally just a happy lurker of your fabulous blog.
Your garden is to die for. I look at your pictures and want to kick myself in the you know what for not putting out our tomatoes this year!!
Anyway, I know you love bees and I was just over at Waggle Dancing. Please follow this URL and I think you will find something really cute… http://waggledancing.wordpress.com/.
Patty
p.s. I’m not involved at all with this company, just love their blog.
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Peppers don’t like to set fruit when it is super hot. I have read you are supposed to MIST the damn things. Not likely.
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You have an amazing garden. Your crops are so healthy and ready for harvest. I am so amazed how you made it so beautiful. I wish I have a talent in gardening like you.
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Kim, your garden is beautiful and I have tomato-cage envy – yours are wonderful! Needful. We are having a banner year in the garden -I cannot pick as fast as stuff grows!!! Pesto, refrigerator pickles, tabouli, etc …. good stuff! I must admit that I am weary of the yellow squash …
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