Planting/Growing Your Own...The Garden Thread

[1967mama]

Ate the first cherry tomato off my starter plant. Yumm! Another one is ready today. Still haven't gotten around to planting some mid summer seeds after losing all my seedlings to either a rabbit or overly aggressive power spraying watering by my 10 and 8 year old "helpers." Made a crisp with the 1 1/2 cups of rhubarb we grew and have some little, slightly sweet plums bubbling away t make some sort of syrup for pancakes.

Edit: typo

[Erica/NWEdible]

Blackberries, summer squash, green beans and Asian plums are going crazy right now. I'm looking for a food preservation method for the plums that doesn't involve a bunch of sugar. These aren't good plums for drying, and they are clingstone, so I'm not going to do anything that involves pitting several pounds of them. So far the only ideas I've got are a lower sugar plum sauce - either plain or Asian flavored - to go with duck, pork, spring rolls, etc. - and plum wine. I'm about to make our second 5-6 gallon batch of wine, but won't throw any more plums into wine probably - because 10 gallons is a lot of wine, even for me. ;) Anyone got any additional ideas?

[Thegoblinchief]

Some sort of plum butter? I'd think with sufficient reduction you wouldn't need much sugar at all, just enough for taste, not to get syrupy texture/thickening, then again I'm all about low sugar preserves. I think folks tend to like the 'Crockpot with the lid propped up' method of reduction for butters.

Otherwise let your poultry at 'em ;)

[MoonShadow]

I've always purchased my seeds/plants @ TSC (Tractor Supply Company for you none-country-folks) & Home Depot. I'm sure there are internet options that would minimize my expenses, but I don't know of the best sites. Any suggestions?

Check and see if there is an heirloom seed bank nearby.  The number of seeds they are willing to part with is limited, but reproducible.  They are typically free, also.

What have you grown from seed/plant and had success with (i.e. I always buy my romaine lettuce as plants rather than seeds, which is more epensive but I would happily switch to seeds if people have had success with them)
Any organic pest control ideas?

Guineas.  They are noisy, particularly when strange people visit.  But they eat bugs almost exclusively.  They don't really need a coop in summer, if you don't care to keep any other poultry, but can't survive winter without real help.  They will not scratch your garden up like free range chickens.

Any planting tips of what to plant when and with what?
Any ideas on how much of certain things you have use? After a few years I'm beginning to learn more on what vegetables were not worth growing and which were - for us, lima beans were dumb as manfriend doesn't eat them and he's the chef. I like them raw but apparently there's arsenic in them.

There is a little bit of arsenic in almost everything.

[Astatine]

Time to think about preserving some for the winter.

--Did 10 freezer bags of blanched greens, mostly 3 kinds of kale, coarsely chopped, to add to soups and stews.

Oooh. That's a good idea. Our kale is inedibly bitter in summer but it's middle of winter now so I should test the bitterness and if it's ok, freeze some blanched leaves (in small batches for soups and stews).

[GardenFun]

Finally starting to get hot weather!  Tomato and pepper plants were on the small size during initial planting and the heat is helping them catch up to normal size.  Lettuce, Kale, Bok Choi, Collards are all very tasty - even my husband is eating them this year.  Amazing what happens when you thin plants to recommended spacing.  :-)  This is our third year with the raspberry bushes and they have taken over a 10' X 12' area and producing great volume of tasty fruit. 

Been having so-so luck getting the second planting of leafy veggies to germinate.  The ground is wet from storms the last few days, so I tried a new technique of using a toothpick to push the tiny seeds into their designated spots.  Hopefully this method works! 

[Thegoblinchief]

Been having so-so luck getting the second planting of leafy veggies to germinate.  The ground is wet from storms the last few days, so I tried a new technique of using a toothpick to push the tiny seeds into their designated spots.  Hopefully this method works!

Why not sow in seed plug trays and transplant? Your germination will be faster and a heckuva lot higher percentage. Yes, a little more labor, but well worth it. Nearly all professional growers I know do this. Not only do they not end up with dead spots in the fields, they can start the relay planting 2-4 weeks ahead of last harvest of the first crop, thus maximizing the "in bed time".

Also, while I think some greens will germinate okay even outside in summer, soil temps are probably already too high for lettuce to germinate at all. But as long as there's a cooler spot in garden, start them indoors to get germination and then transplant out.

[GardenFun]

Been having so-so luck getting the second planting of leafy veggies to germinate.  The ground is wet from storms the last few days, so I tried a new technique of using a toothpick to push the tiny seeds into their designated spots.  Hopefully this method works!

Why not sow in seed plug trays and transplant? Your germination will be faster and a heckuva lot higher percentage. Yes, a little more labor, but well worth it. Nearly all professional growers I know do this. Not only do they not end up with dead spots in the fields, they can start the relay planting 2-4 weeks ahead of last harvest of the first crop, thus maximizing the "in bed time".

Also, while I think some greens will germinate okay even outside in summer, soil temps are probably already too high for lettuce to germinate at all. But as long as there's a cooler spot in garden, start them indoors to get germination and then transplant out.

Good idea - thanks!  This is one of the first years that I'm actively trying a second planting.  In the past, I threw the seeds in the ground and hoped for the best.  Never thought about the soil temp being too high. 

[Erica/NWEdible]

Some sort of plum butter? I'd think with sufficient reduction you wouldn't need much sugar at all, just enough for taste, not to get syrupy texture/thickening, then again I'm all about low sugar preserves. I think folks tend to like the 'Crockpot with the lid propped up' method of reduction for butters.

Otherwise let your poultry at 'em ;)

I'm going to try plum fruit roll-up thingies! Will let you know how they turn out.

[Thegoblinchief]

Ooh, that should be good. I haven't tried any fruit leather yet.

[Erica/NWEdible]

Ooh, that should be good. I haven't tried any fruit leather yet.

I think my dehydrators have those screen things, so it shouldn't be too hard. Trying to figure out the best way to pit the plums. I'm thinking about just running them through a food mill whole. These things are total clingstone. Pitting by hand would be a serious pain. Got any other ideas? Cook as for fruit butter, mash and strain out pits? That's the other technique I was thinking.

[Threshkin]

Ooh, that should be good. I haven't tried any fruit leather yet.

I think my dehydrators have those screen things, so it shouldn't be too hard. Trying to figure out the best way to pit the plums. I'm thinking about just running them through a food mill whole. These things are total clingstone. Pitting by hand would be a serious pain. Got any other ideas? Cook as for fruit butter, mash and strain out pits? That's the other technique I was thinking.

This is what I did for my sour cherries.  I just simmered the whole berries for a couple of hours with a little water, let them cool and thene removed the pits with my hands.  It was a little slow but not hard.  Definitely faster than trying to pit all those little cherries in advance!

[iknowiyam]

Here is a picture of the garden taken from the house roof earlier in the season when the plants were smaller. It shows the dimensions better Nougatron.

This is inspiring.

[Thegoblinchief]

Ooh, that should be good. I haven't tried any fruit leather yet.

I think my dehydrators have those screen things, so it shouldn't be too hard. Trying to figure out the best way to pit the plums. I'm thinking about just running them through a food mill whole. These things are total clingstone. Pitting by hand would be a serious pain. Got any other ideas? Cook as for fruit butter, mash and strain out pits? That's the other technique I was thinking.

I'd probably cook them and mash.

Not sure how well fruit leathers work in vertical dehydrators. (I'm assuming that's what you have?) mine requires either a special leather tray (solid surface instead of the poly screen) or lining the screens with something like parchment paper cut to fit. Air in mine moves sideways across the trays.

[Penny Lane]

Erica,  I use a cherry pitter on my beach plums, which won't ripen until September.  I do this while watching a movie as it is rather slow work.  Your plums may be too large for this, though. 

[Cookie78]

Ate the first big zucchini from the garden yesterday! Cherry tomatoes are ripening like crazy. Watermelons are getting bigger every time I look. Peas and beans are both flowering. All of the herbs have exploded, I'm going to have enough basil for life. The one thing I can never make grow is the squash.

[Jon_Snow]

The one thing I can never make grow is the squash.

Cabbage appears to be my gardening kryptonite. Isn't the PNW supposed to be cabbage nirvana? Doesn't make sense that I can grow peppers but not cabbage.

I find my mind already wandering towards next years gardening season and what I need to improve.

[Erica/NWEdible]

Erica,  I use a cherry pitter on my beach plums, which won't ripen until September.  I do this while watching a movie as it is rather slow work.  Your plums may be too large for this, though.

Yeah, these are full size Asian plums. Good idea with the pitter, but they are too large for that. I think I'll cook and mash.

Cabbage appears to be my gardening kryptonite. Isn't the PNW supposed to be cabbage nirvana? Doesn't make sense that I can grow peppers but not cabbage.
I find my mind already wandering towards next years gardening season and what I need to improve.

Timing and variety is everything with cabbage around here. If you get those two things right, it really is easy as pie. Good news! If you start now, and pick a savoy variety, your timing will be perfect for fall and winter cabbage. But wait, you go south in the winter, right? Ah well, never mind. Took me about 5 years to get cabbage to "work" - and now it does, every single season. Once you have it down you're golden.

====

2 more pounds of green beans harvested yesterday, plus some broccoli and assorted summer fruit/berries/etc. Today I tackle the yellow plum.

[MoustacheKnittah]

Blackberries, summer squash, green beans and Asian plums are going crazy right now. I'm looking for a food preservation method for the plums that doesn't involve a bunch of sugar.

Check out Pomona Pectin. It allows you to make a much lower sugar jam, because it is a two part pectin that doesn't require high heat or high sugar to gel. There are a few plum recipes on their website:
http://www.pomonapectin.com/recipes/special-plum-jam/
http://www.pomonapectin.com/recipes/honeyed-plum-cardamom-jelly/
http://www.pomonapectin.com/recipes/plum-strawberry-rosemary-jam/

I bought the pectin on Amazon, but you can probably find it at a natural foods store (I also found it at my natural foods co-op in Nowheresville, Midwest). It's actually cheaper than using liquid pectin because you use so little pectin for each batch, a box can last for 2-4 batches. I have made the low sugar strawberry jam from Canning for a New Generation, and also the blubarb jam from Pomona website. There is also a Pomona cookbook with more recipes.

[Erica/NWEdible]

Blackberries, summer squash, green beans and Asian plums are going crazy right now. I'm looking for a food preservation method for the plums that doesn't involve a bunch of sugar.

Check out Pomona Pectin. It allows you to make a much lower sugar jam, because it is a two part pectin that doesn't require high heat or high sugar to gel. There are a few plum recipes on their website:
http://www.pomonapectin.com/recipes/special-plum-jam/
http://www.pomonapectin.com/recipes/honeyed-plum-cardamom-jelly/
http://www.pomonapectin.com/recipes/plum-strawberry-rosemary-jam/

I bought the pectin on Amazon, but you can probably find it at a natural foods store (I also found it at my natural foods co-op in Nowheresville, Midwest). It's actually cheaper than using liquid pectin because you use so little pectin for each batch, a box can last for 2-4 batches. I have made the low sugar strawberry jam from Canning for a New Generation, and also the blubarb jam from Pomona website. There is also a Pomona cookbook with more recipes.

Thank you very much for the links. :)

[Jon_Snow]

Erica, care to give me a "can't fail" cabbage variety for our neck of the woods?

[Erica/NWEdible]

Erica, care to give me a "can't fail" cabbage variety for our neck of the woods?

My favorite summer variety is Farao. It's the most delicious fresh-eating cabbage I've ever grown. High Mowing (disclosure: seasonal sponsor of my blog) carries seeds. (Link). I'm guessing West Coast Seeds are easy for you to get? They do a superb job selecting Maritime NW appropriate varieties. Of WCS's summer cabbage selection, I like Caraflex a lot. It's a fast, pointy little cabbage. (Link). If you don't want the cost associated with an FI, I'd choose Early Jersey Wakefield. (Link).

[Thegoblinchief]

Caraflex makes delicious coleslaw. We got a head from our CSA and I liked it quite a bit - and I'm NOT a cabbage person (can't eat it cooked without feeling like I'm going to die).

[Jon_Snow]

My favorite summer variety is Farao. It's the most delicious fresh-eating cabbage I've ever grown. High Mowing (disclosure: seasonal sponsor of my blog) carries seeds. (Link). I'm guessing West Coast Seeds are easy for you to get? They do a superb job selecting Maritime NW appropriate varieties. Of WCS's summer cabbage selection, I like Caraflex a lot. It's a fast, pointy little cabbage. (Link). If you don't want the cost associated with an FI, I'd choose Early Jersey Wakefield. (Link).

Well, that answer was predictably awesome. :)

As for West Coast Seeds, their retail store is a 25 minute drive away from my city residence. I often drop in there on my way to catch the ferry. :) I've read their catalogue front to back, back to front more times than I can count.

[Erica/NWEdible]

I'm going to admit some some garden neglect over the past few weeks. That's why I'm going to pull an "all nighter". :)

Is garden camping a "thing"? I think it should be.

Totally a thing. Also, get your headlamp and search for slugs after sunset or before sunrise. They are so much easier to hunt that way. :)

Re: WCS - I really, really like them. I had a bit of a falling out with a local seed house over some less that stellar CS several years ago, so now when I can't get the varieties I want from High Mowing, I try to pick up my quirky Pac NW specific fall/winter stuff from WCS and other small seed houses like Uprising. WCS comes down for the NW Flower and Garden show most years so that makes it easy to impulse buy all the seeds carefully select a few key seed packets. I also like the huge amount of info they make available free to gardeners. Like this fabulous chart.

[puglogic]

Harvested my garlic today, and it makes me so happy.  I keep going down to the garden shed and looking at all 50-odd plants hanging, drying. The aroma of it hits you when you walk anywhere near it....the shed smells like an italian restaurant.   Pics tucked in here (not promoting, just wasn't sure how else to share them): http://thegreenhedonist.com/2015/07/garlic-the-high-holy-days-have-arrived/     Sigh.   

I would totally garden camp, Jon_Snow.  Might keep some of the ground squirrels away from the strawberries....

[happy]

Harvested my garlic today, and it makes me so happy.  I keep going down to the garden shed and looking at all 50-odd plants hanging, drying. The aroma of it hits you when you walk anywhere near it....the shed smells like an italian restaurant.   Pics tucked in here (not promoting, just wasn't sure how else to share them): http://thegreenhedonist.com/2015/07/garlic-the-high-holy-days-have-arrived/     Sigh.   

Nice!. I planted 120 cloves and the wallaby ate all the green tops off every plant :(  Normally I grow it in a netted enclosure but its fallen down and needs reconstructing. Sigh, note to self, never never try to grow produce without a net…I already knew that, just being lazy.

[Mrs.LC]

Finally the cucumbers are started to produce. Have had lots of blossoms but no cukes. We seldom buy fresh ones as we get our fill of them over a couple weeks in the summer from the garden.

[GardenFun]

Had first picking of zucchini, snap peas, and green beans this weekend.  Neighborhood kids attacked me and ate all the cleaned sugar snap peas.  ;-)

[Jon_Snow]

At the start of my foray into the world of veggie gardening I was warned about the prolific nature of zucchini plants - well, partly due to the fact that I was unsure of my ability to grow ANYTHING I chose to plant 6 zucchini plants. I am swimming in zukes... and cukes for that matter, but I can go into Greek salad overload to get rid of those. ;) We were able to keep up for a while, eating zucchini in various ways (deep fried zucchini sticks White Spot style!) while they were in their prime. But then we started to get behind as they started to grow at a pace I could not believe. Now I have at least 5 GIANT zucchini to deal with, and I am scouring the internet to see how I can cook with these somewhat less than ideal monstrous specimens.

Anyone have any suggestions on what is the best way to utilize humoungous zucchini? I know they are less than ideal for cooking at this point, but I cannot bear to throw them in the compost bin. :(

[puglogic]

Jon, I de-seed, then shred my giant ones in the food processor, squeeze the extra liquid out, and freeze them in 2-cup baggies.

These become the zucchini in zucchini bread, zucchini pancakes, etc. in the wintertime.  I was really glad I overplanted last year, as we were eating it through the whole winter. Just finished the last batch in June.

Or you can make cars: http://elynmacinnis.hubpages.com/hub/vegetable-craft
:)

[Bracken_Joy]

Jumping in since I finally have garden space! A little late in the season though, and I've always done spring/early summer gardening, not later. And that's been nearly a decade ago anyway =(

According to a local seed company's planting calendar, I should be able to do a late season run of tomatoes starting now (end of July). Does anyone know if these need to be from starts or seeds? Seems to me like it would be starts, but I haven't seen any starts in stores...? I've never done tomatoes from seed, though.

Anyone have a good link for fall and winter gardens, overwintering, etc?

I'm in Portland, so PNW, which it seems like quite a few folks on here are. Please help the garden newb!

[puglogic]

Hi there!  If I were planting starts, and there aren't any good ones in stores, I'd go here:

http://www.territorialseed.com/category/all_tomato_plants

Territorial is up in your neck of the woods, and they'll ship right to you!   You will probably have better luck with a good harvest if you start with plants, even in PNW  (unless you have a hoop house)

This is my favorite book on growing year-round:  http://www.amazon.com/Four-Season-Harvest-Organic-Vegetables-Edition/dp/1890132276

Good luck!

[Thegoblinchief]

Began the process of smothering the grass paths in part of my garden. The goal (by next year) is to significantly refactor the bed size and layout, switching from mostly 48" bed and 24" path to 30" and 12-18" path favored by many growers. I'll also rearrange/consolidate my strawberries so that I can protect them during berry season to avoid animal damage.

A couple of my sunshine squash are absolutely insane. It's not supposed to be quite this wild, but they easily have 15' vines already. Considering pruning the tips back to contain them. They're showing quite a few large fruit already, with many more baby size. My acorns are just showing their first baby fruit.

Reasonably happy with the garden so far considering expected growing pains with making it so much bigger this year and trying several new crops. Monetary value of the harvest just crossed $150.

[horsepoor]

At the start of my foray into the world of veggie gardening I was warned about the prolific nature of zucchini plants - well, partly due to the fact that I was unsure of my ability to grow ANYTHING I chose to plant 6 zucchini plants. I am swimming in zukes... and cukes for that matter, but I can go into Greek salad overload to get rid of those. ;) We were able to keep up for a while, eating zucchini in various ways (deep fried zucchini sticks White Spot style!) while they were in their prime. But then we started to get behind as they started to grow at a pace I could not believe. Now I have at least 5 GIANT zucchini to deal with, and I am scouring the internet to see how I can cook with these somewhat less than ideal monstrous specimens.

Anyone have any suggestions on what is the best way to utilize humoungous zucchini? I know they are less than ideal for cooking at this point, but I cannot bear to throw them in the compost bin. :(

You can use them as noodles.  I have a spiralizer, but you can get the same effect shaving them with a vegetable peeler.  My usual is zucchini bolognese - basically a good red sauce with ground beef, then mix in the zucchini and cook for a couple more minutes before serving.

Another thing you can do with larger ones is cut them in half lengthwise, scoop out some of the insides, and stuff them with whatever you like and bake.

[Bracken_Joy]

Hi there!  If I were planting starts, and there aren't any good ones in stores, I'd go here:

http://www.territorialseed.com/category/all_tomato_plants

Territorial is up in your neck of the woods, and they'll ship right to you!   You will probably have better luck with a good harvest if you start with plants, even in PNW  (unless you have a hoop house)

This is my favorite book on growing year-round:  http://www.amazon.com/Four-Season-Harvest-Organic-Vegetables-Edition/dp/1890132276

Good luck!

Territorial is actually the first company I thought of! Unfortunately, they're sold out for 2015 on all tomato plants according to their website =(

I will look into that book, thank you.

[Erica/NWEdible]

According to a local seed company's planting calendar, I should be able to do a late season run of tomatoes starting now (end of July). Does anyone know if these need to be from starts or seeds? Seems to me like it would be starts, but I haven't seen any starts in stores...? I've never done tomatoes from seed, though.

Skip tomatoes. I don't know what calendar you are using, but you won't get any ripe tomatoes from any tomato plant small enough to ship to you in Portland. If you can find some huge 2 gallon plant with green tomatoes already set at a farmers market, you could do that. But typically in the Pac NW tomatoes are started in March-ish to ripen in September. Disease and cool night temps weaken the plants by October enough that you yank em, typically.

Start broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, beets, carrots, parsnip....basically cool season crops. You can do a late planting of bush beans and cucumber too if you want.

[Erica/NWEdible]

At the start of my foray into the world of veggie gardening I was warned about the prolific nature of zucchini plants - well, partly due to the fact that I was unsure of my ability to grow ANYTHING I chose to plant 6 zucchini plants. I am swimming in zukes... and cukes for that matter, but I can go into Greek salad overload to get rid of those. ;) We were able to keep up for a while, eating zucchini in various ways (deep fried zucchini sticks White Spot style!) while they were in their prime. But then we started to get behind as they started to grow at a pace I could not believe. Now I have at least 5 GIANT zucchini to deal with, and I am scouring the internet to see how I can cook with these somewhat less than ideal monstrous specimens.

Anyone have any suggestions on what is the best way to utilize humoungous zucchini? I know they are less than ideal for cooking at this point, but I cannot bear to throw them in the compost bin. :(

You can use them as noodles.  I have a spiralizer, but you can get the same effect shaving them with a vegetable peeler.  My usual is zucchini bolognese - basically a good red sauce with ground beef, then mix in the zucchini and cook for a couple more minutes before serving.

Another thing you can do with larger ones is cut them in half lengthwise, scoop out some of the insides, and stuff them with whatever you like and bake.

Oh, we just talked about this on GoblinChief's journal. Yeah, the big ones are really good shredded for zucchini bread (my recipe), zucchini fritters, or to extend meat in stuff like meatloaf. Or hollow out and stuff them. I prefer more mature zucchini for bread and butter pickles. The Zuni Cafe has a rad recipe for zuke fridge pickles - just halve the larger zuke lengthwise, scoop out seeds, and thinly slice into half-moon rounds and proceed with basic recipe.

[Jon_Snow]

Thanks for all the gargantuan zucchini advice everyone! Gonna shred..and make some zuke fritters for dinner tonight....and shred a bunch more to freeze.

And Erica, in exchange for your continued homesteading/gardening wisdom...consider another one of your books sold!

[Erica/NWEdible]

Thanks for all the gargantuan zucchini advice everyone! Gonna shred..and make some zuke fritters for dinner tonight....and shred a bunch more to freeze.

And Erica, in exchange for your continued homesteading/gardening wisdom...consider another one of your books sold!

Ah, shucks! Well, thanks Jon Snow! I hope you like it. :)

[CanuckExpat]

Thanks for all the gargantuan zucchini advice everyone! Gonna shred..and make some zuke fritters for dinner tonight....and shred a bunch more to freeze.

And Erica, in exchange for your continued homesteading/gardening wisdom...consider another one of your books sold!

Try cooking some of your zucchini fritters in coconut oil, the smell and taste are incredible.
OK, maybe I like the smell of anything frying in coconut oil..

[Jon_Snow]

My goodness, the zucchini fritters were delicious! I made 8 of them which amazingly took care of a very large zucchini.

CanuckExpat, I used olive oil which proved to be tasty enough...next time I will try coconut.

Tonight, a massive Greek salad to use up a bunch of our cucumbers. Along with some sautéed beans (green, yellow, purple).

Our shopping bill this month is looking to be a record low. Gardening rules. :)

[Thegoblinchief]

Our shopping bill this month is looking to be a record low. Gardening rules. :)

Yeah, if it was just the Alchemist and I, gardening season would get our grocery budget probably under $100. A lot of the stuff I buy is more for the kids, since they aren't going to survive on veggies alone, and we don't have much fruit production.

[Thegoblinchief]

Oh, and a good recipe for zuke fritters? I think that fills a nice gap I had in the week's meal plan :)

[horsepoor]

I like this one.  Gotta get me some Old Bay seasoning:  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/connies-zucchini-crab-cakes/

[Erica/NWEdible]

Martha Stewart's recipe is good too.  Go heavy on the lemon zest and parsley.

[Erica/NWEdible]

Tonight's harvest. Particularly pretty, so I'm bragging sharing. Right now all the things are ripe!

[Jon_Snow]

How, pray tell, do you grow freakin' peaches in the PNW?. Inquiring minds and all that....

[Erica/NWEdible]

How, pray tell, do you grow freakin' peaches in the PNW?. Inquiring minds and all that....

You just get the right variety and you're careful about peach leaf curl and you pray the summer is above-average for heat units.

I used to grow Frost, a recommend PLC resistant variety. IMHO, hardly worth eating. Just, blech fruit that split more often than not and weren't really good for processing or fresh eating. This is Harken on Lovell rootstock.

Copypasta from my FB Page re my experience with Harken: This is a 3 year old tree (I planted it last year as something just a bit older than a whip) and very productive. Flavor is **excellent** for a peach that will actually ripen by puget sound. Juicy, sweet, well balanced. It's like, 9000 times better tasting than Frost, which is hardly worth the effort to eat, imho. Only drawback is it is susceptible to peach leaf curl. We got a bit this spring (didn't spray at all) but with our early, hot, dry summer we got lucky and they tree grew out the curl and has gone on to make some pretty and decent sized fruit. I give it 2 thumbs up.

Fruit on tree:

[Thegoblinchief]

Effing blossom end rot on tomatoes. Losing a lot of fruit to it, and most of my paste tomatoes are a determinate variety. Trying to compensate post-vacation by watering more frequently, but our trip may have come at a really bad time for this crop. Oh well - next year I'll definitely run soakers to the tomato bed and possibly consider an irrigation timer. Tomatoes and cucurbits really seem to be the most moisture sensitive crops in my area. I added calcium when transplanting, so I'm pretty sure moisture is the issue, not calcium, though w/out a soil test it's entirely possible pH or Mg excess is rendering the Ca unavailable.

Amazing that the slow doldrums of my green beans still give me 1/2 pound just about every day (I do have 100 row feet of them). The healthier plants are getting ready for a third flush of blooms, so that will pick up soon. Quite a few have sickly looking leaves (but still healthy beans). Not sure if it's a disease (by pictures, possibly yellow mosaic or manganese deficiency), age, or pesticide drift.

Had to cut back some squash vines on my second site because they were getting into the nearby ornamental plants. Should have stuck with a bush variety. Live and learn :)