A Big Tomato Harvest after a Wet August

Fresh Harvest of Cherry Tomatoes

We had a lot of rain in the last 30 days. 8-10 inches in fact. My gardening friend quoted "17 inches in 16 days" so results vary. The good or the bad part of it, depending on your perspective, is most of the rain would fall overnight. There was no progress made on indoor projects. I remained outdoors mucking around wet grass and picking over-plump tomatoes.

Eggplant with Garlic Sauce

Vegetables

Tomatoes were splitting with the excessive rain, but mostly edible. I harvested a nice bunch of eggplant to make my eggplant with garlic side dish. The eggplants are small, about 6 inches long, but I'm happy to have them. It looks like another group will be ready for a September harvest.

Tomato Harvest

Tomato and Eggplant Garden

Tomato Plants

The jalapeños are plentiful. My summer's first serving of jalapeno poppers were so intensely hot, however, it scared us away from one of our favorite dishes.

Pests

Hornworm Eating Green Tomato

There was an uptick in hornworm and other caterpillar activity on the tomatoes. This is a challenging game of trying to spot the very well-camouflaged worm on the plant. Clues are a stripped stem or a chewed green tomato (see photo) or waste material on leaves.

False Dragonhead Flower

Flowers in bloom

The late summer flowers are starting to bloom now. A couple of days ago, the first False Dragonhead bloomed. When several of these bloom together, the color impact of the purple is amazing.

Crape Myrtle Tree in Bloom

The flowers on the Crape Myrtle tree are a deep pink or fuchsia color. The tree has been allowed to grow tall so that the blooms are at the second story windows. Cleomes have finished blooming and I've collected seeds.

American Beautyberry

The American Beautyberry is known more for its purple berries than flowers. The green berries are starting to change to a dramatic purple.

Coming Up Everywhere

Wind and birds have reseeded several plants across the yard.  Lemon Balm, Crape Myrtle, and American Beautyberry plants are popping up everywhere.

☔

I hope you are having a great August! You can find rainfall totals for U.S. locations here.

Lots of Green Tomatoes in my July Garden

Cherry Tomatoes on Patio Plant

 Vegetable Garden

Since I planted tomatoes and peppers late this year, July presents itself with lots of green tomatoes. I have bunches of cherry tomatoes growing in containers on the deck. Massive caged tomato plants are along the back of the house. Small eggplants have started in this area also. I hope to get good eggplant produce, but recent years have been plagued with the opposite. In the past, aphids have overrun the eggplant so I aggressively treated these with a soap solution this year.

Cherry Tomato Plants Thrive on Deck

Tomato Plants off the Deck

Across the yard in the traditional vegetable garden, the yellow and zucchini squash are battling with the insects. Jalapeno peppers are producing great, but the green pepper plants are off to a slow start. Several of these plants died after bugs ate most of the leaves..

It is interesting that my zucchini, which has always been a stalwart of the garden, has not produced a single fruit. I photographed the beginnings of one, but haven't seen anything since. The squash bugs have been around for a couple months and I haven't had the heart to use a pesticide. The store-bought yellow squash plants are producing in small numbers.

We're making plans to rest this garden area next year. Because of back problems, I'm to avoid bending, and weeds and grasses have taken over.

Japanese Beetles on Eggplant Leaves

Red-spotted Purple Butterfly on Butterfly Bush Flower

Flowers in Bloom

The Butterfly Bushes are smelling great and attracting many skippers and swallowtail butterflies. The Hibiscus is blooming and attracting bumble bees. Stargazer lilies continue to bloom.

Hibiscus in Bloom

Pests

Japanese Beetles are numerous this year. In the past, they have destroyed Hibiscus blooms and Azalea leaves with their relentless appetites. This year, my gardener neighbors and I have noticed the diversity of plants being attacked by this pest. Butterfly Bush blooms, Crape Myrtle leaves, Strawberry leaves, Cleome blooms, and Asparagus ferns are now on the menu. I collect the clumsy beetles in jars of soap water. It's a chore that can go on all day. It seems I will have to treat the yard in the spring to curb the beetle infestation.

Sedum Showing Leaf Damage

The mystery pest of the month has attacked the sedum growing in the front yard. The leaves have been partially removed down the stem in "corn cob" fashion. Is it insect or is it animal?

Thanks for reading my blog post! I hope your gardening is going well. All the best, Pam

August in the NC Vegetable Garden

Green Peppers Sauteed with Onions

Since I last wrote about the vegetable garden in early July (only a month and 1 week ago), plants have peaked and crashed. In what I referred to as a "winding down" period, most plants are no longer producing.

Tomatoes, eggplants, and squash provided great meals and side dishes. The tomatoes, especially, experienced a premature end as a wilt fungus crept through the garden. This situation is described in more detail, in my posted article about wilt.

Wilted Eggplant July 21, 2017

It is a challenge to write about the garden of August and not list a bunch of negative situations, but it is August. The bugs are multiplying, microbes are spreading, and squirrels will be squirrels.

I've started the garden cleanup and all yellow and zucchini squash has been removed with, hopefully, all the families of squash bugs, pickle worms, and vine squash borers with them. It's important to resist the urge to compost infected plants. Stink bugs and the like will overwinter in compost and leaf litter.

Spaghetti Squash

Squash with Downy Mildew

A beautiful spaghetti squash gourd appeared and grew rapidly, but rotted from the inside. After its removal, the remaining plants choked of powdery mildew. Spaghetti squash is a delicious vegetable, but, because of the long growing season, is challenging to bring to maturity.

Some Creature Likes Jalapenos

Small Tobacco Hornworm

My extra-large Jalapeño crop continues to produce along with a smaller number of green pepper plants. Only in the last 2 weeks have 4 plants been affected by wilt. Like I said, the wilt fungus has truly crept through the garden in a random pattern. For some reason, the peppers have been very resistant to this problem. I'm very pleased with this year's harvest. The tobacco hornworm came back in a second wave of young worms that had a taste for hot peppers 😏 and eggplant leaves.

There are 3 eggplant plants left out of 12 (wilt). I am optimistic about getting enough for a side dish.

Bush Beans

My original bush beans planted in late April are still producing! A few plants dried up, but others thrive. This is such an easy crop that I planted more seeds in spaces where the tomatoes were pulled.

I like to grow sunflowers with the vegetables to attract pollinators. This year a squirrel ate a lot of seeds before germination. A spectacular Mammoth Sunflower survived and was 13 foot in height when a squirrel climbed up and broke the stem. The flower wasn't even open yet.

I hope everyone is having a good vegetable gardening season. Some of my Twitter friends are just starting to harvest in other parts of the country. All the best and thanks for reading!

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Wilt in the Vegetable Garden

July 21 Eggplant showing wilt on one stem

During the busy vegetable garden season, I write articles about garden harvests, problems, and solutions. There's a problem in this year's garden that deserves it's own post. The topic is wilt and I'm seeing it from early plantings through mature plants with fruits. One-at-a-time eggplant, tomato, and sunflower plants exhibit wilting as if drought-stricken. Over the course of 2 weeks, the plant shrivels, and must carefully be removed to avoid contamination of other plants.

July 21 Wilted Tomato Plant

The good news is that the wilt has followed a spaced out pattern affecting single plants. I have not had entire rows of tomatoes or eggplants wiped out at the same time, and have had plenty of vegetables for my small household.

At the time of this writing, my 12 eggplants have gradually died off to leave 3. I've lost 7 of the tomatoes except for one Cherry tomato plant.  All this has happened over the course of a 3 month growing season.

July 21 Wilted Eggplant with Squash in Background

As described in this article, "What's Killing my Tomatoes?" wilt can be caused by root knot nematodes, fungi, or bacteria.

All these causes disrupt the flow of water and nutrients up the plant's stem. This disruption is seen as wilt moving throughout the plant until it dies.

Side note:  Tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and many others are part of the Nightshade family of plants and are affected by the same problems. Under watering has been ruled out because of regular rain and irrigation.

July 21 Roots of a Wilted Tomato Plant

Root nematodes leave knot structures on the roots. I examined the root system of a wilted tomato plant and found it was clear of knots.

July 21 Wilted Eggplant Cross Section

July 21 Healthy Eggplant Cross Section

In comparing the cross sections of a wilted eggplant stem and a healthy eggplant, the wilted shows a brown staining in the plant tissue. This is a sign of wilt- either fusarium or verticillium.

July 21 Healthy Tomato Cross Section

July 21 Wilted Tomato Cross Section

Shawn Bank's article (link is above) further describes a test for bacterial wilt where a cut stem is observed in a water glass. White streaming indicates a bacterial infection causing the wilt. I cut several eggplant and tomato stems and didn't observe bacterial streaming.

So there we have it. No root knot nematodes, no bacterial streaming, so the cause of my wilting is fungal. What is the solution? The article recommends (1) rotating out of the area (2) solar heating the soil (3) using disease-resistant plants.

These are all reasonable suggestions and things I can try. Most of the tags on my nursery-bought plants listed no disease resistance. However, the Cherry tomatoes listed V and F resistance, but one of the 2 wilted anyway.

Have you had an experience with vegetable plants wilting? I would love to hear about it in the comments below! Thanks for reading my blog. I post daily about garden activities on Twitter @gopamnc .

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July in the Vegetable Garden

Overgrown Yellow Squash June 2017

Overgrown Zucchini June 2017

It's early July as I'm writing this post. Just as the squash is growing at dizzying speeds, my occasional out-of-town trips have resulted in some overgrown vegetables. Even when I'm in the garden every day, though, it is easy to miss a zucchini squash hiding under the leaves.

A Beautiful Spaghetti Squash Blossom

🌿Squash
The insects haven't killed any plants yet. The harvest has been huge so once the bugs take over, I'll start removing plants. The slower-growing spaghetti squash is hanging on in a corner of the garden. The vines are narrow and fragile-looking. Time will tell if these plants will survive to produce gourds.

Partially Eaten Tomato Left on Well Cover

🍅Tomatoes
The tomatoes are starting to ripen. Some plants have severe wilt and I picked the large tomatoes to ripen on the kitchen counter. The squirrels have started to steal fruit and roll it out of the garden. Outwitting wildlife is all a part of vegetable gardening so I'll be picking tomatoes earlier than I prefer.

1st Eggplant Harvest July 2017

🍆Eggplant
Today I have eggplant ready to pick. Last year's 8 plants failed to produce due to severe aphid infestations. This year I started with 12 plants and treated for bugs a couple of times. As a result, the plants had many more flowers and the crop looks good. I have had to remove 4 plants because they wilted and died. Removal is handled in a sanitary way to reduce cross-contamination.

Green Beans Ready for Harvest

🌿Green beans
The green beans are producing and so easy to grow! I like sitting on my step stool, picking the beans, and listening to the birds calling to each other.

Jalapenos Over 3" Long

Jalapeno Poppers with Fresh Peas

🌾Peppers
This year's jalapeno and green peppers are producing well. I doubled up on the jalapeno numbers to make poppers. This variety is growing larger than I've ever grown before. Recipe for Jalapeno Poppers here: Jalapeno Poppers

🐜Japanese beetles are attracted to the eggplant and peppers. They are slow, clunky bugs and easy to catch and dispatch. Needless to say, they're having a field day with my hibiscus on the other side of the yard.

🌻Sunflowers
Having had gorgeous sunflowers in my vegetable garden in the past, this year is disappointing. First the squirrels dug up several seeds and seedlings. Then a few succumbed to wilt - not related to watering. I have about 8 plants surviving. 2015 was a great year for these flowers. This post has several photos of sunflowers.

It goes without saying that friends and family are benefiting from the garden bounty. Cooking and freezing vegetables is another option for me, but then I would have to stay inside, right? This is the time when the out-of-doors beckons with grass to cut and plants to maintain.

I would love to hear about your summer vegetable garden. How are things going? What challenges are you facing?

July will present a whirlwind of activity in the garden. I post on twitter daily about my garden activities at @gopamnc . Follow me and retweet to show your interest and comments. Thanks!😊

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Garden Happenings June 2017

Yellow squash 7 weeks after planting seeds

This is a fun and exciting time in the garden. It's awesome to walk through the rows and decide what to pick. Most plants are heavy with produce, and the bugs have not yet overwhelmed the garden.

Squash

Squash is a fast-growing vegetable that is easy to cook. I have 25 squash plants this year. The straight neck yellow squash started producing first. This week I look forward to picking and cooking this squash.

Zucchini produce growing at base of 7 week old plant

7 weeks after planting seeds, produce on the zucchini squash is now visible. Zucchini easily camouflages itself among the green base of the plant until the fruit grows a foot long or more. It's tricky to find it at a smaller, manageable size. I have Spaghetti squash planted in a far corner of the garden. This gives it ample room to run vines for a much longer growth period than the other squash plants.

Tomatoes

Plants have green tomatoes now, but we're not taking this stalwart of the garden for granted. One plant wilted and had a burned appearance. Another had a partial wilt that was removed. This geographical area has a bacterial wilt virus that can contaminate the soil for years and make tomato growing impossible. With optimism, I'll hope the wilting is limited (like last year), and carry on.

First pepper harvest of 2017

Peppers

I've harvested a few jalapenos already. Jalapeno Poppers prepared with cream cheese and bacon will be on the menu this week.

Peas
Both sweet peas and snow peas are growing. These make a nice, crunchy snack while working in the garden.

Flower of the sweet pea plant

Bush beans
The beans have just started flowering. This is another plant that can "hide" its fruit in the foliage. I look forward to fresh beans in a couple of weeks.

Eggplants
Last year's eggplant harvest was limited by a severe aphid infestation. The plants were stunted and didn't produce fruit. Allowing for problems, I have increased my crop to 12 plants. Interestingly, many of the plants have spines on the leaves and flowers. Also, insects seem to be attracted to eggplant leaves. This week Japanese Beetles made an appearance.

Sunflowers
With screened cages to foil squirrels, a few sunflower plants are managing to grow. See last month's blog for more on that problem.

June will reveal daily surprises and challenges in the garden. I tweet regularly about my garden activities at @gopamnc . Follow me and retweet your support and comments. Thanks!😊

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State of the Garden July 2016

A Cute Fawn Visitor While Gardening - Garden Lady Blog

Vegetables

This year's vegetable garden was started in April. Particularly with the squashes, this gave everything a head start on growth before the insects started cycling through. I've had to pull some plants because of Squash Vine Borer, but, by now, I've had my fill of Crook Neck, Straight Neck, and Zucchini squash. The Spaghetti Squash is growing beautifully up a trellis ( and across to neighboring tomato cages). One vine has borer damage, but it is entangled with healthier plants so I'll have to leave it for now.

Spaghetti Squash gourd on a trellis - Garden Lady Blog

This was my first time growing Bush Beans. They were easy to grow with no insect worries. Simple to cook: prep and wash, cover with water, add salt and boil then simmer for 30 minutes.

Front View of Vegetable Garden - Garden Lady Blog

Cherry Tomatoes have been producing for well over a month. The regular tomatoes are just now turning red at a quick pace. A few plants have wilted, but some of those continue to produce fruit. At this late date, I found my first Hornworm on a green pepper plant. The green peppers have been trouble-free.

Hornworm on Pepper Plant - Garden Lady Blog

Flowers

The Sunflowers are a sight to see! There is always a new bloom to admire. Frequent rains have knocked down some stalks so I'm tying them up. To discourage squirrels, I remove the flower after blooming.

Sunflower Bloom - Garden Lady Blog

The Loofah is a running plant like spaghetti squash. It produces beautiful flat yellow flowers. As of yet I haven't seen anything capable of exfoliating on the vine.

Loofah Flower - Garden Lady Blog

The Red Okra produced gorgeous flowers and shiny red fruit. I admired the flowers and gave away the fruit.

Red Okra Flower - Garden Lady Blog

July is a hot month in North Carolina. Fortunately, this year we've been blessed with frequent showers so dragging a sprinkler around trying to save plants is unnecessary. I look forward to winding down the squash harvests and a resurrection of the eggplant. One can hope, right?

I would love to hear your comments about vegetable gardening.

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