Cookaholics Bulletin Board

I'm off tomorrow, but it is supposed to start raining HARD tonight, and all day tomorrow, so I came home and planted almost all the rest of my peppers (up to 53 now, still have 6 late ones still indoors), some more of those cantaloupe, which I am trying on my fence I grow beans, tomatoes, and cukes on. And I got 10 cukes on that, as well. All this time it was raining lightly, but at lest I didn't have to water all these things!

I will be planting my Tomatoes tonight. They will be in a planter, so if there is a frost warning, I can roll it into the garage for the night.

I've been growing some basil plants. They are taking longer than I expected. I may have over saturated the pot with water a few times and reduced the pH. Basil likes a slightly acidic soil. But these are finally a pretty good size - about 12 inches tall.

The unexpected opportunity is our local grocery store is selling pots of beautiful basil plants for $3 per pot, each having 6 to 8 plants.
Looks like it's now pesto season!

Here are my Cherry Tomatoe plants. This is crazy how big they are and it's not even July. I have to fill up the bottom of this planter with water everyday now instead of every other day. Two weeks ago it was every 4 days. It won't be long before I have to fill it twice a day.

Thanks for the tip on acid for basil. We have super alkaline water (on a well) and know we need to add tons of acid to keep the PH balanced in the pool. Never thought to do anything about basil. DH did something to add acid to our blueberry bushes and they are starting to look good.

Our zucchini is on its way to taking over the world as usual, but we cut one side back to give the cucumbers a shot, so far so good. Lots of tomatoes, none ready to eat, one plant tipped over like its trying to get out of the cage. Those look like plum tomatoes to me. I am worried the beefsteaks are all going to ripen at once. The little guys look like they will ripen in more manageable bunches. And we have 2 melons at different stages. I thought they were cantaloupes, but they are light green with darker stripes now (definitely not supposed to be watermelons), so we'll have to wait and see.

Our dill for the first time is huge, using it a lot, Thai basil is healthy, cutting back the flowers constantly, tarragon thriving as are sage, rosemary and thyme. Parsley is healthy but not nearly full enough to be of use, had to buy some yesterday. Both chives have flowered, so I cut them back and they are full again. And of course both mints are thriving, including the one that was supposed to be dead and get thrown away, but I forgot to put it in the can. I grabbed the roots and threw them sideways in a pot to let the thyme grown, then DH moved the pot to get out of the way (instead of throwing it away) and now it is huge (next to the daisies so it gets a lot water). Chamomile and lavender are also flowering but not bushy and not particularly pretty yet.

This is only the second year I've had any real space for gardening, and the first that I've grown absolutely everything from seed, most of which are heirloom, from Baker's Creek. I started some of them back in February (I was ambitious), and I already harvested a couple of peppers (this morning) and basil (all the time). I didn't get my first pepper until late July/early August last season.

I've got:

• Brandywine tomatoes
• Hillbilly tomatoes
• tomatillos
• jalapeno peppers
• serrano peppers
• red bell peppers
• paprika peppers
• zucchini
• cucumbers
• corn
• purple podded pole beans
• peas
• brussels sprouts
• red leaf lettuce
• basil
• parsley
• thyme
• chives

We'll see how it goes. We're still renting, and the area where the garden currently resides only gets about six or so hours of sunlight a day, which is partly why I started them so early. (The garden would otherwise be on the enormous front lawn, which gets 8 - 9 hours of sunlight.) So far, the bugs are having their way with my brussels sprouts, and several of the corn plants have been trampled by some annoying critter. And after I took the trouble to transplant them, since the chipmunks dug up each and every corn seed that I planted last season.

WOW
My 83 year old, live in, MIL took over all of my garden space for flowers..... Stunning to look at but hardly hearty
I do have deadly basil.

I just harvested garlic this week (just in time...I really didn't want to be out in high 90's heat!). Should have enough for the summer, at least. Got about 90 heads, including the dozen or so I have to use very soon (not difficult).

Music Garlic:

Metechi Garlic:

I harvested my garlic and shallots 2 weeks ago (3+ weeks early for upstate NY) because of renovations on my patio. They were still green but they look as beautiful as yours. I harvested 112 shallots and 36 garlic.

Yours looks great Dave. We both had a good year!

Did you guys use your Scapes in anything? I read a recipe the other day where they used Pistachios for the nuts in Garlic Scape Pesto. Sounds good to me.