My garden today

[Figgerlickinggood]

The garden seems to be reaching the beginning of the end of season. I pulled all the zucchini plants today, they’re spent. Now in the compost pile. The tomatoes also seem to be winding down. The marigolds are still in full bloom and going full speed. I actually pulled a few of them and threw it in the compost bin and one of them dug its roots in a growing. Peppers doing good and also the basil. My little free bonus apple tree is now as tall as the garden hoops. And last my 3 rooted cuttings are loving their new pots.

 

[TorontoJoe]

I love it!

I wish my layout could accommodate netting like that. I’m thinking of redoing my entire garden setup to better accommodate protecting the plants.

 

[Figgerlickinggood]

I love it!

I wish my layout could accommodate netting like that. I’m thinking of redoing my entire garden setup to better accommodate protecting the plants.

That’s 40% shade cloth. Bought it last summer from AM Lenard

 

[TorontoJoe]

That’s 40% shade cloth. Bought it last summer from AM Lenard

Those peppers are so perfect I assumed it was insect netting

 

[Figgerlickinggood]

Those peppers are so perfect I assumed it was insect netting

No netting or organza bags. The only pest that attacked was the squash bugs. I went out to hunt them down twice a day squashing them, their eggs and nymphs. After a couple of weeks of due diligence I didn’t see them any more. My husband swears that the marigolds did their job as a insect repellent.

 

[TorontoJoe]

Those are a lot of marigolds for sure... I thought marigolds were only for nematodes.

I threw away more peppers today.... I'm eating a bunch too now as well though..... I think I took a big hit when I was in Italy and couldn't put the bags on while they were small

 

[scott_va]

Tomatoes still going strong here in my tiny garden. The old man who lived next to me taught me two things about tomatoes that I think are right. 1) Don’t buy your tomatoes from the big box stores, grow them from seed 2) pick off the leaves next to the ground for about 2 feet to prevent late blight (as long as you can)

 

[ktrain]

Looks great Teresa, nothing like those home grown treats!

 

[TorontoJoe]

I’ve always started from seed because I love my heirlooms. I think pruning low foliage has also helped a great deal. Not only with tomatoes but peppers and cucumbers seems to do better as well.

One practice that I stopped this year is that of removing suckers on indeterminate tomatoes to let them grow as a single stem. After years of doing at least some of this, I wasn’t getting the results. I thought I should., I decided not to do it at all this year and the result has been a tremendous amount of fruit. I’m definitely not going to do this anymore. If the theory has been that by reducing suckers there would be less competition for nutrients… My position is now to add more nutrients. I have some pretty bushy indeterminant vines, but they’re all producing loads more tomatoes.

 

[Wisner]

I’ve always started from seed because I love my heirlooms. I think pruning low foliage has also helped a great deal. Not only with tomatoes but peppers and cucumbers seems to do better as well.

One practice that I stopped this year is that of removing suckers on indeterminate tomatoes to let them grow as a single stem. After years of doing at least some of this, I wasn’t getting the results. I thought I should., I decided not to do it at all this year and the result has been a tremendous amount of fruit. I’m definitely not going to do this anymore. If the theory has been that by reducing suckers there would be less competition for nutrients… My position is now to add more nutrients. I have some pretty bushy indeterminant vines, but they’re all producing loads more tomatoes.

I prune the suckers up to the first set of blooms. After that I let them go.

 

[TorontoJoe]

I prune the suckers up to the first set of blooms. After that I let them go.

Just curious... is this to give it time to establish?

 

[Wisner]

Just curious... is this to give it time to establish?

It keeps you from having too much growth real low to the ground. I also cut off any low limbs that are touching the soil, helps control diseases.

 

[TorontoJoe]

It keeps you from having too much growth real low to the ground. I also cut off any low limbs that are touching the soil, helps control diseases.

Absolutely..... keeping foliage away from the ground was definitely a game changer for me

 

[Figsee]

I ended up picking 4 of these this weekend which ended up turning into 42 quarts of juice when adding it to my first round Sal marzanos. I’ve saved seeds for the last 8 years so I’ve been working off the same strain for a long time.

 

[TorontoJoe]

View attachment 12513
I ended up picking 4 of these this weekend which ended up turning into 42 quarts of juice when adding it to my first round Sal marzanos. I’ve saved seeds for the last 8 years so I’ve been working off the same strain for a long time.

Those are fine looking pomodori!

May I ask what you use to squeeze them? Your process? I'm gearing up for our big tomato day at my house next weekend. We should be doing about 17 bushels..... It's quite a production.

 

[Figsee]

Those are fine looking pomodori!

May I ask what you use to squeeze them? Your process? I'm gearing up for our big tomato day at my house next weekend. We should be doing about 17 bushels..... It's quite a production.

Nothing fancy for me I guess. I’ve always used a manual hand crank squeezo strainer that was my moms and grand mothers before her.

1:Start by rinsing off the tomatoes
2:Boil the tomatoes for 3 minutes then place in ice bath ( tomatoes I’m using for seeds don’t get boiled )
3:cut off stems and prune off any bruised sections
4: strain tomatoes through mill to juice tomatoes ( my kids are picky so if they see a seed it’s the end of the world)
5: depending on time, I will either boil off the juice directly or I will place in a container over night and seperate as much water as possible

 

[Figsee]

Those are fine looking pomodori!

May I ask what you use to squeeze them? Your process? I'm gearing up for our big tomato day at my house next weekend. We should be doing about 17 bushels..... It's quite a production.

Do you grow your own tomatoes or do you by them? 17 bushels seems like a lot to grow all at once.

 

[TorontoJoe]

Nothing fancy for me I guess. I’ve always used a manual hand crank squeezo strainer that was my moms and grand mothers before her.

1:Start by rinsing off the tomatoes
2:Boil the tomatoes for 3 minutes then place in ice bath ( tomatoes I’m using for seeds don’t get boiled )
3:cut off stems and prune off any bruised sections
4: strain tomatoes through mill to juice tomatoes ( my kids are picky so if they see a seed it’s the end of the world)
5: depending on time, I will either boil off the juice directly or I will place in a container over night and seperate as much water as possible

I love it! The squeezo is a legend!

Yeah.... 17 bushels is a lot. We've done more but it's tough. This is for several families and I can't grow that quantity. I get them from a local farm.

I have three motorized Tre Spade squeezers that I inherited. with this many the key for us is to get them into the big pots and reducing as fast as possible.... We clean and cut them then move into the sqeezers raw. Juice goes right into the pots from there. Near the end we salt and add basil before canning. The bottleneck is definitely the reduction. I have 6 big pots on propane burners but it can old boil off so fast.

Once all the tomatoes are in the pot all we can do is stir and eat for a few hours before filling the jars.

 

[Figsee]

I love it! The squeezo is a legend!

Yeah.... 17 bushels is a lot. We've done more but it's tough. This is for several families and I can't grow that quantity. I get them from a local farm.

I have three motorized Tre Spade squeezers that I inherited. with this many the key for us is to get them into the big pots and reducing as fast as possible.... We clean and cut them then move into the sqeezers raw. Juice goes right into the pots from there. Near the end we salt and add basil before canning. The bottleneck is definitely the reduction. I have 6 big pots on propane burners but it can old boil off so fast.

Once all the tomatoes are in the pot all we can do is stir and eat for a few hours before filling the jars.

Yea reducing it is the time consuming part. I bought a 60 qt pot to use on a propane boiler to cook down.

We have 36 plants and sometimes I think that’s too much but if you have a ton of tomatoes at once that makes things so much easier so I almost wonder if I should double that. We have some multiple batches of harvesting and juicing then freezing the juice but I do not like freezing big bricks of juice because it takes forever to thaw.

 

[TorontoJoe]

Yea reducing it is the time consuming part. I bought a 60 qt pot to use on a propane boiler to cook down.

We have 36 plants and sometimes I think that’s too much but if you have a ton of tomatoes at once that makes things so much easier so I almost wonder if I should double that. We have some multiple batches of harvesting and juicing then freezing the juice but I do not like freezing big bricks of juice because it takes forever to thaw.

I agree.... Canning is so much better than freezing. Less space. Less energy... tastes better... not to mention making the sauce with friends and family is hard work... but a lot of fun too.

Personally, I would totally recommend getting more pots/burners if you can. Even better if they're shorter and wider. .... I have two 100-liter, two 80-liter, one 40 and one 20.... I think I'm grabbing another 100 liter and another burner this week. I found them online used for a good price. Hopefully still available....