WOW! Mine are just a memory now; but I did have a good crop this year. Although I didn't have a handsome visitor like Rutgers. I had hundreds of the little black SOBs that turn into lubbers.

Cathy, I should have probably squashed him, because they will eat the leaves and they'll eat holes in the fruit, but he escaped with his life, just because I didn't have the heart to do him in.

What are lubbers?

Annie

We have had three cherry tomatoes ripen so far and also have baby zucchinis. All of the larger tomatoes are still green.

Our Japanese eggplant isn't even flowering so I don't have too much hope for it. We only planted one because we weren't successful when we planted them before.

How did you make the Sriracha pickles? Max would love those.

All your tomatoes look great.

Lee

Here is the Lubber link. They are huge when they are mature.

Here is a link that might be useful: Eastern Lubbers

Thanks, stuartwanda. some of my grasshoppers here are big and look like that brown "Eastern" grasshopper, but I don't really have a lot of grasshoppers here at all. I'm battling box elder bugs and those blasted Japanese beetles.

Lee, the Sriracha pickles are easy. The recipe calls for cucumbers, but I use small zucchini if I don't have a cucumber. Elery likes them on sandwiches. I just mix a cup of white or cider vinegar with 2 cups of sugar, 3 tablespoons of sriracha, a teaspoon of celery seed. Add half a thinly sliced red onion and enough sliced cucumber to fill the bowl but still be covered in brine. Let it sit overnight in the refrigerator. They aren't even too spicy for me, and I reuse the brine another time or so when we eat the pickles.

I planted eggplant too, six of them, and they are just now getting buds, so don't give up hope on it!

Annie

REAL NJ tomatoes are starting to show up at farm stands. Haven't been able to grow any in the ground myself for last several years because of CRITTERS!!

Thanks Annie, the Sriracha pickles sound very good to me. I make a lot of cukes with vinegar, soy, ginger and a little sugar - this will be a nice variation on a quick pickle theme.

Lee

Our tomato crop is rather sad. We lost a big pear tree a few weeks ago during a storm and it fell into our raised beds, knocking down the fences our beans, cucumbers and tomatoes were on. We managed to get them propped, tied, braced...anything else we could do to get them back up. The tomatoes were not destroyed but definitely will not bear as they would have. I did manage to get enough beans to can 13 quarts plus more than enough to eat. We do have late beans and tomatoes planted so...we'll see how that goes. Our sweet peppes as well as our hot ones are pathetic.

I read in the local paper this morning that some of the farmers are saying the really hot weather we're having is affecting the size of the tomatoes.

As we all know the one thing we can't control is the weather.

jude

Looking good Annie!

I'm battling blossom end rot again. Planted "Delicious" for the first time... amazing vine but rotten fruit. Something about acid-calcium balance. Going to have to figure this one out as I lose fruit every year. Sungolds are coming on strong now without the rot. I planted several variety but forgot what where. A couple failed... deer ate them or they just blew away. Some transplants I thought were dead sprang back from bare stems.

I'm loving my motion detecting sprinkler system... so far affective against deer. Two heads cost me $100 so they had better work for some years. So far delighted to have a decent garden again. Munching down a row of spinach and just bought seed to see if I can get a late summer row of it. Jalapenos from this year are putting out fruit... some hot some not. Ripe habenera hanging on last year's plant. Red Savinas(melting atomic reactor hot) are starting to turn... meaning to work with some unripe savinas to see if I can get more flavor. Cayenne are wildly fruited out but no ripe yet... bumper crop when they come on.

: )
lyra

We have HUGE Sungold plants but fruit has come in late and not yet ripened!

jessica, I have one Golden Jubilee that's taller than I am. That's only 5 feet and an inch or so, but still, a pretty impressive tomato plant. Nothing is close to ripe yet, of course.

I plated Mortgage Lifter, White, Rutgers, Beefsteak, Golden Jubilee, Cherokee Purple, Yellow Cherry and somethng I don't remember, LOL. They all have fruit, but not big enough to determine whether they will be affected by BER. I water regularly, since they are right in the back yard and I'm hoping that helps.

Michael, I also have habaneros, jalapenos, cubanelles and mini bell peppers, all have tiny fruit but nothing substantial yet. The habaneros will be for "gold", of course, the rest will probably be dried and saved for chii, etc. Elery and Ashley both like chilies rellenos, but I don't and Elery is hoping I'll like the cubanelles stuffed. We'll see.....

Jude, I'm sorry about your garden, but I'm especially sorry about the pear tree. For some reason people just don't grow pears as much as they used to, and so I have trouble every year finding pears to can. I keep threatening to plant trees, but I haven't. Yet. I'll have to buy beans from the farm market if I can any, although I did plant some of Elery's Pink Half Runners and I'll can as many as I get.

and my little peach trees out by the pool are loaded with peaches this year, we'll see if they ripen. We had a big windstorm last night, "Hurricane force winds" according to the national Weather Service, up to 80 MPH. Knocked down a lot of corn, hopefully that'll stand back up. It hasn't been determined whether the winds damaged this year's bumper apple and peach crop, although 191,000 people are still without power and one man died because a tree fell on his garage while he was inside.

I ought to go check the peach trees, I suppose, before I get complacent.

Annie

I have Sungold tomatoes coming out my ears. It really suprises me because we had winter weather well into May.

My Mammoth Dill is limping along however. It's further out in the yard and took a hit when the tornado passed over in early June.

Teresa

Our tomatoes are not faring too well this year (no sun) but we've got about 6 various heirlooms that seem to be doing pretty well & have fruit. We'll see...won't be ripe for another couple weeks. The ones looking the best are Cherokee Purple, Orange Oxheart, German Johnson, Berkeley Tie Dye, Polish Linguisa, & Brown Berry Cherry. We harvested our Early Italian Purple garlic last weekend & it's fantastic. Made a fresh batch of salsa every day since Saturday 'cause the garlic's so good. Smothered a BBQ'd pork tenderloin with it last night. Fresh charred corn on the side.

Annie, I think the "windstorm" that came through last night was a derecho. The word in Spanish means "straight" and can leave wide, long swaths of straight-line wind damage. Derecho winds can be 50 to 100 mph so it could very well have been "hurricane force". A Cat 1 hurricane starts at 74 mph & the scale goes up in increments to a Cat 5 starting at 155+ mph.

/tricia

tricia, it very well may have been, but it always takes the National Weather Service a couple of days to decide whether they are tornadoes or straight line winds.

I'm very familiar with derecho winds, as we experienced them in May of 1998, We had trees down everywhere and lots of damage to homes and vehicles. No injuries, thankfully.

The warning from the National Weather Service said only "hurricane force winds exceeding 80 MPH" and urged everyone to seek shelter. They haven't issued an official statement yet, they are based in Grand Rapids locally and probably their power is still out. (grin)

We did get this "update" last night:

Coastal Flood Warning Remains In Effect Until 8 PM EDT This
Evening...

� Water Levels: Dangerously Rapid Changes In Water Levels Are Expected This Afternoon After The Storms Have Moved Out Of The Area.

� Timing:Through 8 PM This Evening

� Impacts:High Danger Of Rip Currents And Water Levels May Surge To Unusually High Levels On Area Beaches Several Times Into This Evening.

Precautionary/Preparedness Actions...

A Coastal Flood Warning Means That Flooding Is Occurring Or
Imminent. Coastal Residents In The Warned Area Should Be Alert For Rising Water...And Take Appropriate Action To Protect Life And Property.

We didn't really have much of a problem with flooding, I'm too far inland, but we sure got whacked by the wind. Not as bad as The Lakeshore did, but enough to take down trees and knock over the corn. I haven't been to the farm yet to check pasture fences for downed trees...

Annie

As you know, we are certified through NOAA as spotters and were listening to the "chatter" last night. The local spotters seemed pretty sure it was derecho but, you're right, it has to be checked out. Sometimes, they send out spotters to take a look at weather events & other times they send meteorologists. Your storm is probably getting the real dudes. There's been a lot of...for lack of a non-controversial word...weather "events" this year all over the country. We've never seen a derecho. We had to learn to recognize their signature but have never seen one up close & personal.

Interesting weather except for the loss of life/property. That's why NOAA has the network of spotters, of course, more eyes on the ground.

Here's from NOAA:

What is SKYWARN�?
The effects of severe weather are felt every year by many Americans. To obtain critical weather information, NOAA's National Weather Service (NWS), part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, established SKYWARN� with partner organizations. SKYWARN� is a volunteer program with nearly 290,000 trained severe weather spotters. These volunteers help keep their local communities safe by providing timely and accurate reports of severe weather to the National Weather Service.

Although SKYWARN� spotters provide essential information for all types of weather hazards, the main responsibility of a SKYWARN� spotter is to identify and describe severe local storms. In the average year, 10,000 severe thunderstorms, 5,000 floods and more than 1,000 tornadoes occur across the United States. These events threatened lives and property.

Since the program started in the 1970s, the information provided by SKYWARN� spotters, coupled with Doppler radar technology, improved satellite and other data, has enabled NWS to issue more timely and accurate warnings for tornadoes, severe thunderstorms and flash floods.

SKYWARN� storm spotters are part of the ranks of citizens who form the Nation's first line of defense against severe weather.

I have, on occasion, gotten the impression you don't think highly of NOAA. :) Sorry if I seem sensitive. There's lots of people, including us, working very hard to do the best we can to help get those warnings out. Yeah, weather is complicated & predictions are not always accurate but everybody is doing the best they can & getting better every year. :)

To keep food related, I heard lots of corn was lost. Not good.

/tricia

Tricia, I don't think much about any of the "weather services", not because I don't think they provide a valuable service but because I think so many things are over blown and over hyped. Since when is 4 inches of snow in Michigan a "winter storm emergency"? Heck, 4 inches of snow doesn't cause me to shovel my driveway, usually. Get a ruler and measure 4 inches, seriously, it's barely over the top of my ankles. A thunder storm is not "severe weather", we have them weekly, sometimes several days in a row and 60 MPH wind gusts along the Lake are normal, as is 20 below zero. If you put them both together, that's when it gets ugly, LOL.

I realize that's what they do for a living and so they get all excited over every weather abberration, but they cry wolf so many times with watches and warnings and alerts that no one much pays attention anymore here. A tornado watch only means that conditions are such that there could be a tornado. Not that there is, or probably will be or even that there's a good chance. Only that the conditions are such that it could happen, it might happen. They don't bother to add that it probably WON'T happen. Then when there really IS an emergency, people take it too lightly because they've been hearing "emergency" constantly when it isn't and the local media just makes it worse.

The guy who was killed here was in a garage/playroom with his wife and 6 children, watching the storm. The weather finally got bad enough that they headed for the house, he got his wife and children to safety but died himself. They shouldn't have been out there, of course, but we are so used to "Danger!!! Danger!!! We're all going to die!!!" that he didn't pay attention. In this instance, it really was dangerous.

To keep it food related, my peace trees escaped pretty well, they are sheltered in the back corner of the privacy fence around the pool. We'll see how the pasture fence fared tomorrow, gotta keep that beef in one place.

Annie

Ah, I gotcha. Well, we're not associated with any media outlet so I'll stop being sensitive.

The NWS issues it's special weather statements, advisories, watches, & warnings based upon SPECIFIC criteria. Each has its own meaning. What local media does with that info is something else entirely.

Because we're spotters & I don't know who is reading all this...I'll put our standard blurb...every household should have a NOAA radio. There is no media hype involved. And every household should know NOAA's weather classifications & their meanings. There is a difference between a tornado watch & a tornado warning. I disagree with Annie on the T-storms. Any severe T-storm has the potential to cause damage because a "Severe T-storm" warning won't be issued unless certain criteria are met. And yes, you might get more than one severe T-storm in a week but that doesn't mean they are potentially less dangerous. Better warnings have resulted in less loss of life. Thankfully, not everybody disregards NOAA's info. It's not perfect but it's all we got.

Back to tomatoes...I have no idea if the Berkeley Tie Dye are good but they looked so cool I had to try. :)

/tricia

I have tons of cherry tomatoes right now, and the biggest plant is growing next to the grape vine, and it is the only one I have in the ground instead of pots. All of the producing plants are over a year old - they produce much better the second year. I pick about a dozen cherry tomatoes every day for lunch and eat them in a salad or with a sandwich. They are not large, which is why I can eat so many of them. They are also very decorative. I'm getting some chilies this year also - I generally don't do as well with those as I do with tomatoes.

Lars

I live in a neighborhood where you can be fined for not having your lawn mowed. To be a good neighbor, I have designed a system of "No cages, no stakes" nearly invisible supports for my tomato plants. My plants are about 8' tall now and the system can support up to 10'. Together with an early planting method, I have been enjoying fresh tomatoes since Memorial Day, which is not bad for my NYC zone.

dcarch

My Tomato Jungle

The downside of living on an Atlantic barrier island is that tomatoes aren't salt tolerant.

Everyone's vines looks wonderful and I would give about anything to grow them, but I ain't moving!!

Beachlily, you might be surprised. You're right, they don't like salt. We've never been successful either. But, we tried again last season & harvested a goodly amount of 'maters from 10 plants. It turned out to be a hot summer with lots of sun. Normally, being right on the water (just a few feet away) we have a dense marine layer, fog, & of course the constant salt spray. I'm sure our crop was reduced because of our shore location but we did get 'maters. This year, we're trying again. The weather this season is more typical (not as much sun) & we've lost about half our plants already. But, we've got a few that look pretty good & have fruit. So, I guess what I'm saying is that it might be more lack of sun than salt that was causing our problem. Maybe, try one plant in a pot & see what happens? The upside of living next to salt water is that hydrangeas & begonias grow beautifully with little effort! Oh, your temperatures are probably a lot warmer than here. Our July average temp is 81 degrees. Our official Koppen Climate Classification is "Subtropical Humid With No Dry Season". I'd encourage you to try again...Mother Nature can be full of surprises. Heck, I'm growing camellias, palm trees, & bananas here in CT. Maybe, you CAN get a 'mater? :)

/tricia

What is everyone doing with all these tomatoes?

I planted ten plants this year -someone at church was selling huge plants for a dollar each- but we are about to have bushels of tomatoes coming in soon.
Romas, Cherry, Rutgers, etc.
I like fresh tomatoes fine but we don't use that much tomato sauce.

I just skin them and cook them with some onions and celery and basil and freeze...
I have never had too much....or even enough!... I use the product for tomato basil soup, red pepper soup, spaghetti sauce, in stews and over a beef roast before I put it into the oven, to add to a pot of ministroni...or just as stewed tomatoes for a side for dinner.
And the variety of tomato doesn't matter....just cook them up and freeze!
Linda C

I know, I guess we don't really eat that kind of stuff much.
I might try drying them.

Tricia, I've tried growing tomatoes for years! The area I live in has much more air-borne salt than does most other FL beach areas. Our cars get covered in the garage--we always keep the doors down. The water is contaminated with salt, too. Way, way too much salt for tomatoes and peppers. Sometimes a cherry tomato will survive but it's not worth the work for the amount of tomatoes that come off these sick bushes.

As I remember, they have successfully created new tomato varieties which are highly salt tolerant. They have done it by genetic engineering.

I am not sure when seeds will be available to the public.

dcarch

The question is just how good the engineered tomato tastes!

bumblebeez, I eat them and I give some to my mother, my stepmother and both the girls. I can salsa, make my own catsup, make tomato basil sauce from the recipe Readinglady sent me. RobinKate gave me a really good recipe for Tomato Jam and I always make that too, but mostly I just can them because everyone in the family loves chili in the wintertime and if anyone dares to make chili with store bought tomatoes, The Princess will take a bite and announce "This was NOT made with Grandma's tomatoes". My stepmother likes just canned/stewed tomatoes over buttered bread cubes and Dad used to eat canned tomatoes straight from the jar. Elery likes just macaroni and tomatoes, with some onions, Dad always liked them that way too.

Add my fresh tomato sandwiches, several pots of tomato basil soup with basil from the herb garden, a favorite vegetable side dish of zucchini and tomato gratin, Sol's tomato pie, freshly sliced tomato on pizza because I hate, detest and abhor pizza sauce, and I use a lot of them.

Any overflow goes to the local Senior Citizen's center, I just set the basket down and anyone who wants some takes them. They are always delighted to have fresh homegrown produce.

Arlene, I'm with you, I'm wondering how that genetically modified tomato would taste. We have tomatoes they can ship all the way across the country in the winter and they are sturdy enough to arrive safely, but they taste a lot like the styrofoam tray they are normally packaged on. The proof of success is in the flavor, in my opinion.

Annie

Tomatoes grow well in large pots/5 gallon buckets. I can get 3-4 quarts from one grown in a bucket. I have a large garden with all the land I care to work but still grow some in buckets. The sheltered porch is a warm spot for getting some early toms... might help with salt exposure? Mine only get direct sun until noon-ish... still grow like weeds.

My best dirt garden tomato vines are doing almost as well as the worst potted ones. All my peppers are potted in old plastic coffee jugs.. small plants but I only need a few hot peppers.

: )
lyra

Bumblebeez, try drying them cut side up and sprinkled with salt, pepper, garlic powder, oregano...whatever. I did all my excess cherry tomatoes that way and we love them rehydrated and tossed into pasta or into mixed sauteed or braised vegies.

I spotted my first green tomatoes last weekend on my barely knee-high plants...Stupice that I grew from seed I saved last year. Lots of blossoms on the rest, but not even the cherry tomatoes have set fruit.

tonights dinner......

I'd kill for a tomato garden like DCarch's.

Tomatoes are an iffy thing here on the west coast because our summers are not long and hot. This year I didn't plant tomatoes because we had a long cold spring and our summer so far has been the same. Cool with temperatures in the high 40's low 50's at night and only into the mid to high 60's during the day. I can count on one hand the days that have hit 70ðF.

I'd be very happy with your dinner Alexa.

Ann

KatieC, I think that's what I am going to do. I love them that way too!

Ann, we should swap houses sometime! I can' imagine that kind of cool weather all the time.
We had one day, yesterday, that was near 70 in the early evening. We'd gone out to dinner and later had a coffee at a sidewalk cafe and I was chilly! It was a nice anniversary present to not despise living here and dreading the next 2 months. It's been in the high nineties for weeks and weeks and so humid.
Today only reached the mid eighties at peak and I got a lot of yard work done.