What a week...

So sorry for the delay, but I have been unbelievably busy.  The heat wave did end, though it left some issues in its wake.  We got into the temperatures that cause blossom drop in both the eggplant and peppers, as well as a little bit in the slicing tomatoes. Blossom drop is exactly what it sounds like - the flowers form but drop to the ground before pollination.  It occurs when the temperatures are above 95 during the day and above 75 at night for several days. Luckily it is a temporary situation and the flowers will hold after the heat is over. I have removed the first generation of cucumbers from the greenhouse, and put in the second.  In the greenhouse I have started all of the fall cauliflower and romanesco, as well as a late season attempt at some okra. Other than that pruning and trellising continue as well as weeding, seeding successional crops and planting.   


Blue, keeping cool in the shade of the cherry tomatoes.

The zucchini and summer squash are about finished for the season.  The squash vine borers (SVB for short) are here in force and the plants are dropping like flies. At this stage of the season, when SVB is so abundant, it seems pointless to plant more.  The SVB is a moth that lays one or two small red eggs on summer squash plants. The eggs hatch and the small grub bores its way into the vine at the base of the plants.  The grub uses the hollow space within the vine to move its way up the center of the plant, eating along the way.  They can live in there for up to a month before the otherwise healthy looking plant wilts out of nowhere, when it can no longer uptake water.  There aren’t too many ways to prevent them organically, at least not on a large scale. For the home gardener here are a few tips; these pests don’t show up until later in the season, so you can plant early. SVB generally fly around to lay there eggs in the early afternoon, so you can cover the plants with row cover during this time. You can also scout daily for the grubs or the detritus that they leave when boring into the base of the plant.  If you find a hole soon after the grub has entered, you can slice into the vine and get it out. The vine will heal. Also if you would like to avoid them all together you can plant trombocino squash which can be harvested small and used like zucchini (it is delicious) or large when it has the same color and tastes like butternut.  Butternut squash is generally not bothered either.  These varieties of squash have a narrow vine center which is a less desirable home for SVB.

 Most of my time these days seem to be taken up by harvesting. Cherry tomatoes are up to 30 quarts a week, slicer tomatoes over 40 lbs.  The shishito peppers produce like crazy at around 10 lbs per week, doesn’t seem like much but there are probably 30 peppers per lb. The haricovert beans aren’t coming in strong yet due to an outbreak of potato leafhopper, but as the pest gets more under control which is a slow but progressive process, they should bounce back. Cucumbers are on a month long hiatus while the new plants develop.  Charentais melons are coming in, as well as a few cantaloupes. Other than that I am still harvesting swiss chard, shallots, cippolini onions, carrots, beets, herbs and demi greens.  

Cucumbers from the garden turned into bread and butter and garlic dill pickles.