The first official day of summer is upon us. The vegetables in the garden are really growing. I know I am really looking forward to when things get ready for picking.

Come join us in our veggie garden discussions.

I'll say it is summer...our heat index has been over 100 degrees for the past several days, the humidity ranges from 70% to 94%!..Whew!!

Here's my "summer" garden today...

Your Summer Garden looks excellent!

Great job, GoatDriver! Everything looks healthy and it's all mulched so well.

Hello all, I've been successful this year with beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, tomatillos, some winter squash.

Not so good with onions, artichokes, some winter squash, boysenberries, strawberries.

Still remains to be seen, WATERMELONS, HONEYDEW, and chard.

Thanks for starting a new thread, Rita.

I've got small tomatoes on most of my plants, and just starting to see a few baby cukes. Garlic will be ready for harvesting soon and I just noticed today a few potato plants are starting to flower.

Sounds like all of you are having a good garden year so far. I have every thing up now or coming up, even the Parsnips are finally showing their tiny selves. I was worried they wouldn't come up, as it took them long enough. My tomatoes are about 2 feet tall now, and getting a few blooms. I haven't seen any fruit yet. My potatoes are doing well, and the onions are looking nice too. The artichokes are looking really nice. I got them started much earlier then past years. The heat of summer will probably set in now, with the rain last night, it's very humid here today and in the low 80's

Hi Everybody,

Here in AZ our veggie garden is in full swing. We just got hit with our first triple digit temperatures with 104 being the average during this 10-day forecast, so I pulled my 70% shade screen. If temps drop again, I may pull it back for morning sun, but then again, I may not. Winds are peaking at an average of 15-20 mph day-long.

We have much in the garden right now: zucchini, yellow and butternut squash, kale, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, watermelon, muskmelon and pumpkin, as well as eggplant, corn (doing poorly), and first year asparagus. Most all are in flower with the zucs and yellow providing harvest already - in fact, getting ready to have sautéed squash for lunch! No fruit set on any melons, nor on the cauliflower or Brussels sprouts - although, I'm checking everyday! Oh, and I'm letting my bush beans go to seed before pulling to make room for the melons.

We did have patio & cherry tomatoes going, but the local critters decided against it! We are still fairly new gardeners with only a couple years of experience, and if it wasn't for ATP, I'm quite certain we would not be having the success we've had! I am so thankful for ATP! I had no idea how much knowledge is needed in gardening! My hat off to all members here!

Here's a quick tour:

My tomato wall. Same as last year, but the inter-planted beans really never had a chance this year. There's like maybe one in there??

Those are 6.5' stakes...they're big plants. After I took this shot I added another weave.


The pea fence...with its ugly critter-deterrent netting. First shot: see the hummingbird on the fence? I have 4 feeders up, and if I had 10x that many I still don't think I'd have enough. I've sat out there and watched 3 feeders at once, with each one entertaining up to 20 birds. It's just amazing. One four-hole feeder actually had 5 birds feeding at the same time! It was only for a few seconds, but two birds were using the same hole!




My poor unloved lettuce. I think I'll eat it all tomorrow. I keep saying that, but I never seem to get around to it.



Extra tomatoes, a few beans, and peppers...these still have quite a ways to go. They've had much less compost, and more of our lovely root-clamping clay.


The sun finally came out today. It's really pretty and enjoyable to see when it's been missing for an extended period of time.

Great gardens, Gina!

GinaY86441 said:Hi Everybody,

Here in AZ our veggie garden is in full swing. We just got hit with our first triple digit temperatures with 104 being the average during this 10-day forecast, so I pulled my 70% shade screen. If temps drop again, I may pull it back for morning sun, but then again, I may not. Winds are peaking at an average of 15-20 mph day-long.

We have much in the garden right now: zucchini, yellow and butternut squash, kale, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, watermelon, muskmelon and pumpkin, as well as eggplant, corn (doing poorly), and first year asparagus. Most all are in flower with the zucs and yellow providing harvest already - in fact, getting ready to have sautéed squash for lunch! No fruit set on any melons, nor on the cauliflower or Brussels sprouts - although, I'm checking everyday! Oh, and I'm letting my bush beans go to seed before pulling to make room for the melons.

We did have patio & cherry tomatoes going, but the local critters decided against it! We are still fairly new gardeners with only a couple years of experience, and if it wasn't for ATP, I'm quite certain we would not be having the success we've had! I am so thankful for ATP! I had no idea how much knowledge is needed in gardening! My hat off to all members here!

Here's a quick tour:

Gina, your garden looks fantastic! And gardening is a learning process. The important part is that you have fun and don't give up. But it all looks like a great success to me!

chelle said:My tomato wall. Same as last year, but the inter-planted beans really never had a chance this year. There's like maybe one in there??

Those are 6.5' stakes...they're big plants. After I took this shot I added another weave.


The pea fence...with its ugly critter-deterrent netting. First shot: see the hummingbird on the fence? I have 4 feeders up, and if I had 10x that many I still don't think I'd have enough. I've sat out there and watched 3 feeders at once, with each one entertaining up to 20 birds. It's just amazing. One four-hole feeder actually had 5 birds feeding at the same time! It was only for a few seconds, but two birds were using the same hole!




My poor unloved lettuce. I think I'll eat it all tomorrow. I keep saying that, but I never seem to get around to it.



Extra tomatoes, a few beans, and peppers...these still have quite a ways to go. They've had much less compost, and more of our lovely root-clamping clay.


The sun finally came out today. It's really pretty and enjoyable to see when it's been missing for an extended period of time.

It all looks pretty good to me!

Hi Chelle and Goatdriver,

Thank you for the thumbs up! Both your gardens look really great! It's so exciting for me, now that I've unlocked my love of gardening, I want one of everything!!

We get hummingbirds out here as well - they love the lantana under the Yucca tree. My husband is a real bird guy - it's amazing how the birds instinctively know that about him... I kid you not, they've landed on his head while watering and on the tomato cage in front of him to rest. Back on the coast, the bluejays would take the peanuts from between his toes! I keep joking with him, telling him we need to enclose the entire property in order to live in aviary!

Anyway, I got off subject...

The one thing about living here is the lack of beautiful flowers available. If it isn't fenced, it's eaten. I understand roses do well here and I want/need to create a container garden on my front patio. Unfortunately, the patio is uncovered, so it gets incredibly hot in the afternoon.

I've been snooping around the site the last couple of days and I'm wondering how the trades work. Do either of you gals trade seed or bulbs here?

Thanks again for the encouragement!

Tom and Linda, hey as long as things are growing and I don't mean the weeds!

Thank you, Rita!

I am having fun with it! Our Spring garden was very successful - I was able to save some pea seeds for next year and I'm expecting to save some of the bush bean seeds as well.

I had a real lesson with my Utah onions, tho. I planted from seed in November thinking they'd over winter, which they did, but I've learned that the cold causes them to seed. They ended up flowering and when I processed the 78 heads, most had a hard center. So, instead of storing them as heads, I processed them for the freezer. Funny thing: these onions cook down to a velvety mush that is extremely sweet! Overall, I can't say it was a total loss! Our peas and carrots seemed to be a bumper crop!

Lovely, Gina. It all looks so good!


I haven't really done many actual trades here. Mostly I just see what people have in their want-lists and occasionally I'll offer to share my extras. I don't expect anything but postage (if it's a goodly sum) in return. I've had others do the same for me, and it all balances out very nicely.

Thank you, Chelle, I was curious how it worked. Sounds like I need to navigate the site a bit more. I can't believe how much this site offers! What a wonderful gift!

GinaY86441 said:Thank you, Rita!

I am having fun with it! Our Spring garden was very successful - I was able to save some pea seeds for next year and I'm expecting to save some of the bush bean seeds as well.

I had a real lesson with my Utah onions, tho. I planted from seed in November thinking they'd over winter, which they did, but I've learned that the cold causes them to seed. They ended up flowering and when I processed the 78 heads, most had a hard center. So, instead of storing them as heads, I processed them for the freezer. Funny thing: these onions cook down to a velvety mush that is extremely sweet! Overall, I can't say it was a total loss! Our peas and carrots seemed to be a bumper crop!

Like I said, a big success!

Happy Summer Solstice! Everyone's gardens are looking great!

The longest day of the year is sunny and warm here (low 80's)

The only things I have harvested so far are Bok Choy
(stirfried with ginger & garlic), Arugula (with toasted pine nuts & chicken over pasta) and Cilantro (bean salad with lots of cilantro)

Sugar Snaps are just starting to flower, so it won't be long for them. Most of the tomatoes and eggplant are flowering. Long beans and cukes are just sitting there so far. Daikons & carrots are still pretty tiny.

Bok Choy


Tomatoes & cukes


Potatoes


Peppers & Eggplant


Sugar Snaps & Baby Romaine


Napa, Arugula & Long beans

mandolls said:Happy Summer Solstice! Everyone's gardens are looking great!

The longest day of the year is sunny and warm here (low 80's)

The only things I have harvested so far are Bok Choy
(stirfried with ginger & garlic), Arugula (with toasted pine nuts & chicken over pasta) and Cilantro (bean salad with lots of cilantro)

Sugar Snaps are just starting to flower, so it won't be long for them. Most of the tomatoes and eggplant are flowering. Long beans and cukes are just sitting there so far. Daikons & carrots are still pretty tiny.

Bok Choy


Tomatoes & cukes


Potatoes

• Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum)
• Uploaded by mandolls

Peppers & Eggplant


Sugar Snaps & Baby Romaine

• Snap Pea (Lathyrus oleraceus 'Sugar Snap')
• Uploaded by mandolls

Napa, Arugula & Long beans

Another stunner of a veggie garden. It all looks marvelous!