GardenDesk

Lots of Tomatoes, Little Time - Tomato Tuesday!

We are deep into tomato harvest season now - yum! Unfortunately, we aren't able to harvest all the tomatoes that we should. Our resident groundhog is eating almost all of the tomatoes below three feet from the ground. The only way we are able to keep the tomatoes for ourselves is to pick them early, before they are fully ripe. They finish their ripening on our kitchen windowsill.

As for tending the tomato plants, or the garden in general - I have had virtually no time for them. My aunt has been in the hospital for about three weeks now. She was in critical condition for a while but is doing better now, although she is battling cancer throughout her body and is still bed-ridden. Visiting her and dealing with the doctors and medical staff occupies most of my free time right now. She has no children and the other nieces and nephews live out of town. Since I'm only 30 miles away, I get to be her caregiver like a son or daughter would.

I apologize that I haven't been able to post here at Garden Desk either. I have still managed to take a few pictures from time to time, so I hope to sneak on some posts in the coming days.

I wanted to first mention tomatoes so I could re-instate Tomato Tuesday. I hope many of you are having a great tomato season. If you have a blog or website and have written about your tomato gardening, preserving, or recipes lately, please let us know so we can visit your site! I invite you to join in on Tomato Tuesday. Link to your tomato post with the Mister Linky widget below. Then consider adding a Tomato Tuesday banner to your site like the one above.

Remember to link to your tomato post in the Mister Linky Widget, not your overall site. You can link to your site when you leave a comment. If you don't have a garden blog, you are welcome to comment at the bottom of this post to tell us about your tomato growing experiences. Thanks and Happy Tomato Tuesday!

Remember to check out the Tomato Tuesday Banner page too!

Hot Hot Harvest for Tomato Tuesday

It is Hot! I know its common for gardeners to complain about the weather, but I really don't remember a day ever being as hot here as it has been yesterday and today. The "heat index" has been about 110 degrees. I waited until almost dark last night to visit the garden since it had cooled down to a lovely 93 degrees! I could only stand it for about a half hour in which I harvested a few tomatoes, onions, lots of squash and cucumbers, and a small bell pepper.

Since this is Tomato Tuesday, I need to show the tomatoes first. These are more of our 4th of July variety along with the first of the cherry tomatoes; Gardener's Delight, Sun Sugar and Chocolate Cherry (which is actually much larger than a cherry). The 4th of Julys are not as red as I usually pick them, but I was afraid that because of the heat, something would eat them before I could pick them. Also in the tomato container is the first green pepper of the year.

I dug some of the onions whose plants had turned brown. These are the size onions we usually get. I wish every year's onions were like the big onions in 2009. Of course that year was the coldest July on record and we might break the record in the other direction this year.
Sorry, I digress about the weather again. Here's the onion picture:

The most prolific veggies so far this year have been cucumbers and summer squash and I harvested a whole lot of them last night!

I picked yellow crook neck squash, Ambassador Zucchini, Spaghetti Squash, and Lungo Bianco di Sicilia Zucchini. The Lungo Bianco is my favorite. It is a white Italian heirloom variety that I was fortunate to get a few years ago from Kenny at Veggie Gardening Tips.

I picked several different sizes, but the round one is the spaghetti squash.

It seems that all the other veggies have taken over this post, when it is supposed to be a Tomato Tuesday post. That's okay I guess. Tomatoes don't mind sharing.

 

So how is your garden growing? What are your tomatoes liek? I invite you to join in on Tomato Tuesday. Write about your tomatoes on your blog or website and then link to it with the below Mister Linky o we can all come read your tomato post. Then consider adding a Tomato Tuesday banner to your site like the one above.

Thank you to those who signed up on the past Tomato Tuesdays. Be a part of this week's Tomato Tuesday by signing in below. Remember to link to your tomato post in the Mister Linky Widget, not your overall site. You can link to your site when you leave a comment.

Thanks and Happy Tomato Tuesday! Remember to check out the Tomato Tuesday Banner page!