2019 veggie gardens

Ah, I mistook it for a tomato hornworm due to the size and thought that was a tomato plant. xD

I DO get hornworms, and dispatch them with extreme prejudice.

BTW, the birds got many of my nectarines while I was away, but I got some too. The pluots are next, then the figs.

En garde!

Compare monarch and swallowtail

I put in extra parsley plants this year hoping to attract the caterpillars. Had quite a few of them last year (decimated a large parsley plant in just a couple of days) but didn’t notice any of the butterflies in our yard tho:(
Hoping for more this year.

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As much I like butterflies, chonker caterpillars give me the willies. I would never garden again if I came upon that.

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my son is the one who is doing the vegetable garden. I only check once a day when he is away to be sure the watering device is working. There must be around 100 plants as he keeps on buying more and more of those fabric cloth bags and installing more and more watering device. The whole porch on top of my 2 car garage is full and now AJF7MIS0SQCbJrvItX7xJg|525x700

, Now, I find out he has plants on top of my swimming pool . However, the weather is making some of the plants get really burnt. For the first time , I noticed the attic fan on. It comes on when it I00 degrees. He is just learning how to garden and is spraying with vinegar as well as milk.I hope my greenhouse wil be built soon

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The cherry tomatoes were from yesterday
So were the red tomatoes that I placed in a brown bag to ripen, some from 2 days ago.
The Cherokee tomato(?) is purple. It has not turned completely yet but the other one harvested and consumed was a beautiful purple.
I love the cherry tomatoes as it is, served with basil, mozzarella cheese and a dash of Meyer lemon EVOO. It is particularly good with EVOO and herbs sautéed until the tomatoes burst and released their flavor. I used to make thin spaghetti with shrimp, a tin of anchovy and pesto but now, I only use 1 lb instead of 2 lbs of shrimp with the burst tomatoes.
My son harvested a lot of green tomatoes which I fried, with sweet potato flour, egg and panic but I love them best pickled with usual pickle mix (. he was the one who did it ) with some baby zucchini, poblano but added bourbon to it. They are really crunchy.
Also had zucchini flowers earlier which I fried in my calamari Korean batter mix. Has to be eaten immediately though.
We have around over a hundred pots using cloth bag and automatic sprinkler ( up to 10 times a day) They do not get overwatered as the water spills out of the cloth bag. Had gone to Pennsylvania to buy 4 year old raspberries, strawberries, blueberries ad blackberries, also went to an orchard 2 hours away to buy Meyer lemon and Asian pear fruit tree. ( My son was bitten by their dog and had to have tetanus shot). I had a wild pomegranate tree chopped down ( sshhh! against the law here 2 years ago) as it has wild fruits all over the ground which attracts ground hogs as well as lots of yellow jacket and bees and of course, I have anaphylactic shock from yellow jacket stings. Two doors away, my neighbor also had same problem so after consulting 5 of my immediate neighbors who agreed that they were a menace to not just for me, they agreed not to report me. The orchard where we bought the Meyer lemon and Asian pear told me to return March for their Fuyu pomegranate tree but I am not sure we are welcome as dog bites are reportable case in Maryland and they were visited by the health department. .
I love the French beans just boiled for 2-3 minutes with bay leaf, then shocked and stir fried briefly with EVOO, lemon juice and zest S/P and a dash of balsamic vinegar. Still crunchy!
The garden is currently on top of my co4O4PPxQgGgwPEP2CMgww|525x700 porch but hopefully, we can build a greenhouse but have to wait for carpenter to come from NY and the skylight people to come before July 15. Hope the County will not make me tear it down.
Love the shishito peppers stir fried in EVOO till charred, add lime and salt as appetizer.

![J6H%20654wQkmghT9Rd1DSWg|525x700](upload://Amd2UZ67QLQ 005ODaTLahgl8t16.jpeg)

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Those are beautiful!

Most of mine are still green










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Early on, we harvested a lot of green tomatoes thinking they would ripen but they never did. So, I did fried green tomatoes. I also had a lot of zucchini and had to make tons of zucchini bread . Now, we know better and to leave them to ripen on the vine. But , better than fried green tomatoes are pickled green tomato and zucchini with 2 tablespoons

of bourbon. My son made 4 mason jars full and they are wonderful eaten with pork chops or just as is. I prefer them to the fried green tomatoes and fried zucchini. necHAEBjTd2Tc0dpe7tEcA|525x700

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Picked a few “breakers”.




Different Stages of Ripening for Tomatoes

Maybe a silly question, but do you wash off the marker before you eat, or is that edible ink?

@ccj – Those are great looking tomatoes! When I see that, I can’t resist making gazpacho, which I find to be a perfect way for enjoying fresh-from-the-garden tomatoes.

I don’t usually mark them, but I wanted to remember the weight of these first few with a picture. They are sharpie markers, and I will probably eat it!

I had never made gazpacho but had looked up recipes for cooking all those tomatoes. I gave some of them to friends who rave about how good their burger or turkey sandwich was with the tomatoes. One friend came over and just kept on picking the cherry tomatoes and popping them in her mouth. By the way she also has cherry tomatoes but she says mine are better.
I went to HT and bought 4 more pounds of red Patagonia wild shrimp. 15-19. The sell ends 7/17 so I have to sue this plus the 4 pounds in my freezer . I wil try and see if I can make a tomato, turkey bacon cheese pie tonight. Hopefully it will turn out OK

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Sounds like a plan! I’m going to make a bit of gazpacho.

Gazpacho is my favorite summer time soup! I like to load it up with more garlic and red onions to give it a bit more bite. It’s also nice and easy, since it’s all blending, so it saves on having to really cook anything. I actually don’t do the day old bread, which is common for the authentic Spanish recipes, and I like the texture just fine. It also tastes better, IMO, after it sits for a bit and the flavors of the veggies have the chance to meld.

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Yep, Feher Ozon and they look great!!!

Yay! You know these? I had some bugs,

but later I will share the latest pictures.

Squash all of those nymphs right away before they turn into a nightmare! They’re still slow while they’re nymphs.

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Thank you!
New pictures.



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just got some ant baits from Amazon seems to have worked.

zucchini season is over I think as the plants are quite sick looking
I have 3 small yellow squash as well, so I shredded them and am making zucchini and squash bread.
Tomatoes are plentiful, gave some to the recycle center attendant again yesterday, friend who has her own tomato plants love my son’s cherry tomatoes and does not seem to have enough tomatoes of her own so she came to harvest them including sweet peppers. yesterday but told me not to tell my son about the sweet peppers as she believes he wants them to turn red. Anyway, I harvested a whole bowl of shishito peppers myself with 2 plants and will save them as he loves them stir fried on wok with EVOO till blistered, a dash of salt and the juice of either lime or lemon as appetizer. Also let friend harvest French beans as I cannot reach them anyway, need step ladder as they at the edge on top of my pool house . Watermelon not sweet but ambrosia melon really great. Gave neighbor one of each as well. ( I cannot eat all of those vegetables. )
I am making small loves of zucchini bread and also will use the squash to make bread using tiny loaf pan so it can be accommodated in my cheese plate , take out one loaf at a time.
recipe will follow for interested party ( Not original but I made adjustments , hope they will turn out good)

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