Thank you! Best in quite awhile. I usually shoot for a day or two after Thanksgiving, but I think these may have gone in as late as December.
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That’s a tomato plant. I had one variety of tomato plants that didn’t look exactly like the others too.
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Was going to post pics of our veggie and fruit growing areas yesterday, but we had a rollicking storm, and pouring rain. Same today. Hope to get out there soon and contribute to this topic. Looking forward to the bounty!
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Pretty!
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LOL! This is exactly me. I didn’t see the head of cauliflower growing hidden in the outer leaves, I cleared them out for growing tomatoes, and this was what I found, a mini head. Taste different from a bought one, much sweeter and fresh! I think I might grow that again.
The last fava beans this year.
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My mom insists that small heads taste much better than large ones, so even if they are sold by the piece and not by weight, she opts for the smaller ones!
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A cucumber is emerging at last!
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The 3-month old tomato seedlings are going gangbusters!
I’m taking credit for painstakingly hand pollinating them… though that probably had little to do with it 
Meanwhile the seedlings I started from seed and transplanted are growing slowly… but have started flowering even though they’re still only a foot or so tall… have to look up whether I’m supposed to pinch off buds to encourage the plant to grow more… 
After getting my first crop of Blenheim apricots, babied in a huge container, the birds got to them first.
Last time I used a net it blew off three times, and I cought snakes… three times!
Animal control came and painstakingly freed them, but politely suggested I not do that. There are a few left and I’ve covered them with shade cloth.
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@Saregama, I do the same as your mom, as I do find the smaller veggies to be tastiest. Except if they’re too immature I don’t like them much, like baby zucchini. OTOH, baby peas of any ilk are delightful.
ETA: thanks all for the pics. We have small miracles and food to be all around us. The bees are buzzing, the birds are singing and things are continuing. Life is good! 
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I’ve never did that, this year, I will try. Will let you know if they produce more.
Can somebody explain to me why some fava bean pods are empty? Or very tiny beans?
I had to hand pollinate our zucchini and yellow crookneck squash one year, as we simply hadn’t enough bees that particular year. It worked very well, we had tons of squash.
I think it has something to do with pollination.
Wow, I am impressed! I love gardening! It became my passion when I moved out about 5 years ago and decided to live on my own. I felt lonely when there weren’t any plants in my house…Now there are a bit to many of them but the most important is that I feel better now 
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That’s great @marie14! Now I’ll know who to send my houseplants to. I manage to kill most of them accidentally. H used to take them to his office, back in the olden days when people actually worked in offices. Now they’re home, but under his care, and doing great. He also extensively gardens outside. I’ve promised to post pics soon, which I will.
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I tried to read more on this subject of empty pods, there are a few hypotheses:
- weather too warm
- too much fertiliser added
- not enough water
All I can really conclude is the earlier pods seem to have the full set of beans, the later the season, less or none. In this case, it can be because of heat or fertiliser as well. Or it’s linked to strong and weak plants?
If there is no pollination, then I suspect there should be no pods, just flowers dried out and died. Will try to see if the subject is mentioned in my potager book.
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Naf,
Favas, like most beans, peas, etc., are self-pollinating. While there are more heat resistant types, like Vroma, temperatures above 26 C (80 F) can cause pollen death and aborted flowers. Keep in mind the temperature on the flower may be higher than the air, since sunlight is hitting it. Regular beans, Phaseolus vulgaris, can go pollen sterile when temperatures go over 32 C (90 F), especially if high heat levels are consistent.
Some more resistant legumes include: , the Winged Bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus)- get a day-neutral type, any of the Cowpea, Blackeye Pea and Yard-Long Bean group (Vigna unguiculata), Soy Bean and a bunch of others.
Back to favas: there can be pod set, even with no seeds, because a chemical trigger in the pollen sends a signal to the ovary to produce a pod. Unfortunately, the sperm cell or pollen tube, deactivated by heat, leads to no seed production. Since you had good bean set early, my guess is that hot weather is the problem.
Due to disease issues, I’m taking a break from growing a lot of tomatoes and peppers. Some tomatoes for fresh salads and Peruvian Aji Amarillo peppers are in ground where no nightshade has grown.
Salanova lettuces are almost ready.
The metal things are mole traps, just in case!
While rebuilding a Chinese Water Chestnut pool, I was adding soil to the bottom before flooding and found this little fellow:
So far, I’ve dug up two baby box turtles, relocating them to a safer spot.
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