Some shallots and the tomatoes which have slowed down considerably, but not died,in our 100 plus f heat.
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The piles of tomatoes are an Italian heirloom, “Blue Beech”. Since they are bred for processing, they are more acidic than sweet. Canned tomatoes or sauce which is not acidic can grow botulism microbes/toxin much easier than acidic types. The shape makes them easier to peel and pack in jars.
As for climate tolerances:
The Blue Beech tomatoes can handle tropical temperatures up to around 88 degrees F ( 31 C). After that, they get stressed. Tomatoes are very prone to diseases in places which have a lot of rain and are warm.
Regarding the peppers:
As shrinkrap points out, there are three species in her harvest.
The long, yellow orange Aji Amarillo is very sensitive to heat, going pollen sterile when it gets above around 83 F(28 C)). The plants will survive just fine, but won’t set new peppers properly. This is a problem with some, but not all Capsicum baccatum.
Capsicun annuum is the next most suitable for warm to hot climates, but these can be prone to early blight and other diseases in areas of very high humidity and rain.
Capsicum chinense, in my experience, is perhaps the most suitable for tropical, even humid and wet climates. It’s a very tough species. We have hot, tropical conditions during the summer. One year, it rained nearly every day for months. The only peppers which didn’t suffer disease and death were all C. chinense. These peppers are very popular in tropical countries like Jamaica, Panama, Grenada, Cuba, etc.
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That’s remarkable the shallots did so well in the heat! The shallots here mostly went dormant and died back before the worst heat set in.
We’re now getting hammered with lots of rain from the tropical storms. Nearly six days in a row, it has rained for at least part of the day. This likely spells doom for the surviving tomatoes, but will help many other crops. The peaches are splitting, but there may be a decent harvest. I keep spraying the peaches with powdered/micronized sulfur to try and keep fungus away.
I dug those up months ago. Sorry for any confusion.
What is this “rain” you speak of ? 
They are really good. I do not remember the color of the ones back home but the ones I am getting if I am lucky to be at Fortune Cookies Supermarket on a Friday, and if they have them , are green supposedly from Boston. My mother taught me to pinch the hallow stems at their nodes . Another way is to cook them is with fish and shrimp in tamarind soup mix , tomato, ginger and garlic. The tamarind soup mix is readily found in Asian Grocery Stores, they are from the Philippines sold as Mama Sitas Soup Mix but Knorr somehow also sells it. I suspect they got the franchise from Mam Sitas. Just add 8 cups of water to the soup mix, bring it to a boil with tomatoes, ginger and garlic, and then add your seafood and one chayotes. But we love it to be more vinegary and spicy so I add extra cider vinegar, in the absence of a tropical fruit called Camias, ( Belingbing) and hot pepper ,They are .50 per package, but when on sale, you can buy them 3 for $1.00. I usually buy a couple dozen or so bec we love tamarind seafood soup . However, in the absence of One Chay, we substitute with spinach .
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It’s still raining! Sheesh, dry for months and we get our “quota” all at once, along with some violent thunderstorms and lightning. The humidity is near 100%, jungle weather. Okra, tomatoes and cucumbers are getting diseases, with a bunch of okra dead from blight. I sure hope the watermelons don’t pop! Those will be coming in soon.
Still, a lot of vegetables coming in:
Top left is another white Bitter gourd variety from China. Top right is a Fuzzy Gourd, washed to remove the fuzz. Lemon cucumbers are in the middle and Tindora on the bottom.
I picked the first edamame yesterday. For those of you growing edamame, Elsieb included, there is something you should know about harvesting and cooking them:
Soybeans have hairs on them which can be irritating, especially if you use bare hands to mix salt with them before cooking. I did this once and my hands were burning! Depending on how tough the skin is on your hands, and how many you pick, you may want to use gloves when harvesting.
The way I prepare them: wash the fresh pods, drain and mix with a lot of salt; use a spoon, NOT your hands. Let these sit for about 15 minutes. Bring a pot of water to boiling, add the pods and salt to the water and cook about 5 minutes. Drain and let them cool. You can sprinkle a little kosher salt on them if you wish, but they hold some of the salt from the pre-treatment.
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Just saw your very kind offer re Ong Chay
I would love to have some seeds but unfortunately, I live in Southern Md , on a peninsula with 900 feet of water front, ( 600+ feet on the Patuxent River and over 300 feet on Abington Shore cove), so that may be a problem.
I have been an avid gardener but only ornamentals, rare boxwood, Japanese maples, camellias , dwarf conifers etc until 3. years ago when my son started food gardening. He basically invaded my porch deck initially, then adding some of his plants to the roof of my pool, suddenly starting to raise bees on my wrap around bedroom porch.
Then, he started to plant fruit trees, total of 16 , building 20 arbors around all my garden , one two story high from the top to the bottom of the cliff ) and one oaroun day 1000 gallon propane tank planting grapes, kiwi, etc , driving to Pennsylvania to buy 5 year old berry plants 2 years ago and now, he has a lot of blackberries which he is freezing to make wine, small amount for me to make blueberry pie or cobbler. . I cannot keep up with all the stuff he brings to my kitchen. I almost feel I have to start a stand at the highway. yesterday, I brought some Cucuzza and butternut squash to my dog’s Physical Therapist but he told me "people are polite and thank you even if they do not want it. " Although he is good with his plants, he never weeds! So, guess who weeds? I not only have my garden to weed and it seems endless with all those spurge growing between my cobblestone courtyards! I literally extract them manually with hemostats bec I do not spray and believe me, they come back as soon sit rains within 7 days. My main love of pruning now is way behind schedule bec of all these weeds.
I love Ong Choy but worry I may create a problem.
Here are some pictures of the river but I am afraid it does not show the cove which makes my property a peninsula. I only have it on video which will not go thru bec it is too big a file.? There is one picture from across the cove which shows an arbor and if you stare a bit, perhaps you can see cucuza fruits hanging.
My husband (rip) had built so called catch basin with Belgian blocks , so when there is a storm or high tide, the dry catch basin becomes a pond. Here are some pics. when there was a storm. It seems with global warming and climate change, there is frequent hot spells alternating with storms ( I had 3 with a tornado 3-4 weeks ago within a week creating havocs here) .Bill’s hobby in his younger days before he retired was a water envirornmentalist .having been awarded
by the Fed of Wild Life in 1979 as water environmentalist of the year. If I plant One Chay and it harms the Pax River and Chesapeake Bay, I would dishonor him.
I hope this is not off topic. if. you think it is, please delete after reading. Thanks
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Hi, tried to answer your kind offer to send Ong Chay seeds when available but could not reply to you for some reason. The reply was to ME! So, I tried to send you by message ( the envelop icon) It seems it keeps on coming back to me again, not to you although I highlighted your name. Feel bad about it. I hope you can read it as I do not want to feel ungrateful.
No worries, ccj! The Water Spinach would be easily controlled as long as where you plant it does not flood and carry it off. Even if that happened, I doubt it would survive, since it blooms too late to mature seed and the plants cannot survive the winter. If the plants are isolated, free from the threat of flooding, one could always pull them up when the first flower appears in the fall, so no seed is possible. In Central VA, I’ve never been able to get viable seed from plants growing here.
I did get the message, thank you!
My father had a sailboat on the Chesapeake, when we lived in N. VA. I miss the Bay, and the Blue Crabs!
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We have the best spot for blue crabs but I do not seem to have time to pick and eat. it is more of a social thing. last week’s bushel was given away so was yesterday’s to a family friend that is now on quarantine bec of COVID.
I miss the bay as my husband’s ( rip) favorite hobby. was sailing on the bay in his Cigarette boat which my son inherited and use almost every weekend with his friends but I am too old for that! But, I have great memories.
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A few pics of the tomatoes, hops, and upper gardens. . A great year for sunflowers and tomatoes, at least. Raspberries are plentiful, and we got a respectable amount of blueberries. But the b-berries are done now. Mixed results for the rest of the crops, I’m afraid. Green beans ok, but had to be replanted X2 or 3 - same with zucchini and crookneck squash. Green beans producing ok, albeit nothing like years past. Oh, and the squash cross pollinated, so we have hybrids, but they are few. Some Swiss chard, but not that plentiful. Oh well, there’s always next year…I’ll at least be busy canning a fairly robust tomato crop.
ETA - no pics of tomatoes - sorry. Will post tomorrow.
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Your yard is so beautiful! What do you do with the hops?
I’m not sure I understand. Do you mean saved seed from last year?
There was a pollen transfer, probably by bees, birds, or the wind, so some of the zucchini is a pale green due to crossing with the yellow squash. Hope I’ve explained it right…
Last year DD1 took the hops to make kombucha, but her batch failed. This year we’re hoping to find a home brewer to give them to.
Thanks for the compliment on the yard! It’s for sure my happy place.
“There was a pollen transfer, probably by bees, birds, or the wind, so some of the zucchini is a pale green”
I was under the impression after cross pollination, the seeds from the fruit, when planted, would bear the changed fruit.
To me, that’s what makes seed saving so complicated! Either way, I hope it tastes good?
Yes, it tastes great, but we have only gotten a few. So, for whatever reason, we had double trouble with pollination this year. It’s kind of pathetic to not be able to grow, of all things, zucchini! 
In the past I’ve successfully hand pollinated the zucchini, but didn’t think they needed it this year, because there were lots of bees around. Dang!
Having learned from my prior mistake, I am wishing a speedy hatch-out to this new batch of ladybug larvae.
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You’re a fast learner! Are you able to identify a variety insect eggs? I know green lacewing eggs, and saw several yesterday, but there was a solitary little green egg that had me stumped.
Peppers doing better than tomatoes right now.
Here’s an idea.
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I just googled “ladybug eggs.” Et voila. Also, there’s a ladybug RIGHT THERE, and a little while later I saw two, engaged in the egg-making process. Al fresco sex on my balcony!
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