Heya! Happy Harvest Friday! It’s finally tomato season. I think 95% of novice gardeners start with tomato plants, so tomato season is awesome because so many people are enjoying it. If you live it cooler climates, it might not quite be tomato season for you yet, but don’t worry– it’s coming soon! I harvested my first tomato last week, have picked over a dozen more, and have lots on the vine almost ready to go. Hooray! Aren’t homegrown tomatoes just the best?
Let’s dive in…
Aquaponics Update
We’re having a lot of trouble with the system right now. We had another mass fish die-off. Oddly, the mosquito minnows and plecostomuses we have are doing just fine and thriving (and even spawning), but all our goldfish are dying. All our water levels are fine, so we can’t figure anything out other than that it might be a disease. So we’re working on that. The fish have been really frustrating!
And since we lost a lot of fish, we lost a lot of nutrients and a bunch of plants yellowed and died. Mostly greens.
Plus, we’re battling another aphid infestation. We got more ladybugs to try to get that under control. Eeek.
At least the tomatoes are still doing really well in the system.
As is the rainbow chard. This stuff always grows like a weed!
And check out this bell pepper! It’s the biggest pepper we’ve ever been able to grow.
We’re going to keep working on our issues. Hopefully this eventually gets easier!!
Traditional Garden Update
Our “Three Sisters” garden I mentioned last time is coming along really well. I think we may have put a few too many plants in here, but so far they seem to be doing great. The squash plants have lots of flowers and even a few mini squashes already. And a few corn cobs have started forming.
The beans are doing just what they’re supposed to be doing and climbing right up that corn. So exciting!
Our zillions of sacks of potatoes are growing like crazy, too.
And the tomato plants that I planted in some of our extra pots are starting to flower and even produce a few mini tomatoes. It’s only a matter of time before I’m making some delicious marinara. 🙂
The pumpkin plants that I planted randomly in the yard have taken off. No fruit yet, but I’m hopeful. I wasn’t sure whether they would actually grow or not, but check it out!
The Harvest
Like I said, the last couple weeks have been all about the tomatoes. Since we’ve been having the aphid issues, most of our greens had to be pulled. They’re not really summer veggies anyways, so that’s OK. Tomatoes have started and they’re just the best.
This was my first tomato. And my last cucumber. The cucumber plants yellowed and dried up, so I pulled them up and will try planting some new ones.
One day, I picked some tomatoes and fresh dill and made a salad with fresh mozzarella and balsamic. I loved the flavor combination so much (I am loving dill lately) that I picked some more for dinner and made it into a quesadilla!
One other really fun thing I harvested was our 3 garlic plants! We planted them forever ago, and they were finally ready to pull.
I hung them up to “cure” aka dry out so they can be stored. The two bigger ones are still curing, but the little one is done and looks just like a store bought garlic. Hooray! Can’t wait to try these babies.
I’m looking forward to lots of summer harvests. We should have some squash and zucchini soon, and of course lots more tomatoes. Stay tuned!
What are you harvesting right now? Are tomatoes coming ripe yet where you live?
Jealous you already have tomatoes! It has been overcast/cloudy for about 3 weeks straight here, so our poor tomato plant’s haven’t gotten much sun and haven’t grown too much. But our lettuce and herbs have been doing great! That garlic bulb is just perfect too, magazine perfect : )
Awww, bummer!! There’s plenty of time, though. I remember living in cooler climates and not getting ripe tomatoes til August. But they’re always worth the wait!!
No harvest here yet. We just got our raised beds built and we’re getting ready to transfer everything from the greenhouse to the garden. I hope we have lots of tomatoes and other delicious produce soon! All of yours are gorgeous! I can’t wait to see what happens with the pumpkins!
Hooray!! So excited for you!! Keep me updated!! 🙂
This is so cool!!!!!! I am seriously so so so jealous. I know I’ve told you that before…but I want a garden SO bad!!!
Thanks, Annie!! You should start one! Start small– my first year (about 5 years ago now) all I had was a few herbs, a jalapeno and 2 tomatoes… all in pots on my patio. It’s a learning process, but easier than you’d think!
Your garden is really blooming, Jess! Its making me wish that I would’ve planted one this year, especially for the tomatoes! You just can’t be home grown ones!
There’s still time!! Tomatoes are so easy… you can grow them in a pot on the porch!
Our tomatoes are going like gang busters, too. I guess I need to start figuring out what to do with the darn things!
My strawberries, on the other hand, aren’t looking so pretty. They look nice when they are green, but once they turn read, they immediately become mealy. Too hot maybe?
Yay for tomatoes!! I tried growing strawberries once a few years ago and it was a total bust… the ants would get to them by the time they turned red. :-/ I think they are really finicky. There are tons of local strawberry stands around here and it’s SUPER hot (like, triple digits this week), so I’m not sure if it would be the heat… but yeah… I haven’t had luck with them either. You should try some jalapenos if you like spicy… they are super easy and love heat, too.
These posts always make me feel so lazy, haha! I like to think of myself as a great gardener, but I haven’t planted anything this summer, ooopps! I wish I lived near you and I could help you eat everything! That quesadilla sounds so good 🙂