This is where I read about the days to ripeness:

https://homeguides.sfgate.com/long-after-flowers-tomato-plants-until-tomatoes-grow-56871.html

Kevin I had several 50" wide by 16' long cattle panels that I was using for arch trellis' and I got the idea of turning some of them into a hoop house 3 years ago. They are set up on top of raised beds that were already there and staked down with t posts. I tied 4 together with zip ties and bought 6 mil greenhouse plastic (pricey) that is supposed to last 4+ years. I'm hoping for 6 in our low angle sun climate, we shall see. The framing on both ends is 2x4 with a door on one end and a window on the other. As it turns out the window is open all year except dead of winter, and I open the door every morning and close at night from March to November. You have lots more land to grow on than I do; not sure I would do as much vertical growing if I had more space.

Cindy - I read your link and noticed that he said "If temperatures fall below 55 degrees Fahrenheit at night or rise above 95 degrees during the day, flowers will not develop or will drop off the plant." The part about flowers dropping off can't be right; at least for the beefsteaks that I grow. It was 45° this morning and I would say that any flower that has been on the plant has seen temps below 55° at several times while it was flowering,

But I think the topic is interesting. I've noticed that the tomato seedlings that I set out in July take much less time to produce ripe fruit, vine ripened fruit at that. I need to spend some effort getting tomatoes to ripen earlier. I remember as a kid wondering why you couldn't get tomatoes to ripen in July and have come to expect that's the norm.

Kevin - Another possibility for green house support is 20' lengths of 1" PVC pipe. I have some here that I pulled out of our water well 15 or so years ago. Two years ago I wondered if it would take the flexing necessary to arc up and it did; even at it's advance age. I think the center was at least 10-12 feet high and about the same distance between what would be the sides of the green house. The advantage of the cattle panels is that you don't need other support members. PVC pipe running the length of the green house at the peak and along the sides somewhat above the ground level. But it's much smother than the cattle panels, except for the bolt heads protruding thru the pipe. I didn't pursue it as I don't need that big a green house.

I'm thinking what I need is a small light portable enclosure just big enough to put 2 or 3 seedling trays in and have them enjoy the sun on the porch on a too cool day.

I tried using a cut down polycarbonate panel over some empty beehive bodies as a makeshift ”cold frame” in a raised bed but it was marginally successful. Probably because I didn’t water it consistently. My plan is to make a cold frame from that panel and size it so that it can be used over one of our raised beds or used on our deck to house flower/ornamental seedlings in late winter.

We have a roll of greenhouse plastic that we used to make a hoop house years ago. The remainder still comes in useful as cold protection in a pinch.

I have never kept track of how long it takes for a formed tomato to ripen. We always considered it a good year of we were picking by July 4th. After reading these comments, I suspect the cherry tomatoes kept us distracted while we waited for the others to ripen.

Kevin, you might be interested in watching the youtube channel of a garden writer, Susan Mulvihill, her youtube channel is ”Susan’s in the Garden.” She has a variety of hoop-houses that she and her husband have built. There are obviously many such videos, but I find her approach very practical in general.

Hey, potato growers…check out these spuds.

The rough spots…what so you suppose they are? These didn't all come from the same plant. Another data point that may (or may not) come in to play: I have a ton of roly polies (pill bugs) at that end of the garden. They are thick in the compost bins. I noticed at the end of last summer that there were a bunch of pill bugs in the melon patch which was adjacent the compost bins last year. This year that is where the potatoes are planted, and I use compost to hill up the potatoes as they start growing.

itsmce-that looks like potato scab to me. Maybe you can get a clue on why it might be from this site: https://www.vegetables.cornell.edu/pest-management/disease-factsheets/potato-scab/

Lea - Thanks. I wondered about potato scab too. I think you're probably right.

Since my post about the potatoes I did some googling of pill bugs. My population in the compost bins is thriving! I guess that's a good thing. If I can just keep them in there, I guess I'll leave them alone.

Anna thanks for all of the photos...they keep me dreaming while my garden waits for the sun. There are rumors that spring will be here later this week...I'm not holding my breath. Everyone here, gardeners or not, is sick of rain and cold.

Sorry about the scab Margi. I had a lot of that one year but not since. Hard to say what factors make it more likely, as they say the bacteria are there in most soils.

Harvested most of the garlic scapes today and will need to get some of them stored for later, although I could just toast them all on the BBQ and eat them in a sitting.

Second planting of Basil. Even in the hoop house my basil looks up at me and shivers.

Replacement cucumbers and squash...ditto...all of the plants are stunted and I don't think they will produce anything. I already pulled up the scrawny pumpkins and sowed new seed outside which had germinated now.

Margi - Agree with Lea, Potato scab. When I had it very badly, the Maine potato lady suggested this:

"Using mustards and neem is becoming popular is controlling some of these soil diseases. I had a fertilizer made up (MPL Garlic and Potato Fertilizer) that has mustard meal, neem cake and fish meal. A great fertilizer! But my potatoes have been beautiful with virtually no scab since I started using it." Maine Potato Lady

It made a big difference. I haven't used if in a couple of years because the products here have gotten extremely expensive. But since you are close to farming areas, maybe it will be ok for you, price wise.

Northern Virginia is a lot of things but it is not very farmer friendly.

I used Mighty Mustard as a cover crop out of curiosity last year. We didn’t have any diseasse issues but after reading about biofumigants, i was intrigued. The mustard was killed nicely by the winter but the crimson clover was not! This could be a route to try when dealing with scab.

About the hoop houses , I recently built a cattle panel greenhouse similar to Len's. I posted this before:

This the Xmas mode.

This is Jennifer in the GH I built for her.

Beginning stages

Beginning stages

This was a 4 cattle panel greenhouse built on top of a base of 2X12" s. 8 ft wide by 8 ft tall by 16 ft long. We used 6 mil green house plastic.

We have shelving on the north side and a raised bed on the south side. It has a door on the east end and a window in the west end with an exhaust fan . It's not heated during the winter.

In my locale (oklahoma) it gets hot in there during the summer. We use it for transplant starts (tomatoes ,peppers,..etc) in the spring and fall and grow greens in the raised bed during the winter and brocolli during the spring. And are experimenting with growing tomatoes and egg plant and superhot peppers during the summer.

One problem we 've had is that the bugs like it it in there too , mainly aphids.

We're still on a learning curve about it and are trying out different things to see what works or doesn't.

Overall we're quite happy with it , gives us some optional worthwhile things to try.

Happy summer solstice to all. Let the sun swing the other way. It's only fundamental.

May peace be upon thee.

Okie HU

HU I love the Christmas lights idea...will be doing that this winter! In our maritime climate the hoop house is in use 365 days a year. My tomatoes in there are 6 weeks ahead of those that were planted outside.

Cindy - I'm beginning to think that my Ambrosia corn seed isn't germinating either?? The first patch I did in May and had a new seed dibber and blamed the lack of germination on planting too deeply. I reseeded that patch on June 3, using my finger dibber, and no luck so far.

Sorry John. My second seeding is coming up well now. But the third seeding not so much. Of course, we haven't had any rain in over a week.

It just started to thunder here and we really need the rain.

I'm doing a rain dance, but stopping short of the flood dance.

Same here, Anna!

Man-o-man, the price one pays for a decent rain, ugh. Yesterday we were hit by straight line winds from a storm that hit like a hammer. My shade tree over my hammock was split open like a 3-way wishbone as I watched it thru the window. Below are some pics of the damage. Thankfully the tree came to a safe rest on top of our garage and lean-too and what save the roof was an 8' high dog pen which we don't use. It's a mangled metal mess but it saved the garage a-ok. I just need to get up there once things dry out and chop it up off the roof. We did get about 2.5" of rain so there's that.....

The garden survived ok, just a few corn stalks knocked over, and the tomatoes should now fatten up a bit more....

Yikes,  sorry vgkg. 

Here are my replacements for March April starts that withered in our cold spring.

vgkg - I’m glad you didn’t suffer significant damage.

Got lucky here and over the past 2 nights i’ve received about an inch of rain. Really needed it. I was surprised today to discover a short shower late morning. It probably didn’t add much to the gauge, but I’ll take it.

I am growing a couple new-to-me tomatoes this year and so far i am impressed. They are both roma-type and determinate. I have 3 of each in the garden and they are all fairly heavily loaded with tomatoes.

Yaqui:

Little Napoli:

Does anybody have any experience with these?

I also have several ”round” tomato plants, one cherry tomato (which has produced 9 ripe ones already), and a purple roma-type…Cindy’s favorite…the name escapes me now.

Wessel's?

vgkg - We only had 1.25" of rain from that last storm. And the temps all week have been cooler than usual, until today. Unfortunately, the weekend is looking hot.

How's that tree clean up coming along?

Yep, Cindy...that's the one. Wessel's Purple Pride!

it's supposed to top 100 today. Ugh!

Margi- It's cloudy and in the mid 70s up here right now. I got a little rain this morning but the heavy rain missed me to the north a few miles unfortunately. Not a big deal because I just watered the gardens yesterday.

I need to pick the first flush of green beans today. I'm surprised because I didn't think they would be ready until next week. I should still get the largest harvest next week to take to the lake. I should also get the first couple cukes next week.

Peppers are setting nicely and the last few days of cooler temps should have set more tomatoes after a lull during the real hot spell in the 90s for 2 weeks. I think I finally got some coccozelle squash to pollinate after 6 or 8 aborted. I see the first Sungolds starting to blush too. Need to dig up the garlic and pull most of the rest of the onions this weekend.

Our squash, cukes, snaps, and blueberries are still coming in like crazy now that we got that 2.5" of rain. A couple of cantaloupes are close to ripening up too. Very thankful for that rain even with the tree fall.

Speaking of which Cindy our progress has been good. We cleaned up the roof branches with my pole saw but now I need to break out the 16" chainsaw to whittle down to the stump as far as I can go. This tree (a Paper Mulberry or Male Mulberry) was Thomas Jefferson's favorite shade tree and it was a good one for a hammock. Surprisingly my hammock still has a good amount of shade from what's left of the tree, it's a hard tree to kill as it sends up shoots everywhere and grows really fast, even from the stump. Before and after pics below...

We had an absolutely wonderful day here weather wise yesterday. It was clear and crisp, temp was 85 and the dew point was in the 40's. Felt more like in the 70's. Sowed a 3rd patch of cucumbers. Started digging for a new corn patch. ordered and received 4 more yards of mushroom manure.

Today I finished digging the corn patch and will go out early tomorrow and sow Peaches and Cream corn seeds unopened from last year. Soil is very dry inspite of the storm 2 days ago. the storm took out our electric for 4 hours or so, but the temps fell quite a bit along with a lot of wind.

So, the battle begins..,

A nice little rain fall right now with nearly 1/2" over the last 4 hours. Over the last 72 hours I've received over 3/4" and need it because before the rain our soil moisture level was only at 24%. Picked about 120 garlic scapes yesterday and prepared them for the freeze dryer.

Picking potato bugs just got a little easier with a new pair of sun glasses with the yellow lenses which make the leaves a brighter light green, so the bugs are easier to see. I have them pretty much under control but I want to keep a 2nd generation in check so it's an everyday chore.

I think I may have some peppers ready to pick so will check after the rain. I saw them through my pellet rifle scope last evening hunting the rabbits who've been eating my hot pepper plants. Saw the little varmint but missed, and shortly after it ran into the woods a huge owl flew away so I think it was watching the rabbit too, we both lucked out. Did get another rabbit devastating my asparagus plot over the last few months so not a total washout.

I got that patch of Peaches and Cream corn seeded today, 3 doz seeds.

Forgot to mention yesterday; we had another big salad with lettuce from the garden. Only the Black Seeded Simpson and the Rouge d'Hiver doesn't taste bitter. The others were Bronze Beauty, Merveille Des Quatre, and Landis Winter. Not criticizing just saying that I enjoy the late salad. Was and is a good year for lettuce. Even with the gate keeper letting the groundhogs in the garden.

Spent some time today recovering the jungle created last year during my break from most gardening obligations. Ripped out a lot of volunteer garlic which were going feral. Found a few that we saved. One was almost 2 inches in diameter. Did get two Costata Romanesco zucchini seeds in the ground for a fall crop.

And I call myself a gardener! (read on if you won't kick me out of the club)

Background: I water my garden (25' x 50' with rows the length of the 25' dimension) with soaker hoses. I have an above ground irrigation system set up on a battery powered timer. My garden starts getting it's drink every morning at 8:00, one zone at a time, six zones. Many crops are planted and growing before it is safe to get the irrigation system primed for the summer and soaker hoses put in place.

A couple weeks ago I decided to dig one of my Norland Red potatoes because they were all starting to die back. I've been collecting potatoes from underneath the plants for weeks, but this was the first plant that I had dug. There were several mid-sized potatoes and a BUNCH of tiny ones...like the size of a dime or smaller diameter. My thought...I'll leave the rest of the plants to continue to grow more potatoes. This one was clearly not finished.

Over the weekend I realized that all the Norland Red plants are pretty much dead. This morning I had the time, it was wonderfully cool (a rarity in late June here), so I dug the rest of the Norland Reds. DUH...I had dug two plants before it hit me like a ton of bricks that I wasn't having to work around a soaker hose in the row...because there wasn't one! So, my potato row has gotten exactly as much moisture as Mother Nature has provided. What an idiot! The purple majesty and Kennebec plants still have considerable green in the tops. I'll figure out how to get some water to them to keep them going a little longer.

Please don't revoke my Gardener Card. I promise to do better.

<palm slap to the forehead>

We all have a gardening brain fart on occasion, like when I swear that I planted 3 rows of corn when only 2 came up, D'oh!. We just now got a brisk storm pass thru which dumped another 2.5" of rain, but at least there were no more downed trees. Not much wind but the rain was coming down in very heavy sheets, just glad no hail was seen mixed in. All 2.5" in about 45 minutes. I just now got back inside from picking several half ripe tomatoes as I'm sure that these thin skinned heirlooms would split easy with 2.5". But glad to get it!

I'll forgive you! After all I did leave the garden gate open all night this year.

Whew…thanks.

Margi - We all make mistakes.

Dug my second variety of garlic - Polish Jenn. Dug the Inchellium Red a couple weeks ago. Two more varieties to go. Khabar and an unknown variety. Will do one today and not sure then I will do the other one as it's going to be hot for the next few days.

I'm still digging in the jungle left from last year. I'm hoping; expecting that next spring will be much less work and I won't be so far behind in planting. I was digging around a bean tripod today and dug out a lot more poison oak. I found that it's much easier to use a digging fork and roll the vine in the tongs. I;m thinking of planting more Emerite pole green beans although I probably don't need them. But the seeds won't be wasted as my plans are to save seed for next year and the green beans are free for the task of pushing the seeds in the nice soft soil.

Yeah the heat will be turning back on again here too, ugh. Planted the 6th and final plot of Ambrosia corn today in the 2nd half of the pea trellis. It should be ready to pick around Labor Day. Corn #2 will be ready in 2-3 days, it got knocked over during that recent 2.5" of rain along with plots 3, 4, &5, had to prop most of the stalks back up - an annual tradition now. They each looks Great though. Pulled up and picked the last bush snap beans today, a very productive year ("Strike" beans). Watermelons are finally starting to form, a few hen egg size now, seems a little later than normal. Watching for that 1st cantaloupe to turn orange, any minute now ;-)....

My Inchelium Red Garlic...dug yesterday a bit early to get space for pole bean starts that needed to go in.

Good Morning!

I just went out and picked 4 cukes and a coccozelle squash to take with us to the lake tomorrow. Also picked 7 Sungolds but they didn't make it back to the house. I have the the soaker hose running on the tomatoes now and will rotate the hose around to all of the beds throughout the day for 1.5 hours each. There is a chance of rain Saturday night so hopefully that will come through.

I am cooking Sunday night's meal at the lake. Fajitas will be the main with sirloin, chicken, and shrimp as the proteins with onions and peppers from the garden. There are a few good size green bells, some Poblano, Marconi, and Jalapeno as well. There will be 8 adults and 6 kids so lots of mouths to feed. Good thing we have a large Blackstone griddle to cook it all!

Make that 9 adults, Jack. Sounds delicious!!

We will eat about 7:00 Cindy! See you there :-)

I finished weeding and turning the patch with the bean tripod and there's also room for a July tomato seedling. I went to seed the Emerite bean seeds and then remembered the wood ashes. I almost quit then but realized I needed to apply the ash before planting and then wanted to water it in. So I quit after spreading some wood ash. Will water this evening.

I read in yesterdays local newspaper of a new community garden here in far suburbia. The gardens were opened June 14. So we drove over last evening. All fenced with a nice locked gate, but the soil! They excavated a hillside to make it level which left a steep bank maybe 8 feet higher on the high side. And they didn't save the topsoil. It's all subsoil. One person had a 5 gallon bucket with ugly clay clods which they apparently couldn't break up from the brick state. But 9 out of 10, ten by 12 foot, gardens are planted. It was reported that all were spoken for. They provide a tank of water, which was empty; and there was a pile of mushroom compost. I guess it's free. On a positive note there was a spring running under the fence and down the hill toward the road. It would make a very positive addition to have a free flowing source of clean water. Just dig a hole, let it fill. The spring is running during about as much of a dry spell as we ever get.

I was considering donating one of my trays of tomato seedlings, but there was no one there and it's too hot to leave them.

First mater, ”Bella Rosa.” Husband loves to use them for sauce. ”Sun Gold” we’ve been picking.

I have ”Blue Jade” and ”Peaches and Cream” corn. I think the blue one is tasseling. The few times we’ve tried corn, it never got to this stage because of all the critter digging. I decided to try corn this year and started them in cell packs inside, transplanted them when fairly large and those have done great. The ones I direct sowed are less robust. Another batch has been started; the pretty quick harvest is a real bonus for succession sowing.

Also, trying onions this year and using growbags. They are not bulbing up. I have a sneaking suspicion that I used the wrong type. Oh well, there’s always next year. We’ll use these as green onions as I‘m an excellent green onion grower. 🤣

Congratulations, Anna! We are still waiting for a tomato to even show some color here.

Yikes...it's July! Has anyone started a new thread? I don't have time to check at the moment.

There's a thread now:

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/6281648/veggie-tales-july-2022