Ever use the blossoms?
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Havenāt made this myself yet, but had it pinned to try!
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One of my favorite ways to use up lots of squash is to sautee it with a bit of onion and small red potatoes. You can use zucchini, patty pan, or yellow squash. This recipe calls for thyme, but I also use different herbs and sometimes just chop up a bunch of different herbsāwhatever is abundant in my herb garden at the time. Also, I donāt use 4T of oilāI probably use 2T.
I first found the recipe in Marian Morashās Victory Garden Cookbook (from the PBS TV series). Couldnāt find her recipe online, but this one is very similar.
https://highlandsranchfoodie.com/wprm_print/31327
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Thanks!
@Rivet2000 - I have never used the blossoms, mainly because I quail at the cleanup after a fry session (Our division of labor is that I do all the cleanup, hubby makes the mess - and he is a master at both the cooking and the mess).
@abasket - The soup recipe looks divine, thank you!
@Bromfield2 - Serendipitously, I just pulled up a few pounds of new red potatoes this afternoon. Thank you!
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The dead of summer is here in AZ. 110 F and above all of this week. Everything is suffering from the heat! The only vegetable alive in my garden is a native chiltepin pepper and sweet potatoes and lemon grass. All the other veggies croaked. Itās ok, though. Live and learn!
Iāve learned this week that I really miss the smell of creosote bush when it rains. So Iām going to plant one in the backyard. Then when it rains, I can sit on my covered back patio and smell that lovely relaxing AZ rain scent.
I also need another Royal Poinciana tree for my backyard. But itās too hot to plant stuff right now. Have to wait until Sept when the regular high isnāt 110 like it is this week.
In the veg garden, I should have done what I did last summerā¦plant a luffa vine to use as a ground cover to shade the dirt so other stuff could grow as well.
Lots of changes coming for our backyard this fall, I think. Side of the house needs 2 more trees and Iām going to move the raised bed vegetable garden to another part of the backyard.
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Northern Ohio. Lots of hot, dry weather here this summer. LOTS of manual watering. Peas peetered out BUT it was the first time I had some success with peas!
Most worried about my precious tomatoes - just seems like they arenāt showing a ton of fruit. No red ones yet. Iāve picked some varieties of peppers, cucumbers, kale and all my garlic.
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Jersey shore. Got our plants in late (for us) after a very cool, damp spring and was expecting things to take a while to get going. Not so. Once the weather kicked in to summer mode, everything has taken off. Weāve been eating tons of cucumbers, kale, romaine. Small harvest of snap peas (we donāt have them in the best spot). Just started eating our first cherry tomatoes. The beefsteak plants have lots of fruit, all green still. Buttnernut squash plant has lots of flowers and a couple of fruit starting.
Up until this week, weād been enjoying an unusually mild summer (lots of mid-70ās daytime temps) with just enough rain that I didnāt need to water the beds much. It turned hot and dry this week, and is forecasted to stay that way for a while, so I guess my watering vacation has ended.
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I had family who we visited in New Jersey when I was little (Cherry Hill) and always loved that NJ License plates called it āThe Garden Stateā! I remember lots of lush greenery. My aunt was a very avid gardener - especially tomatoes!
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Any thoughts on beds with river rocks, rather than mulch? We have an area out back that slopes down and is very badly overgrown. Landscaper suggested that he could clear out the area, put down landscape fabric and then river rocks - better than mulch since it wonāt wash away and needs to replaced only once every few years. Only problem is that we want to add more flowers/shrubs out there once the area has been cleaned and with river rocks, that might be a bit more difficult.
He suggested the same for a bed out front - Iāve planted several flowering bushes/plants out here already, but still want the flexibility to add/change plantings. I wonder if we could just use the river rocks here for this bed as a border?
For those of you with great tomato harvests: Please share your secrets. Iāve visited websites, to learn how to prune, or water, or feed - but still never get a decent crop. Iāve planted in different areas of the yard, in a garden, in pots and still little success. I now have cherry tomatoes in pots with a southern exposure. There are very few forming, and ripen only a few per week ā hardly worth the effort. Dang!
Two initial thoughts:
- I would have him clarify what āriver rockā looks like for him. Iāve heard āriver rockā and then seen it in forms of pebble sized rock and rock sized rock! So Iād want to be certain that you like the look of river rock.
- Since this company is a landscaping company I would ask them specifically your question - how easy will it work with this river rock covering to still make additions to your plantings? They surely have dealt with this and should be able to let you know.
What is your location? What varieties are you growing? Describe what happens with the vines (lots of leaves/no fruit/withers away/etc).
I think itās a good idea. Have seen this done in many places and it always ends up looking great.
Good point. H did ask him for a picture - we should get an idea if he can send us one. He did say that we could plant after but that it would be more work.
We definitely have a few areas (near the woods) where this would be great. I donāt really want to grow anything there nor do I want to weed.
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One problem with river rocks - any rocks, really - depending on your location: It can add a great deal of heat to the area, and could stress your plants, again, depending on your area and also what you plant. Might want to see what local experts (nurserymen/women) say about it.
Another thing about rocks - leaves fall on them and are a bear to rake outā¦the look quickly becomes messyā¦
As for tomatoes, I get a decent harvest - I prune the lower stems religiously, and cut off leaves if thereās any sign at all of any blight/fungus on them. I fertilize with organic fertilizer every few weeks. I amend the beds with lots of my own compost every year. I use trellising and my tomatoes are crowded, not far apart, so I know that will work, despite the seed packets saying 3 feet apart or whatever. With judicious pruning, 18 inches apart is fine.
If itās over about 85-90 degrees regularly, tomatoes wonāt set flowers, so maybe thatās an issue for you?
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Ottolenghi is my go-to guy for Mediterranean vegetables. Hereās a couple: Yotam Ottolenghiās Pasta and Zucchini Salad Recipe - NYT Cooking
Courgette Fritters Recipe | Ottolenghi Dinner Party Starter
Ottolenghi Flavour: Super Soft Zucchini With Harissa & Lemon | Chatelaine
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@MarylandJOE Southern OH. One is "super sweet 100 (cherry tomatoes), & the other is more like a Roma tomato (but I lost the tag). I just choose what is available at the garden store at the time, but have tried different varieties each year. This year, they are in pots with a mix of bagged Scotts garden soil and 4-year old soil created from compost. Iāve watered daily when super-dry, and Iāve fertilized twice since planting in early June (not enough?). This year, Iāve pruned from the bottom primarily. I experimented by pinching off the early flowers of half the plants. They all look the same.
This year plants look tall, spindly and not very āgreenā. Fruit on the cherry tomatoes is starting to ripen, but literally one about two weeks ago, and one this week! VERY small salads in the future 
.
Ok, a few thoughts.
First of all, a tomato plant will never do as good in a pot as it will in the ground. Just one disadvantage is a pot has to be watered more because of the limited soil volume. In the ground the plant will be in a much more āstableā environment.
Secondly, if youāre not in full sun then thatās a problem. You didnāt state whether you were or not but full sun is your friend. From your description of tall and spindly it sounds like they are lacking.
Are they producing a good number of flowers? Are the flowers each turning into tomatoes? You could certainly have an unbalance or deficiency with fertilizer too. What exactly are you using? What are the proportions? 10-5-10, etc?
That sweet 100 plant should be 6-7ā tall and loaded with cherry tomatoes by this point. You should have gotten at least a couple dozen tomatoes off of it by now.
So you have pollinizers buzzing around the plants? If not, no tomatoes. Also, tomatoes need calcium in addition to the usual NPK to ripen properly.
If that is the case, no bees, tomatoes can be pollinated by hand.
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