Green Bean Bonanza, Sad Tomatoes and more...

Remember those Blue Lake Bush green beans I planted, the ones that had been in the freezer for 12 years? Well, I cooked up a whole pot of them last week. I wish I had taken pics, but I didn't. I actually cooked them at a friend's house, because I had a kitchen fire on Christmas Day and don't have a working stove right now. Yeah, I'm a clutz. I left grease on the stove. Good thing I wasn't cooking a Christmas dinner! There are some upsides to not celebrating Christmas, although, if I'd had a house full of people, maybe the damage wouldn't have been so bad.

Anyway, the beans are putting forth another flush of blooms, and I have some harvesting size now, so I'll be picking them and doing the crock pot thing with them. I expect to get quite a few beans from these plants before I have to replant them.

My tomatoes aren't quite as healthy as my beans. It seems the Early Girl has been hit by a blight, because all the bottom leaves are dying and falling off. The fruits are being eaten by some sort of bugs. I need to spray them, but I hate to use poison. I've been taking cuttings from the plant, but if it has a blight, they won't do well either. Sad.

The lonesome little Japanese Eggplant is loaded with blooms and tiny baby eggplants. One is harvesting size. The sad part of that is, I love fried eggplant, but have no stove. I guess I'll try to boil some water in the microwave and blanch and freeze them. I had good luck with my eggplants living a long time last time I planted them, so hopefully I'll have the same with these.

I cut the tops off of turnips and planted them, but I haven't really watered them a lot, so they're not growing. It was really an experiment to see if I could get turnip greens out of them.

I planted lots of seeds, some I got in trades and some herb seeds I bought. I am really praying the Cherokee Purple tomatoes come up. I've always wanted to taste those, but they are way too expensive at the store. They're heirlooms, so I can save seeds.

I also have some Grape and Cherry tomato seedlings growing. I don't know why I have so many tomatoes, because I don't really even like them!

I really need to get some squash and cucumbers into the ground, but I've been so busy, I haven't had time to prepare the garden spot on the other side of the yard. I'm going to try hard to get that done this week.

I have some volunteer watermelons coming up in the compost pile. I'll probably leave them just to see how it goes.

Guess that's all for now. Happy Homesteading!

Growing Tomatoes in a Sub-Tropical Climate

Homegrown Tomatoes Are Easy in South Florida If You Know How

The most frequently asked question by gardeners when they move to South Florida is "how do you grow tomatoes?" In South Florida, you grow tomatoes primarily in the winter. This is because our growing seasons are reversed from the rest of the country. Read More...