Zucchini & Tiny Tim Tomatoes

My vegetable beds are looking good for the most part with only a couple of minor problems. The peas are beginning to wind down. The beans are showing signs of a healthy harvest. The Kentucky Wonder pole beans despite my concerns over a couple of plants with yellow leaves are making daily progress and are looking quite healthy with lots of flowers. Most of the bush beans have flowers and small beans on them with Slenderette being the biggest at almost four inch long beans. It won't be long now! The herbs need serious trimming so I'll be trimming and drying herbs this afternoon.

This Morning's Basket

During my morning garden checks I note what needs attention then pick throughout the day as I see the need. This morning's pickings included the first ripe zucchini, royal red lettuce, Chinese mustard leaves, edible snow peas, and Tiny Tim tomatoes. So far, royal red lettuce has been the only lettuce not to bolt. The weather forecast is for rain today followed by temperatures in the nineties (F) for the rest of the week so that might change quickly. I expect with rain followed by high temperatures there will be a lot of changes in the gardens.

Zucchini

The zucchini plants in bed #7 are threatening to take over the garden. They are huge and loaded with baby zucchini. The zucchini plants in bed #3 are much smaller despite being planted earlier. This is the first zucchini picked from bed #7. I like picking zucchini when it is six to eight inches long which explains why I have so many zucchini plants. We eat a lot of zucchini in the summer either sauteed with onions and mushrooms or grilled. It's always a wonderful feeling picking the first of any crop and I must admit I got pleasure out of picking this zucchini. It is a little misshaped but I'm sure it will taste just fine for tonight's dinner!

Tiny Tim Tomatoes on Vine

I always grow cherry tomatoes of some type because they are expensive in the stores and kids love picking them. They make delicious snacking tomatoes too. I'm growing Tiny Tim tomatoes in the greenhouse only this year. Grape cluster is growing in bed #1 in place of Tiny Tim. I wanted to have at least one Tiny Tim plant for earlier tomatoes and to have something to compare the Grape cluster tomatoes to. One of the primary reasons for growing in the greenhouse is to collect the seeds as well. In my early years of gardening I neglected to collect seeds. Now, I collect seeds from anything I can especially the higer producing vegetables. Tiny Tim has always been a good producer for me. There is a little browning of leaves on the bottom portion of the vine. This is not due to disease but rather heat damage. The greenhouse temperatures soared while we were away on the long weekend causing the plants to dry more than usual. I was lucky that we only lost a few seedlings with the rest rebounding from the ill effects.

Tiny Tim Tomatoes

The Tiny Tim vine is loaded with cherry sized tomatoes. The flavour is good yet not as sweet as Sweet Millions. It is more a juicy burst of semi-sweet yet tart flavour. The colour is an orangy red. It is a good, dependable producer with few problems.

Happy Gardening

Garden Gnome