Thursday, August 2, 2012

Garden Update and Harvests - August 2, 2012

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I just returned from our annual beach vacation to Florida.  There is nothing like being gone for a week from your garden and being so excited to see what has changed since you left.

As expected I had a ton of tomatoes that ripened on the vine.  I harvested 13 pounds of ripe tomatoes to bring my grand total over 100 pounds for the year!  I am super excited about my tomato harvest this year.  The next thing that changed drastically was my purple hull and zipper cream field peas.  The zipper creams have exploded with pods and I can't wait to start harvesting.

Now for the bad news, something decimated my zucchini plants.  I don't know what it was but it completely ate the plants down to nothing.  I don't know if they will bounce back in time, and I may try one more planting for fall harvest.  I heard from my neighbor that we got lots of rain while I was gone, so all in all not a bad week.

Purple Hulls on the left
Zipper creams on the right loaded with pods

Close up of pea flowers before they form into pods.

The zipper creams are sprawling everywhere.

The silver queen corn shot up while I was gone.  
I have neglected this batch so I hope I get a few ears.

Hungarian Wax Pepper plants loaded with peppers.

Jalapeno peppers, Bell peppers, and Hungarian Wax peppers

Huge batch of tomatoes, over 13 pounds.

7 comments:

Cristy said...

That is awesome harvest! I am sorry about your zucchini.

Zipper creams are bush plants like pink eye purple hulls? I love my Ms. Cream peas, but they are definitely vining plants (about 12 foot vines!). It might be nice to have bush plants for more options as to where to plant them.

Jenny Rottinger said...

Very nice harvest! I love the pictures of field peas and yellow peppers :)

Kris said...

Cristy - Thanks and yeah I am bummed about my zukes. Zipper creams are very similar to purple hulls in that they are bushy. However, even my purple hulls will vine and sprawl all over the place.

The benefit of the zipper creams is that they are easy to shell hence the name zipper. I will let you know how I like them.

Jenny - Thanks and I am excited about my field peas too. I have been waiting all year to start shelling some peas.

Bernadine said...

Your garden still looks amazing even with the recent drought and high temps. I'm so thankful we're both getting rain. Your crop of tomatoes looks great.

Kris said...

Thanks Bernadine, the rain has been so nice. I am ready kind of ready for fall to get here and cooler weather.

Kelly said...

Hi I am new to everything except I know how to cook and I am tired of paying the price for fresh. i LOVE zipper peas. I grew up on them down in a little town called Marianna, Fl. I want to grow them next year and live in Ga. Can you please tell me where you found your seeds?

Kris said...

Kelly - I know exactly where Marianna, Florida is. We pass right through there on our way to Panama City Beach every year. I haven't posted an update because I have been so busy, but the zipper creams really produced well for me. I picked the last of them yesterday and pulled up the vines. The seeds are available around here at any feed and seed store or local nursery. They should be pretty easy to find online as well. What part of GA you in?