regarding cucumbers, I buy plants and have great success with different kinds. my yard is too small for seeds...

I really dedicated myself to pepper growth last season and it worked. First, I planted 2 bells, 2 tinys, and 2 hots. Second, i watered them a LOT. Third, I did a high mulch around them b/c apparently they like to stay hot. It worked. It is possible. But they do require some TLC.

This year, I'll probably just do the small sweets and one hot.

For our extra tomatoes (cherry & grape included) I freeze them. Just toss in a zip lock and push out extra air. Then when it's not so flipping hot outside, I will make canned tomato sauce or Spicy Tomato Peach Jam. Canning is super easy and rewarding. It's just too hot to can in July or August.

Once frozen, tomatoes will slip right out of their skin as they thaw.

Anonymous wrote:Someone asked about how I roast tomatoes. I take all the tomatoes that will start to go bad if I don't eat them - big, small, red, orange - and throw them into a roasting pan or caserole dish, something with sides. They can be in layers, doesn't have to be a single layer. Add peeled cloves of garlic and onions if you like, and some sprigs of rosemary if you have it. Pour on the olive oil...as much as you want. I usually use about 2 tablespoons for a medium dish. Roast at 350 for about 2 hours. If you then cool and freeze these you can thaw them in the winter, throw it into stew, use on pasta, whatever. I run the thawed tomatoes through a food mill to get sauce for pizza or pasta now because my kid doesn't like his "with chunks." (rolls eyes)

I asked. Thank you for this wonderful information!

PP again - I cut up the big tomatoes, either in half or quarters, but leave the grape and cherry tomatoes whole.

Someone asked about how I roast tomatoes. I take all the tomatoes that will start to go bad if I don't eat them - big, small, red, orange - and throw them into a roasting pan or caserole dish, something with sides. They can be in layers, doesn't have to be a single layer. Add peeled cloves of garlic and onions if you like, and some sprigs of rosemary if you have it. Pour on the olive oil...as much as you want. I usually use about 2 tablespoons for a medium dish. Roast at 350 for about 2 hours. If you then cool and freeze these you can thaw them in the winter, throw it into stew, use on pasta, whatever. I run the thawed tomatoes through a food mill to get sauce for pizza or pasta now because my kid doesn't like his "with chunks." (rolls eyes)

Anonymous wrote:Op here. I used burped Kentucky wonder green beans last year, and they were out of control. I bought the seeds from the grocery. I used both a teepee trellis and a rope trellis, both were productive. They grow fast and get tough when too long, so pick them once they look like an average size greenbean.

Those PPs with the productive kale and cucumbers, can you tell me the seed you used? Where the cucumbers bush variety or trellis?

Also, anyone have any luck freezing the veges? If so, how? Any innovative ideas on how to preserve and store cherry tomatoes?

I grew Beit Alpha cucumbers. I can't recall the variety of kale but it was something pretty typical, like the green kale you buy in the store. Not Lacinato/Dino kale -- that one did not do so well for me. Too delicate.

I tried both bush and trellis cukes- don't have the seed packets any longer, but bought seed and plants at Merrifield. All did great until the monster stinkbugs & squash bugs returned. Nothing like starting the day with a big bucket of soapy vinegar water to drown the nasties. They decimated my zucchini before I realized what was happening.

Anonymous wrote:My bell peppers did great last year. Squash, zucchini and grape tomatoes too. My corn and regular tomatoes did NOT do very well this past year. My blueberry bushes died.

I corrected my post above. There was too much heat for my tomatoes and the birds ate the corn. I had one late round of tomatoes, but they were still pretty green when I had to bring them inside.

For peppers, sometimes you have to remove some of the flowers so that the plant can focus on the four or five peppers growing. Otherwise they become overwhelmed and the whole plant does poorly.

We prefer grape tomatoes over cherry tomatoes. Strawberries seem to do well, but don't make it in the house.

I had quite a bit of luck with watermelon. One plant gave us four small melons. We could have let them get bigger, but we were excited and it helps the baby watermelons to harvest the bigger ones.

I planted broccoli and brussel sprouts, but the bugs liked the plants too much and I couldn't get them to produce. I was trying to use all natural pest repellent, and it really didn't help. Only lettuce made it out of my early crops. My lettuce was beautiful. I couldn't even keep up with eating it before it went bitter with the heat.