Kelly, avert your eyes!
Yes, those are all bush bean plants that had just started producing well that I just pulled out of the bed! Contender, Yellow Wax & Dragon's Tongue.
Why? Because I took the intensive planting methods a bit far this year I think. I had them stuffed into the pepper bed and my peppers weren't getting any light. No time to raise more peppers but I still have plenty of time for beans, so it wasn't a hard decision. I did wait, however, until my new bean area had all sprouted successfully. All the new beans are up about 2 inches high where the Amish Paste tomatoes met their early fate.
Below are the peppers now, free of beans and able to get the sun. If this year has taught me anything, it's that closely planted things can allow disease to run rampant, so out they went. I expect the peppers will ripen much better this way, this was the first year I crowded them with anything else but their own kind in my quest for the "cottage look", but cottage quickly turned into the "hoarder look" LOL
At least I got another dinner's worth of beans before yanking them!
The Brandywines are a freak show out there, that's a regular grocery-store size tomato in my hand... and no, I don't live near a nuke plant. This looks like a banner year size-wise so that's why I'm really hoping they can ripen and stay healthy.
It's not just one, either... they all look that size!
The latest intruder, not sure what yet... could be canine but I'm thinking not, since they don't really stay outside long enough to work so hard at seeking shade. This is also the garden fence that seems to be getting dug out, so I'm thinking intruder alert!
Lastly, we have some wildlife news... congrats to Mama Dove! She survived the weird cyclone storm we had when her nest and eggs got blown to the ground and cracked, set two more eggs and survived I don't know how many downpours in her swinging basket up there but there are her new babies!
Now I have to be super alert when I let the dogs out, since she will have them out and about in no time.
Wowzers! Those tomatoes really are huge! Don't live next to a nuke...hardy har! :)
ReplyDeleteCongrats to MamaDove on her labor of love! Sorry you had to pull beans, but you are right. So what, does your growing season end in January?
Yea! Mama Dove has some babies. I felt bad when the others fell from the nest.
ReplyDeleteLol, I made it through the post Erin.
ReplyDelete"Yay!" to mama dove for her nesting skills.
You have ONE MORE POST on Brandywines and I"m coming down there and squish you!!! We have barely made 70 degrees all week. Nights in the 40's. There will be NO BRANDYWINES here. I am devastated. No BLT's. No chin-dripping sun warmed vine ripened Brandywines. See Sue Cry.
ReplyDeleteBrandywines on steroids! Or I guess it could be just your special TLC. Holy cow, those look like the REAL tomatoes my grandpa used to grow in his garden in Illinois way back in the 40s and 50s. You must post a picture of you biting into one with juice running down to your elbows. (Come on, Sue, I know you're strong enough to look at it. We'll fantisize together!)
ReplyDeleteCongratulate Mama Mourning Dove on her twins. She did good!
Congratulations, Mama Dove!
ReplyDeleteYour Brandywines are enormous! I only have one that has set fruit (one tomato) and all the others are dropping their blossoms. It's a good thing I planted those Bloody Butchers, they might be my lone bearing plants this year!
Ooo, those are HUGE!! My lone tomato (so far) is about the size of a ping pong ball. It's so hard to wait...
ReplyDeleteHurray for Mama Dove!
Judy
Could we trade ---yours for mine--?? tomatoes-I might not have any- I am embarrassed to say I have tiny little yellow buds on mine---quit laughing @#%@#%
ReplyDeleteWow those are huge tomatoes! Hopefully their size will make up for the blighted ones you've pulled out.
ReplyDeleteI love to see that mama dove has two babies even after her first eggs were smashed. Life is so amazing!
APG, I actually lived right next to a nuc plant growing up LOL, maybe I have some residual "nuke dust" on me! January? Not likely LOL, but I can dependably grow beans until about mid October, and that's good enuf!
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Jane, funny how we get attached to the wildlife we never really even interact with - although I guess giving her a plywood roof over her basket was a little interaction LOL
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Kelly, HA! I had just finished sending off the Dragon's Tongue seeds to you with the mailman when I walked back there and started ripping them out, I couldn't help but shake my head and laugh
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Sue, so sorry! Haha, next year when all I can grow is hybrids since there will be nasty blight in the soil I will be the one jealous over others' tomatoes!
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Mama Pea, I can't help it but the cynic in me thinks that because they are larger they will be tasteless - I'm such a glass half-empty girl sometimes :)
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Gran, you will get there! I have no doubt that your tomatoes will be piling up again and you will have quarts of sauce hibernating under your bed in no time LOL
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Judy, I can't wait to see your tomatoes come in - you sure have worked for it with all the crazy weather and rain you have been dealing with.
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Judy (2), so let me get this straight - you want to trade my tomato for "no tomato"? LOLOL! Just checking haha
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Sparkless, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they ripen!
Those are some awesome tomatoes you got growin' there!
ReplyDeleteI don't think I have ever seen tomatoes that big! Do you sing to them at night? Do you bake cookies for them? What is your secret? I don't think we will even get tomatoes this year with how cruddy the weather has been. :(
ReplyDeleteWahoo to Mama Dove! What sweet little babies...how in the world did you sneak up there for a picture?
Hoarder look - Haha! You are so funny! Those tomatoes are amazing - and I'm proud of my tiny baby tomatoes (all two of them so far) about the size of a walnut. That's amusing too. ;) Congrats to Mama Dove!
ReplyDeleteHas someone been peeing in your brandywine bed?? :-) Those are some large maters!
ReplyDeleteThose Brandywines are amazing!! I'll keep my fingers and toes crossed for you!
ReplyDeleteThose tomatoes are HUGE, Erin. And there's not even ripe yet. I love the monster ones. They are a meal in themselves. Canker sore here we come!
ReplyDeleteOMG, they are huge. What are you feeding them? You must have an army supporting them, lol. I'll have to add Brandywines to my list next year. Can't wait to see them when they ripen.
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