[QUOTE=shelleybean;426589]I spent the afternoon freezing okra. I'm trying Cajun Jewel this time. I blanched them as whole pods and then sliced them. Even the biggest pods were still tender. So far, my plants are only about three feet tall so far. I chose this variety because it's supposed to remain fairly short. I've grown other "dwarf" varieties before and they been pretty darn tall. If this one really does stay at around 5 feet, I think it'll be a keeper.[/QUOTE]

All you have to do is top the plant and it will become a bush.;)

Worth

Thanks for the recipe! Just got a smoker. No peppers, since we just moved. I haven't seen any sort of peppers besides sweets at the produce stands.
Thankfully, we brought about a gallon or more of our fermented jalapeño sauce. That might last until I can get some growing next spring. I have a little greenhouse so I'll probably do my peppers, especially the very hot ones, in pots and they can have the greenhouse in the fall.

Tracy, I do more peppers than tomatoes, but I seem to be more focused on tomatoes this year, but that will change as the peppers start to get ripe. I must have 20-30 varieties from Carolina Reapers down to sweet bells. About 110 plants total.

I've got some kind of blight starting on the maters. I pruned a lot of it out, but I need to prune more heavily than I have been. Seems to have struck several of the plants just in the last day or so about the same time.

Thanks, Worth, but I don't think it'll be necessary. My little okra forest is still well under control. I really like this variety.

In my garden, all the beans are on the way! I will be able to begin picking Romano within a few days. This is a great bush bean for July-October here. It gets a little rust but isn't too bothered by it. I have another planting that's just popping up now and that should finish up the fall for my green beans.

Pods are just beginning to form on my Henderson's Dwarf butter beans. The black bean aphids love these things. I sprayed insecticidal soap this evening. Buds are forming on my White Acre peas. This is one I look forward to every summer. I cannot find these here frozen or canned or dried, not anywhere. Once in a while my farm stand will have them shelled fresh, but it's pretty much a case of just having to grow them myself if I want them. They are an excellent variety.

Picked all my big tomatoes for the meantime (all indeterminate varieties). I have a lot of new green fruit setting but all I can pick right now are my Sugar Lump cherries and the Gleckler's Yellow Cherry. I have to say, that GYC is a machine, taking over my entire tomato bed. I've cut it back hard twice and still it is smothering everything else in that bed. It tastes good and I like the size of the fruit but I won't grow it again. Out of control, like a crazy teenager!

Though it's early, I did plant a row of lettuce (All Year Round), a row of curly endive (Salad King) and a row of collards (Morris Heading). They are all sprouting. We'll see how they handle this heat. Not much room for anything else new now.

I am drowning in eggplant and pimentos and Anaheim chilies. Finally just started giving those away by the bagful.

Hope things are going well for the rest of you. Please keep us updated as we transition from summer to fall veggies.

I'm a Virginia Gardener. I live in the mountains of the Blue Ridge Mountains. My tomatoes are giving out- but it was a good season. My pumpkins are very early. We already picked half. Peppers are really doing good now, and we have been eating a lot of melon.

I am planning my first fall/winter garden. Have any of you planted anything yet for that? I am trying to get the timing right. I am plannning on planting peas/kale now.

If we're energetic about it, we might do one last sowing of bush snap beans in our high tunnel yet, but we'll need to do that soon!

We've been planting out brassica transplants the last few weeks (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, etc.) and making seedbeds of collards, lettuce, and other greens to transplant out later.

Our tractor's been down for repairs, that's been slowing down our fall garden prep, the area we want to plant needs one more discing yet to finish killing off the weeds before we dig raised beds. It's probably going to be too late to get a carrot crop in -- especially with how this is looking to be another mild August this year -- maybe we'll plant a little bit "in case," but mostly we'll focus on rutabagas, beets, turnips, radishes, etc. for root crops and get a lot of greens planted.

For anyone who gets to Monticello's Heritage Harvest Festival in September -- I give a talk there every year on fall/winter gardening -- here's a link to the handout I give out -- [URL]http://www.southernexposure.com/southern-exposures-fallwinter-gardening-guide-ezp-38.html[/URL] -- goes into a lot of details about timing based on what does well for us here in Louisa County -- you can look at our frost dates and adjust the planting dates to sync up with your own frost dates!

The heat is back but my tomatoes have caught their second wind and I am back to picking daily. I snuck in one more round of bush green beans this week. I hope to get a lot before it gets too cold. Pulled all my squash and the squash bugs have moved over to the next bed to eat my peppers. :x Started a few cool weather veggies indoors. They're growing quickly.

Linzelu, do you have good luck with fall grown peas? I have not. Just too hot here at this time of year, I guess. And I'd say the opposite is true with carrots for me. They only do well in the fall.

[QUOTE=shelleybean;429839]Linzelu, do you have good luck with fall grown peas? I have not. Just too hot here at this time of year, I guess. And I'd say the opposite is true with carrots for me. They only do well in the fall.[/QUOTE]

No I try each year though. The only one that does good is Golden Sweet (a yellow pea with purple flowers). Keep in mind, it is not sweet, it's stingy to begin with and only good for stirfry or raw in salads. Its not like eating a real pea.

[QUOTE=JJJessee;426370]Hey,Tracy.
I usually use carrots in my habanero sauce; after I've smoked them a little.
For these Scotch Bonnets I'm using Dijon Mustard.

25 MoAs

de-seeded, ran through a processor
put in a sauce pan

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/f61TVKll.jpg[/IMG]

with the juice of 3 limes
~1/4 cup dijon mustard(wife's recipe)
~1/4 cane vinegar distilled might be a little strong. Go easy if you sub.

Salt to taste
Allspice ~ 1/4 teas.
fresh ground Coriander 1 teas.
Cumin 1/2 teas.
Onion powder 1 tbl
and little honey ~ 2 teas.

slowly bring to a soft boil and reduce to simmer for about 20-30 minutes.
Processed with an immersion blender. Requires refrigeration

Begs to be smeared on a big roast beef sub with lettuce, tomato, onions, green pepper and cuke slices.
Or maybe painted on a split chicken, sprinkled with some more herbs, and grilled.

Enjoy[/QUOTE]

Sounds delicious! I've been meaning to try making Dijon.

This year I gardened for a local groundhog here in Northern VA. Garden was a total fail -- he got through the fence and ate everything. We were also away for three weeks in August, which would have been most of the tomato harvest anyway. I'm close to giving up. How do people have farms in open fields??

I hear ya Dalhia. If I'm away more than 3 days, that's when my groundhog mischief seems to begin. Just using row covers here and there seems to have kept him at bay for this year fortunately.

[QUOTE=OneDahlia;430172]This year I gardened for a local groundhog here in Northern VA. Garden was a total fail -- he got through the fence and ate everything. We were also away for three weeks in August, which would have been most of the tomato harvest anyway. I'm close to giving up. How do people have farms in open fields??[/QUOTE]

1. Shotgun
2. Electrified fence
3. Both

TomNJ/VA :)

He does this right under my nose -- doesn't wait till I go away. I have a trap that I've used successfully before, but this year, something light (squirrel?) steals the bait out of it when I set it.

[QUOTE=TomNJ;430272]1. Shotgun
2. Electrified fence
3. Both

TomNJ/VA :)[/QUOTE]

Husband wants a gun for this -- he's mad. Got kids, though ... and a memory of a childhood friend whose little brother had a gun accident ... Will have to look into an electrified fence.

With groundhogs, I've had good luck using cantaloupes for bait, maybe that'd be too heavy for your squirrels to steal?

(Usually have best luck with using traps baited with supermarket cantaloupes early in the season before our own melons are ready -- once our own crops are ready and free for the taking, critters are much less likely to be lured inside a trap.)