Are we getting ready yet?
 

I will be home from a short vacation soon. Amazing I had to travel to Florida in the summer to cool off.

Are any of us getting tomatoes yet? Sunday will know if I even have a garden left after a week away from home. No rain and 100 degree temps makes me wonder.

I suggest we become the Denise Kjar Mid-West Tomato Fest or something of that nature. JGaleota has stepped up to help out this year and several others will be helping, too. This will be a bittersweet gathering. Seeing old friends is always good, but missing one is difficult. We went through this a few years ago when we lost Daisy from Humboldt. Let's keep everything upbeat and plan on a great time.

[QUOTE=PaulF;293289]I will be home from a short vacation soon. Amazing I had to travel to Florida in the summer to cool off.

Are any of us getting tomatoes yet? Sunday will know if I even have a garden left after a week away from home. No rain and 100 degree temps makes me wonder.

I suggest we become the Denise Kjar Mid-West Tomato Fest or something of that nature. JGaleota has stepped up to help out this year and several others will be helping, too. This will be a bittersweet gathering. Seeing old friends is always good, but missing one is difficult. We went through this a few years ago when we lost Daisy from Humboldt. Let's keep everything upbeat and plan on a great time. [/QUOTE]

I've got nothin' but tomato plants so far, but I didn't get these planted until early June. It's actually cooler in Iowa today. Nice weather to finally be outside doing some maintenance work -- and I'm thinking I'm going to till an area where I can finally plant the extra toms I have. Supposed to be back in the triple-digits again Sunday and next week. /puke Still haven't gotten much rain to speak of, at least in my neck of the Midwest. We got 2/10 of an inch the other night. So far in the month of July we've gotten almost an inch of rain.

Can't comment on the name or your past fests, etc., since I'm a newbie! :lol:

Hi PaulV-
We got a little break around here via some clouds this morning, so it wasn't intolerable today. My community garden neighbors are doing fine watering once every 5 days (good soil and mulch) . I water every other day. Some of my earlies are already starting to fizzle out and the beefstakes are ripening. Hopefully you will have some nice red roundies to welcome you back.

- Lisa

I'm starting to get my firsts on most of my varieties. Of course, some of the later varieties have a lot of pretty green tomatoes.

PaulV -

Hope you returned safely and found your plants made it through the heat. Let us know how your garden was when you came home. - L

The tomatoes survived mostly because of the mulch layers. All the vine crops are burned to a crisp, green beans will not make it. Peppers looked pretty sad but I think they will pull through.

My last gardening column was on watering: proper techniques and timing. Now I am working on the next; when to give up because of extreme drought and high temperatures, how to recognize problems caused by adverse weather and when to attempt a fall crop to save some of the year. The working title is, "You've Got to Know When to Fold 'em."

We are getting a rain right now and the temperatures are dropping a little, so maybe the large number of green tomatoes will begin to turn.

[QUOTE=PaulF;294580]The tomatoes survived mostly because of the mulch layers. All the vine crops are burned to a crisp, green beans will not make it. Peppers looked pretty sad but I think they will pull through.

[/QUOTE]

Jeepers, how depressing! It's almost enough to make one skip having a vacation. :x

At least taking a vacation and not making plans for someone to water during a drought and excessive heat. My own fault.

Got to spend a week boogie boarding in the Florida surf and playing golf with my seven year old grandson. It's worth a few green beans to do that.

So, when are we going to get together in Lincoln?