I always feel like a slug in this scorching weather. It’s a good thing that there’s more work to be done in the kitchen than in the garden.
There are two references I’m using, in order:
Collin County Master Gardeners
Dallas Planting Manual, The Dallas Garden Club of the Dallas Woman’s Club
I’ve put an asterisk by the ones I think I’ll be planting.
DPM
tomatoes (can’t seem to source transplants this time of year)
peppers (have plenty that are still producing like champs)
summer and winter squash
melons (my watermelons are doing great)
pumpkins*
CCMG
eggplant* (thru 15th)
peppers (hot and bell)
potatoes, Irish (after the 15th)*
pumpkins*
tomatoes
We are very busy keeping up with the harvesting. The tomatoes are coming in by the pound. It’s a beautiful thing! We have had 3 canning sessions, and there are more to come. Jan has been pureeing the small tomatoes whole (cherry, yellow pear) before canning. The larger tomatoes, we’ve been blanching the skins off, then coring and stuffing them whole into quart jars. (To blanch, just get a big pot of boiling water, drop the whole tomatoes in, boil until the skin breaks. Use tongs to pull each tomato out and plop it straight into a big pot of ice water. The skin will slide right off, core the tomato, pop it into a jar.)
We’re also harvesting cucumbers at a good rate; peppers are still cranking. We’re drying the hot peppers, and slicing and freezing the sweet peppers. I also sliced and froze the carrots and some of the onions. They’ll be perfect to drop into stews and roasts. The eggplants are tapering off. We planted a Fairytale transplant this year. It’s done really well. I bought seeds to plant and share with a neighbor during this 2nd season.
The basil is just about ready to start processing into pesto. We made it through all of last year with our pesto. We just made 2 or 3 big batches, then froze it into ice cube trays. Once the cubes were frozen solid, we popped them out and into freezer bags. One cube is perfect for one serving of pasta.
I harvested the corn a few weeks ago. I’m still trying to find the right variety. We grew Painted Mountain this year, and it was a little tough. Good flavor, though.
Growing strong: watermelon, okra, leeks, tomatoes, peppers, basil.
