Garden Update.

It's Saturday. It's going to be 107 degrees outside. I'm mad. On the bright side...garden's like heat. Especially tomatoes. So at least there's that. The garden is coming right along...here's what's happening.

• The tomatoes are doing great. There are lots of Early Girls, Better Boys and Sun Sugar tomatoes on the vines. We've been snacking on the little Sun Sugars...they never make it into the house. Ever.
• We pulled out an Heirloom plant, Big Rainbow, as it had maybe 6 blossoms on the whole plant. And the plant was almost as tall as me! It's leaves were also curling a bit. So we made the choice to yank it and replace it with a volunteer Roma Chris rescued a few weeks ago.
• The zucchini plants finally had a growth spurt. I don't think they're getting pollinated though as there are lots of possible zucchini but only a few have actually began to grow. At this point I have two Eight Ball zukes and maybe a few regular ones. I'm kind of worried...I haven't seen many bees lately. So we'll see... (I told you I need bees!)
• The beans are doing great...I'll be able to harvest some beans from the bush plants soon. And the pole beans will probably be ready in a week or so. Can't wait. I love fresh green beans.
• We planted a cucumber plant late...but it's coming along and climbing up the support. No blossoms yet...but they'll come. (We actually planted five little seedlings but only one took.)
• Chris planted two cantaloupe plants and they're doing pretty good. They've each got a couple of blossoms, so that's good. They're a bit of an experiment seeing as how we have limited space and limited sun exposure. But we're hopeful...we do love cantaloupe. And it can be so expensive!
• Chris also planted watermelon seeds in the front side yard. Two of them are doing pretty good. I'm not sure they get enough sun...but he's holding out hope that they produce. I hope they do! We love watermelon.
• The blueberries are growing great and establishing themselves nicely in the planter. There aren't any blossoms, but I'm thinking that next year they'll show us what they can do.
• Our strawberry plants are producing. We only planted two plants, just to see how they'd do. And they're doing great. And whatever it is that is eating our nice, ripe, juicy berries is very appreciative, I'm sure. Darn varmints. We think it's an opossum. I saw him walking along the fence early yesterday morning. Brat.
• We planted two eggplant plants and they are blossoming like crazy. But so far I haven't seen any fruit. Maybe the pollination problem? Or maybe they just take longer? The jury is still out on that one.
• And last but definitely not least, the peppers. Oh, our pepper patch is doing great! The plants are heavy with jalapenos, cherry bombs, Anaheim's and lots more blossoms. I better figure out a way to preserve them...pepper jelly, salsa, roasted and frozen...any ideas?

I have to say, I'm concerned that we have not had success with any heirloom tomatoes we've ever tried to grow. Well, we are able to grow the yellow pear. But we haven't had luck with any large varieties. This concerns me as eventually I'd like to grow all heirloom varieties and save our own seeds from year to year. But if we can't get them to produce, I'm not sure what we're going to do. For now we'll just continue to try new heirloom varieties until we come across a few good producers. Wish us luck.

The garden...the saving grace for this oppressive heat. Luckily the crazy temperature is only for today...the rest of the week is supposed to be in the 90's. You know it must be hot here when I am almost glad it will only be in the 90's.

Have you had luck with any heirloom tomato varieties? Which ones work for you?