Black Plum Tomatoes

It’s been a rough year for gardening this year in eastern Missouri.  Like much of the Midwest, we’ve had very little ran and extreme heat, although this last week the temperatures have come down.  The last time we had rain was June 16 when we received a little over an inch at our place.  Before this rain, there were several dry weeks as well.

I have done a lot of watering this year, focusing it on the tomatoes, cucumbers, one bed of corn, one bed of cantaloupe and one large bed of green beans.  Despite the drought, the Lord has especially blessed the cucumber production.  We have had and continue to have a great harvest of English cucumbers—very tasty!

The tomatoes are now finally starting to ripen, and we should have a pretty good harvest of tomatoes.   Most of the plants are lush and healthy although many of the blossoms are not setting as they normally would due to the extreme day and night temperatures the past several weeks.

A bed late-planted in sweet corn is starting to tassel.   The stalks are lush, dark-green and strong.  I’ll need to ensure I water these regularly as the ears begin to develop to ensure good yield from this bed.  Hopefully keeping the raccoons at bay, I’d like to get at least some sweet corn this year.

Cantaloupe is my favorite melon, and I can’t wait to taste that first juicy, ripe, garden-fresh cantaloupe.   The plants look pretty healthy at this point with several melons among the vines.

Here are some pictures of the garden as of this writing.

How is your garden doing?  What vegetables are doing the best for you?

English cucumber plants

English cucumber trellis

Tomatoes in the cages

Tomatoes on the vine

Italian Giant Tomatoes

cantaloupe bed

cantaloupe on the vine

Strike bush green bean bed