Vegetables

New patio tomatoesNew varieties of patio tomatoes will soon be available to make it easier to grow tomatoes in confined spaces. Some are getting rave reviews. To read more, click here. Photo thanks to ballhort.com.

By Norman Winter
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
The vegetable garden looks to be “Sweet ’n’ Neat” next year, thanks to some new varieties of tomatoes by that very name.
More and more urban dwellers are joining in the latest trend of growing their own produce, and tomatoes are the No. 1 choice of those growing edibles.

How do I tell when acorn squash are ready to be picked? Thanks.

TomatoesLet's face it -- a lot of gardeners grow tomatoes but a lot can go wrong too. Chelsey Wasem offers advice on fixing a number of the most common problems this week in her tips.

I haven't grown tomatoes much before and this year the two that I've got are huge. I've got them in cages and I'm staking up the branches that are heading way outside the cages but at what point do I stop staking them and just start lopping off long branches so they don't bend and hang? It's starting to look like an erector set.

Tomatoes“What is wrong with my tomatoes?” Tomato questions have been the number one question on our gardening hotline. Our tomato harvests have been hindered by heat, bugs and disease.

From blogger Sue Waltemath:
Squash blossomThis morning while surveying the Ponderosa I had the opportunity to get some great pictures of some squash blossoms on a hubbard squash plant which is planted in a container on the deck. Squash plants have separate male and female flowers on the same plant. The scientific word for this is "monoecious".Squash It's pretty easy to identify male and female flowers. The female flower has a mini version of the eventual squash, the male does not. No baby=male flower. Male flowers usually bloom first so don't be alarmed when you get a lot of blooms early in the season and no fruit.

BroccoliEven if you missed getting a vegetable garden in this spring, it's not too late to plant one for the fall. Chelsey Wasem offers tips this week on when and what to plant. To read more, click here.

BroccoliSpring isn’t the only time to think about planting a vegetable garden. Planting vegetables now is a great way to extend your vegetable harvest into the fall.

There are many advantages to gardening later in the season. Insect pests tend to be less of an issue in late summer and fall. Vegetables that mature during cool fall days are often better flavored than those that mature in the hot, dry days of summer. In addition, many vegetables can be left in the garden and used as needed in the winter months.

I was curing my recent onion harvest (about 100 lbs.) in my yard while I was at work it started raining. What do I do? They're out in the rain. Do I start over and and hope they eventually dry out?

I'm interested in the experts' opinions on pruning tomato plants. Is there any research that proves it's beneficial to the plants, fruit quality and yield? I went ahead and pruned and thinned mine anyway, but I'd like to know what you think.

SquashFrom blogger Sue Waltemath:

This is the time of year when your neighbor gifts you with a zucchini the size of a small suitcase. What to do? Zucchini bread and cake are yummy but can add to that waist line. Here are a couple of other ideas for using up extra produce.

Vegetable Lasagna
Slice the large zucchini lenghwise into thing, long strips. Use these strips in place of lasanga noodles. Follow your favorite recipe for lasagna. Yummy.

From Deb:

I just found three packets of seeds I forgot I had. They're pumpkin, gourd and heirloom tomato seeds. Should I just plant them and see what happens or will they still be good next year?

I've an heirloom tomato (Kellog's breakfast) that has not put on a single flower. It was planted with another of its presumed siblings both from the same nursery which is doing just fine.

It's spindly with thin stalks and although it's growing tall it still has not put on a single flower.

I've had plants that put on few flowers and have not borne fruit, but never zero flowers. Could this be goofed up genetics or environmental factors?

Every year we seem to lose tomatoes to squirrels -- we gave up for a couple years but decided to try it again this year. We have 4 plants bursting with green tomatoes and would like to actually get to harvest some -- any suggestions? I've heard cayenne pepper but not sure how to apply (diluted in water bottle and spray?) Thoughts?

LettuceIf you were too late this spring to plant cool season vegetables like broccoli, potatoes, carrots and lettuce, you're not too late to learn about fall vegetable gardening. Chelsey Wasem is offering a class on July 14. To learn more, click here. Photo thanks to illnois.edu.

I am going to use some of my soon to be harvested potatoes for seed potatoes for a fall crop. I would rather use commercial potatoes but I've never seen any for sale this time of year. What do I need to do to prepare the potatoes for planting?

Have a container garden. They flowered , but the flowers fell off. they are reflowering but no fuit as of yet. Witht he rains and the hot weather is there anything I can do to get fruit fromt hese plants?

I have three jalapeno plants in my garden that have yellow apperance I water daily and have used plant food but I dont know why the leaves are yellow.

Squash on the deckFrom Sue Waltemath:

I have become and Urban Deck Farmer this summer. With an acre of shady woodland garden, the best place to grow veggies is my sunny second-story deck.

Pictured are yellow crook neck squash which have been producing for a few weeks. We are harvesting baby squash and cooking them on the grill with a little olive oil and salt and pepper. Yummy.

In addition to the yellow squash, the