My top 10 heat loving fruits and veggies

Potted eggplant with petunia

Sunday, August 10, 2025

  

We are breaking heat records left and right in our Midwest edible garden this summer.  There are many crops that thrive in this weather as long as they get adequate moisture.  For some edibles like Mediterranean herbs, they'll do well even without watering.  Others like squash, cucumbers, eggplant and beans will produce much more with supplemental watering as needed during dry spells.    

My Top 10 Heat Loving Edibles

1. Herbs.  Most Mediterranean herbs thrive in this heat.  Rosemary, thyme, sage, oregano, chives, and basil all do well being left on their own.  Watering and fertilizing will increase basil growth.  The other herbs have more intense flavor without watering and are best harvested in the late afternoon when their oils are at the most intense.  I have found a heat loving substitute for cilantro-papalo.  It grows over 3 feet tall so I only need one.
2. Greens.  Heat loving greens in my garden are Red Malabar spinach that is a vine with maroon stem and flowers, all varieties of amaranth, cockscomb, orach and Giant Blue Feather lettuce.  I am growing a chard that is doing great and will keep as a standby in my summer garden-Barese Chard.  For salads and sandwiches, I'll add lemon balm, sorrel, plantain, and herbs with the greens.
3. Peppers.  I grow most of my peppers, both sweet and hot in pots.  They seem to do well in pots.  They do appreciate being on the north or east side of the house when the temperatures are in the 90's for weeks on end as they have been here.
4. Eggplant.  I am growing all my eggplant in pots.  They do very well even in the intense heat in pots.  They are from India so evolved in hot, humid conditions.  You just have to make sure you are giving them enough water and pick the fruits when they are young to avoid the bitterness that more mature fruits can have in extreme heat.
5. Vining Beans.  I have grown my beans in large pots or in the garden bed.  This year I am growing all but winged bean in the ground.  Winged bean and Yard Long bean plants seem to be thriving in these hot days.  Both will produce until frost.
6. Cucumbers.  My cucumbers are also from India and are producing well.  I have way more cucumbers than I can eat from 2 plants of Bush Champion and that includes making pickles!
7. Okra.  Okra is a real heat lover.  They are beautiful plants with lovely flowers.  I am growing Red Burgundy which always does well in my garden.
8. Zucchini.  I am growing Trombetta again this year.  They seem impervious to squash bugs and powdery mildew.  They produce a couple of fruits a week and continue right through frost so you are never inundated with too many fruits.
9. Melons.  Melons are heat lovers.  I have 2 different varieties growing and both seem quite happy and have fruits.
10. Goji berry.  Goji berry bushes get into their groove in late summer and will produce berries until frost.  You can pick and eat fresh or I like to freeze them and add to my morning yogurt.  Very high in antioxidants.  You have to leave them on the stem for a bit after turning red for them to sweeten up.  

 Beat the Heat Strategies

Aside from planting crops that like the heat and humidity, there are strategies for keeping summer maintenance at a minimum and maximizing the harvest.  The requirements for growth and fruiting of edibles are enough sun, adequate moisture, the right varieties, nutrition, and pest avoidance.

In the cooler days of spring, giving your plants as much sunshine as you can, stimulates growth.  As the mercury climbs, plants appreciate some shade, particularly in the hottest part of the day.  If you are growing in pots, you can just move the pot from a full sun location to one that provides some afternoon shade.  If growing in the garden bed, you can grow plants that grow taller on the sun side of your edibles to provide shade as summer progresses.  You can also move pots of sun lovers in front of your edibles or use a sun shade.

Most edibles appreciate about an inch of water each week if they are planted in the ground; double that if grown in a pot.  To keep the moisture in the soil, use a soaker hose and cover with a mulch.  This keeps the water in the ground where the plants can use it.  Keep a log of when it rains and how much it has rained.  You don't need to water your garden bed if you have gotten 1" of rain during the week.  You can also buy a timer and set it to water once a week so you don't forget.  

For edibles in pots, use larger pots that hold more soil and therefore more moisture or buy pots that have a water reservoir (also called self-watering pot).  Cover the soil with mulch to keep the moisture from evaporating.  You can also use lighter colored pots and plastic or fiberglass pots that keep moisture in.  Moving the pots to a shadier location will also decrease the watering needs.  

Also look for varieties that are grown in your area or under similar conditions to your garden.  You can google where the seed company grows their seeds or buy from companies that specialize in garden varieties that do well in your conditions.  For me, Baker Creek grows many of their seeds in southwest Missouri and Southern Exposure specializes in varieties for the south so both are good fits for my garden conditions.

Look at the seed packet or internet description for the variety you are buying.  Terms like "drought tolerant", "heat resistant", "disease resistant" are all good ones for our hot and humid summer conditions.

Keeping your plants well fed so that they have everything they need to grow well also helps plants stay strong and produce as much as possible.  For greens, they use a lot of nitrogen.  For fruiting plans, they need all 3 of the NPK combo.  You can use a general fertilizer for greens and a tomato fertilizer for all fruiting vegetable plants.  Typically for fruiting plants, you fertilize when you transplant, again when the plant flowers and then monthly thereafter.  For greens, I fertilize at planting and then monthly.  

You can buy all natural fertilizer stakes that advertise to be good for the whole season so you can fertilize once.  

Harvesting frequently also stimulates that plant to keep producing.  I pick beans, eggplant, squash and cucumbers when they are fully ripe.  I pick tomatoes and peppers just when they start to turn.  If I leave tomatoes on the plant until they are fully ripe, the birds and raccoons start sampling before I get them picked!

Last is pest avoidance.  There are a variety of ways to practice pest avoidance.  You can companion plant so one plant deters another's pests like tomatoes with basil and marigolds.  You can time your planting to avoid a pest like waiting until mid June to plant squash to avoid the vine borer or harvesting broccoli as soon as you see the cabbage worm moth fluttering about.  You can plant two crops of tomatoes and squash so that as the early crop is losing steam, the second crop is just getting going.  

Take a walk around the garden on a daily basis looking for any big changes in your plants.  If they are drooping in the morning, they may need a watering.  If the leaves have turned from dark green to a pale green, they may need a nitrogen boost.  If it looks like something has been eating the leaves, look to see if there are caterpillars on the undersides of the leaves.  And, of course, harvest anything that is ready to be picked and enjoy the pleasure of watching your food grow!  

What's happening in the early August edible garden

Pic of edible garden early August

Saturday, August 9, 2025

August sees the full swing of the summer, warm season garden harvests.  Late sweet corn (plant corn in succession and different varieties to lengthen the harvest), summer squashes (like zucchini), peppers of all types (sweet to hot, hot), tomatoes, Mediterranean herbs, cucumbers, okra, apples, peaches, pears, grapes, beans, melons, figs, eggplant, honey, artichokes, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, onion, and fennel are all in season in the Midwest.  

If you are not growing these in your own garden, your local farmers market is a great place to pick up these seasonal veggies to either eat or preserve.  The best buy and taste on any fruit or vegetable is when it is in season.  You can get even better deals on any produce that has a few blemishes which have no effect on the flavor.  If you are going to can, freeze or dry them, just be sure to remove any blemishes first.  Preservation garden

I pick what to have in our garden based on the harvest per foot of garden space needed.  Our garden is incorporated into the flower garden mulch bed and in pots so we have to be choiceful on what to grow.  Grow what you love to eat, too.  It won't be a lot of fun to have a bumper crop of veggies you don't really like.  How to decide what to plant for small spaces?

In pots, we have great luck with Egyptian walking onions (which can be harvested year round), peppers, eggplant, greens, sweet bay, bush cucumber, pole beans and celery.

I do use vertical space for the green beans and cucumbers, growing pole types on trellises whether grown in the garden or in a pot.  You can also use trellises for squash or grow bush types that stay compact.

So, what is doing not so well in the garden this summer?  The record heat we are having is hard on many edibles.  Right now, the tomatoes are having a hard time developing fruits.  When temperatures stay above 80F, their flower pollen is sterile in most varieties.  I do have babies on my smaller fruits like Chocolate Pear and Ukrainian.  There are a couple small Italian Pear Paste tomato.  We had temperatures go down into the 80's last week so maybe we'll get some more fruits soon.

The last couple of years, I planted a second crop of tomatoes in mid June.  I did not do that this year because I have had way more tomatoes than I needed at the end of the season.  I think I will start just one slicer next year to be sure we have tomatoes for burgers and sandwiches.

Tomatoes 101, everything you need to know to grow ...

My yard long bean and winged bean vines have just taken off in the last couple of weeks.  I have started getting yard long bean pods forming and flowers on the winged bean vines.  Yard Long beans are much more productive than typical snap beans so I switched to them this year.  The Christmas Speckles lima bean vine is just sitting there.  Christmas Speckles and the Yard Long beans were planted in a new bed at the same time that I didn't have enough compost to add to the bed.  I'll do that this fall to get the bed in better shape for next year.  

Growing beans

The Trombetta squash I planted in that bed just started getting longer vine.  I had planted another one in an existing bed when the growth was stunted.  Both are now starting to grow longer.  I usually have zucchini in June so running late this year.  

Everything you need to know to grow squash

Newly sprouted zucchini, ready to be transplanted

Have many sweet and hot peppers and cucumbers and a few okra. Have had a few fruits from the eggplants and the plants are getting to a good size.  

My pepper plants look nice and green.  The Anaheims are producing peppers and continuing to flower.  My sweet peppers are flowering and have had fruits for the last month.  Peppers will produce all the way until there is a hard freeze.  It seems their best month is September.  They love warm days, cool nights and lower humidity.  I grow the sweet peppers to snack on and freeze for football salsa.  The Anaheims I am growing are to dry and make chili powder out of.  

Peppers are for every taste and garden

Peppers love September 

The flea beetles are having their usual summer feast with my eggplants.  They love to eat holes in the plant's leaves.  They don't eat the fruits, but with the damage to the leaves can reduce the plants ability to produce fruits.  We have purple and orange varieties this year.  Err on the side of picking early versus late.  Leaving the fruits on too long makes the skins taste on the bitter side.  You want to pick when the skin is glossy.

Eggplant-add this native from India to your garden

Beans on trellis in garden bed

The first round of lettuce, sweet mustard and spinach bolted long ago.  I left them to go to seed.  I have many volunteer sweet mustard and lettuce plants coming up.  Greens are heavy nitrogen users.  I make sure to fertilize them monthly.  I grow most of my greens in pots.  Pots need to be fertilized about twice as often as garden beds.  I always use natural organic fertilizers like Espoma or for an extra boost of nitrogen, blood meal or bat guana or liquid fish fertilizer.

Summer garden tips

A quick reminder, save the seeds from your best performers to plant next year!  You can replant seeds from any heirlooms or open pollinated plants.  What do the terms GMO, natural, heirloom, organic, hybrid really mean?  Not only does it save you money, but it also gives you the plants that do the best under your garden and zone conditions.  Only save seeds from your best fruits and only from disease free plants.  Seed saving-fun, easy and a cost saver

Make your own pickle relish

Freshly canned pickle relish

Sunday, August 3, 2025

My cucumber plants are still producing well.  I have plenty of pickles so I'll make some pickle relish! Pickle relish is fairly quick and easy with no pressure canner needed.

In the summer, I use our fresh eggs to make an egg, lettuce and tomato sandwiches for lunch.  In the winter, I have been making egg salad and lettuce sandwiches for lunch.  I like the crunch from pickle relish in my egg salad.  After I used up what I had in the pantry, I decided to see how hard it was to make relish.  The sweet pickle relish was a multi-day effort.  Pickled relish on the other hand was very similar to making pickles which is pretty quick and easy.

If you have leftover pickles from last year and want something to do with them, you can just use them to make relish and make fresh pickles.  I just pull out the pickles and put them into the food processor.  You need to water bath can them after making into relish.

If you are going to make fresh relish, the recipe I found on line recommended using a food processor, carefully, to get the cucumbers into relish sized bits.  I tried hard to minimize the processing but ended up with big hunks and close to mush.  The second time around, I went the old-fashioned route and used a knife to dice the cucumbers which gave me more what I wanted.

How to make pickle relish

  1.  Get your canning jars, lids and rings.  I chose the pint size since one pint of relish lasts me a few weeks.  You can go smaller or larger, depending on how quickly you will use the relish.  I use Tattler (BPA free plastic lid) or glass lids.  The vinegar in the relish eats at metal lids.  Easy, low tox canning of summer's bounty

2.  To let the pickled relish taste shine through, the recipe calls for white vinegar.  You can use apple cider vinegar.  Any neutral tasting vinegar will work as long as it is at lease 5% strength.  Make your own apple cider vinegar

3.  Here are the ingredients.  Feel free to adjust the spices to your taste.

8 pounds of cucumbers (peeled or with skin) finely diced

1/2 cup pickling or canning salt (finely ground salt with no additives)

2 teaspoons turmeric

2 medium onions, finely diced

2 tablespoons dill seed

1 tablespoon mustard seed

4 bay leaves

4 cups white vinegar (can use any vinegar with 5% strength or higher)

4.  Wash, peel and dice your cucumbers, place in large bowl, add salt and turmeric, cover with water  and let mix soak for 2-3 hours.  Drain in colander or fine meshed sieve and rinse well.

5.  Add cucumbers, chopped onions, seasonings and vinegar to large stock pot.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.

6.  Remove bay leaves and fill hot pint jar with mixture, leaving 1/2" head space, making sure all bubbles are removed.  Screw on hot lid and place in pressure cooker or pot large enough that pint jars are covered with at least 1" of water.

7.  Bring canner/large stock pot to a boil, process for 15 minutes.  Wait 5 minutes before removing.

8.  Remove jars straight up from pot; do not tilt.  Allow jars to fully cool for a full 24 hours.

9.  Gently remove ring and test seal by lifting jar by seal, while supporting jar with other hand.  If seal holds, relish can safely be stored in the pantry.  If seal does not hold, relish should be placed in the refrigerator.

If you like a "warmer" spice mix, substitute the mustard seed and 4 bay leaves with 2 cloves, 1 teaspoon of dry garlic, 1/4 teaspoon of caraway seeds, 1/4 teaspoon of peppercorns, 1 bay leave and 1 cardamon seed pod.  Put the cloves, caraway seeds, peppercorns and seed pod in a muslim bag to make them easy to remove after cooking along with the bay leave.

For spices, get creative with what you enjoy!

Here is how I make pickles:  Time to pickle!  

The vinegar and processing per the instructions are critical for food safety.  The acidity must be high enough to use the boiling water method.  For low acid foods, pressure canning is required for food safety.  For more detailed instructions on canning, Sites & resources for canning.  For options on the jars, see my blog Easy, low tox canning of summer's bounty

August 2025 Edible Garden Planner

Sunday, July 27, 2025

August brings harvests of some of the favorites of the edible garden.  Sweet corn, tomatoes, summer squashes (like zucchini and yellow straight neck), peppers of all types (sweet and hot), Mediterranean herbs, cucumbers, okra, apples, peaches, pears, grapes, snap beans, melons, figs, eggplant, honey, artichokes, tomatillos are all in season this month.

At the same time, it is also the month to plant for fall and winter harvests.  It can be hard to make room for new seedlings, but your pantry will thank you in the cool days of fall that are coming.

A secret to maximizing your fruiting vegetables like peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, snap beans, tomatillos, and summer squash is to harvest them continuously.  A plant’s driving force is to reproduce so by continuing to harvest, it causes the plant to put on more fruits.  There are many options to preserve the extras: Freezing the extras for winter, drying Dehydrate or sun dry your extra veggies, canning Easy, low tox canning of summer's bounty, and pickling Make your own pickles without a store bought seasoning mix.

We have many deer, raccoons, birds and squirrels in our yard; deer bed down in our yard at night.  To keep the critters from snacking on ripe tomatoes on the vine, I harvest them as they are turning red and let them finish ripening on the counter overnight.  Still taste great being picked so close to peak ripeness.

Quick tip-how I keep the deer away

Continue to fertilize with a natural, organic fertilizer every month for veggies in the ground and semiweekly for those in containers.  When fertilizing, scratch the fertilizer into the soil around the plant.  Nitrogen is the one component of fertilizing that is most used during the season.  If you leave the fertilizer on top of the ground, you will need twice as much as the nitrogen will off gas into the atmosphere if not covered.  Summer garden tips

Keeping consistent moisture to your plants is key.  Irregular watering causes tomatoes to crack and blossom end rot to occur.  Make sure your garden is getting 1 inch of water weekly either from rain or watering, being sure to water deeply at the base of the plant and not on the leaves.  Many warm weather lovers like squash, tomatoes and cucumbers are susceptible to fungal diseases.  If your garden is susceptible to fungal diseases, you can continue using a natural preventative fungicide spray weekly to keep it at bay and boost your garden's production.

You can also start a second round of tomatoes and squash in July to have strong production from end of August through frost if you find your production is dropping off this time of year and you are keeping up with watering and fertilizing.  I have been trying different summer squash too, looking for one that keeps right on producing for the entire season.  Trombetta has done great in my garden for the last 4 years.  The production is steady, too, so you don't have zucchinis over running your counter.  The only potential drawback is that the vine is a rambler.  It grows to around 20' long in my garden on the north side of the house.  You can have it grow between other plants.  Just be sure to get it moving in the direction you want it to grow while it is small.

Summer peppers and tomatoes

If you had any lettuce from an earlier planting, they will have bolted by now.  Take the flower heads off and save the seed.  You can shake the seeds into your self watering pots to get your fall lettuce growing.  Lettuce will not sprout if the soil temperature is above 75 degrees F.  You can start your seeds indoors or in a cool, shady spot in the garden (if you have any this time of year!) and then move to its permanent spot.  The first seeds I sow are ones that are four season types.  As I succession plant my lettuce every 2-3 weeks, I will switch over to winter hardy varieties next month. 

Never ending salad from one packet of seeds

Planting for fall and winter vegetables

I know it sounds crazy, but now is the time to start planting for fall and winter harvests.  You need to plant early enough for your veggies to be full size when frosts hit.  Add 14 days to the days to maturity listed on the seed packet and back it up from your last frost date for the time to plant your seeds. 

What to plant in the August edible garden

A fall edible garden

Winter edible garden

Frost date look up

Daylight hours determine the growth rate of plants.  Since the days are getting shorter, it will take longer for the plants to come to full maturity in the waning daylight hours of fall than the lengthening hours of spring and with the cooling temperatures coming next month.  By the first of November, almost all growth has come to a full standstill until the beginning of January when daylight hours are back to 10+ hours per day.  

If you can't pick up transplants like broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, kale, and herbs at big box stores or a local nursery, you can get transplants from on-line nurseries if you want to go that route.  Farmers markets may also have them.  

I have started doing more from seed.  I re-use 6 pack containers, peat pots or a rectangular self-watering pot, put starting mix in them, water well, then add seeds, covering with soil per packet instructions.  I just leave them on our covered deck so that I can keep them moist.  Seeds sprout super fast this time of year.  The other advantage for outdoor seed starting is that they are already acclimated to the summer temps so do well when transplanted.  

Outdoor seed starting tips

Fall planting guide for cool season crops

August is the month for starting greens (arugula, corn salad, lettuce, miner’s lettuce, spinach, mustard, endive, chard, lettuce), kohlrabi, onions, scallions, cabbage plants, radishes, peas, fava beans and turnips. 

What to plant in the August edible garden

In September, plant more greens, carrots, and radishes.  For our Zone 7a garden, the first 2 weeks of September are prime for planting lettuce.  Try sowing different cold hardy varieties at the same time.  Different varieties mature at different times, giving you an on-going harvest. 

 Grow lettuce through fall and winter

What to plant in the September edible garden

October is the month to plant garlic for next year’s harvest.  Be sure to order now before they sell out!  Time to plant garlic! With growing tips......

What to plant in the October edible garden

For more details on varieties to plant, Cold season crops for your edible garden

Caring for your new seeds and transplants

Like in the spring, newly sown seeds need moisture to sprout.  Keep seeds and transplants moist but not wet until they get their first real set of leaves and are well established.  Then water as needed.  

Many crops can be harvested into December and beyond without any cover, depending on how cold fall is.  Some get sweeter with some frost, like carrots, chard, and lettuce.  With cover, you can harvest all the way through winter and get a jump start on spring!

Below is the portable greenhouse I use.  I can get 10 large pots under its cover.  Portable greenhouse covers like this could also be placed directly in the garden as well.  I use it to extend the fall and winter harvest for potted greens, broccoli and cabbage.   Prepare for hard freeze 

My portable greenhouse

A quick reminder, save the seeds from your best performers to plant next year!  You can replant seeds from any heirlooms or open pollinated plants.  Not only does it save you money, but it also gives you the plants that do the best under your garden and zone conditions.  

Seed saving-fun, easy and a cost saver

Now is the time to start planting for the fall garden

Kale in the winter garden

Saturday, July 26, 2025

The great thing about fall and winter edible gardens is little to no pests!  The insects die off in fall so your harvest is safe from pest destruction.  Once you have spent the effort to get the plants established and cool weather is here, fall and winter gardening is very low maintenance.  As it gets cooler, the veggies will get sweeter, too.

For more on how to choose varieties to grow, starting seeds and transplanting, see this post.  Time to plant for fall and winter harvests!   You're targeting for your edibles to be full size by early November before daylight hours dwindle to less than 10.  The winter slow down  

Look at the germination temperatures of the cool season crops you are starting from seed as some will not germinate well in the hot summer temperatures and you may have better luck starting them in shade or indoors.  Lettuce is one that germinates best at temperatures below 70F.  I like to start my seeds in pots in the shade on our north covered patio.  It gets morning sun but is shaded all afternoon.  Being on the patio lets me keep a close eye on them, too.  Right now, it is in the mid to upper 70's at NIGHT so indoors is the best bet.  After they sprout and are a good size, I will move onto the covered patio to harden and then into their permanent spot.

Here is a by month schedule of what to plant for fall and winter harvests in a Midwest garden. 

Midwest Fall Edible Garden

The winter edible garden

 

July

Beets, carrots, Asian greens (pak choi, tat-soi), cilantro, collard greens, endive, escarole, frisee, fennel, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, mustard, onions, parsnips, scallions, and Swiss chard.  Use transplants for broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage.

August

The rest of the greens (arugula, corn salad, lettuce, miner’s lettuce, spinach, mustard, endive), kohlrabi, onions, snap peas, scallions, cabbage plants, radishes, and turnips.  Peas and Fava beans can be planted in August for spring harvests in Zone 6 or higher.  

September

Plant more greens, carrots, and radishes.  September is also a great month for starting perennial veggies, fruits, and herbs as well as flowers, trees and shrubs.  Midwest Perennial Vegetable Garden

Greens in a portable greenhouse

October

The month to plant garlic for next year’s harvest and over-wintering onions.  Order your favorites early as many sell out quick.  Time to plant garlic! With growing tips......

If you don’t want to start seeds, some big box stores and local nurseries have begun to have fall planting veggies.   If none in your area do, there are many mail order seed companies that carry fall bedding plants.

  Late August, early September is the best time to get transplants into the garden for fall and winter harvests.  Don't forget to fertilize when planting like you would in the spring.  Keep your transplants  watered for them to get established until the fall rains start.

What we're harvesting in the July garden

July garden at sunset

Sunday, July 19, 2025

This July's garden is a bit behind for some summer vegetables.  We had a typical spring with cool days into May.  I planted most of the veggies in late April.  I had to resow beans and squash so they are behind.  Peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and okra are about normal.

We are harvesting eggplant, cucumbers, hot peppers, sweet peppers, sprouting broccoli, Giant Blue Feather lettuce, dill, summer greens, herbs, garlic, onions, blackberries, raspberries, goji berries, aronia berries and tomatoes.  The flowers are very happy, too!  

We are getting rain a few times a week even into July.  The grass is green and growing like crazy.  If I don't get at least 1" of rain during the week, I do a deep watering with a drip hose.  I have only had to water the garden beds once this season.  Summer garden tips

I need to dig the garlic.  Garlic harvest is here!  I'll pickle the smaller cloves and save the larger cloves for fall planting.  Have garlic any time you need it, just pickle some!  I've found this is the best way to preserve garlic for using year round.  I tried keeping the whole cloves, but most would disintegrate by early winter.

I just started getting ripe tomatoes at the end of June.  Most look good, but a Cherokee Purple produced a prolific flush of tomatoes and then died.  The production is really slowing down right now.  We are back into the 90's.  Tomatoes will drop flowers when it gets too hot.  For what we can't eat, I freeze to save for making soups, sauces, roasts, and salsa all winter.  Preserving your extra tomatoes

Cucumbers started producing at the end of last month.  I had to do a second planting this year as one variety didn't make it from the seeds sown in late April.  I just direct sowed seed in the garden in mid-June and it is doing well now.  I planted Bush Champion and Beit Alpha.  The Bush Champion are ready for picking.  The Beit Alpha is blooming so won't be long!  

If you have more cucumbers than you can eat, make pickles!  Make your own pickles without a store bought seasoning mix

I planted a Trombetta zucchini in our new berry bed and it hasn't grown more than 6".  I started another that I will transplant into an existing bed in the next couple of days.  I'll need to add a good layer of compost on the berry bed to make it more productive next season.  Everything you need to know to grow squash 

 Only the Turkish Orange eggplant has produced so far.  The other varieties I planted, Bianca Rosa and Amadeo are large, but have not started blooming.  I have been using diatomaceous earth on the eggplant and orach greenery to keep the flea beetle population in check on the eggplants.  They just decimate the leaves in our garden.  All my eggplant are grown in pots.  I tried letting them "come in balance" for the last 5 years, but no luck.  Just be sure to not put de powder on the flowers.  Even though de is an organic use, it does not differentiate between good and bad insects.  We don't typically have many extra eggplant to preserve.  I have tried the freezing route in the past, but have not been impressed with the taste.  The best preservation method I have found is to make baba ganoush. Everything you need to know to grow eggplant, in a pot or garden bed

  I freeze the extra strawberries, blackberries and blueberries, blanching is not needed for these fruits to preserve the flavor.  I dry the goji berries.  

I am using purple and green orach, Hilton Chinese cabbage, kale, sprouting broccoli, New Zealand spinach, Giant Blue Feather lettuce, herbs, chijimisai and cultivated dandelions for salads.   For kale, sprouting broccoli, mustard and other summer greens extras, I will blanch and freeze them.  Freezing the extras for winter

For hot peppers, I am harvesting Jigsaw, Chiltepin, and Tunisian Baklouti.  The Poblano plants have many peppers but are not turning yet.  For sweet peppers, so far on the Tricked You Jalapeño has ripened.  The chocolate sweet pepper and Habanada have lots of peppers but are not turning yet.  Everything you need to know to grow peppers, in a pot or garden  

For all my herbs, there is plenty to use fresh with extras to harvest.  I will dry them. I have thyme, basil, oregano, winter savory, tarragon, rosemary, sage, and lavender to preserve.   Harvest and preserve your herbs  This year, I don't need to preserve basil as I have lots of pesto left from the last couple of years in the freezer.  Pesto is my favorite way of preserving basil.  Basil basics-harvesting, preserving, growing basil  

Oregano, basil, thyme, and lavender is in full bloom.  The bees love the flowers!  It could be cut and dried now, but I love the flowers and will wait until fall.

We are harvesting the vegetables and fruits that are synonymous with a backyard garden.  Soon it will be time to plant for continuing the harvest into fall and winter.  The garden keeps me busy year round.  It is so nice to be able to watch things grow and have fresh produce all year.

Preserving your extra tomatoes

Saturday, July 19, 2025

In July, we go from famine to feast in the tomato department.  At the beginning of the month, we are searching for our first ripe tomato.  Two weeks later, we have a bounty of them!  The tomato plants are producing faster than we can eat them right now.  There are so many recipes that fresh tomatoes can be used in-salsa, salads, bruschetta, cucumber/tomato/onion salad, on burgers, on sandwiches, on pasta, the list goes on.  So, what to do when you are eating tomatoes at every meal and still have them coming?  It is time to preserve them!

 

I freeze, dry and can my excess tomatoes.  Mainly freeze and can.  This year, I may get extra productive and dry some in the oven.  They do take a while to dry but the intensification of flavor really makes a dish.  

 

Be sure to put the date and description on each freezer bag and jar that you put up.  You may think you will remember the date they were frozen or canned, but to be on the safe side write the type and date you processed them.  For frozen and dried, use the oldest first and all within a year for optimal flavor.

Tomatoes sliced and in quart freezer bag

During peak season for any produce, you can get the lowest prices at your neighborhood farm or farmers market for fresh tomatoes, too.  In many cases you can get a huge discount for any bruised or blemished tomatoes.  These are great to use for preserving, just be sure to remove any soft spots.

Right now, I prefer to freeze because it is so hot that I don’t want to turn on any heat generators inside the house.  For cherry type tomatoes, I just half them and throw them in a quart freezer bag and put in the freezer.  For larger tomatoes, I slice then put them in freezer bags.  They thaw much quicker this way.  They will have a fresh taste when thawed and used for salsa, sauces, soups or chili.  Freezing the extras for winter

When it cools, I start drying and canning.  I take all the tomatoes still left from last year and can those in the fall.  I dry fresh ones on the patio when it gets cool, too.

I just love “sun dried” tomatoes right out of my own dehydrator.  You can dry them in the oven too if your oven temp goes down low enough. 150-200 degrees F is recommended and the lower the temp, the redder the dried tomato.  The higher temps will cause the dried fruit to darken.  It will take 6-10 hours for the tomato to dry.  You want to make sure they are completely dry or they will mold in the jar.  Store your dried tomatoes in a quart jar or ziplock to use until next year.  Dehydrate or sun dry your extra veggies

Chocolate and black tomatoes oven dried

Only a water bath is needed for canning tomatoes because they are acidic.  Make sure you follow a sauce recipe exactly as it is critical for keeping to the right acid level.  I use Weck's canning jars and antique canning jars with glass lids.  They are all glass, including the lid, so no worries about what is in the lining of the lids.  Weck's are a really pretty shape and stack wonderfully if you want to store the most in your space.  They are made in Germany.  I haven't found any all glass canning jars made in the USA, unless you purchase antique jars.  

All you need to can tomato sauce is a large pot, canning jars, a metal funnel, and tongs.  A pressure canner is not needed for acidic foods like tomatoes.  Always follow the recipe as written to insure food safety.  For more on canning, see  Water bath canning versus pressure canning

I throw the entire tomato (without the stem) into the food processor.  Most recipes say to remove the peel and seeds because they can impart a bitter taste.  I have not had any bitterness in my sauces and there are lots of nutrition in the seeds and peels so I make use of the entire fruit.  I also use all types of tomatoes and not just the paste tomatoes.  You will likely have more juice in non-paste tomatoes so cooking them down will take a bit longer to get a thick sauce.

 

Paste tomatoes are meatier and make a silkier sauce which is nice for soups.  I always have a paste tomato in my garden and try to have one per bag when I freeze them.  My favorite paste is the heirloom Italian Pear Paste.  It provides lots of huge, red tomatoes.

This is a good time to save the seeds from the best, biggest, tastiest tomatoes for your garden next year.  Only save seeds from plants that do not have a disease.  I take the seeds and put them in water to let them ferment.  Those that float are not viable.  I remove these, lay the good seeds on a paper towel to dry thoroughly, then place in a zip lock bag with the date and variety to use in next year's garden.  Seed saving-fun, easy and a cost saver

Sauce in Weck canning jars

Here is the recipe from Ball’s “Complete Book of Home Preserving” for tomato paste:

9 cups of pureed tomatoes, 1½ cups of chopped sweet bell peppers, 2 bay leaves, 1 teas salt, 1 clove of garlic.  I'll also toss in some of my dried mixed herbs for flavor.  About a tablespoon or two per batch.

 

I put it all into a large pot and let simmer until it is the consistency and taste I like, about 2.5 hours.  Remove the bay leaves and garlic.  Boil the jars, lids, and seals as the sauce is close to done.

 

Add 3 teas of lemon juice to each hot pint jar, fill with the hot tomato sauce to within ½ inch of the top, and seal the lid, following the instructions for the type of jar you are using.  Place all the filled jars in a large pot, insuring they are fully covered with water.  Bring to a boil and process for 45 minutes.  Remove from canner.  Let cool.  Follow the instructions for the type of jar and lid you are using on how to test the seal without breaking the seal.  For any that the seal did not hold, you can put in the fridge and use in the next week or so.  That’s it!  

I will can any frozen tomatoes I have left over from last season in the fall when it is cooler.  It takes about 12 quarts of frozen tomatoes yesterday to make 1 gallon (4 liters) of sauce.  I use the half liter Weck's tulip jars which is almost the exact size of a pint jar and are pretty to boot.

 

Other high acid foods you can use a water bath for canning are jams, jellies, condiments, salsas (Quick, homemade salsa), pickles (Make your own pickles without a store bought seasoning mix), and relishes.  Consult with a canning book for more tips and always be sure to follow the recipe exactly to ensure they safely keep.