Winter Bounty
updated: Nov 27, 2012, 3:44 PM

By Edhat Subscriber

Proof positive that the climate is whacko. I picked these tomatoes and 'Limelight' zucchini from my veggie garden this morning. Summer bounty and it's nearly December? (The snails nibbled the tomatoes).

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A subscriber celebrates a birthday with a cake made from their local garden. [pic] (11/30/12)

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Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 347379	2012-11-27 04:42 PM
Very nice! I am also still harvesting tomatoes, from a volunteer plant that came up late. Small yellow pear-shaped goodies. Gotta love it!
COMMENT 347380	2012-11-27 04:43 PM
You can grow tomatoes outdoors year-around here if you want to put in the effort and use the right varieties. They are really a treat mid-winter.
COMMENT 347383P	2012-11-27 04:50 PM
Yum! I have always (lived here my whole life) grown tomatoes and such well into November. Gotta love the climate here!
COMMENT 347403	2012-11-27 05:21 PM
@380: what varieties would you recommend for someone on the Mesa?
COMMENT 347405P	2012-11-27 05:24 PM
OP, here. Yes . . .but 1 1/2 -pounds (each) zucchini this late in the year? Maybe thanks to all that heat three weeks ago? The tomatoes are Burpee "Supertasty," in case anyone wants to try growing them year 'round.
COMMENT 347410	2012-11-27 05:30 PM
I have Gold cherry tomatoes and eggplants that wont quit and just pulled the last of the basil. My peppers are doing great except for the weevils that live inside them now. Cauliflower and cilantro cool season stuff doing great, too. Smaller sized tomatoes go year round here. Just dont plant them past September.
EMUWREN1	2012-11-27 05:57 PM
I LOVE gardening! So satisfying. I have bell peppers, too. Plants from last year. Had enough cukes and peppers to make pints and pints of relish. What a blast! Eggplants in my yard are in pots, from last year, too. They have little "fruits." Eggplants don't like when it gets below 65°F at night. But I did hear one cricket last night----seems it's still "warmish," but only a bit. Gardeners unite! And no pesticides, please.
COMMENT 347432	2012-11-27 06:13 PM
Now get that winter crop in! I just planted celery, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbages, Green onion, beets, onion, garlic, Brussels sprouts, carrots, potatoes, sweet peas, kale and all sorts of lettuce mixes. I'm over in syv and just finised harvesting tomatoes and peppers as well. Been a great year for the garden!
COMMENT 347508	2012-11-27 08:27 PM
I still have tomatoes here in Noleta. Volunteer plant, I dont know what type it is.
COMMENT 347525P	2012-11-27 09:00 PM
Hooray for homegrown veggies and fruit! I never put in a winter garden. Just about all I can do to recoup from watering and digging in compost and all the rest, all Spring and Summer. So sick of watering, I can't even tell you. C'mon, RAIN!
COMMENT 347533P	2012-11-27 09:22 PM
Friend was able to grow tomatoes til quite late in the years before, but this year the rats invaded and ruined them all.
COMMENT 347537P	2012-11-27 10:02 PM
533p: my sympathies - the same thing happened to my tomatoes. Pest control people say this has been a very bad year for pests.
COMMENT 347553P	2012-11-27 11:27 PM
Pest Control guys are always telling you you're about to be overwhelmed with pests. It's their bread and butter to be alarmist. We'd all be better off if people would stop chopping down trees that are large enough to provide shelter and nesting sites for owls. My wonderful neighbors illegally butchered a City tree, and there went the resident owl and her nestlings. Then these neighbors called in Pest Control. As an added bonus, they set two killer cats loose, to prowl our yards. The cats can't do the job an owl did, but they sure are good at slaughtering birds and lizards. To protect tomatoes, try using small aperture chicken wire cages. Or strew around some brambles. Works for me. And put up an owl box nearby, if you can. The best "control" for "pests" is to introduce the natural predators.
COMMENT 347561P	2012-11-28 06:35 AM
553P: I did surround potted tomatoes with wire. Rats, I assume, dug under, climbed over. Agree about an owl box but I would not recommend that on the lower East side - too many people use poison. I wonder what they do at the community gardens; anyone know? (I hope you reported your city tree-butchering neighbors to the city!)
FLICKA	2012-11-28 08:31 AM
Rats are chewing on my tomatoes too. I pick them just before they are fully ripe, finish in the house. They just take a few nibbles, enough to ruin the fruit, and don't taste all of them.
SEEDLADY	2012-11-28 10:01 AM
I grow SunGold cherry tomatoes, a pretty golden orange and very sweet and flavorful. Also Stupice as a hedge against foggy summers. Great flavor. They hold on well into Dec. if there is not too much early rain. They will continue to ripen even if the vines look poorly. Picked the last Gold Rush zucchini and (organic) California Wonder Orange bells. Cilantro is coming up from seed heads that I stripped and broadcast in their planters. I grow lots of (organic) Curly parsley all year because of its high mineral content and chlorophyll. It goes into everything from soup to salad. Detroit Early and organic Gourmet Blend beets coming up now, cutting tops for salads. Gourmet Baby Mesclun Mix is coming up from seeding three days ago. Will cover with cheese cloth as we're supposed to get pretty heavy downpours today and then again on Friday. Super Sugar Snap peas are up about 4" time to protect with cheesecloth from sparrows till they get taller. Nero Toscano kale is going in soon as well as some DiCicco resprouting broccoli for winter.
COMMENT 347774	2012-11-28 12:08 PM
Here's a trick for rats in your yard, eating your tomatoes. I tied hot habanero peppers (red) to the plants. Next morning there was one half eaten habanero on the ground. Never had a rat problem again.

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