Well, the timely application of WAG is helpful in many instances!

Yesterday's harvest and the first of the eggplant.  I picked it a bit early because it had a spot where I thought it might be starting to go bad.  I cooked it in a pan with some butter and salt so I could taste it without other flavors in the way...wow.  It didn't taste like what I think of as eggplant - it was somewhere between squash and mushrooms.  A definite win!  


Today's harvest and the first tomato of the year.  Normally I wouldn't harvest rhubarb that skinny but I needed to trim it back to maintain the walkway, and figured I might as well eat the trimmings.  We have had the blueberries in for 2 years but this is the first year I have gotten anything other than a novelty quantity.


The garden is starting to get beaten up in the summer heat - It has hit 100 degrees or close to it for the last week or so running, more like August than June.  I am already starting to see the summer die-off.  

After a promising start with the bt injections I can no longer reach the base of the zucchini without breaking it, and where I can get the needle in it is too solid for me to inject the liquid.  After a couple of attempts, much cursing, and bending the needle I called it soup.  I have seen the wasps so my zucchini is on borrowed time.  I would just grow another but we actually get 2 generations of SVB a season here, so there is very little point.  

The brussels sprouts are still alive in this heat, which is amazing, but the sprouts aren't getting any bigger.  I looked online and even though they look healthy all info says they will be bitter as hell so I will go ahead and pull them.  So the summer die-off begins.  I was hoping these would head up before it got hot, but the unusual heat snap arrived instead.


The butternut squash isn't much bigger than last week, but it's still alive.  In this heat -I'll take it!


The potatoes are muddling along.


Tomatoes, tomatillas and ground cherries.


The corn ears are getting nice and fat but one of the side-stalks came out with something that looks like it's halfway between a tassel and an ear.  Very odd.


The cilantro looks like it will start providing coriander shortly.  


This was a cheap strawberry planter I got from Aldi's - I am amazed the herbs in it are still alive!  (Maybe I should have bought 2...)


Eggplant, rhubarb and swiss chard.


The oca is coming along and the honeydew melon is starting to climb the trellis.


Summer squash and the probably-soon-to-be-doomed zucchini:

Thank you Kitties.  I definitely have pests.  Right now they are eating my peppers, and I can't find the little #$@%!!!ers.  I have a series of things I do to control pests:

1.  Healthy plants get less pests, so I try to keep them in good shape.  The raised beds help with this as I have more control of their environment.
2.  I try different varieties to see if there is an alternate the local bugs don't like as much.  
3.  If something really gets eaten up, I give a hard thought to whether I want to bother growing it.
4.  Planting a bit early/late to avoid usual attackers when possible.
5.  Application of environmental controls/pesticides as needed.
6.  If something is just not thriving or the pests are running rampant even with controls I pull it out and send the whole thing to the dump.
7.  This fall I plan on running black plastic over the beds and solar-sterilizing them.
8.  In early spring I run a tiller through the beds.  This loosens the soil and helps expose the grubs for the local birds.
9.  Since I have 4 beds I practice crop rotation and try not to put the same thing in the same place twice in a row.

....Too late.


Last year our winter killed them.  It stays mostly mild here but we always get a few days out of the blue of 14 degrees or less.  I have also noticed that sharp cold snaps stunt them if I start them in fall.  Based on what you are saying I may start some now in seedling trays and move them out in August to finish for fall though and see what happens.


Thanks.  I will try to get pics.

I'm really glad that you liked the eggplant!  I think you'll be real happy with the ichiban production too.  Not meaning to derail your thread but if it wasn't for my wife and friends sharing new to me veggies I would still be eating pot roast, green beans and potato every night!

I noticed your cilantro "green" berries, have you tried them before they turn to seed?  We're hearing recently that they're pretty good.  Ours are flowering now so shortly we'll give them a taste.  We're also going to plant some seed today in partial shade with the hope that the foliage will time out better with the tomato harvest for salsa.  Have you tried a second cycle?

I have not tried the cilantro berries green.  I did re-start a new one, so far the slugs have been eating the heck out of it.  I am going to add slug bait tonight and see if it recovers.  I have been trying new veggies and different ways of growing existing ones because my favorite veggies are almost all cool-weather crops that just don't do well here.  Things like eggplant that can handle the heat are great additions.  I have also read some things can handle the heat when young, so I am going to try some August seedlings of cool weather stuff even though it is hot as the blazes and see if anything survives.

Hey, has anyone tried growing Samphire/glasswort?

Here are some of the recent harvests.  I have not been out in the garden much - the day ranges from 80 degrees with 98 percent humidity to 98 degrees with 80 percent humidity.  No where along the scale is particularly comfortable.  I have been ducking out and grabbing what I can.

The corn is only tinged with red - I have a feeling they won't get the right color unless I let them dry on the stalk.  They are chewier and less sweet than regular sweet corn, however they had 0 pest damage.  I may try another heirloom and see if I can find another type that doesn't have much pest damage but is a bit more tender and sweet.






The pepper plant damage.  These are the worst of the damaged leaves.  Now that I look closer it may be a pest on the leaves and a fungus on the fruit...


Fruit damage:


The corn will be all out soon - I need to decide what to put there.  Currently rolling I have:
butter beans
chinese long beans
tenderpick bush beans
winged beans
early girl tomato
better boy tomato
black beauty zucchini
yellow straightneck summer squash
vardeman sweet potatoes
stokes purple sweet potatoes
japanese sweet potatoes
purple potatoes a la whole foods
sweet bell peppers
jalapeno peppers
onions
garlic
cilantro
ground cherry
purple tomatilla
ichiban eggplant
rhubarb
corn (coming out shortly)
honeydew melon
swiss chard
samphire/glasswort
russian red kale
butternut squash
oca

I am trying to think of other things that will handle the heat and finish in 3 months.  Any suggestions from the hive?  It gets over 100 degrees here sometimes so whatever it is will need to survive that.  I considered okra but it is really too late in the year to be just getting started with them.

I just tried the cilantro berries.  They tasted soapy to me, which is odd because I am not one of the folks that thinks cilantro tastes soapy normally.  I also tried the first of the ground cherries - the little paper-husk things seen in some of the harvest pics.  They taste like tiny, citrus-y tomatoes.  Not bad at all, although I am not sure if they are worth all the space they take.  Oh well, I don't have enough other things that survive our summer to worry about it all that much.

Most of the bloody butcher corn has been harvested.  As you can see some cobs are bloodier than others.

Analysis:
It grows like a charm here, and I did not see any pest damage at all.  On the other hand it isn't great fresh, and I had a lot of unfilled kernels.  I also had several stalks that only produced 1 ear.  If I try corn again I will go for something closer to sweet corn, but still heirloom and not super-sweet.  I tried super-sweet corn once and when I opened the ears they were full of bugs and pretty much only good for animal feed.  Since I don't want to hassle with mineral oil, etc, this is an improvement.  Now the trick is to see how close I can get to normal corn without alerting the pests.



I just tried the first of the butter beans.  Wow.  I see why they call them "butter" beans. I had never had them fresh before, always frozen.  These really melted in my mouth like butter.  Yum!


It has been 2 + weeks of 100 degree heat with pretty much no rain here.  Since I planned for the usual weather this time of year (80's and wet) things are dropping like flies.  Most of the tendergreen beans I transplanted are dead, along with about half of the parsnips that had been doing so well, and the russian red kale. The replacement cilantro seedling is nearly dead.  Oh well.  This weekend I start some more seedling and hope for rain.

Rather chewy and not very sweet, but with an interesting nutty flavor.  It is listed as a dent corn though, that is good for fresh eating if picked young.  Basically I used this to test the theory that the less-sweet heirloom varieties would have fewer pests, which appears to hold up.  The next trick (maybe next year) is to see how sweet a corn I can get away with and still not have it attacked.

Well, so far this year the garden has met my goals - to get enough variety of sides on an ongoing basis to support all of my family of 2's veggie needs.







The summer squash is still looking a little sickly, but it is also still alive.  I am hoping this will be young enough not to interest the SVB's, and old enough to start flowering/producing just as the SVB's give up for the month.  We will see how it goes.


The artichoke plant is looking...pitiful.  I don't know if it is the shade from the rhubarb, the heat, the lack or rain, or what.  It is still alive though, and it just rained.  I will trim back the rhubarb and see if it perks up with extra light.


The purple potatoes look like they will die back for harvesting soon.


The potato in a bucket is looking good - it was planted later then the previous potatoes - I don't expect this one to finish for another month or more.



The swiss chard came through the heat better than expected.  The 1 silver chard variety I had wilted but this neon lights variety appears to be up to the challenge.


The rhubarb....Well crap.  Ever plant something you remember loving as a child and bite into it and it's just not to your taste anymore?  That was the rhubarb to me.  I loved it as a kid, but now that I have finally gotten rhubarb to grow in spite of our heat I am stuck with a bunch of rhubarb I don't want to eat.  Oops.


On a lighter note, the Ichiban eggplant is growing nicely, and starting to produce more fruit!


The oca I tried so hard to grow is mostly dead as a stump.  What's left is dying.  I knew the plant wasn't big on humidity but I thought I'd try.  


Last week's little melon seedling has gone nuts.


A good half of the parsnips also died in the heat, along with all but 2 of the tenderpick green beans I planted, and the russian kale seedlings I put in the spot of the dead green beans.  It just rained (finally) and the heat is pulling back so after taking the pic I planted some of the replacement kale seedlings I was holding on to. Hopefully these will live.




The zucchini is still alive (so far)  I am going to start a new one this weekend - maybe this year I can time it and the new summer squash seedling to get going just as the SVB's are calling it a day for a month or two.  We have 2 SVB cycles in a year, which is a real pain.


The honeydew melon plant I put in 6 weeks ago is starting to fruit and the butternut squash (2nd pic) is finally starting to do something.




Here is an over-view of the garden as it stands now.  The summer squash has caught something and needs to be sprayed, but all in all given 2 weeks of near or at 100 degree temps daily and no rain for almost a month before last night, I am happy enough.

The only way I like rhubarb is in a strawberry rhubarb pie. Ok to be honest, the only way I've tried rhubarb is in a pie. It was incredible, though!

I have never had strawberry rhubarb pie - I still have 1 rhubarb plant though so I may try it sometime in the future.  Cooking perfectly good strawberries just seems wrong though.  

It was a busy day in the garden today - I woke up and the temperature was decent, with blue skies and lower humidity.  I went a little nuts - pulled out all but 1 of the rhubarb since I wasn't eating it.  (The one that is left is for my Mom, she loves it.)  

Here is the day's harvest - the bag is pretty much full of rhubarb from the plants that got pulled.


The space I opened up should allow light to get to the existing artichoke (left).  I also moved the 1 artichoke that was struggling in a pot to next to the existing one, and moved one of the samphire seedling next to it.  (The samphire is on the right but rather small and hard to see.)


In bed 1 where the corn came out I planted a sugar baby watermelon on the left.  It will have about 10 feet of space to run and this is supposed to be a very compact plant taking only 62 days to maturity, with icebox-sized fruit.  On the right I planted some really old baby pumpkin seeds also called sugar baby (go fiugre).  They should be compact as well and once the potatoes come out will have a good 8-10 feet or so to grow in.  They are also only 2 months or so to harvest.  If the SVB's don't eat them both it should be interesting.


I took the remaining samphire seedlings and put them in a pot.  Some documentation lists samphire as needing salt water to thrive, others say they CAN exist in brackish water, but do not need it.  I figure with these in a pot if they look like they are dying I can amend with salt water without ruining my raised beds.


I also scored another cilantro seedling from the home store, and planted it in an empty spot in the raised beds, and chopped the ground cherry way back.  It doesn't taste bad, but I am not impressed for the space it takes up and it was shading out my tomatillas, which I love the taste of.

The tomatoes don't like the heat, but they haven't stopped producing, just slowed.  This year it is hard to say between ground cherries and tomatillas, because the tomatillas got knocked out in a storm and I had to re-start.  I would say both do about the same allowing for that.  Based on last year the tomatillas produce a lot more lbs of fruit.   They are both prolific but the ground cherries are about the size of a pea inside their husks, and I am growing purple tomatillas that come out about the size of golf balls.  The green tomatillas seem to grow a lot bigger (maybe 2x) but the purple ones hide less.  Neither seem to mind the heat at all.  Tomatillas also split their husk when they are ripe - the ground cherries each need to be peeled.  I probably won't grow the GC again, and just stick with the T.

Thank you, Ratling, appreciate the update.  Ours are still forming berries but after your update I think that my wife may enjoy them more than I because the taste of cilantro is something that I've only started to enjoy in recent years.

Regarding the holes in the middle of the leaves of some of your plants...  Do you have Japanese beetles in your area?  They have showed up here recently and they have been targeting the corn, eggplant and ornamental rose plants.  Damage looks similar to yours, middle of the leaf instead of the edge.

Anytime.  On the tomato front I have had good luck with celebrity, early girl, and better boy here.  It also helps to strip most of the leaves and bury the stem deep.  Tomatoes will root along the stem and this seems to help heat and water stress.   I usually leave the top 2 courses of leaves, strip the rest off, and bury to the remaining leaves.

The tomatillas make great salsa verde!  

It's possible it was jap beetles.  We just finished our beetle season here so if that is the case I should be in the clear from here on out (at least on this).  

I am sorry to hear that.  Hopefully the tomatillas will work out well for you - I haven't noticed any heat issues at all with those.  Just don't make the mistake I did earlier this year and try planting 1 - they need at least 2 to cross-pollinate, or you won't get any of the delicious fruit.

The last few days harvest.  So far I have gotten about 3 gallons of blackberries and 1.5 of blueberries this year.  

The blackberry season is almost over and I only got half of what I did last year - I believe this is due to the month of no rain.  I never had to water them in the past so I didn't water them this time.  A fair amount of the berries ended up dessicated on the plant instead of finishing out and getting eaten.  Oh well, live and learn.  

The blueberries are finally starting to produce this year and I expect to get another half gallon or so before the season is over, for a total of 2 gallons.



I picked the one eggplant too late apparently - it is dull instead of glossy like the one next to it.

Well, all but one of the summer squash plants just succumbed to the SVB.  The last one is holding out but it is probably only a matter of time.  On a positive note, the replacement is getting nicely established in a completely different bed, and wasn't far enough along to attract them.  I expect the zucchini will follow shortly (if not I am buying stock in the liquid injector stuff) but I just started a replacement for that a few days ago.  

On a different note I just found out why my winged beans aren't flowering - flower and bean set are triggered by the days shortening in the fall.  Based on that I should have planted these mid-year for most efficient use of space.  

I was in Home Depot yesterday and found 50-cell packs of peat pots for 2.50.  (5x10-cell flats).  Yep, they came home.  I potted up a 10 cell flat each of mellow yellow beans and tenderpick.  The tenderpick I planted a few weeks ago didn't care to be pulled out of the plastic flat at the size I moved it, so hopefully this will work better.  They are both about 62 days to harvest so they should work well if they survive the heat.  *crosses fingers*

Harvest




I decided to try drying some of the corn.  The 2 cobs on the lower left were the initial experiment in case drying on the counter wasn't fast enough and they rotted.  The rest started drying last night.  You can really see the color change, and they look a lot more like their namesake of "bloody butcher" now.  Once they are fully dry I may try grinding them for cornmeal and see how it goes.


So far the most recent lot of transplants are doing fairly well.  The garden is going to look a bit empty until they get going, but I can live with that.

Butternut squash:


The twins:  sugarbaby watermelon on the left and sugarbaby pumpkin on the right.  Once the potatoes come out they will have a nice long shot down each side of the bed, plus trellis.


Summer squash (left) and zucchini (right).  It is about half the space they should have but I didn't have any larget spaces other than the ones they came out of and I wasn't going to put them right where the last batch of SVB's were due to come out of the soil if I didn't pull the plants soon enough.


Cilantro, take II (er, III, but I survived and is just getting old)


Russian red kale:


Artichoke, artichoke, rhubarb coming back from where I ripped it out, and samphire.  Everybody is still alive so far, even the ones that aren't supposed to be.  LOL.


I started some seedlings a week or so ago when I was out of peat pots and starter mix using egg cartons and leftover shrub planting stuff.  So far they are alive.  Left to right beets (as an experiment), corn (short season to fill in if/when the zucchini dies), brussels sprouts (to fill in from the dead summer squash).  The pot in the upper right is zucchini that I started before I found a nicely grown seedling in the home store for cheap and decided to take it home with me.


Bush beans I started after the trip to the home store, in proper seed starter mix and peat pots.  These were only started a day or so ago but they are already starting to swell and put out roots.


The bed 1 honeydew melon plant has 3 large melons already, with more forming all over the place!  According to my research honeydew *shouldn't* need netting on a trellis, as they do not slip off when ripe, unlike musk melon.


The potatoes are winding down.  The corn stalks are still there for a bit of shade for the new seedlings at the end.  Once they are solidly established I will cut them down.


The tomatoes look like crap, but they are still producing decently.  This year for the first time I got them properly tied to the posts up until the point I realised the main column alone wouldn't produce that many tomatoes or use the space well, then I let the rest flop.  Next year I think 4 posts buried in the bed with string around them to make a cage.  Regular cages blow right over which is why I went to the T posts, but maybe a T-post cage....hrm...


Tomatillas and ground cherries, humming along.


Swiss chard and the remaining rhubarb.


Parsnips.  I filled in the 2 large holes with kholrabi seedlings I had lying around.


Zucchini and butterbeans.  The flowers that were on the beans during the 2 weeks of 100 degree temps all died on the plant, but they are now producing new ones.


Garlic, looking a bit worse for wear.


The single remaining summer squash stem and the empty spot where the rest were.  This is where the bush beans will go once they are up to size and the last summer suash vine dies.


Sweet potatoes and cucumber.  The cucumber produced fine through the heat but all of the cukes that came out were bitter.  


I started researching other solutions to the SVB issue and came across some information on the southern exposure seed exchange page (great site, with great info!).  SVB's love genotype c.pepo, which includes a number of pumpkins, zucchini, and summer squash, among others.  They do not care for c.moschata, which includes butternut squash.  With that in mind I ordered different seed for next year.  Instead of planting zucchini, summer squash, and sugar baby pumpkins and just fighting the SVB (and losing), I will plant:
trombochino (can be picked young as s.squash or left to age to winter squash
tan cheese pumpkin - supposedly best taste for pies anyway.
healing squash edible gourd (zucchini substitute when picked young)
Luffa also supposedly makes a good zucchini substitute if picked young, but I only have space to try a few of these, and even so will probably have to prune hard.
Here's to frustrated and unhappy SVB's!!  

Well, half of the potato plants had died back and the other half just sat there looking pitiful after 3.5 months in the ground so I pulled them.  Note to self - never plant the 12 foot tall corn on the sun-side - everything else ends up too shaded.  I pulled a few measely pounds of potatoes out, which is bad.  On the other hand there were no rotten or pest damaged ones, which is good.  The little odd-shaped bits on the upper-left were replanted in buckets which get full sun, and with 4 full months until our average first frost they should have plenty of time for a second chance at producing something.  The rest of the small stuff I will roast with olive oil and seasonings, and the medium stuff will probably become potato salad.


The coriander pretty much died back so I pulled it - it is sitting in the garage in an open tub to finish drying without dropping the seeds everywhere.


Today's harvest and the first of the melons!

You're welcome.  I found it very informative - I really like the idea of planting one squash that can be used as either a summer or winter squash, depending on how long you leave it on the vine.  It does answer the age-old question of what to do with a glut of squash!

We hit the 100's about a month early this year and plants have either been dying off or just not producing.  The flowers on the butter beans died in the heat  and the yardlong beans produced a lot less than usual.  The cucumbers came out bitter as hell.  The last of the rhubarb keeled over and put all 4 feet in the air.  Production from the garden has been pitiful for summer season in full swing - enough to still give fresh veggies every night, but almost no extra at all.  











Still alive from early summer:
honeydew
tomatoes
tomatilla
eggplant
zucchini
1 summer squash
winged beans
swiss chard
sweet potatoes
peppers
artichoke (looking rough)

There is a very short list of things that have time to produce if I plant them now, that will also survive the summer here:
bush beans
short-season squashes and melons
short-season corn
potatoes
onions
carrots (but they would turn out bitter as hell if I planted them now)

With that in mind I have started hardening the bush bean seedlings, and planted out some tiny short-day corn seedling I had.  The harvest is going to lag a lot until the new stuff starts coming in, but if it all survives the garden should be back in full swing by mid-August:

Recent plantings:
(more) potato buckets
corn
watermelon
pumpkin
(replacement) summer squash
(replacement) zucchini
cilantro
kale (1 died, 1 is still alive)
butternut squash
glasswort
parsnip

Thanks for that update.  We tried some berries this past week and can't say that we enjoyed them either.  Coriander they will be!

The last few days harvest:





As things come out of the garden, getting new things to take, even as seedlings has been a pain.  I didn't start nearly enough seedlings because I didn't expect to deal with a possible 75% loss as they deal with the conditions outside.  Because of this I have a lot more dead space that I would like in the garden as old things come out and the new ones aren't up to size in time to take over.  

The garden over-view after the summer die-off is below.  This is the point I usually have trouble during the season, getting anything new to take.  

This spot didn't die or finish - once I realized I don't care for the ground cherries I just didn't feel like wasting time and effort on a plant whose produce I didn't want to eat so I pulled it.  The short-season corn I seeded in it's place appears to be taking to the heat and dry fairly well.


The tomatoes are looking rough but still hanging on and producing a few fruits, though no where near what they did this time last year.  Granted, last year I had a few more plants, but even on a pro-rated basis, it is low.


Both sides of bed 1 are pretty much empty right now, but once the watermelon and pumkin get going from this and and the butternut from the other it should be fairly well filled back up.


I lost about 60% of the parsnips to the heat and dry; the rest are coming along.  I think if we had our usual weather this  would have worked out fine though, and I will try the loo roll method again next year.


The honeydew vine is humming along fine in the heat and dry.


The eggplant is humming along okay also.  After this picture was taken I added the latest replacement bush bean seedlings to the bare patch showing here on the right.  Hopefully they will take.


The sweet potatoes don't even seem to notice it's hot, but the cucumbers are a bit wilted looking.  So far I have seen 1 or 2 cucumber beetles, but not enough to get excited about.


Even with an established plant in the rich deep soil of the bed, the artichokes just don't look happy.  I may need to give up on these for my yard as too picky.  


Past all expectations, the zucchini is still alive, and the butter beans are holding on fairly well.


The last of the chard, looking worse for wear in the heat.

Sounds good!  So far the coriander seeds I have drying in the garage are starting to separate from the plant.  The scent is very nice which bodes well I suppose.  I have been very pleased with how easy this one was to harvest *knock on wood* and I will probably do it again some time.

You know you have a gardening addiction when...

You are already planning next year's garden before you are halfway through the current year.  

Means you're doing it right.  Learning and growing as you go.  



 

Thanks!  (I have a lot to learn.)

I have been pleasantly suprised with the yield from the yardlong beans.  Now that they aren't shadowed by the corn plants they are producing a decent amount on a daily basis off of fairly small, scraggly plants.  I imagine larger plants grown with better sun would produce even more.  I will definitly plant this again next year, but possible the red noodle variety instead.  The green variety beans mimic stems and can hide a bit better than I like.

The last few days' harvest:

They taste like somewhat cabbage-y regular green beans, are stringless, and they do have actual beans inside.   They are not great for fresh eating, and the texture is not quite as good.  What they are excellent for however is Chinese green beans, like you get at buffets:

sauce:
2 tbsp h20
1 tbsp soy
1 tsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp sesame oil (optional)
1/2 tsp brown sugar (I use splenda)
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (or to taste)

Mix this up and toss your washed, cut to length green beans into a pot of boiling water for 5 minutes while you heat a fry pan up to medium hot.  Add just a splash of olive or peanut oil, 1 tsp minced fresh ginger, and a minced garlic clove.  After about 30 seconds to let it heat and permeate the oil toss in the green beans for about 5 more minutes.  Dump the sauce on, cook for another minute, and serve.   Rich, savory, and crunchy.  yum!

I just harvested broccoli!  In July!   Granted, the variant was "sun king" and it did look a little rough, but still.






On a different note the last of the summer squash and zucchini finally succumbed, and I ripped out the cucumbers since they were responding to our heat with nothing but bitter cukes.  

Well, I am back into the heat of high summer, and just like last year I am down to only a few things coming in at a time.  The rolling seedling production helped, but I underestimated the number I would need to allow for losses in the summer heat and dry.  

Successes:

Head lettuce in full sun in 100 degree weather!  It didn't head up, but was otherwise fine and nicely cruchy.

Broccoli in full sun in 100 degree weather!  I had to use a hybrid called Sun King to make this work, but it did work and tasted fine.

Rhubarb that survived our summer.  In fact, it survived so well that the stuff I ripped out is coming back.

Asparagus/yard-long bean that has happily produced pretty much since I put it in.  It does not appear to be bothered by heat, humidity, or lack of watering alhough it does not produce well in shade.

Ground cherry - I am listing this as both a success and a failure because it grew like gangbusters and produced a lot of fruit, but the fruit wasn't all that impressive and a pain to harvest and peel for the size.

Mellow yellow beans - So far this has produced nice heavy yeilds of tasty beans both years I have planted it.  A definite win!

Ichiban eggplant - Finally an eggplant I like the taste of, and it didn't seem to mind the heat and humidity at all.

The green onions I stuffed into window boxes are growing fine, even with me cutting them when I need some.  This will save space in the raised beds and make sure they get plenty of sun.

Toilet paper roll middles for long root crops and corn -  This gave a good start to the plants and the roots grew through the rolls with no problem.
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Failures:

Zucchini and summer squash - The BT injections appeared to work fine where I injected them, however the SVB just moved further along the stem and dug in anyway.  I ended up losing both the summer squash and the zucchini about the same time as last year.

The tomatilla still hasn't fruited this year due to a loss of about 2 months from storm damage  and having to start again.

The cucumbers produced heavily but a large number of them were VERY bitter from the heat.  (We were about 10 degrees high for June and are still 5 inches short on rain).

I mis-calculated on planting the winged beans - they don't start to produce until fall, so I wasted part of the summer on non-productive vines.

The ground cherries grew well and produced like mad, but the small size and husks just weren't worth their mediocre taste.

The bell peppers aren't producing well, although the jalapenos are growing fine.  This is the same issue I had last year.

The oca I tried has not done well, and most of them have already died.  Apparently it is just too humid.

The garlic I planted just didn't seem to do too well - so far I haven't had a lot of luck with garlic.

I still find the variety of produce coming in mid-summer is somewhat narrow, although better than last years.
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Changes/Solutions:

Zucchini and summer squash: Next year I am testing a number of squash alternates for both ease of growing, pests, and off course, taste.  These are trombochino squash, ridged luffa, and healing gourd.  Hopefully one or more of these will be a decent replacement, and they are all considered SVB resistant.

Bell peppers:  I found 2 alternates for this I will try next year - sweet pickle pepper and Park's orangsicle.

Harvest variety - I am adding new plants that should handle our heat:
pink-eye purple hull cowpeas
more ichiban and 1 tester rosita eggplant.  (Rosita is also supposed to be bitter-free)
suyo long cucumber - bitter-free and adapted to hot, humid climates.
red russin kale - heat and cold tolerant.

Oca - next year for a carb variety option I will try salsify instead of oca.

Winged beans - I may still plant these, but they will go in mid-summer instead of early spring.

Onions - since the green onions did so well in the planter boxes, I may try some of garlic and regular onions as well

LOL.  I don't have pics of that one, sorry.  How about parmesan zucchini planks?  You cut your zucchini's into 1/2 - 1/4 inch planks, season well with season salt, and sprinkle with parmesan cheese, then broil on low for 20 minutes or until the cheese bubbles.  The cheese gives it a nice nutty taste and making planks is a lot less work than rounds.   Here is the pan I made last night before I cooked it.  I would have gotten a pic after I cooked it but it disappeared.  

Newly-transplanted daikon radish:


The samphire I transplanted a while back.  So far it just seems to be muddling along, not getting much bigger but not dying either.


The spiky things here are artichokes.  I have been really un-impressed with them so far, however you don't usually get chokes until year 2 so I may over-winter them and see if they perform better next year.  The large-leafed plant on the right is the rhubarb I ripped out.  Apparently it likes it just where it is.  LOL.


Sweet potatoes, coming along nicely:


This is where the summer squash and zucchini came out.  I transplanted some english peas seedlings along the trellis, and a few brassicas, however the majority of the transplants probably won't go in until this weekend.


The butterbeans are still mucking along, but they really don't produce all that much.  I will leave them until the end of the season and not plant them again most likely.


The parsnips still muddling along.  


Honeydew, winged beans, and eggplant:


Swiss chard and my second attempt at transplanting bush beans in high summer.  So far so good.


Potato in a bucket:


Here is the potted samphire.  It is doing better than the stuff in the beds, but it also gets more sun.


Tomatoes and tomatillas:


Corn:


The butternut squash is starting to flower.


Sugar Baby pumpkin:


...and Sugar Baby watermelon:


Replacement zucchini:


Replacement summer squash:

Thursday night it finally rained a bit and Friday dawned completely over-cast, so I took the opportunity to start transplanting some of the bare spots in the garden.

Seedlings growing for transplant:
lettuce
broccoli
brussels sprouts
cabbage
kholrabi
kale

New seedlings planted out yesterday:
carrots
sugar snaps
snow peas
beets
lettuce
daikon (these actually went in earlier this week)
english peas (these actually went in earlier this week)

Surviving seedling from planting 2 weeks ago:
corn
bush beans
southern peas/cow peas

Surviving seedlings from plantings 4 weeks ago:
summer squash
zucchini
watermelon
pumpkin
butternut squash
parsnips (about 50% survival rate)

The hardest time normally to get things to take is August, however this year we have had August-like weather since early June, so I am actually fairly pleased at how it is going.  

Recent harvests:

Hi Ratling.  If you mentioned it I missed it, what short season corn are you using for your second planting?  Our silver queen should be ready in about a week or so and we're thinking about a second planting of some type this year.

It's been interesting reading about you guys in the Carolina's and south central because you're about two weeks ahead of us.  We'll be pulling the squash this weekend (SVB) and most of the cucs due to mildew.  The wife thinks I'm a genius because I mention these problems in advance