| Milaegers

Fun in the Midsummer Veggie Garden

Written by: Kevin Milaeger

July 25th, 2024

Last year I neglected to plant pumpkins, but this year I planned ahead and now I’ve got some fine looking plants. I check them most every day. I was prepared to assist with the pollination, but this year there are plenty of bees so my help wasn’t needed. Right now, the biggest pumpkin is about the size of a muskmelon. The variety I’m growing is a well-known large one called ‘Dill’s Atlantic Giant.’ The seed packet says they can reach 400-500 pounds, but I’ll be happy if mine average 100 pounds. Consider this: If the fruit forms on July 1, and you harvest on October 1, the fruits have to gain over a pound a day to reach 100 pounds. That should remind you that pumpkins need lots of water. Now think about those monster pumpkins that end up weighing well over 2,000 pounds—they have to increase in size by over twenty pounds per day! What a miracle of life plants are. Hoping for the best, I’m putting small pallets under the pumpkins so they can be moved with a forklift after they mature. That also helps to keep them from rotting. When they get a little larger I’ll carve my granddaughter’s names in the flesh to encourage the girls to help monitor the garden. They’ve enjoyed that adventure in previous years.

Pumpkin 'Dill's Giant'

I’m particularly pleased with the way my pepper plants are growing. I planted them in the ground (not containers) on June 8, a little later than I would have liked. They started flowering a couple days later, and now their first fruit set is nearly mature. Most of these are a not very hot pepper called ‘Volcano,’ about 2,000-4,000 scoville rating. It’s similar to ‘Hungarian Hot Banana.’ I intended to offer ‘Volcano’ in our Vintage Veggie collection, but only a few of the seeds germinated. So I decided to grow them on and collect seed for next year. This is an open-pollinated variety, not a hybrid. That means it will come true from seed. I’m not one for hot peppers, so I’ll give some away to folks who will enjoy them, and get their opinions. I’m also growing ‘Habanada,’ a heatless habanero. Looking forward to that unique habanero flavor, but so far only a few fruits have formed. The plants are healthy though, with lots of flowers. Lastly, I’m trying a new, heatless jalapeño. There are several varieties of this sort now, and this new one is supposedly more prolific. It’s called ‘Tricked You.’

Pepper 'Volcano' starting to color

Pepper 'Habanada'

At my home garden the tomato plants look great but I’ve been having more blossom end rot than usual. As soon as I see fruit with this problem, I remove it. Still, I always miss some and so the frustration continues. I do have plenty of good fruit developing now, but because the BER problem bothers me and a number of customers I’ve spoken with, I decided to do some research. I’ve been following a gardening blogger who goes by the name of “Garden Betty.” She is based in Oregon, but some subjects, such as BER, are universal, so I often find her blogs useful despite our different climates. She has recently done a blog on BER, and I encourage you to check it out. It talks about some of the garden myths and misconceptions regarding this issue, as well as reviewing the latest research. We are planning on creating a handout based on her blog, and we hope to have it in our stores soon.

Pepper 'Tricked You'

Tomato 'Supersweet 100'

I was hoping to have harvested some tomatoes by now, but all I have so far are some red cherry tomatoes from ‘Supersweet 100.’ I usually plant at least one “early” variety but I didn’t do that this year, so it’s my fault that I don’t have any larger fruit yet. Some of the fruits are turning a lighter shade of green, which indicates they will be turning red soon. In less than two weeks I expect to have way too many. That’s when the fun starts!