July: What’s going on in the Veggie Garden?

Well folks, the dog days of summer have officially arrived.

It’s so hot outside, you could fry an egg on the sidewalk.

I can only sneak out to the garden early morning or late evening to see what’s going on. Even then, I can feel a sweat mustache forming from the humidity. If you live in Louisiana, you know what I’m talking about!

Out with the old and in with the new.

Sadly, the cucumbers and tomatoes that we started from seed Mid-January are coming to an end.

Last weekend, early morning, I picked myself up by the bootstraps and did an entire garden overhaul. Ripping out dead tomato plants, zucchini plants that were destroyed by vine borers, cucumber and green bean plants that were way past their prime.

In their place, seeds of okra, pink-eye purple hull peas, and red kidney beans were direct sowed.

It's Pepper Time, Fellas.

This is the time that our peppers in Louisiana are just beginning to peak. Do NOT pull them out just yet. They should continue to produce well into the fall.

By God’s grace, all of the pepper plants are thriving! And this is coming from someone who was unable to grow a single pepper last year… Not one.

Hopefully in the next couple of weeks, we will be making homemade tabasco sauce, pickled banana peppers, fresh jalapeno poppers and cowboy candy. (My mouth is watering just thinking about it).

As the bell peppers are picked, they are either used fresh or chopped up and into the freezer they go.

I would love to hear how you preserve your peppers in the comments below.

Take note of what varieties did well this season

These are the varieties that did very well this year, under less-than-optimal conditions. Which means I will most definitely plant them again next year!

Tomatoes:

Slicers:
- Celebrity
Cherry:
- Sungold
- Super Sweet 100’s

Peppers:

Sweet Peppers:
- California Wonder (Bell Pepper)
- King Arthur (Bell Pepper)
- Banana Pepper
Hot Peppers:
- Cayenne
- Tabasco
- Jalapeno

It's time to plan your fall garden!

As we round the corner into August, it’s time to plan our fall gardens. Now is a good time to sit down and draw out your garden layout. Really think about the timeline of the plants you already have and what will go in their place when they are finished? I tend to leave some room open right now for those cool- loving plants I know I will adding in a couple of months. September/October is when a lot of those cool crops go in the ground.

Can you believe we are thinking about cold-loving plants already?! Time is flying.

There are still 112 days before our first frost where I’m at it so there’s plenty of time to repeat some summer crops if you want. You could reseed some tomatoes, cucumber, eggplant, okra, and beans.

This week, I’ll be sowing cabbage and broccoli in seed trays in order for them to be ready for transplant come September. I keep them outside under my patio where they still receive a good amount of sun and keep them watered every single day.

If you want to know what varieties I’m growing this fall, check out my post titled “Vegetable Varieties I’m Growing in 2023”

What varieties are you growing in your garden?