We staked the squash and cucumber plants about a week ago and they have doubled in size since then. I find that tomato cages, though quite useless for tomatoes, are perfect for squash and cucumbers. This is my version of square foot gardening where everything grows up so there is space for more plants. It is also easier to find the produce when it is dangling in the middle of a cage instead of sprawled all over the yard (not that I've ever let that happen). Anyway, we should have yellow squash ready in just a few days! The cucumbers seem to be taking their time.

Cucumbers:

• Longfellow
• Fanfare
• Lemon Cucumber
• Chinese Yellow

Squash:

• Black Beauty Zucchini
• Lemon Squash
• Early Golden Crookneck
• Early Prolific Straitneck
• Golden Zucchini

I started these indoors in mid-May, from seeds I got from Baker Creek. Fortunately, these kinds of seeds germinate and grow rather quickly, since I started them and planted them out later than normal. They don't seem to do well when the weather gets really hot, which unfortunately has already happened this year. The temperature was 95 today with a heat index of 102. Believe me, it felt like 102! Hopefully we will get one good crop before the plants wilt.

Summer Dreams

We had a bumper crop of tomatoes a few years ago. Aah, those were the days. Since then it's been too much rain or not enough, in addition to worn out soil. I don't have enough beds to rotate everything as often as I should, so the tomatoes have been planted in the same place for about five years now.

This year I eliminated an old herb garden and planted fewer tomato plants in this smaller location. Eight tomato and four pepper plants, to be exact, in a bed approximately 8 x 10. This means I absolutely have to keep after the suckers; no slacking this year! If I don't pluck the tomatoes everyday, the tomato bed becomes a jungle faster than you can blink. With fifteen plants, I just did not keep up. I'm hoping the smaller bed (also closer to the house) will make the job manageable this year.

Tomato plants for 2009: Golden Pineapple, Gold Medal, Pineapple, Snow White Cherry, Pink Grapefruit, Pink Brandywine, Henderson's Crimson Cushion, and Rose.

Pepper Plants: Alma Paprika, Napoleon Sweet, Chinese Giant, and Purple Jalapeno.

Pink Grapefruit and Pineapple are the only new varieties I tried this year. Snow White Cherry and Brandywine are staples that are required in our garden every year as we can't seem to live without them. No new pepper plants this year; I'm just hoping they will finally produce some peppers, for a change. I amended the soil in the new bed, so hopefully we will have an abundant crop like we used to have.

Long Beans

Chinese long bean, Asparagus bean, and Chinese Green Noodle are just a few of the monikers of this versatile bean. Although it is best not to let them grow longer than two feet, we let a few keep growing to see how long they would get, and the longest one measured three feet. At this point, they are no longer edible but are good for show and tell.

Sow seeds directly outside around mid-May and seedlings will appear in about two weeks. I have also had numerous volunteers show up from last years remnants, usually in places where they were no longer wanted. The long bean plants like to vine and sprout sweat pea-like flowers that are beloved by ants.

Long beans can be used in stir-fry, soups and salads, or just about any recipe that requires green beans. Plant a few more seeds every couple of weeks in order to keep harvesting into early fall. Eventually, the plants seem to tire and stop producing.

Long beans are a staple at Asian markets and are now frequently found at farmer's markets, as well. Next year I plan to grow a variety of long bean called "Chinese Red Noodle", available at Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.