May 18, 2025 Harvest (Southeast Texas)

Growing season isn't quite over in southeast Texas yet – I'm still getting great harvests, as shown here – but HellSummer has officially arrived, so the spring plants will soon start struggling to survive and have trouble setting fruit. The end is nigh. Sad days. I think I can now fairly assess what has and has not done well this spring.

1. Cucumbers – these are a mix of Diva and Diamant, both of which are gynoecious parthenocarpic varieties. I am very pleased with them (except for the fact that the cucumbers like to hide and it's hard to find them until they are huge). I also have Piccolino and Hoss Sweet Success going, but given how HellSummer and near-triple-digit temps showed up in early May, I'm not sure if they will be able to give me anything. They are looking great though, and I can't blame them for the weather. I've harvested a *lot* of cucumbers this spring; the gyno/parth meant they were on easy mode. I will be trying Armenian cucumbers this summer; they supposedly do not care how hot it gets.

2. Golden Delight Zucchini. This one has been an absolutely delightful surprise. Squash were new to me this year and I will 110% be growing this variety again. I only planted two of them and the SVB (curse them) took one out, but I still got eight or so big fruits about this size. I learned too late that supposedly zucchini don't like being grown in containers, so I will be giving them raised bed space next year and hope to see even better production. I really like these things. I have been adding them to my yellow marinara.

3. Nebraska Wedding. This was my first season growing these. They are heirloom determinates, and heirlooms don't generally do well here, but this one has been a trooper. There is a little bit of disease and blight on the lowest branches but almost all tomatoes deal with that here. I've been clipping those back and it's been fine. They are definitely taking a long time – I planted them out February 7 and didn't get fruit until early May, and as of today (May 18) I've only gotten maybe 4 or 5 fruits. However the plants are loaded and the fruits are huge. They aren't as meaty as my favorite BHN871G but are still quite respectable. Hopefully the rest of the fruits will ripen over the next few weeks. They are tucked under shade cloth. I will grow this variety again, though only in springtime, and I'll make sure it's one of the earliest planted out.

4. BHN871G. This is my second favorite tomato, and if it didn't take so long to ripen it would be my top favorite tomato. They are very delicious and meaty and the plants are just tough as anything. They have almost no splitting (you can see some marks where they healed up), no blight, no problems at all really (except for bugs which eat the fruit like the leaf footed miner bugs (curse them)) as long as you keep them fed and watered. This is my second season growing this variety; in fall it got super bushy and was hard to maintain but this spring it's been much more polite. They absolutely need very strong support; I have them in raised beds against cattle panel arches.

5. Phoenix. This variety is new to me and was one of the last varieties I planted out this spring (March 4 transplant date). The fruits are small but they are starting to produce in good numbers. They are supposed to be very heat tolerant for a tomato. They are small for slicers (some are almost closer to cherry sized) but that is ok. So far so good?

6. Golden Bison. I grew one of these last fall and it impressed me so much that I grew four of them this spring. It's got a very good flavor and is extremely productive (I've harvested a great many and there are still quite a few out there). The tomatoes are on the smaller side for a slicer but that means they grow and ripen very quickly. I am pleased. This has also earned a spot in my grow-it-every-season lineup.

7. Yellow Patio Choice. This remains my favorite tomato. These are about done for the season – they are only 45 days to maturity and the plants look like hell but are still ripening fruit (early season fruits are much bigger than these). I'll let them keep going until summer nukes them for good. The fruits have a great flavor. I love using them for curries or sauces where I'll be blending and sieving everything (they are particularly good in butter chicken).

8. Invincible Hybrid. This is a very stable paste tomato. I planted these out in my last succession round (March 4) as well, so they are just starting to produce in numbers. They are also supposed to be decently heat tolerant; I have them under shade cloth and hope I get to harvest them for a while longer.

9. Sunrise Sauce. These taste great, produce in large numbers and are very hardy plants. My only quarrel with them is they take *forever* to ripen. They are officially 60 days to maturity but you won't get fruit that quickly; I grew one plant in fall and four this spring, and all of them didn't start ripening until much closer to the 90 day mark in spring (even longer in fall). Still, they are good enough to wait for in springtime (I've been very impressed with them once they started ripening en masse); I won't grow them in fall again.

10. Washington Cherry. I don't love this variety but it is very productive. The flavor is "eh, not bad" at best, but it's very useful for when you need generic tomato bulk to add to sauces, stews, salsa, etc. I am growing several of them in a raised bed next to a cattle panel arch, and the vines are getting close to 8 feet long. Apparently those plants forgot they were supposed to be determinates. The arch is earning its pay there.

11. Sub Arctic Plenty. I grew these last spring and they did well even though it was a fairly warm spring. This year they have been a terrible performer. I think these are the only fruits I've gotten off of four plants. I am not pleased.

12. Chef's Choice Red (I am pretty sure). The seed packet was labeled Chef's Choice Yellow, which they obviously are not, but they are fantastic. I have four plants and have gotten a decent amount of fruit. I'm much more familiar with determinates; this is the first indeterminate I've been very happy with, as long as I keep the different production method in mind. I'm hoping I can nurse these through HellSummer and get more production in the fall.

13. Bush Early Girl. This one has been an absolute champ. They were new to me last fall and now that I have verified they do well in springtime, I have declared them a permanent fixture in my tomato garden. They are definitely not the largest slicers but they are a perfectly respectable size, their flavor is very good, they are sturdy and hardy and quick to produce.

14. Little Napoli. I like these because they are good sized fruits with very good flavor on pretty small plants. This is another one that does *not* ripen anywhere close to as quickly as the official days to maturity suggests. The package says 60-65 days; this is the fourth season I've grown it and they have always been closer to 90 (spring and fall).

15. Tachi. These are absolutely wonderful for spring planting. The fruits are huge and meaty and taste great. The plants are very solid and reliable. This is another HOSS variety. It is 90 days to maturity and can get very bushy and needs decent support, which I can provide.

Not shown:

Cherokee Purple. I finally got one fruit to ripen (which was the bare minimum I had asked of this plant, so it gets a technically passing grade) and immediately gifted it to my mother. I have asked for a review once she does a taste test. I won't grow this again. The plant started off ok…ish…and then looked like it was about to die (for weeks). Then it perked back up and is currently a very healthy plant, but only has maybe three or four fruits on it. I don't know how well it will handle the heat. Stupid fussy heirloom. I will try Cherokee Carbon next spring.

Blackberries. I have been getting a very good harvest of blackberriers off my Prime Ark Freedom and Prime Ark Travelers plants; I harvested 2.2 pounds last week and another 3 pounds yesterday. There are still a ton of berries on there slowly changing color. I will be spending some sweat to expand the blackberry patch this fall. I only planted these last spring, so they've only had a year to get established and they're already producing in these numbers. They are thornless and primocane bearing.

Yellow squash. I am growing Gentry and Dixie Hybrid. These are decent but I probably won't grow them again; I can get yellow squash at HEB but I prefer the yellow zucchini (which my local HEB does not carry).

Patty Pan Squash. I have gotten exactly one ripe squash despite growing six plants of multiple varieties. The others either aren't producing any flowers at all or are producing only males. They're getting identical treatment to the other squash so I don't know what their problem is. (Of course the SVB (curse them) took out my favorite squash variety and ignored these useless ones.) The mature squash look really cute but I won't grow these again.

Peppers. I have gotten exactly one ripe pepper (Violet Sparkle) and there's perhaps two or three more peppers out there that are close to ripe. I do not know what their problem is! By this time last spring I was getting buckets of peppers.

Eggplant. I am growing Ichiban and Ensoro Ewia. I have one fruit on the former that looks close to ripe, and the Ensoro are just starting to set fruit.

I'm also growing Trumboncino squash but I planted those late (after my Barry's Crazy Cherry keeled over and died, leaving me with a big open space) and I just spotted the first immature female flowers this morning. I hope these can handle the heat; they do have some protection.

Soo that's what I've been up to. How 'bout y'all?