Yesterday I did a pretty detailed walk through of the garden. Here is the summary of my observations:
Fruit is set on 47 tomato plants. Of those, 22 are Dwarf varieties, and 25 are indeterminates. Of the indeterminates, 9 are cherry tomatoes, and 16 are larger fruited types. Of those that have yet to set fruit, just about all of the indeterminate plants have open blossoms, and perhaps half of the dwarfs; the rest have buds of various sizes.
I've got open flowers or advanced buds on most of the sweet peppers and quite a few of the large container hot peppers; virtually all of the small pot ornamental hots have blossoms or buds, and some have tiny fruit - I will get to see the colors soon, which is always fun!
Most of the eggplant have buds or open flowers, and a few have set fruit.
We are nearly done with the lettuce (boo hoo...but then again, with the late start to planting, having fresh lettuce into mid June is a nice bonus). The collards, chard, kale and mustards are providing lots of greens for us to use in sautees, and we are even using them as salad greens. The largest beets are now approaching 2 inches in diameter, so harvest begins this week. Bush beans are in full bloom, and summer squash have advanced buds.
I estimate that our first ripe tomatoes will be on Mexico Midget, Coyote, Sungold, Lemon Drop, Egg Yolk and Tiny Tim Yellow for cherry tomatoes...perhaps within the next two weeks. The first non-cherry ripe fruit will likely be on a few dwarfs - Tennessee Suited and Sleeping Lady - as well as the indeterminate types Arkansas Traveler and Polish; they were the first to set fruit.
Stay cool, everyone, in the coming week of intense heat! Now I must head out to mow the lawn....the rewards from which will be more mulch for my containers!