CarolineC's Blog
CarolineC's posts about: veggies
Aug 1, 2008 | 6:42 AM PST
Tags: veggies , garden pictures , cherry tomatoes , coleus , petunias , harvest , veggie garden
This was not my first harvest, but the first one that I thought was big enough to be deserving of a pic. As you can see, it really isn't all that big. I harvest daily, and we've been pretty much been eating everything as soon as it gets picked, so I can't show in pictures the amounts that I've really collected, which are still quite modest. ;)
Here are a couple of pics of what I call my veggie garden, though much of the yard has become a veggie garden. ;)
On the one side--
On the other--
This is what I call my blueberry patch, though I've planted many other things in there this year. The black-eyed Susans have since bloomed, the petunias are filling out, and are looking much better now.
Coleus. I've added more, and they've grown, so they look better now. :)
And, of course, tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes.
More pics later. :)
Jul 7, 2008 | 2:31 PM PST
Tags: veggies , blueberries , strawberries , peach tree
I'm growing increasingly frustrated as I thought I would have an overabundance of everything daily by now. So far though, I've only gotten a trickling of various things here and there every day or every other day. A little bit of lettuce, a handful of sugar snap peas, a few zucchinis and yellow squashes, a bit of spinach and swiss chard, 7 cherry tomatoes (not all at once), a pinch of cilantro, and a lot of parsley. Parsley is just about the most useless edible that I planted. And when you cut it, it grows back bigger and better. Why can't everything else grow like that? I was seriously hoping to have enough that I might have to freeze and can things, after giving much away. But most of it so far hasn't even made it to the fridge. ;) My pepper plants are just beginning to flower NOW. I'm thinking that if I had something that more truly resembled full sun, the gardens would be much further along by now. As it is, my gardens probably really only get about 4 hours of direct sunlight during the day and a bit of dappled light throughout other parts of the day. I guess I should be grateful to get the growth that I do. Those darn trees! Oh well. Maybe in a few weeks I'll have the giant harvest that I was hoping for, but I hate waiting. I've already picked 3 carrots way too soon, because I thought for sure they should be ready by now. And I hope onions re-plant well. I know they're supposed to pop out of the ground when they're ready, but the stem seemed so big and it had been so long that I figured I'd just better check. Now, if only my scallions were so slow to bulb! ;) It isn't all bad, I'm just waiting for that BIG harvest where I have more than I know what to do with and all of my ornamentals are flowering like crazy.
My blueberry bushes have put on a little growth-- about 6-12 inches. So that's one step closer to becoming the big beautiful hedge that I envision.
I've been working on digging out a hole for the peach tree and replacing/amending the soil. About 6 ft. in diameter and 1- 1 1/2 ft. deep. There's a couple of inches of topsoil and all rocks and clay underneath that, so as arduous as it seems, it really is necessary so that the tree won't drown and somewhere to spread its roots.
My strawberries are blooming here and there and I'm not pinching them off anymore. I'm not expecting too much this year since I just planted them this spring, so at least I won't be disappointed. ;)
My fig twig is beginning to put out a few leaves. I had planted it directly in the ground so it could grow well, but now I'm thinking that unless it makes some miraculous growth between now and frost, it might be best to pot it up and bring it in for the winter.
My Hansen's cherry bushes are leafing out and growing AMAZINGLY well. I just planted them 3 weeks ago and they've already put on several inches of new growth. I got those and the fig twig from Direct Gardening, believe it or not. I guess they can manage to do a few things right.
So, that's all for now. I'll post pics later.
Jun 3, 2008 | 10:27 AM PST
Tags: peach trees , blueberries , strawberries , edible landscape , veggies
I had ordered a Contender peach tree from Gurney's, which I haven't yet received. They have however sent the strawberries, and a planting guide. The planting guide states that a standard sized peach tree will bear fruit in 4-5 years. 4-5 years!!!! Well, at Home Depot they had a 7 ft., well-branched Elberta peach tree which should almost definitely produce next year. So, I got it. :) It also produces about a month/a month and a half after the Contender, so it should extend the season nicely. They had nice sized fruit trees at the local nursery too, but the were very expensive, and I wasn't familiar with the varieties they offered anyway. I have also ordered some Hansen's bush cherries and a fig tree from Direct Gardening. They're a discount online nursery with an iffy reputation, but so inexpensive, I figured it'd be worth the chance.
So, I have planted all of my strawberry plants--27 Tribute (everbearing), and 28 Sparkle Supreme (Junebearing). All but a few are beginning to leaf out quite nicely. I should get a few Tribute strawberries this year, but next year is the year. Next year I should have blueberries, strawberries, peaches, maybe some bush cherries and figs, plus whatever annual fruits and veggies I may plant.
Thus far this season, I have harvested much of the spinach that I planted. It really didn't make that much, but was beginning to go to seed. It's quite delicious, but I'll have to remember to plant much more next year if I want any sort of substantial harvest. My zucchini plants have little itty bitty zucchinis on them and are beginning to bloom. Some of my "mystery" tomatoes are blooming and beginning to set fruit. My sugar snap peas are also beginning to bloom. Everything else is growing along well, but it will be a while before harvest.
All things considered, my "farm" is really quite small, but I can almost guarantee you that it's the biggest edible landscape in this entire suburban neighborhood. ;) And I have more plans yet to come. :)
