soaphouse's Blog
soaphouse's posts about: zucchini
Jul 25, 2007 | 3:31 PM PST
Tags: elijah blue fescue , coreopsis , moonbeam , euphorbia , blue haze , berm , sunflower seeds , okra , zucchini , beneficial insects , mulch , pine straw , salvia
Today, my daughter and I took a little trip to our FAVORITE nursery. I had a gift certificate and they are having a summer sale, so I got lots of goodies!
- 2
types of coreopsis, a yellow and a hot pink - 8 Elijah Blue Fescues
- 1 Black and Blue Salvia
- 1 Blue Haze Euphorbia
So fun to come home with this lot and plant them all...heres what I did in the front:
BEFORE:
AND AFTER:
I dotted around the Elijah Blues and put in the yellow moonbeam coreopsis in the new berm. In the fall, i think i will divide the coreopsis and spot it around a bit. There are several clumps from the one pot I bought, but I was afraid it would shock it too much to divide right now in the heat of the summer. The rest of the plants made their way into the back yard.
My hubby also went to get the rest of the free pinestraw I scored on craigslist and I got that all spread in the back. I still need a bunch more, but it looks great. Its amazing what a difference mulch makes!
Here are some other shots of around my garden today...
Sunflo
wer seeds showin up:
Snacked on this guy while pulling some weeds...yum, yum! Also harvested a giant eight ball zucchini today...will sautee for dinner tonight :)
Almost ready to pick :)
Found this guy on the sunflower today and I looked him up in my insect book and he is a beneficial. Maybe he will eat some of the squash borers!
Jul 13, 2007 | 7:13 PM PST
Tags: edible , vegetable , squash , zucchini , tomato , Cherry Tomato , okra , kohlrabi , blackberries , Sunflowers , Eggplant , Bell Peppers , succession planting , success , failure , notes , season , companion planting , Growing Season , cardoon
Now that I am well into the summer here in my garden, I am starting to take note as to the successes and failures in my garden. There are, of course, many of both and most of them involve my edibles.
I grew all of my veggies from seed directly into the vegetable beds. I was kind of nervous about this as so many things suggest starting indoors before spring. But, every time I do that everything dies, so I took my chances and selected a lot of fast maturing varieties...to my suprise, that worked very well! I am finding great joy and satisfaction in producing food for my family. We are also enjoying a nice financial savings as well. I spent about $50 on all my seed varieties and I would say that I have dropped our grocery bill by about $20 a week if not more....I would say that was worth the investment!
Successes:
- Tomatoes: I am growing a purple heirloom and a hybrid red...all plants are bursting with green fruits now :)
- Tomatillos: Plants are enormous and husks are forming
- Sugar Snap Peas: One of my daughter's favorites so none have made it to the table...she just eats em off the vine
- Beets: Have done several succession planting and have had many harvests of both roots and greens. Hubby like greens better than root
- Eight Ball Zucchini: Very vigorous and enormous in size...has provided many, many dinners
- Patty Pan Squash: Also doing well and just so cute
- Sunflowers: First year that I have grown sunflowers and it is proving to be very fun. King Kong variety that is about to open
- Blackberries: Planted 3 years ago from root...this is first year that we had a very steady harvest.
- Okra: Plants forming very nice large pods and the flowers are beautiful!
Failures:
- Broccoli: UGH!
Things that have yet to succeed or fail:
- Eggplant: Just started flowering, I am growing a white and a purple variety
- Peppers: Also just started flowering
- Carrots: First crop got infested with something icky, second crop looking better
- Kale: Just put those seeds in 2 days ago
- Kholrabi: Not yet big enough to harvest, but looking good
Things I wish I had planted:
- Cherry Tomatoes: a no brainer, don't know why I didn't do these :(
- Potatoes: To provide our carbohydrate need and to have some for winter storage
- Lots of different kinds of beans: have really enjoyed the sugar snaps, wish I had done more
- Winter Squash Varieties: to have something else to store for winter
- Marigolds: For pest control and to add color to the veggie beds
- Egyptian Walking Onions: just so cool and great pest control
- Garlic: also good pest control
- Asparagus: needs time to get established, wish I had started that this year
- Artichokes: love em!
- Cardoon: not even really sure what this is, but I have seen it on some gardening shows and it looks super cool
I just got a companion planting book and am looking forward to incorporating more of that in my garden!
Its so helpful to think all this through and get in all on "paper"...will help a great deal with garden planning.
Other things I have learned this season:
- Annual Potato Vines really do need full sun
-
Mexican Heather always does well, I should just buy it each year and have a guaranteed success
- Petunias need to be bought larger than the little 6 pack size to really do well
- Lobelia likes partial shade
- Impatients didn't do diddly squat...must mulch and fertilize!
- If i see something in early spring that i want...buy it, they are all sold out now!
Jul 2, 2007 | 5:18 PM PST
Tags: eight ball , zuchini , zuchinni , beets , vegetable , harvest , dinner , fence , pruners , pruning , zucchini
Harvested this beauty a few minutes ago and I can't wait to slice her up and cook her!
This is the first year I have had a real summer vegetable plot. I ordered all of my seeds from Burpee and Mostly picked things I like to eat and chose varieties that mature quickly. The reason I did this is I have never had much success starting seeds indoors. They always die! So, I prefer to sew directly into the plot. I had heard bad things about growing squash and zucchini, but so far I am having luck. This is the first one of this size that is big enough to justify cooking. the others have fallen off the plant at about the size of a golf ball and I have just eaten them right there in the garden. Not sure what causes this. I am also going to cook up some yummy beets from the garden. I have been harvesting these guys pretty regularly over the past month.
I also started on the back fence clearing project today....wow, its going to be a lot of work! Using my hands and pruners, take a look at what I accomplished in about 2 hours:
BEFORE: ( I know its not the best pict... but its all the growth you see on in the back)
AND AFTER:
