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This year is the first year that I started growing vegetables. I have yellow onions, zucchini and tomato. The zucchini I think is dying. I've had to cut several leaves off. I think it has powdery mildew but I'm not sure because I have never seen a picture. But the leaves were very dry and turning brownish yellow.
The tomato is small but I think it's because I put it in a spot that doesn't get more than 4-5 straight hours of sun. Is this the reason? They are the size of a small fist. I haven't tasted it yet as I've got some tomatoes still from the store to go through first. I've tried some miracle grow but I'm pretty sure it's mostly the lack of sun.
The onions seem to be doing well. They are getting bigger. Does anyone know if cutting the greens to eat slows the growth of the onion. I can't seem to find any information about that?
Well, with record temps in the mid to high 90's for the last couple of weeks, the mid 80's feel cool! So, it has been a bit more enjoyable to get out into the garden lately. I am still just focusing on routine maintenance: weeding, pruning and mowing. I have decided not to do much planting this season...mostly b/c I did so much over the fall and winter and I think I should give it a bit of time to see how things fill in. Also, we haven't had much rain and I would really have to keep up on the water. Plus...time is limited with a toddler and an infant-HAH!
So,
I have enjoyed watching the results of my hard work over the fall and have been really enjoying to "fruits" of the companion plantings in the veggie beds!
The beans are producing daily and its fun to have to two different varieties. They taste about the same, but make a nice presentation on the plate :)
We have also had enough blackberries to get a bowlful daily and my daughter eats most of them before we even get inside the house!
We have already harvested 4 of the asain eggplants and there are a few more out there almost ready to go. The itialian eggplants are getting bigger every day:
We have a TON of little baby spaghetti squash on the vines - hooray!
And, here is a good shot of the companion system at work...
On another note, the crepe myrtles that were planted 4 years ago as a screen on our property line are really looking good this year and provide a great view from our sunroom and back porch:
And, our little birdie family in the dogwood is about to be all grown up...we have so enjoyed watching them! I will be sad to see them go:
This weekend, I plan to get the creek weedeated and do some more weeding and pruning. Hope you all have a great gardening weekend!
It is VERY hot here lately...feels more like july than early june. So, I have mainly doing light futzing in the garden and took some time yesterday and this morning to get some picture updates of recent garden happenings...
We haven't had rain in a while, so I am having to keep up on the watering. Mostly of the veggie beds...they are looking good:
Things are growing fast and everything has flowers so I am looking forward to big harvests soon! Yesterday, my 2 1/2 year old ate a sweet gypsy pepper right off the plant. She ate the whole thing! I bet if I had put that on a plate and served it to her she wouldn't have even touched it - HAH! We also enjoyed the first 3 cherry tomatoes...very tasty!
The Blueberry seems to be happy in its new home, so we may actually have a harvest this year!
I thought this lavender was big last year...but this year, WOW!:
The gardenia bush that I bought very small for $5 , 3 years ago is blooming this year for the first time...smells SO good!:
The Easter Lily that we dedicated 2 years ago at church for my daughter's first Easter is now happy in the garden and blooming away:
The datura bed looks amazing this year. Hear is a pict of what it looked like this time LAST YEAR:
And this year:
What a difference a year makes! The only bummer is that the purple datura that I added last year didn't seem to reseed this year, so I am hoping I can find another one at the nursery this year to try again...
Last year:
THIS YEAR:
Also, the new berm is filling in nicely. Last year pict:
THIS YEAR:
I love looking back at old picts and seeing progress!
And, last...but not least....the abelias that were planted 5 years ago (one of the first things we planted when we moved in) are looking great and blooming right now. We planted them to block out the view of the the neighbors yard (or lack their of) across the street. I would say they have done that job!
Have a great gardening weekend everyone!
Remember that old movie? It is one of my favorites. It seemed while you were watching you could just feel the humidity and the heat, even smell those wonderful sweet scents of the south.
Well I think I am in the middle of that movie this week. Heat index was 101 degrees this afternoon. Thunderstorms would be welcome about right now.
The plants seem to love this kind of weather. If they get enough water/rain they just grow and grow. Picked maybe 2 dozen cherry tomatos this evening, ate 5 little blueberries and about 6 wee strawberries. The Celebrity tomato plant does not look too good. It did well in the beginning and has a good number of tomatos but it looks as if it has just stopped blooming. I picked three that I didn't want the birds to get before they ripen, which they can do inside just as well. Hope it perks back up.
The new perennials I bought yesterday look great. The Twilight Echinacea has nice buds, can't wait to see a red flower.
Managed to get the cushions for my outdoor glider finished today. Looks pretty good. Since the heat will continue the rest of the week, I should be able to get all the outdoor chairs finished as well.
If I can manage to get out of bed early enough a day this week, I will do some poking around in the yard. When it is 80 degrees at 8am, there is not much yard work to be gotten out of this ole gal.
More To Come Later
I spent a good part of the day getting my garden up and growing.. around the outter edges are purple petunias, I've read that petunias will keep some pests away... so I look forward to seeing what happens. Then I planted 2 tomato plants (early girls), a row of lettuce, row of baby spinach, 2 rows of stringless beans, 1 green bell pepper. Then in the corner, I put in a catnip plant... I read where catnip repels flea beetles, aphids, Japanese beetles, squash bugs, ants and weevils. We'll see if it really repels Japanese beetles!!
I left one area to plant my Basil. My garden is 10' x 8'. I'll be planting some Dill too, but in another area of my yard. I love to cook with dill.
Okay... my hands are tired from all the weed pullin' and digging... so good nite.
I have had a wonderful couple of days in the garden! All the planning that I did over the winter months is starting to come together and since our last frost date has come and gone (April15), I got to start planting!!!! HOORAY!
First thing I did was put in all the annual flower seeds for the bed I laid out around the porch:
It doesn't look like much now, but soon it will have (from back to front) Sweet Pea Vine, 2 Varieties of Sunflowers, Bells of Ireland, Nemophila: Baby Blue Eyes and Sweet Alyssum.
I also had a great helper:
Then, when hubby got home he was kind enough to help me plant and divide all my new hostas! (Its a bit hard to bend over these days at 9 mo preggers) HAH!
We divided up and planted a few different varieties of hostas and put some under the saucer magnolia:
And the rest in the evolving azalea shade bed:
I also moved a couple of hostas from the hydrangea bed over to the azalea bed. This will make for a nice collection and I think they will fill in very nicely. They were all actually easier to divide than I thought and I was able to save a lot of money that way!
But, perhaps the most exciting part of the afternoon was installing the veggie bed plan! Here is a pict of the master companion planting plan:
And the results:
I know, doesn't look like much...I started everything from seeds except the tomatoes, eggplants, bee balm, peppers, and strawberries. I am super excited to see how all of this comes together! Hope the companion system proves to be effective. The only thing that didn't get planted yet are the sweet potatoes. Still waiting on those in the mail. They won't ship them until after May 15th....apparently they only like REALLY warm soil.
The plants that I purchased are as follows:
Tomatoes: Yellow Pear, Husky Cherry Red, and Better Boy
Eggplant
: Black Beauty and Ichiban
Pepp
ers: Mexibell, Gypsy, and Yellow Bell
Strawbe
rries: Quinalt
All of the varieties of seeds can be seen by looking at a previous post and clicking here. I also added a sweet basil plant and Dark Opal Purple Basil to that as well as okra, but I forgot to jot down its variety :(
We finished up just as the sun was setting and I tell ya, it felt SO good! Especially to have this done before I have the baby :)
Now we will just water and wait:
I am behind on my seed starting this year. Luckily, the heat mat I use cuts down the germination time and I already have tomato sprouts in just 5 days time. Since we are trying to figure out if we will be moving or not, I decided not to buy any seed this year and just try and use up seed from previous years.
Tomato varieties:
Fantastic hybrid (from Territorial Seed)
Super Marzano (TS)
Schimmeig striped hollow (TS)
Early Cherry (TS)
I planted some seeds this weekend and am curious about how they will do as some are left over from previous years. I used some new kind of starter pots, they are made out of coconut husks. This is what I planted on Saturday February 16, 2008.
2006 Beefsteak Tomato 8-10 days germ. 80 days harvest
2006 Yellow Pear Tomato 7-14 days germ. 70-75 days harvest
2000 Long Red Cayenne Chile Pepper 10-12 days germ. 75-80 days harvest
2008 Oregano - Greek (Organic) 10-15 days germ. perennial
2008 Cilantro - Coriander (Organic) 5-10 days germ. 30 days
2006 Dark Moss Curled Parsley 18-24 days germ. ?
2008 Rosemary 14-28 days germ. perennial
2007 Common Chives 7-14 days germ. perennial
2008 Winter Thyme (Organic) 8-10 days germ. perennial
2006 Sweet Italian Basil 5-7 days germ. ?
There two big reasons I grow tomatoes in my garden. The first is my son - he likes the tiny grape tomatoes because they're sweet and he can pick them himself and pop them into his mouth like candy pretty much whenever he wants. Reason number 2 is my dad. He LOVES a good tomato. The last couple of years I've been growing only the cherry and grape and cherry tomatoes for my son, and salads, but next year I'm going to get some of that concrete reinforcing wire and build the big honkin' tomato cages that will hold up the big heirlooms like the brandywines. Those I'll be growing for my dad.
Yesterday my dad came by and noticed that several (okay a couple dozen) tomatoes had fallen off the vine because I'd been too busy to pick them. So he offered to come buy and "help me out" by picking some. I figured that he just wanted to "help himself" to my tomatoes, but he really did help. After he picked all of the tomatoes off the vines he cut them down and stacked them on the side of the bed. Now he's talking about getting a small bed at the local community garden in our town and he asked me if I'd be willing to give him a hand. Of course I said I would.
Meska asked me what I will do with all my nine pumpkins my son and I grew this year. They're not very big, but...
One is for my son to take to his mother's house (maybe one for her, too, if he wants to give one to her. we'll see.)
Two are for our house - one for me and one for my son
One each for my niece and nephew
The remaining 3 or 4 will probably go to the neighbor's grandkids. I'll let them pick them from the pumpkin patch. My neighbor was telling me that her daughter's husband had tried to grow them, but all the vines died. I guess he has an Agent Orange thumb or something. He planted corn last year - one long row. lol For those who know even less about corn than I do, this is pretty funny. Corn needs to be grown together in multiple rows so that the pollen can fall on it's own and neighboring cornstalks. If you plant it in one long row, the pollen just gets blown away and rarely lands on the silk and you get little or no corn! I forget what my neighbor said he did or didn't do with the pumpkin vines that they died, but he didn't get a single pumpkin either.
If the kids don't want them then I'll probably just cook them. I know they're not the super sweet pumpkins used for pumpkin pie, but if you roast them like an acorn or butternut squash, they're still mighty good. I had bought a few of the real small pumpkins (Jack be Littles ,or something like that) last year for decorations. I didn't cut into them or paint them or anything. And after Halloween I cooked them up - I cut them in half, scooped out the seeds, oiled a cookie sheet and roasted them in a medium oven with a little brown sugar. They got a little caramelized and the aroma was terrific. They came out of the oven hot, sweet and tasty. I put someething else on them, too , but I forget now what it was. It was like clove, allspice, nutmeg, or something like that.
I want to come up with a catch phrase to end my blog (no help please, I need to do this on my own.)
How about, "Until next time, keep those hands dirty!"
Nah, too corny. I'll keep trying.
Well, we picked yesterday what I am pretty sure is the last of the harvest. We picked all the green tomatoes on the vine, since the temperatures have cooled off so that they won't ripen. Hopefully they will ripen on the window sill:
We continue to get lots of figs and enjoy eating them right off the tree! We also picked the rest of the peppers.
I had planted a bunch of fall seeds, but since I can't water....they will not grow :( So, I look at my pitiful patch of dirt in despair :(
But, the situation here is so dire, I understand.
I will focus next on mulching since thats really about all that can be done.
Oct 3, 2007 | 11:11 AM PST
So, I have a new cam, so pics will be forthcoming. We have been getting rather a bit of rain (about time) but it is finally the end of the 'real' gardening season. If I can figure out a way to do it with minimal dirt (I know I should use at least a 5 gallon container but am willing to take a risk) I may cold stratify some of the tomato seeds I saved and start them up here in the office. That would be kind of cool, having some fresh tomatoes here. I kept some Black Prince and Brandywine seeds, although who knows what they will end up being as there were a few different varieties of tomatoes out there and I did not bag them so they are no doubt cross pollinated. I really don't mind, as long as they are fresh! I am planning on starting up some of the Jalapeno seeds I saved, I know it will do fine in a relatively smaller pot. I have all this sunshine here at my desk so I might as well take advantage of it, right?
I brought a couple Schefflera's in to the office.
My favorite story about Schefflera's...A pal of mine owned a hotel on the NC coast and the hurricane wall they had put in was coming down after a particularly nasty storm so the hotel had to come down. The people who were hired to take all the furniture and whatnot out and put it in storage really were not all that smart as they put all the plants in the storage unit as well. Three months later we opened up the unit, having already assumed the plants were living in the movers homes (nothing to quibble about, this all had to be done fast so the owner just figured a home is a home) and there they were. No water, no sun, three months...they were fine. They were Schefflera.
Time
to get going on some winter gardening. I got seed for Walla Walla sweet
onins, Garlic cloves, Purple Kohlrabi, Brussels Sprouts and Spinach so
far. I have cleared the sugar snap pea bed so now all I need to do is
take down the trellis (I used screws so it is basically collapsible)
and recondition the little plot o'dirt and wait for the maters to
finish up, collect the radish seeds from the early radish's that I let
bolt and do that soil as well. I want to put in garlic, onions,
Brussels Sprouts and Kohlrabi. They are very neat looking plants.
I will plant the spinach and plan on several lettuce varieties for this fall and come early spring in my tomato and radish bed, yum!
I live in a condo and have a small garden which goes around 2 sides of my patio. I also have a raised bed container where I have all my herbs growing. This year was bad for Japanese beetles, they seem to love eating my basil and mint. I ended up having to coverup the basil with a light blanket I found at gardeners.com. I have a rabbit too, he likes the beets I had growing around the patio. I covered up the beets too.
Helen
Started cleaning up my other raised veggie bed this morning. I was planning on pulling out everything but the peppers, but on closer inspection, I noticed that the tomatoes are still producing, so I picked some and trimmed the plants back. I pulled out the rest of the eggplants and the tomatillos.
Before:p>
and after:
I realize it doesn't look a whole lot different, but you should see how much i pulled out of there!
I suppose in the next couple of weeks, I will get the rest of it cleared and ammended to add in more fall crops.
The peppers are still going strong though:
so fun that they are turning red!
I think tonight, i will make hamburgers and top them with roasted red peppers and white eggplant:
YUM!
The colors of fall are abundant in my garden and I am loving every minute of it!
Well, it's Monday evening, and I am thinking about all I need to do this week. I didn't even set foot in the garden today, I had to catch up on other things. I have been itching to get out there and finish emptying the compost pile. I was interrupted in this task by unexpected (though not unwelcome) company. Another 20 minutes or so and I'll have it done.
This week is going to be a busy one in my kitchen and garden. I have enough tomatoes left for 1 more batch of salsa. The last batch I made I used habanero peppers, and it came out quite hot, too hot for some of the family. So for this last batch I think I'll use my Anaheim chilis, and it should be somewhat milder.
I still have at least a peck of habanero peppers, so I want to make some hot pepper jelly and some hot sauce for buffalo wings. I imagine that the hot sauce will be pretty much mine (no one is asking for it) but I have a few requests for the hot pepper jelly, so I think I'll get some little jars so I can give them as gifts for Christmas.
I have a bushel basket full of zuchini. I plan to make several batches of zuchini bread and freeze them. I think the baked bread freezes much better than the vegetable. At least that has been my personal experience. I plan to make mini loaves of both spice and chocolate zuchini bread, with a glaze topping possibly. Maybe not. We'll see. I have never froze them glazed.
Once I finish with the tomatoes, peppers, and zuchini, then I can concentrate on canning and pickling my beets. My hubby likes his pickled beets, especially in greek salads. He doesn't much care for regular beets, though. And then I can get my carrots up. Or I think I could mulch them and let them winter over, if we don't have a very severe winter. But that is unpredictable, so I better pull them. I don't know if I want to can them or not, I guess we'll see how many I get.
I would like to get all this done before the week-end. I plan to have my in-laws over, and would prefer not to have baskets of vegetables cluttering up the kitchen! Now lets see if I can get it all done!
So, we had some odd weather a bit ago...got to like 90 in the day time then would shoot back down to 60 at night (our sugar snap peas HATED it) and it seemed to do some odd stuff...hasn't rained in FOREVER, my lawn (well, the RENTAL lawn, hehe) is so dead it is developing dirt instead of just the browned grass. The only watering that is getting done at all it the veggy patch and my little tree's, to hell with the lawn. Anyways, to get back to my point. The cherry tomatoes did the strangest thing, the first ones decided to just not grow. The rest of them did, but then they started ripening...I am looking at them thinking wtf? Either way I ended up with a few handfuls of the CUTEST maters EVER!
And, well...this really needs no explanation...
Once again - I'm roaming the website, enjoying the various posts, adding a couple of my own and BOOM! It shut me down AGAIN! Gotta fix that folks! It's really annoying. I shouldn't have to write everything in Notepad and then copy and paste it into this website. You need to extend your active time frame.
Enough complaining ... I'd better type faster or I wont finish in time!
My single, precious tomato plant is actually producing young!!! I am so pleased. I thought I had just ended up with a lovely green bush. I followed someone's instructions about tickling the flowers ... and it seems to have resulted in offspring. Hmmm? Who woulda thunk it? Anyhoo, I've now got all these tiny, wee green tomatoes. I'm hoping we will get some extended sunshine so that they will have a chance to ripen and make it to my salad bowl.
I am very pleased that my three hanging baskets are looking healthy again. After I had to pull out those gorgeous white petunias it was looking like the surface of the moon on the top of the baskets. I added three pink Impatiens to each basket and they are coming along nicely.
I hadn't thought out my planting pattern very well this year. I didn't put as many plants into my baskets as I will next year. I am very pleased with the general look - dainty - but I want more of the same next year. I've written up my plant list already - so there wont be any confusion at plant buying time. I'll add a photo of my baskets as they are today on my photo section and you can see what I mean. I think they are lovely and delicate looking. Once the Impatiens on the top flesh out, they will look very sweet.
That basket my son gave me for Mother's Day has started to flourish. I'm so pleased. I had my doubts that I had rescued it once it landed all over the cement floor! It was really pathetic for a long time. Perseverance huh? I just love the bright green of the potato vine. I am thinking of adding it to my hanging baskets next year. Hope it wont look too heavy with the rest of the design.
We have been consistently enjoying harvests from our garden. Its so fun to go out before dinner and pick some yummies to come up with something with for dinner! Healthy, yummy and cheap! Gotta love it!
Beet Greens, Patty Pan Squash and Tomatillos:
The much anticipated giant Cherokee Purple Heirloom ready for eatin':
Okra, Kohlrabi, tomatoes, patty pan squash, eggplant, spinach and tomatillos!
More maters!
The joys of gardening!!!
I could not bring myself to do anything inside this weekend, so the dust bunnies are still hopping around my house this morning. Oh, well. I spent both days out in the flower beds and veggie patch. Watered early Saturday and got the holes dug for the butterfly bush and hardy hibiscus that I got. As I was weeding and deadheading, there were a lot of thin spots in the mulch. I went down and got about 10 bags and brought that home to spread around. I love new mulch. Covered all the beds and had enough to put back behind the pond.
Some of the other daylilies have put up scapes and have buds. Can’t wait to see them. The gereberas have finally decided to bloom again and for some reason the wave petunias have also gotten a second wind from the something and are flowing all down the side of the old stump, thick with purple flowers.
Hubby helped me finish the three sided slat fence to put around my compost pile. My pile isn’t very big yet but I am working on it. Chopped up the kitchen scrapes in the food processor and put them out there too. Bill got me a pitch fork this weekend. I was trying to turn the pile with a shovel. Wow what a difference that made. (Duh!)
Cleaned and weeded in the veggie patch and tied up some more tomato limbs to the trellis. I have two zucchini left that haven’t been hit by the vine borers YET. My cukes have climbed nicely all over the fence and there are dozens of fruit hanging down. They are so good and crisp.
We did not get the new raised bed up. Hubby brought home work for a project that he was under a crunch on, so it will have to be next weekend. Will go by the dump and pick up some compost (have to make do until my own is ready) and some topsoil down at the landscape yard.
Had enough tomatoes to make another batch of sketty sauce. Added a few of the yellow tomatoes to it. They did lighten the color of the sauce but it still tasted great. Used loads of fresh basil from the herb pots of the deck. Made some Penne, a tomato, cuke and pepper salad and had a yummy dinner. Only things not from the garden were the pasta and the bread. You just can’t beat that!I had a fairly productive weekend in the garden. Got more work done on my many ongoing projects. My hubby went to get me more compost for the new bed:
As you can see, Milo likes it :)
Just one more truckload and this bed will be ready to plant! I have a small red maple that will be the center. A pass along from my inlaws...
We also got some more work done on the creek clean out project. My husband cut down some of the BIG branches and trees. But, we had to stop when his saws all blade broke. But, it gave me plenty of stuff to work on getting to the curb for pickup!
Its amazing what we are uncovering back there...it makes all the work fun!
I really spent most of the weekend in the backyard and mostly did routine work in the front. I finally got around to weedeating with my new blade attachment and it is the best thing since sliced bread! no more string nonsense! Here are some picts I took along the way of the backyard and its progress:
Sunflowers
blooming among the veggies:
Inside the world of a tomatillo husk:
The first signs of a ripening tomato:
Baby eggplant! YEAH!!!
Kale seedlings coming up:
My attempt at a squash vine borer remedy... I slit the vine and covered the wound with compost...I do not have high hopes for this:
The veggie beds as of today:
The backyard as of today:
Hope you all had a great gardening weekend!
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