brunosdream

Here’s the latest news on this year’s garden.

All the plants have grown but there is very limited fruit production so far. I think the extreme heat we’ve been experiencing here has stunted the progress of most everything.

Some highlights (and lowlights):

The few near ripe tomatoes that were on the Black Krim plant were eaten by either a squirrel or an opossum. Can’t say that I blame them… those are extremely tasty tomatoes!!  The green zebra tomato plant is dying as it did last year. I trimmed the dead branches and sprayed it w/ organic pesticide/fungicide. Hopefully it will survive because I’ve been looking forward to trying this variety of tomato since last year. I also sprayed and fertilized all the other plants.  

My butternut plants were torn apart ( but fortunately not completely) - probably by a squirrel looking for moisture in the vines. They are such destructive critters!

There are a few jalapeno peppers and one habanero ripening.

Four of the six Swiss chard plants survive so this fall I’ll be enjoying these tasty greens!

For some reason my tarragon is not thriving but other herbs are doing well. I’ll probably transplant the tarragon to a different spot in the fall in hopes it will do better next year.

The zinnias and wildflower garden are going gangbusters!

The temperatures are forecast to be in the upper 80′s this week. Maybe this will help the plants to stabilize and start producing. Fingers crossed!!

Here are the latest photos taken on August 6th:

Better days ahead!

Bruno

Hello, and welcome to the 2011 edition of my garden! This year is an experiment of sorts - I saved seeds from last year’s crop and grew most of the plants for this year’s garden from those seeds. Started from seed were butternut squash, jalapeno peppers, cherokee purple, yellow brandywine and pineapple tomatoes.  I also purchased some basil and Swiss chard seeds. Additionally, I bought a couple of tomato plants that I had no seeds for (green zebra and black krim) and a habanero pepper plant. The seeds grew into nice little plants which were transplanted into the garden on June 1st. The flowers were planted on June 2nd. As you will see in the photos, I rotated the location of the plants this year to improve growth and yield. The zinnias and marigolds that were planted this year are also in new locations.

This year’s garden is truly a labor of love as you will understand after a brief explanation. On May 23rd I was out for a bike ride in Forest Park (this was the day after the tornado that hit Joplin, MO). About halfway through my ride a fast moving thunderstorm was approaching. It began to rain and the winds started kicking up so I decided it would be best to seek shelter to wait out the storm. As I was heading to the shelter a branch fell out of a tree, hit my handlebars and knocked me off  the bike. I took a pretty hard fall on my left side which resulted in some cuts and bruises, a few cracked ribs and a separated shoulder. The pain has been severe at times.  Despite my injuries, I was determined to get my garden planted before the weather became too hot here in St. Louis. I pushed through the pain and got the job done. It took at least twice as long to get everything planted but I’m so glad that I persevered. I’m hoping the rewards from this garden will be extra sweet!!

The herb garden has a new look as well. My sage, tarragon and thyme didn’t survive the winter so I replaced them w/ new plants. As usual I put in rosemary and basil (that I started from seed).

So far everything is looking pretty good! All total I have 4 pineapple tomato plants, 4 cherokee purple tomatoes, 4 yellow brandywine tomatoes, 1 green zebra tomato, 1 black krim tomato, 3 jalapeno pepper plants (one plant was snapped during a strong rain storm), 1 habanero pepper, 6 Swiss chard plants (2 plants are struggling and probably won’t survive), and 5 butternut squash plants. I had extra plants that were adopted by grateful friends.

On the flower side, I put in tall and short zinnias for bursts of color all summer long. Marigolds were planted along the northern and southern edges of the garden to deter rabbits and squirrels

Last fall I planted several new additions in the wildflower garden to attract more bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. New to the garden are a red coneflower, anise hyssop, gooseneck loosestrife and a butterfly bush.

And now on to the photos (taken yesterday):

Asparagus that has ferned out (northern view of garden)

Tall zinnias w/ butternut squash to the left and marigolds to the right

View from the southern end of the garden

Pineapple, yellow brandywine, cherokee purple, green zebra and black krim tomatoes

Swiss chard in the foreground w/ jalapeno and habanero peppers in the background to the right

The short zinnias and marigolds at the southern end of the garden

Herb garden: in front from left to right are English thyme, basil and oregano; in back from left to right are sage, tarragon, rosemary and chives (behind the oregano)

The wildflower garden

Western view of the garden

Notes for next year:

Transplant plants into larger pots and plant stems deeper for stronger, less leggy plants. Provide nutrients at this time as well.

Start Swiss chard seeds in separate pots to improve survival rate and simplifly transplantation.

That’s all folks!

Bruno

First Growth 

First Harvest

For me Spring represents renewal, brings inspiration and, best of all, marks the start of the growing season! What about for you?

Celebrate Spring :-)

Bruno

…almost! There are still a few green tomatoes hanging on the vines. We had our first near freezing temperatures last night so I hope they aren’t ruined.

Butternut squash; Yellow Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Red Brandywine and Pineapple tomatoes; Jalapeno peppers

Looking forward to next year’s growing season!

Until then…

Bruno

Things are starting to wind down for the growing season of 2010. As you will see in the latest photos, my garden is finally producing some tomatoes! Yippee!! Yesterday I picked a big Pineapple tomato and a small Cherokee Purple tomato. There are quite a few large green tomatoes on the plants that I hope will ripen before the temperature drops too low. The jalapenos are doing great. One plant was so loaded down w/ peppers that it fell over! I’m letting this last batch hang on the plants until they turn red. The broccoli and Brussels sprouts once again got infested w/ worms so I yanked all the plants out of the ground. No point in letting them suck nutrients out of the ground unnecessarily. I’m hoping to have another batch of Swiss chard before the season is over. The herbs continue to do well. I think I have enough Thai and Genovese basil to make some pesto… definitely looking forward to that! I’ve already pick 4 butternut squash and have 3 more ripening on the vines. Glad I can say this season hasn’t been a total loss!! Now on to the latest photos taken yesterday (Sept. 29th):

May your thumbs be green for the remainder of the year…

Bruno

 Well, unlike last year at this time when I was boasting and posting about the glorious bounty from my garden, this year has been slim pickin’s! However, so far it hasn’t been a total loss. No ripe tomatoes yet – the fence and marigolds haven’t kept the rabbits and squirrels away – they must be really hungry and thirsty due to the high heat and dry conditions St. Louis has had this year. The rabbits have been munching the marigolds and the squirrels have been hopping the fence to grab the green tomatoes. They even ate one of my baby butternut squash! Last week I sprinkled some moth balls around and the squirrels have left the tomatoes and everything else alone so far. Hopefully I’ll get to sample a few of the heirlooms I planted this year. As you can see in the photos, the worms or caterpillars have helped themselves to the brocolli and brussels sprouts but they’re gone now so I left the plants in the ground in hopes that as the weather cools they may begin producing. My purple bell pepper plant died and the yellow bell pepper has tiny green babies so maybe I’ll get a couple mature ones. The asparagus has ferned out nicely and the Swiss chard is doing OK. Most of the herbs are doing really well – lots of Thai and Italian basil, thyme, chives, oregano, rosemary and sage. The tarragon is all but dead.  My jalapeno plants are doing great! The fresh picked bowl full of  them in the photo was made into candied jalepenos the other day.

The following photos were taken on August 17th:

I hope those of you in the northern hemisphere are enjoying what’s left of summer!

Bruno

My garden is not doing very well this year. Plants aren’t prospering and some are infested w/ some sort of worm, others have become diseased. The photos were taken on July 10th. Since then, the green zebra tomato plant has completely died, the only tomato I have so far this year was snatched by a squirrel, the rest of the tomatoes are the size of peas, one of my bell pepper plants is dropping its flowers and my brocolli has not produced a single crown.

I’ve neutralized the soil, fertilized everything, sprayed everything w/ an organic pesticide and gave the tomatoes special food called Tomato Tone to boost production. I put in  3 new tomato plants as backups (2 were given to me by the nursery where I bought my plants and the third was given to me by a friend).

The herbs are doing well w/ the exception of my tarragon which is scrawny this year for some reason. I will augment w/ another tarragon plant in the fall or next spring because it’s one of my favorite herbs.

At least the pollenators are loving the zinnias which are flowering nicely, but have mildew on some of the leaves. 

Instead of feeling joy when I survey my garden, I feel major disappointment and even dread going out to look around each morning  for fear that I’ll find things have worsened. I didn’t even bother taking any new photos for this post because I’m so bummed out by the way things are going at this point. At this date last year I had so much bounty to share. 

The more I think I know about gardening, the less I really know! I’ve definitely learned that gardening is not as simple as just putting plants in the ground and watering them. I now realized I should have at least rotated where I planted the veggies and also put in a cover crop in the fall (such as rye) to provide nutrients  to the soil for the next crop of veggies. Oh well, live and learn. Unfortunately learning can be a painful lesson in homegrown veggie deprivation!!

I hope your gardens are faring better than mine… and feel free to send me a care package if you have too much bounty :-)

Bruno

The plants are pretty well established at this point. I compared photos I took at this time last year of my garden and determined the plants were more filled out and taller last year. I’m theorizing that due to the extreme temperature fluctuations and heavy rains we’ve been experiencing this year, the plants aren’t growing as well. Their growth appears to be stunted and they are spindly. The temperatures are now consistently in the upper 80′s to lower 90′s, however we continue to have heavy rains. I’m hoping that the garden will be allowed to dry out a bit so the plants can achieve a normal growth pattern. Below are some photos taken on June 10th of this year. Click this link to see photos from last year at approximately this time.

 Jalapenos

 Yellow bell pepper

 Herbs

Until next time…

Bruno

This year’s garden is dedicated to Whiskers (aka – Crimson) who was killed the other night by a predator at his new home.

The fence is up, along w/ a barrier of marigolds to keep the squirrels and rabbits away. This year I decided to put in 5 types of tomatoes (green zebra, yellow brandywine, pineapple, cherokee purple and black krim), butternut squash, broccoli, brussels sprouts, jalapenos, swiss chard and yellow and purple bell peppers. The flowers I planted are all zinnias (state fair mix and dreamland mix),

The weather has been perfect, so I’m hoping for a bumper crop this year!

Happy Gardening!!

Bruno

Whew, that was a lot of work! Before tilling this year I amended the soil w/ a very ripe, dark leaf compost that stinks like poop. Not a fragrance I like smelling in the springtime, but hopefully this will create some very happy plants in the garden! I’m curious to see if the garden will do better as a result of my extra efforts. I still haven’t decided what veggies to put in this year besides tomatoes and butternut squash. Any suggestions?

Happy gardening!

Bruno