brunosdream

Welcome to the 2014 version of my veggie garden (as well as herbs and flowers). Seeded on 3/22/14, and transplanted on 5/28/14. It started off as a cooler than normal spring so my seeds took longer to grow seedlings large enough to transplant. Currently the weather has been perfect… not too hot, good, soaking rain showers w/ dry days in between. Fingers crossed for another great growing season! This year I have 12 tomato plants (3 Black Krim, 3 Pineapple, 1 each of Gold Medal, Brandywine, Crimson Carmello, White Tomesol, Roma (Pompeii), and Speckled Roman; 6 jalapeno plants (3 Early Jalapeno and 3 Jalafuego); 2 types of basil – Siam Queen and Italian Large Leaf; 4 chard (3 Ruby Red and 1 Pot of Gold); 4 kale (2 Nero Toscano and 2 Red Winter) and I direct seeded 3 butternut squash (Waltham). I also direct seeded 4 types of lettuce – baby mesclun, wild and regular arugula as well as a spicy micro green mix.

On the flower side I again have a variety of tall zinnias which got leggy because I waited too long to transplant, and I direct seeded some shorter zinnias (Lilliput Mix) in pots in the enclosure. I think I’ll direct seed the tall zinnias next year to avoid the problem I had this year. Some of the Hummingbird Haven mix I direct seeded last year returned this year. I supplemented this section of the garden w/ cosmos and Bring Home The Butterflies mix. I added some new lavender plants this year because most of my old lavender plants didn’t survive the harsh winter. Also in that section of the garden I put in new rosemary and thyme plants.

I snapped the following photos on June 15th and was planning to do this post the following day but the hard drive on my computer decided to die. My computer is still getting repaired so I’m working on a loaner computer. (As always, you can click on the photos to enlarge.) 

Ahhh, the joys of summer!

Bruno  

What a difference a day (or week) can make. While I was out of town we had our first frost on October 25th. My garden went from green to brown, colorful to drab. As you will see in the photos below, most of the plants didn’t survive the frost and my flowers went from technicolor to no color overnight. I can’t complain. This has been one of the best years I’ve had in my garden despite the not so ideal (cool and wet) conditions. I harvested what remained on the wilted plants – one ripe and many green tomatoes, one tiny butternut squash, lots of habanero and jalapeno peppers and a nice pile of Swiss chard. Thanks Mother Nature!

Goodbye garden. See you next year!

 Bruno

The 2013 growing season is winding down. It has been a pleasure walking out to my garden this year to check the progress of my babies!

I snapped a few photos on September 7th, the day that most fruit was ripening nicely. The photo of this year’s bounty was taken on September 16th. In that photo there is Swiss chard to the left, ancho, New Mexican and jalapeno peppers in the center and the lone butternut squash on the right. In the background are Speckled Roman, Marvel Stripe, Black Krim and Gold Medal tomatoes.

Still to come are more tomatoes, jalapeno and habanero peppers, and hopefully another butternut squash. I planted more spicy lettuce mix a couple of days ago now that the weather here is cooling off. Looking forward to munching on more garden bounty in a couple of weeks!!

Here are the photos:

Hoping your garden is growing awesomely too!

Bruno

This has not been the best year in my garden, but it also hasn’t been the worst. Compared to last year though, it’s looking pretty good for productivity. All of the plants seem to be delayed by 3 to 4 weeks due to the cool, wet summer weather. I have fewer and smaller tomatoes, but there are quite a variety of peppers although no habaneros yet. There’s only one butternut squash on the three plants I have growing. The two basil plants are about half the size they were last summer. I’m hoping w/ the hot weather forecasted for the upcoming week that all the plants will thrive! All in all, I must say that I’m fairly happy w/ the way things look at this point… definitely an improvement over last year’s miserable summer!! In looking ahead to next year, I think that I’ll start my seeds earlier so that by the time the ground is warm enough for them to be planted they will be bigger and stronger than they were this year.

Take a look at how things are shaping up right now…

(photos taken on August 23rd)

 Speckled Roman

 Marvel Stripe

Black Krim

 Ancho, New Mexican and Jalapeno peppers

 Caribbean Red pepper

Butternut squash

 Zinnias

 Hummingbird Haven

 Wildflowers

 Herbs

 Black Krim and Caribbean Red

That’s all folks!

Bruno

These beauties are called Speckled Roman tomatoes (harvested on 7/29). Here’s the description of them from the pack of seeds – “Intriguing paste tomato with orange & yellow stripes! Yummy flavor, very meaty, excellent for sauce, canning and freezing.”  I found them to be slightly sweet w/ a light acidity. Pineapple tomatoes are sweeter but they take much longer to ripen. I definitely will be growing these again next year! The prettiest tomatoes I’ve ever grown!! As you can see in the last photo, the interior has a lot of meat and very little juice and seeds. I’m sure they would be great for a sauce, but I prefer just slicing my homegrowns and making a tomato salad or putting them in a sandwich!  

Lovin’ this year’s crop!

Bruno

The garden seems to be enjoying the summer weather in St. Louis this year which has been milder (i.e., cooler and wetter) than normal. There are a couple things going on w/ my tomato plants which I find troubling and mystifying.  A couple of weeks ago one of my White Tomesol tomato plants started wilting and stopped growing so I pulled it and replaced it w/ a Caribbean Red chili pepper plant. The same thing started happening to my only  Green Zebra tomato plant last week and it looked so pitiful yesterday I pulled it out. I was bummed out because it had started fruiting a couple of weeks ago. Two of my other tomato plants have some bottom branches that are yellowing but the rest of the plants  look healthy and some are starting to fruit. The peppers, chard, kale and butternut squash plants are growing well. I’ll harvest the chard today to sauté for dinner and do a second harvest of the kale as well. I harvested the lettuce for the 3rd time last week but will let it bolt because it’s starting to get bitter in the hotter temperatures. The zinnias, hummingbird flowers and wildflowers are doing very well and are adding nice splashes of color to my summer garden. The herbs are doing well too. I’m looking forward to using my basil soon in homegrown caprese salads! That’s all for now. On to the photos which were taken on 7/11/13.

  Wildflowers

 Hummingbird flowers

 Herbs

 Zinnias

 Veggies

 Speckled Roman

 Green Zebra

 Black Krim

May our thumbs (and our plants) stay green this season!

Bruno

The general health of my garden is much better this year as compared to around this same time last year (click here to see photos from this time last year). The plants are fuller, stronger and overall they look better. I’ve harvested the lettuce twice so far and I may get another harvest in before the hot summer temperatures kick in. I let my herbs flower to provide the bees w/ some extra nourishment.  The herbs are growing so well this year that I’ve had to thin out some of the plants. The cooler, wetter weather St. Louis is currently experiencing has not negatively impacted any plants as of yet. I’ll take this weather over the extremely dry and hot weather of last year!

The following photos were taken on June 14th:

 So far, so good! Thank you Mother Nature!!

Bruno

The lettuce mix I’m growing this year is so beautiful I had to share a couple of close up photos!

(click photos to enlarge for a better view)

Loving the greens!

Bruno

Everything’s in the ground as of May 13th and 14th. Grow babies grow!

 Zinnias

Veggies

Hummingbird Haven flowers

Wildflowers

Herbs

Happy!

Bruno

Greetings! Spring is upon us here in St. Louis and it’s time to start another year of the veggie garden chronicles. This year I again have grown my plants from seeds. The seedlings in the above photos were germinated on April 4th and are doing well. I began hardening them off about a week ago so they will be ready to go into the ground in a couple of days. The crop for 2013 will be an interesting one because I sprouted many unusual types of tomatoes and have added kale, rosemary and Asian basil to the lineup, Also new for 2013 are California poppies, a variety of zinnias and some cardinal vines to keep my wisteria company. The top photo is of my tomatoes, hot peppers, kale, Swiss chard, basils and rosemary (specifically:  green zebra, brandywine, marvel stripe, black krim, gold medal, speckled roman, and white tomesol tomatoes;  ancho, New Mexican, jalapeno and habanero peppers;  Italian Genovese and Siam queen basils; red winter kale and red ruby Swiss chard). The bottom photo shows my California poppies, zinnias and cardinal vines (the zinnias include: art deco, envy, California giants, peppermint stick and hot crayon colors). Not pictured are what I directly seeded into the garden: wild arugula, oak leaf arugula, curly endive, mizuna and red mustard lettuces; butternut squash; spider flowers; nodding onion flowers and a wildflower mix called Hummingbird Haven which is supposed to attract those fascinating creatures with flowers that have a high nectar content. If all goes well, this will be a very colorful and fruitful year in the garden!! Fingers crossed!

To all of you gardeners out there, may your thumbs be green and your gardens be bountiful!!

Bruno