“Make sure to save room for dessert.”
…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…
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…
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!
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 :-)
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…
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!!
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!
March 30th
March 30th
April 1st
It’s amazing how fast asparagus grows. One day their tips are just poking out of the dirt, the next day or 2 they’re over a foot tall!
Time to look up some aparagus recipes for the abundance my garden will provide over the next few weeks.
Happy Spring and Happy Gardening to all those living in the northern hemisphere of mother earth… it’s time for renewal and rejuvenation!!
Well, it’s time to say goodbye to my garden for another year. 2009 was a fantastic year in my garden. I figured out how to keep the squirrels and rabbits out w/ a strong fence and marigolds so this year’s bounty was incredible!! An opossum managed to lethargically climb into the garden on 2 random nights and snatch a couple of ripe pineapple tomatoes, but he or she never returned after that (I heard some rustling in my yard, thought it was a prowler, but it turned out to be a big old ‘possum!).
I’ve picked the last of the ripe veggies and got quite a haul as you will see in the photos. Last weekend I decided to pick the green tomatoes and immature red bell peppers before the first frost. I ended up w/ 25 tomatoes and 8 little green bell peppers. I placed the tomatoes in my kitchen window in hopes for them to eventually ripen.
Here’s a photographic chronology of the last couple of months in the garden:
August 23rd
Bounty from August 23rd
Bounty from September 3rd
Bounty from September 9th
Bounty from September 18th
October 5th
Bounty from October 16th
That’s all folks…
from this…
to this…
to this!
Candied Jalapenos
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons water
1 cup sugar
8 large jalapenos
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Procedure:
1) Remove seeds and ribs, then cut jalapenos into ¼ inch squares
2) Sauté jalapenos on a griddle (wiped w/ olive oil) until lightly browned and blistered
3) Put sugar and water in a heavy bottomed pot and boil until light amber in color (333 -335 degrees F on a candy thermometer), brushing inside of pot w/ water occasionally to prevent crystals from forming
4) Stir in vinegar, then stir in jalapenos
5) Let cool in pot, then pour into a jar
Ideas for use:
· Apple topping or topping for your other favorite fruit (use as a spicy alternative for caramel apples)
· Finishing glaze for BBQ’ed fish, meats, or vegetable
· Spread for toast (I use it like a fruit jam)
· Ice cream topping (as you would a caramel sauce)
Cooking notes: The sugar crystalized as it cooled down so the end product was not right. I decided to do this post anyway because it gave me the opportunity to show you what it’s not supposed to look like (i.e., the sugar is supposed to be a transparent amber color, not an opaque caramel). I was in a hurry when making this batch because I was leaving town the next day. Lesson learned… always leave time for a redo so your finished product will be the way you want it to be.
However, if this ever happens to you, don’t throw it away, just microwave the open container for 30 – 45 seconds (depending on how powerful your microwave is) to melt the sugar crystals, just like you can do w/ honey when it begins to crystalize.
Until next time…