My Fall 2012 garden is officially underway!

This past weekend, I finally got my tomato plants and new pepper plants planted.

I only bought four tomato plants this time, two of which I don't expect much from. But two I have very high hopes for. I got two little transplants, a Roma plant and a Homestead plant which may or may not mature by the time the weather cools enough to set fruit. I also got two large grafted tomato plants. Black Krim heirloom grafted onto a hardier and more disease-resistant root stock. Supposedly you can get a much better result from heirlooms in our climate by growing them this way. The plants certainly are hardy and full and growing faster than expected. Whether they produce fruit, we'll have to wait a while to see. They better! They are significantly more expensive than the basic grown from seed transplant plants. But, I had a birthday gift card from the particular nursery that stocks them, so I figured it wasn't a big gamble to try a couple out this season. I wanted to get them transplanted over 2 weeks ago but was sick with an ugly virus and between recovering from that and the heat, just couldn't handle being outside much.

The peppers I got were two more jalapeno plants that are supposed to make bigger peppers, they're called "Mucho Nacho". 2 of my bell peppers and my other basic jalapeno plant, along with the 3 Yummy peppers all are surviving the heat, and still producing, but much more slowly and much smaller fruit in the heat. If they make it to cooler weather, they will give me more decent sized peppers until it gets cold enough to kill them off.

This morning I prepared the two large tub-sized containers that I plant cucumbers and bush beans in, so I can plant the cucumber seeds tonight or in the morning. I was amazed at the sheer number of earthworms living in those containers. They have loads of drain holes in the bottom, so they are more like raised beds, so the worms can come and go into the earth and containers. The soil is healthy and happy and I only had to add a little bit of organic matter to replenish it. Let's hope it gives me some good cucumbers this season to make up for the major fail of spring.

By the end of this coming weekend I'll have planted the cucumber seeds, some of the kohlrabi seeds, zucchini seeds, the first of the bush bean seeds, and some more Sweet 100 melon seeds. Also, some starter peat pellet pots of herb seeds and a couple of thyme plants I picked up at the nursery.

As far as what's still growing and producing? I have a couple dozen Meyer Lemons on the tree getting ready to start ripening, and a couple of small Ichiban long eggplant plants that are producing here and there, and six remaining Fairy Tale eggplant plants that are producing slowly in the heat. Also the Yummy peppers are giving me a bunch of little peppers, and I saw a baby bell pepper on one of the plants yesterday. Many of the herbs died, but both the sweet basil and Thai basil are thriving. Mint is near dead, but will come back, as will lemon balm. I thought the oregano was a goner, but am seeing new growth and lots of green in the pot. One of the other things I need to do this weekend is snip dead leaves. Oh yeah, the blueberry bushes are getting along just fine in the heat and have doubled in size from when I planted them last Spring. LOTS of love for my blueberry bushes! I am looking forward to eventually having mature plants that give a decent harvest.

As we start to see cooler weather here, I will plant beets, turnips, romanesco, broccoli, lettuce, kale, chard, radishes, spinach, and carrots.

Another garden blog.

I decided to not do battle with the dreaded Squash Vine Borers this year, and ditched the plans to plant zucchini and squash. There are ways to combat the foul beasties, but with only five containers availible for squash plants, I decided to go with something else and just buy my zucchini at the farmer's market from people who grow on such a scale that they can afford to lose a few plants here and there. I had to go to the garden center this morning, and I got two Husky cherry tomato plants, and three Yummy bell pepper plants and put them into those containers instead. Yes, the variety of pepper is called the "Yummy" pepper. If you've seen little plastic clamshell containers of 2-3" yellow orange, and red peppers at the supermarket, that's what they are. The variety I'm growing turns from green to orange when ripe. They are extremely sweet, like fruit sweet. And have next to no seeds and membranes. I have only ever used them in salads, but I'm sure there is lots more you can do with them. The Husky cherry tomato does well in containers too, and since I didn't have any cherry tomatoes already, it seemed like a good choice. All the rest of the seeds and transplants get planted this weekend, so I am looking forward to a nice, sunny and warm weekend working in the garden. By the end of the weekend, I should be finished with about 80% of the gardening. Flowers and additional herbs may have to wait until the first of April payday. But I am for sure going to go ahead and get one 24 pack of colorful annuals just to have some more color in the back yard.

Spring 2012 Garden: Time to start planting!

So, here's what I will be growing this season:

- Tomatoes. Yellow Pear, Lemon Boy, Cherokee Purple, German Heirloom, and some red hybrid that's supposed to be good for this area. Along with 4 patio tomato plants to see how they do. Those got planted Monday. I might add one red cherry tomato plant, but not sure yet.

- Peppers. Chocolate bell, orange bell, green bell, poblano, and jalapeno. Those got planted today.

- Eggplant. I still have the 2 Ichiban, 1 White Ghost, and 1 Black Beauty plants from last year that are going strong and making fruit. I'm adding two more Ichiban and two Fairy Tale for this season. I'll plant those by the weekend.

- Cucumbers. The main planting will be an heirloom Japanese long cucumber I heard good things about, and also a smaller planting of lemon cucumbers for something different.

- Bush Beans. Royal Burgundy, Blue Lake, and an heirloom broad Italian variety.

- Squash. I'm going to try the baby round zucchini yet again this year. We'll see how they go.

- Beets. I have some Detroit Dark Red beets that got planted back in February that ought to be ready to harvest in another month or so.

- Carrots. I have some red cored Chanteney carrots I planted back in January that are starting to really show some growth too.

- Melons. I ordered a pack of seeds from an heirloom seed catalog that make tiny orange striped melons, and will try growing them in big containers with a trellis. The melons are only the size of an apple, so they can grow that way without pulling off the vine or pulling the trellis apart.

- Herbs. Rosemary, mint, thyme, oregano, dill, basil, catnip, parsley, cilantro, and bay leaves so far. I will probably add more though.

- Fruit. Lots of lemons on the mature tree, the immature lemon, orange, and satsuma trees are all doing well so far.

- Berries. 4 different kinds of blueberries, the bushes are half-mature so they will produce a few berries here and there but I won't get a full harvest for at least another couple of years.

Garden haul!

Here are some of the things I've picked from my garden over the past few days. Lots of cucumbers, including one monster one that had been hiding away behind the lattice the vines are growing up. I try and pick them before they get so big, because they're still sweet and tender and the seeds aren't tough. But occasinally one gets missed and turns into a whopper. There are still at least ten more baby cukes on the vines. No more flowers, too cool for that now, but I'll have at least one more little picking worth of cucumbers before they're done for the season. I also got the last two eggplant, the plants need to come up now to make room for more carrots. And poblano peppers too. There are still a lot of small ones on the plants, and a bunch of tiny jalapenos finally too. The beans are a mix of green and burgundy bush beans. There are some still on the plants, and a few blooms too. But I think the bulk of the beans have already been picked and enjoyed.

I took a couple of the cucumbers, and just rinsed and sliced them into rounds, and mixed them with a "dressing" made from some nonfat plain bulgarian yogurt, a little bit of Penzey's Mural of Flavor seasoning, some finely sliced green onion (white and green parts) and a pinch of salt. I usually use dill, but my Dear Friend had brought me a gift box of four small jars of salt-free seasonings, and I wanted to try out the Mural of Flavor, since I had never tasted it before. It's awfully good! The green beans, we boiled until just fork tender but still crunchy. And tossed them with a tiny bit of melted butter, some Penzey's Forward seasoning (from the same gift box) and a pinch of salt too. Very good as well.. It's funny how the burgundy beans turn green as soon as they hit that boiling water. The poblano peppers are going into my Southwestern omlettes for breakfast, and the eggplant will go in with some zucchini and tomato to have with pasta and chicken breast for supper tomorrow. The rest of the cucumbers are going to become salad for the Thanksgiving table at the inlaws' house.