7.6.10 Harvest

Bunnies

My neighbors made a home for some turtles of theirs. Instead of turtles, some local bunny made her nest and nursed her little baby bunnies there. It looks like they have finally flown the coup because as I was watering the garden, the bunnies came running. I guess they like my garden.


Bunny 1 in my flower bed


Bunny 2 hiding against the raised bed.

3 other bunnies hopped back over to the turtle coup.

Tomatoes 6.30.10

I thought it was about time to do a post on the tomatoes since afterall most people think "tomatoes" when they think of veggie gardens.

Because I only wanted a few plants this year, I took care in tending to them from seed to fruit. I started them indoors early in March. I repotted them 3 times before planting them in the ground. When I planted them, I planted them deeply and mixed in a lot of compost to build strong roots. Now it's all paid off!

The plants are over 5' tall.

Grape Tomatoes

Black Krim Tomatoes

Roma Tomatoes

Persimmon Tomatoes

Harvests

6.30.10






7.2.10


7.5.10





Here's the current tally:

• 62 pickling cucumbers
• 11 pattypan squashes
• 16 fairytale eggplants
• 30 summer squashes
• 9 handfuls of pole beans

I've cut the kale out entirely to make room for my eggplant. Also, they were getting eaten by some pests which I didn't want to infest the rest of my crops. I've also cut the pole beans back. They were getting so tall that it was shading some of my other plants. Next year, I will make a tall teepee for them.

6.28.10 Harvest

Hi all! We just came back from New Orleans! It was a real blast, but I'm happy to be home. While we were there we tasted all the delights of Nola and I look forward to making some of my very own gumbo and seafood boil.


Although I harvested as much as I could before we left, we still came home to all this! None of these cucumbers or squashes were there before we left, so I was surprised to see many of them. I pickled the smaller of the cucumbers and made salad with the larger ones which had gotten a bit more tough.


The zinnias are really blooming now and I'm seeing more and more patty pan squashes. I pick the squash even if they are on the small side because it's supposed to encourage the growth of more squash. They taste better when they are small too.


This squash looks like one of those trolls from the 80s.

The raised bed is overflowing. I cut my tomato plants back a lot! They are really tall too and I see lots of tomatos developing. The pepper plants are also starting to develop more. The cucumber vines have climbed over and through my neighbors fence. I hope I will still be able to harvest them.

6.22.10

Today there was lots in the garden to harvest!


The tomato plants are surprisingly tall and beginnin to fall over. They are taller than the supports, so they will be needing some extra tall stakes.


Basil and I were checking out the summer squash plants.


Here's the raw harvest. I harvested the summer squash while it was still small (which is recommended) for several reasons. They taste better and will encourage growth of new squashes.


Washed and trimmed. I cooked the pole beans and packed them up for lunch. I used the squash and eggplant in a pasta dish. Then I made pickles with the little cucumbers.

6.20.10

Things are emerging each and every day. I can't keep up!


The fairy tale eggplant is starting to emerge. These are great drizzled with olive oil on the grill.


19 pickling type cucumbers! These will make a variety of pickles.