Garden Update--Week of 6/14

Despite the date on the title, this entry begins on Saturday, 6/13, but who begins a week at the end of the previous week...lol.  So, I'm going by the beginning.

Any-who, we have been getting rain--which has prevented me from gardening.  Well, it's not really ME, but the Lord Himself--who has created all things, including the structure on how things grow.  I'm glad for the rain--which means less manual watering from me, and nature can TRULY take its course.  That being said, here is my progress:

 Here are my heirloom tomatoes--Brandywine, Mortgage Lifter, Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, Paul Robeson, San Marzano, Yellow Pear, and Green Grape.  

As you can see from the top left and right, they are staked and tied.  The tying is my attempt to do a Florida knot/weave pattern--for which the twine is looped around the tomato plants and the stakes--to which a figure 8 pattern is around all of the tomato plants.  Note that I said ATTEMPT.  In an effort to create the figure 8's, they kept coming out, so I tied small pieces of twine--that way, the plant stays in place, and I can use twine less.

In the bottom left are two Yellow Pear tomatoes.  All they need is a bit of color.

In the bottom right, the dark stuff at the base of the plant is coffee grounds.  They act as a natural fertilizer--thus supplying nutrients to the tomatoes.  Coffee grounds are also a "green(fresh)" material to use in compost--as they are a good source of nitrogen (will do an entry on coffee at a later date).

Check out the herbs.  The top left is oregano and sage.  The top right is flat leaf parsley.  I have 3 oregano plants and 4 flat leaf parsley plants.  I also have four curly leaf parsley plants as well.

Center left, center right and bottom is sage, and it is REALLY going.  Sage goes really well with chicken and pork, and you can't get any better than having it fresh.  It imparts SOOO much flavor!

White Russian Kale on the left and Red Russian Kale on the right.  It still looks pretty good.  There's a couple of bug bites, but it should be okay once I weed that area to further expose the onions and beets that have been interplanted to improve the  flavor of the kale and to protect it from pests.

The kohlrabi is starting to bulb.  I was wondering how it was grown, and initially thought that the bulb grew underground.  However, the bulb starts on the little stalk below the leaves.  The bulb eventually touches the ground.  I'm really curious as to what this tastes like.

Check out the green bean plants!  The picture on the left is a close up.  The picture on the right is the whole bed.  These plants look EXTREMELY healthy.  There are little to no insect bites. I do have to weed over there though.  My first year, my green bean plants looked like "Swiss cheese"--as the leaves had many holes in them--due to the dreaded Mexican bean beetle (TIP:  The Mexican bean beetle looks very similar to a ladybug,--dots, size, everything, but don't be deceived.  Unlike the ladybugs--which are red, the Mexican bean beetle are like a dull mustard yellow or tan in color).  What's the secret to healthy green bean plants?  ROSEMARY AND PETUNIAS!  Plant both around bean plants, and they will REPEL Mexican bean beetles.  I've done that my first year--despite the "Swiss cheese" looking plants, and I haven't had problems since.  That being said, I've been planting these two powerhouses around the beans.  Nasturtiums also work--as they are in the same family as petunias.  Nasturtiums are very easy to grow from seed.

These are the black beans that I planted using store bought beans.  Looking pretty good. As with the green beans, I'll have to put some rosemary and petunias (or nasturtiums) near them to protect them.  As you can see, the area could stand to be weeded, but I'll get over there eventually.

Here's one sweet potato plant.  I told you that they'll bounce that.  I totally need to weed over there, and continue to do so until it vines to the point to when it can become its own weed cover.  I counted about six plants.  I'm sure I will find more once I weed this bed.  I need to plant some thyme and summary savory around the sweet potatoes to both improve the flavor and to protect them from sweet potato weevils.

This is the bed where the Rutgers tomatoes, cayenne peppers and collard greens are.  The left was before it was fully weeded.  It was weeded on the one side the day before.  On the right the bed is fully weeded.  As you can see in the center of the bed, the collard greens are really thriving; although one plant appears to be getting eaten (as long as it's that ONE plant).  You can also see the few borage volunteers that are thriving as well.  I've never grown borage and collard greens together, but I've read that  borage can be grown around any member of the brassica (cabbage) family--for which collard greens are a part.  I may also have to plant some onions amongst the collard greens for extra protection.  Because I only have five collard green plants and would like more, I've sown some seeds for extra plants.  It'll be okay.  I have time.

These are some of my Rutgers tomatoes plants.  The one on the right is the biggest.  Mind you, these were DIRECTLY SOWN into the ground, and WOW!!!  This is an awesome experiment, and I think I know what I can do next year to improve on this.  There are only four plants, and I thought about getting some more plants--as I plan on canning these tomatoes.  However, I have San Marzano tomato plants (that were given to me by my neighbor at the garden), and those are also good tomatoes for canning.  That being said, I think I'm good on canning tomatoes.  I have 12 1-qt canning jars, and they are ready to be filled with amazing, flavorful tomatoes--that can be used for tomato sauce, chili, and salsa when the season ends.

(THRIFTY TIP:  Putting food by are the PERFECT way to have garden fresh produce during the off seasons.  Ways of putting food by include:  canning, freezing, and drying.  When the tomatoes are ready for canning, I will provide another entry on this.  Think about the money you'll save and how healthier you'll be by consuming home-grown produce that does not contain pesticides, preservatives, or other chemicals).

Ok.  I know that the pic on the top left was already posted.  I'm re-posting it to bring attention to the pea, carrot, and turnip bed on the left.  The pic on the left is before weeding.  The pic on the top right is the one side that was weeded (I had to leave--as it was getting dark and my mother called asking me for a favor).  The other side will be weeded on my next trip.  

As you can see on the bottom left, the pea pods are in; however, the peas are not quite ready yet.  I'll give them another week or two, and YUM-YUM!!  Garden fresh peas are SOO sweet.  You CANNOT get such amazing flavor from the ones in the store.  Frozen peas are the next best thing, but WHY NOT FREEZE YOUR OWN??  SO much fresher...AND cheaper (Again, this goes back to the concept of putting by.  Store bought frozen peas are picked at the peak of freshness, but by freezing them yourself, you're saving about $1-$2.  Hey, every little bit of savings helps.  I'll do an entry on freezing as well. Stay tuned).

  (THRIFTY TIP:  It also doesn't hurt to allow some pea pods to dry on the vines.  The dried peas become seeds--for which can be used to plant and grow more peas for the next year.  That way, you'll rarely, if ever, have to buy seeds).

The pic on the center right are carrots. I planted more carrot seeds, but I take it that they have not all germinated--so I've done very little thinning (removing seedling that were densely sown to promote greater gemination--so that what's there can grow bigger and better).  I'm sure there may be some that germinate at another day, but if not, I'll either sow more seeds or leave as is--so that I don't have too much excess.  I haven't made up my mind yet, but I'll let you know when I do.

 On the left are two beds--the peas, carrots, and turnips bed and farther down is the bed for which I planted onions, cabbage, and golden beets.  The only thing I see in the latter bed are the onions, and the DESPERATELY need weeding--as onions do not compete well with weeds at all.  This is pre-weeding.

On the right, only the paths were weeded.  As you can see, there is some blank spaces--which are are the paths between the beds.  That's all I gotten to, so on my next trip, I will start weeding THESE beds.  

Once I weed the beds of the previous two pics, I will then weed these beds in the pictures just above.  In these beds are red cabbage, sweet potatoes, and green beans.  I can't WAIT to get over there.  Trust me, there IS food amongst these weeds.  You'll see!

 The end of last week and the beginning of this week, I was preparing and sowing seeds in these beds.  In the pic on the left, I sown seeds for lettuce, scallions, and more carrots in the bed at the bottom (NOTE:  The carrots in the other beds above are Danvers half-long carrots--which are plan orange carrots.  The ones in this bed are those of different colors--Atomic Red, Cosmic Purple, Amarillo (yellow), and Snow White).  In the bed on the top, navy beans and nasturtiums were planted.  Also on this side, and in another bed further down, there is a bed--for which seeds for corn, zucchini, borage, and sunflowers were sown.  As of today (6/18/2015), corn and zucchini are starting to come up.

In the pic on the right, as you can see are my heirloom tomatoes.  Right passed the heirloom tomatoes is another bed--for which I planted cucumbers, sunflowers, and dill. Also in the middle, there is another bed (very similar to the bed with the Swiss chard and kohlrabi as you can see in the pic on the right), and in that bed will be exclusively fennel.  I absolutely LOVE fennel; however, it has to be grown on its own because it clashes with many plants.  Because fennel is considered both a vegetable and/or an herb, like many herbs grown from seed, it takes a little while to germinate.  I've planted enough to get at least 64 bulbs of fennel.  We shall see what I get in the end.

As you can see, I've done A LOT.  On my next trip, I planned to do a MASSIVE weeding and feeding.  So until then...Think Thrifty!   Dawn