I know. It's been a while. We've been getting so much rain lately (as well as imminent threats of rain), and that has deterred me from going to the garden. THEN, when I get to the garden, I've had SOOOOO much weeding to do that I was in my zone and therefore, not had much time to provide an update. Well...I've done most of what I've came to do, so here is my two-week update...
The pride of every gardener...tomatoes. These are Black Krim tomatoes. This is my first time growing them, so I'm anticipating to see what they taste like. I have to most tomatoes on this plant than any other.
These are Mortgage Lifter tomatoes. This is my family's favorite--especially my 9-year old niece. She absolutely LOVES tomatoes, and the first time I grew this, the first tomato was about 1 1/2 pounds. She couldn't wait to sink her teeth into it. Knowing her love for tomatoes, I allowed her to take the first bite. The joy in her face with that first bite was priceless!
Another tomato. I believe that this is another Black Krim.
Here are all of my indeterminate/heirloom tomato plants. I'm also seeing small fruits for the Yellow Pear, San Marzano, and Paul Robeson. SO looking forward to such yummy-ness!
These are cucumbers. I planted them a bit late--hence the small seedlings. I didn't get any cucumbers last year, so I am ever so determined to get some this year. These are the National Pickling variety. They're shorter and fatter--perfect for fitting into a jar. And yes, I do plan on making pickles with these. When ready to do this, I will do an entry on it.
On the left is zucchini. On the right is corn. As with the cucumbers, I planted them a bit late. Late, but still within a good time frame to produce some food. The zucchini plants are looking a bit light--as cucurbits (i.e. squash, cucumbers, melons) are at a high risk is getting afflicted with powdery mildew. Neem oil will keep that under control, so I will have to apply some to the plants.
Navy beans...at attention. I've sown some nasturtium seeds, but am seeing nothing. I'll have to put some rosemary and petunias on the side.
Collard greens. This is an earlier picture. Unfortunately, they are now being eaten. Eaten, but not obliterated. I'll have to plant some onions and some aromatic herbs around it. And seeing that they are being eaten, I've some some extra seeds in the events these are totally eaten. I will once again reiterate my determination to have collard greens this year. I will NOT fail for the third year in a row!
Rutgers Tomato plant. I'll have to tie these up, but I'm running short on twine. These are my canning tomatoes.
Lovely borage volunteer...and the bees are LOVING it.
Sunflower volunteers. They appear to be the favorite food of the bumblebees. The more pollinators in my garden, the better.
Before and after. The pic on the left is before weeding. The pic on the right is after weeding. I've been a busy gal--hence the reason why I haven't supplied an update recently.
Another before and after. The top left and right are before. The bottom left and right are after. The pic on the bottom left was supposed to be my bed for red cabbage. I still have to weed the bed, but I'm glad to have taken care of the paths--so that the bed could be defined. On the bottom right, there is Red Russian Kale and green beans.
This is the sweet potato bed...freshly weeded. The sweet potato plants could easily blend in with the rest of the weeds, and unfortunately, I accidentally removed one plant during the weeding process. I didn't get any last year, so I'm ever more determined to get some this year. I'll have to plant some thyme and summer savory on the sides.
Here are more pics of the corn and zucchini taken at a later date. Prior to taking these pics, both plants were being taken over by the dreaded wild morning glory. While some is welcome in this bed (Note that I mentioned SOME--as morning glory is a good companion plant for corn), but considering how young the plants are, they were being smothered. The morning glory had to go.
An updated pic of the Navy beans. Looking good! I plan on using these for both soup and baked beans.
Check out the pea plants at the bottom and the onions at the top. In between; the plants are the paths (which I weeded a week and a half ago). The onions were weeded by my 9-year old niece, Averie. She did an awesome job!
The six pics above are the same bed--which contains peas, turnips, and carrots.
The top left is the whole bed. The top right is one yummy pea pod. Those peas were SOOOO good! Seeing this one pod, I've noticed that I saw many more that were ready--which prompted to two center pics. I harvested at least half of the peas. I deliberately left the other half on the plants for seed. I also saw more new pods, so I may have to snag those. When I took them home and shelled them, I didn't even fill a half of freezer bag.
The bottom pics highlight the turnips. The turnip plants are on the left side of the bed (bottom left pic). The right bottom pic are some of these awesome roots. I took them home to my mother, and she was ever so impressed! So much so, that she used them in this past Sunday's dinner. She also mentioned that when she went to the grocery store, she saw turnips being sold for $2.99/lb. Considering that she gotten the one in the right pic for free, it was a no-brainer. $2.99/lb for turnips????! Wow!! I wonder if First Lady Michelle Obama's song on turnips increased their popularity--hence the price!
I know. It's a bit late, but there's nothing like homegrown lettuce for your salads. The top pics are leaf lettuce. The bottom pics are buttercrunch lettuce. I was starting to weed the entire bed, but thought that it would probably be best to keep some around --in order to provide some shade and to keep the lettuce cool. The risk I'm taking in planting it so late is that they could go to seed very quickly--leaving the lettuce bitter and inedible. I'll have to monitor this bed--as well as do a bit of controlled weeding.
The little frilly plants are carrots. unlike the carrots next to my peas--which are just plain orange carrots, the carrots in this bed are different colors. I've sown seeds for Cosmic Purple, Atomic Red, Amarillo, Solar White, and a Rainbow carrot mix. These carrots were planted next to the lettuce. On the other side of the lettuce are scallions. Those are coming in slowly. Unfortunately, I was unable to get pics of the scallions, but will do so and provide in the next garden update.
(TIP: Anything in the alium (onion) family is good to plant around lettuce. Aliums (i.e. onions, scallions, leeks, garlic) keep rabbits away from your lettuce.)
These are rape greens. These were given to me by a friend--who also has several plots at the community garden. While visiting her plots, she has shown me these plants, and offered me some. She says that they are sweet. I'm always game to try new things, so I took her up on that offer. Just like any transplant, they looked rather sad at first. Now, the appear to be adapting fairly well to their new home. I'm excited to see what these taste like!
Check out the green bean plants! The top pics are of the bed. The bottom pics are the little miniature beans that still have a little while to grow! The plants are still looking healthy; however, after weeding, I've noticed that there are several Japanese beetles on them. NOOOOOOOO!!!! JAPANESE BEETLES EAT EVERYTHING IN THEIR WAKE!!! I'll have to research organic methods to repel them. I will provide the findings of my research in another entry. In spite of those pests, I'm happy that they are still looking good. I've seen very few Mexican bean beetles, so the rosemary and petunias are definitely doing their job.
Black and white. On the left are Navy (white) bean plants. This is the most current pic of the plants. On the right are black bean plants. Remember, these plants are the result of store bought beans, and seeing this, I saved a bit of money--as opposed to ordering seeds from catalogs. The plants are looking well, now if I could get actual beans from them, it will be all good!
Although these pics aren't highlighting vegetables per se, I simply couldn't help taking pictures of this beautiful sight. Borage is a favorite food of Apis Mellifera (aka the honeybee). These are the plants near my tomatoes and collard greens. It is always good to have borage near anything that needs pollination. I would've loved to get in closer, but I didn't want to startle her (Yes, I said "her". All worker bees in a honeybee colony are female). She has a job to do, so the last thing she is thinking about is me.
I know that this is a bit of a digression, but let me "school" you on honeybees. Honeybees are vegetarians. They are NOT interested in stinging you. However, they will do so if they feel that their lives are in danger. Honeybees use extreme caution in making a decision to use their stingers, because once they do, they will die (consider their sting as their last stand). I say this because it is extremely important to differentiate a bee from a wasp or yellowjacket.
Wasps and yellowjackets, on the other hand, are carnivores. Their mission IS to sting you for survival. Like mosquitoes, they thrive on the blood of their hosts. If you look at the pics above, the honey appear to be yellow and brown and fuzzy. Wasps and yellowjackets and yellow, black, and shiny--AND their bodies are a bit slimmer.
It is important to know the difference because it is instinct to swat away any insects that is yellow with dark stripes that buzz. Remember, the honeybees are ladies on a mission. Their mission is to collect pollen and nectar for the hive. THAT is their food...NOT your blood. So when you see a honeybee, unless you are allergic to bee stings, DO NOT kill them (If you ARE allergic to bee stings, I would suggest moving to another space). I cannot stress enough how important the honeybee is and that the mere existence is in peril due to the phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder. While there ARE other pollinators, the honeybee is, by far, the most important pollinator there is. Due to this ability, honeybees are responsible for 40% of the food that we eat. That's almost half! So without the pollinators, almost half of our food chain is lost! The option (albeit inconvenient) would be for humans to hand pollinate (as they're doing on a pear farm in the Chinese countryside. It was noted in a documentary. I'll have to find it, and provide the information to you), but imagine the difficulty in doing so. What we could do in terms of hand pollination in a day, a honeybee can do that 30 times over in one day. So know the difference between the insects. Honeybees...good. Wasps and yellowjackets...NOT. Our food chain depends on this knowledge.
Ok. So, I'm sure you're wondering, "What the HECK is this????" or "EWWWW! Looks disgusting!". Before making assumptions, let me explain as to how wonderful this is. Before leaving, I was going to add compost to the base of my tomato plants. However, due to the steady supply or rain we've been getting, some of it seeped into my compost bucket. Since I can't use this compost in its regular form, it has now become compost tea. Compost tea takes the power of compost to another level--hence making it more concentrated. In well made compost, there are billions...if not TRILLIONS of beneficial bacteria and fungi. These microgranisms are crucial in terms of plant growth and health. Seeing that now my compost is become a compost tea, I decided to use it as such. Now, this isn't an "authentic" compost tea--for which it would need to brew for 12-24 hours and with some sort of agitation (i.e. the use of an aquarium pump), these is a bit of a scaled down version. So to "complete" the process, I've done a miniature potentization process (a method used in biodynamic gardening and farming). To potentize the tea, what I did was add more water, take my trowel, and stir it until it gained some centrifugal momentum. Once this momentum has been gained, I stopped, and started stirring the other way--until, it gained some momentum once again. I've done this for a couple minutes (i.e. the correct way in biodynamics is to use a preparation and stir for an hour--for which I did not have time for, AND it was getting dark), funneled the tea in my watering can, and used it as a foliar feed--especially with the beans, kale, and collard greens. According to urban farmer Will Allen in the documentary "Fresh", compost tea acts as an insect repellent. And since the aforementioned plants are being plagued by insects, I thought I'd give it a try.
After spraying the beans, kale, and collard greens, I decided to use the rest of the tea and feed the tomatoes, peppers, corn, cucumbers, and zucchini. Whether or not it has repelled insects remains to be seen. I will let you know in my next update.
(In terms of the pic on the right, some of the tea got onto the ground while I was trying to funnel it into the watering can. I was NOT letting that microbial goodness go to waste. I took my trowel, scooped it up, and put it on the base of my Brandywine tomato plant. This stuff (although it cost me nothing) is priceless!)
The garden at near dusk. I thought that this was such a pretty sight, so I had to.
So, there you have it. A two-week update. I was as busy as that little worker bee, and I still have work to do. On my next trip, I will do check on the vegetables, do some feeding, and to plant some herbs, flowers, and other things as pest control--so a trip to the garden center is in order. So until then...Think Thrifty! Dawn
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