Garden Update--7/5 through 7/12

Hello my Thrifty Friends.  It is now time for another addition of "Garden Update".  EVERYTHING (including the weeds...ugh) is in full bloom.  However, I am SOOOO excited!  I praise God with the fact that in the three years that I've been planting vegetable gardens, that this is the best one so far.  Here is my progress:

These are marigolds and basil.  These will be used to protect the tomatoes from the pests--as well as to improve the flavor.  The basil looks a little pitiful, but I got them for half price and feel that I am more than capable to loving them back to health.

THRIFTY TIP: Less than perfect, wilted plants need love too...and even more so. To save some money, look for these type of plants.  They would be in the, otherwise, clearance section.  Also, see if you can negotiate the price with the garden center.  Originally, the basil plants were $3.49.  I asked an employee/manager at the garden center if I could get a discount considering the condition of the plants.  With that, the manager said she would sell them to me for half the price.  Once I got them to the garden, I gave them a little plant food and some water.  With the proper care and attention, they will definitely flourish. 

Check these out!  These are the Black Krim tomatoes.  Look at the size of them!  Now, if they would ONLY ripen, then I will be a very happy gal! 

Check out these babies!  These are grape tomatoes...the ones  you would see in the grocery store.  These are definitely going in salads and snack bags in my lunch pail. 

These are San Marzano tomatoes.  Mario Batali swears by these tomatoes--as I've heard him mention and seen him use them very often.  I have three of these plants, and I am looking SOOOO forward to canning these. 

These are yellow pear tomatoes.  I saw one that was semi-ripe.  I say this because it was yellow, but it was still a little hard.  While I was checking it, it came off of the plant.  It wasn't sweet, so I'm going to wait for the others.

The basil between Paul Robeson tomato plants.  On the right is a close up. 

Marigolds between the tomato plants.

Marigolds and basil near the tomatoes.  On the left is a marigold next to the Mortgage Lifter plant and a basil near the Cherokee Purple plant.  On the right is a close up of the basil near the Cherokee Purple.  I'm getting SOME tomatoes, but they're not as prolific as the Black Krim.  I am seeing many blossoms, but am waiting for some more 'maters!

On the left is a Paul Robeson tomato.  As you can see, the leaves are a bit curled.   That's a bit of a concern--as the health of my plant is in question.  In my research, I've learned that a probable cause for leaf curling on tomato plants is magnesium deficiency--hence the Epsom salt.  Epsom salt helps in terms of boosting and maintaining the health of plants.  In addition, Epsom salt helps the tomatoes become sweeter and tastier--hence the pic on the right. 

 As you can see, the bag says "Great for gardening".  I've also learned that Epsom salt (or magnesium sulfate--which contains approximately 10% magnesium and 13% sulfur) can be used throughout the garden.  Magnesium is critical in seed germination and the production of chlorophyll.  It also helps strengthen cell walls and improves plants' uptakes of nitrogen (for luscious greenery), phosphorus (for fruit production), and sulfur.  Sulfur (the other component in Epsom salt) is key element to plant growth--as it is critical in the production of vitamins, amino acids (i.e. protein),  and enzymes(1).

I've sprinkled some Epsom salt around the base of all my tomato and pepper plants, and then watered the plants.  On the back of the bag, it says to use in this manner every two weeks.  I'm excited to see the outcome of the Epsom salt feeding.  I will provide an update in the next entry. 

On the left is my biggest Rutgers tomato plant.  As I mentioned in an earlier entry, the Rutgers plants were not just plants I bought at the garden center.  This is the result of putting the seed in the ground.  It looks really good, and I'm now starting to see some tomatoes on them.  As with the San Marzano's, these will be used for canning as well.

On the right is a piece of one on the left.  It broke off the plant.  Initially, I didn't know what I was going to do with it, and was prepared to put it on the side for weed cover.  However, it cam to mind that this can be seen as a cutting, and hence, a new plant.  So I planted it.  After digging the hole, I added some Epsom salt into the hole, and put the plant in the hole (NOTE:  Before planting this piece, I trimmed the bottom.  It was hardened, so by cutting it, it is fresh and is able to better soak up water and nutrients).  It looks a little sad, but is has succumbed temporarily to transplant shock.  It will eventually get established, and thus, get back to health.  I had only two branches fall off, and fortunately, my two tomato cages have been put to good use.

These are the black beans.  LOOK AT HOW THEY'VE GROWN!!!  On the left are the plants.  On the right is a blossom--for which a bean pod should come after it.  I am thoroughly impressed on how these are from a bag of grocery store beans.  I will be completely satisfied once I receive beans.  Should I get them, I will definitely save some for seed.  If this experiment finishes out as I hoped, I will NEVER buy black bean seeds from a catalog again!

Green beans.  AREN'T THEY IMPRESSIVE???!  The pic on the left are the beans on the plant.  They were SO ready to be harvested.  The pic on the right is my actual harvest.  That bag was FILLED.  In addition, I plucked off a few sage in as well.

The first time I grew green beans, it was in my first garden in 2013.  My plan was, more or less, chopped up into to small spaces for the vegetables.  As a result, I only got a handful.  My mother reiterated that she wanted enough green beans to fill a pot.  When I brought THESE home, she was ECSTATIC!  She said that this was more than enough.  I harvested these beans this past Saturday (7/11).  The next day, she cooked most of them for Sunday dinner, and froze the rest.  

In another two weeks, I will be ready for another picking.  One thing I learned about green beans is in order to keep a continuous supply of beans throughout the season, they have to be picked on an occasional basis.  Two weeks should be sufficient time.  I will DEFINITELY provide an update on the second picking.

These are the navy beans.  They are looking really good!

On the left is zucchini.  On the right is corn and sunflowers.  The reason I put these two pics together is because all of the aforementioned are growing in the same bed.  as you can see from the pic on the right, this bed is halfway weeded.  This is actually where I ended.

Collard greens...collard greens...and MORE collard greens.  YAY!   This is the first time i've had collard greens grow this well.  At first I was concerned about the holes (resulting from bugs), but some of my fellow (and more experienced gardeners) said that, despite the bug bites, they're still "good eatin'".  When I showed the pics to my mom, she got excited.  That being said, I will harvest the biggest plant (top left) this weekend--for which will be a part of Sunday dinner.

When I said that I was determined to get collard greens, I wasn't kidding.  I plants some additional seeds are throughout the bed--so that I could get some more plants.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again, there's NOTHING like homegrown collard greens.  They taste SOOOOO much better!

Red and White Russian Kale.  Still looking good.  I have to check my onions--as this will make a wonderful kale salad.  I like my kale salad with onions and Gazebo room Greek salad dressing.

For those of you not familiar with Gazebo Room Greek salad dressing, it is a bit of an institution in my area.  The Gazebo Room used to be a popular restaurant in my hometown.  It opened in 1973 and closed in 1998, but the house Greek dressing was (and still is) legendary.  Although the restaurant is closed, the salad dressing is still being manufactured,  locally, and by the same family that owned the restaurant (2,3).  If you've NEVER tried Gazebo Room Greek salad dressing, then I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you do so!  It is  THAT good!  To my understanding, it's being sold in other states, so you can probably find it in your grocery store.  If not, then you can order it at gazeboroom.com.  Trust me, you will NOT be disappointed.  And top your kale salad with it...lol.

Sweet potato bed--in need of another weeding.  It is crucial to keep this bed weeded--as they do not compete with weeds well, and until the foliage grows to the point where they become their own weed barrier.  The foliage will eventually cover the ground, shading it--which deprives weeds of a much need light source.

Sweet potato plants--up close and personal.

On the left...one, HUGE, weedy mess.  This was this past Saturday (7/11).  Seeing this, I knew I had my work cut out.

On the right...weedy mess, six hours later.  What an improvement!  At first, I was just goimg to lay the weeds on the perimenter of the garden, but I decided to lay the weeds down in a manner to form new beds.  I don't know what I'll plant (or if I'll plant something), but you never know.  I may be up for another experiment...lol!

These two pics are the weedy mess on the next day (Sunday, 7/12).  More ground has been covered (or, shall I say...uncovered), and aesthetically, it looks a lot better.

This is my fennel bed.  As you can see from the left, it is halfway weeded.  There is more fennel in the midst of the weeds on the far left of this picture, and I will work that on my next trip to the garden.

As you can see, the fennel bed spans in a  2 x 28 foot bed in the center of this plot (similar to the other plot with the kohlrabi, Swiss chard, oregano, parsley, and sage).  I planted enough for about 60 fennel bulbs.  That being said, it's pretty obvious that I LOVE fennel.  I like to eat it raw in salads, or roasted with fish.  It has a sweet anise, licorice type flavor.  For those who really know me know that I am NOT a fan of licorice candy (mainly the black candies), but fennel has a licorice flavor, but I absolutely love it!  This will taste a lot better, and costs me FAR LESS than at the grocery store.  If my memory serves me right, fennel is between $2-$4/lb.  Sorry Charlie, but that will NOT be me--if I can help it!  I also have a friend that loves fennel, so I'm excited to be able to share it with her.

With all of that hard work, I got kind of thirsty.  So much so, that I took this 1-liter bottle of water "to the head" (i.e. drank continuosly, without stopping or gasping for air.  drank it straight down).  That revived me for more weeding.

As you can see, a girl has been really busy.  I wouldn't have it any other way.  Gardening and eating these vegetables have helped me lose weight, so definitely a win-win.  In the next entry, I will provide an update on the other vegetables that I didn't cover in this entry (i.e. carrots, lettuce, onions, kohlrabi, Swiss chard).  So until then, Think Thrifty!  Dawn

(1)http://www.garden.org/articles/articles.php?q=show&id=68
(2)http://gazeboroom.com/history/
(3)http://www.pennlive.com/food/index.ssf/2014/07/throwback_thursday_gazebo_room.html

Garden Update--From 6/21 to 7/1

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