Tomato and Cucumber Update

One day's harvest!

My favorite salad ingredients are the tomatoes and cucumbers.  So when I saw my plants growing like weeds this summer, I got excited.  And now, earlier than ever in my garden, the tomatoes are ripening.  They're ripening really fast! 

Just this morning I gave away almost 10 tomatoes just from yesterday.  So I was suprised when I went out and needed my son's help to carry in the "load".  Just today, we picked 22 tomatoes and 4 cucumbers.  There's still plenty of tomatoes that will be ready tomorrow!  It's so satisfying to grow enough in the garden to share with others.  So if you're local, come help us eat these!

Jack-be-Littles in Little Spaces

Morning in my tiny pumpkin patch next to the dahlias

When the free packet of seeds arrives in the mail, and they always do, I have a hard time throwing them out.  Where these seeds come from is far and wide.  They might arrive from a garden society, or come free with a mail flyer.  The best arrival was after I carefully picked my heirloom seeds from a catalog, they sent a "complimentary" packet of melon seeds that I did not plan to put in my garden.  It wasn't a small veggie they sent but melons!   

My huband says to just throw them away.  They were free.  He says I'm not obligated to use them.  But I must.  The drive to plant is stronger than the urge to purge.  And so I look for spaces to plant these seeds (if I can't find them another home).  This was the case with those adorable tiny pumpkins you see in the fall.  They're called Jack-be-Littles.  They're really more a gourd than a pumpkin but who cares.  They're cute pumpkins to the kids.  And so the seed packet sat on my counter.  I couldn't throw it out but I didn't want to use precious garden space for a plant with vines.  So I thought vertical.  And then I thought of the trellis where the dahlias didn't grow last year.  So I took a chance. 


Going Vertical

Except for the morning, this spot gets 8+ hours of sun a day!  It's perfect.  And unless it wants to grow beyond the small space I've given it, I think these seeds found a great piece of real estate.  So I hope the Great Pumpkin will be pleased this autumn.  It might not be the largest pumpkin patch, but it will most likely be the most creative one.  At least in my neighborhood.

This is what I hope I'll find later in the season!

How to Support the Monster Tomatoes

Huge tomatoes and it's only  July 7th!

My tomato plants are gigantic!  I mean huge.  Bigger than I've ever grown.  Maybe some of you out there grow them this big every year and my photo is nothing new.  However, in my neck of the woods, I'd be lucky to have them this tall by the end of the season, NOT beginning of July.  How tall are they?  Well, look at the picture again.  That's my husband peeking out from behind them.  (He is 5'10".)  This is after I already trimmed the plants back!  That's tall for tomatoes in my book!

How this luck descended upon my garden I'm not sure, however, there were three new variables thrown in the mix this year.  First, I bought heirloom seeds.  The tomatoes in this garden are all heirloom varieties (Cherry, Thessaloniki, and Moneymaker).  Second, it's a new garden bed which means all new soil.  Third, I pruned the tomatoes early on this year.  Apparently, this is basic knowlege, for growing tomatoes, but I had never pruned before.  So add all of those new varaibles together and we have a trifecta for giant tomatoes!  And then the rains came bringing the damaging winds.

A collection of anything that can support these tomatoes!  (cages, plastic, and steel)

This is when I realized that my tomato cages and tomato stakes were not enough.  So I was off to Home Depot for Steel rods.  Then, it hit me, my plants were becoming like Medusa with branches getting so heavy that they needed more support.  And this gardener was done forking out money.  So we improvised.  We had just completed a "cleaning out project" that included purging from the basement, when my husband reminded me that the shelf brackets would be great.  So I bent them, hammered them in the ground, and voila!

Recycling old shelving pieces!

Just to make sure they worked, a new storm blew in last night with plenty of wind.  Every single branch was fine.  No more snapping off like in previous storms.  Now if they would just hurry up and ripen because I can't wait to try them!

Purple Beauties!

Ready to harvest!

My red onions are harvested and they look delicious!  Feeling so proud of these purple beauties right before harvest, I had done a quick Google search to see if there was anything I needed to do other than pull these babies out of the ground.  To my surprise, they grew so well, because onions are simply easy to grow! I had great success with my shallots last year so I decided to try the red onions for all my yummy Greek summer dishes.  One website basically burst my gardening bubble when it said, "if you can poke a hole in the ground, then you can grow an onion."  To tell you the truth, that really is all there is to it!
1. Poke a hole
2. Place the onion bulb in the hole
3. Cover with soil
4. Water and Wait
5. Pull it out when ready and let dry (do not rinse off the dirt!)

This is just half of the harvest!

That's it folks!  It doesn't get easier than that.  Once the green has dried out, just use scissors to snip them off as well as the roots.

Happy Birthday to Me with Gardening Shoes!

Gardening shoes from Gardeners Supply

My husband is a runner.  He has been for years, except for a time when he became a triathlete for a few years and is now branching off this year into mud runs.  However, at his core he's a runner.  That means all gift-giving tends to be focused around running.  There's shoes, and apparel, and water bottles and all sorts of accessories including heart monitors.  However, after so many years, the gifts get boring.  I start to moan, "not another list of gift ideas just for running." 

Well, I think I've become close to one-sided with gardening.  Most husbands shop for jewelry or flowers or clothes for their wives.  Mine got me just what I wanted...new gardening shoes!  Not just any gardening shoes though.  These are gardening clogs that are the best!  Years ago, he got me a pair when I first started gardening.  I thought they were a little dorky, but practical.  I didn't realize how much I'd grown to love their practicality and comfort until my one cracked near the top.  I tried to wear it anyway, but the crack pinched my skin.  So with a birthday looming on the Memorial Day horizon, I hinted at another pair.  Ok, let's be honest, I ordered them myself and said he could give them to me for my birthday.  And that's how I got my new pair in navy blue!  They're wonderful. 

[You can find them at Gardeners Supply (www.gardeners.com).]

Spring Gardening (slow start but finally here)

This Spring, the cold seemed to just drag on and on in the Northeast.  It was a very slow start to the gardening with seeds taking longer to sprout and plants taking longer to grow.  And although I'd be harvesting more by now, I'm just thrilled that the garden looks so robust.  And thanks to the covering of tarps, everything survived the Mother's Day frost.  So here's what's growing so far. 


Spring crops as of May 20, 2013

From the far left 1/3 of the bed, there's sugar snap peas with romaine and carrots behind them.  Then in the center are red onions (find the tall shoots), followed by more romaine that is smaller because it was started from seed.  The final third of the bed on the right contains two rows of loose leaf lettuce (the lighter green) that is already growing back from the harvest of last week!  In between the lettuce was radishes that were also harvested and eaten last week, except for two more hanging on.  The last row on the right are more red onions.  Can't wait to eat all this food!  And the best part is that there's too much to eat so just with the two rows of loose leaf lettuce alone, I was able to feed 3 other neighbors! 


Makes you just want to grab a fork and start eating!

Here's a different angle that includes the 6 tomato plants growing in the background.  These were also started indoors under the grow light.  It's going to be a yummy summer!  Stay tuned for what will be planted after all these spring veggies are harvested.  In the meantime, add your link and share what's growing in your garden.

Lettuce Time! Harvesting Loose Leaf Lettuce

Lettuce ready to harvest (notice most of the radishes to the left are already eaten)

The general cry these days is "Buy Local".  I'm all for supporting the local farmer.  And this year my town started its very own Farmer's Market.  Yay!  It was a packed day at the opening of the Downingtown Farmer's Market.  Many farmers sold out within the first two hours (the market was from 3-7pm).  However, as I was ready to make my way back to the market this week, I realized that my own garden is brimming over and I better start eating!  The loose-leaf type lettuce is ready, the radishes we started eating last week, and the romaine is charging right along too!  So "buy local" has become "eat local", as in my own backyard.

Cut near the base and it will regrow!

I fell in love with romaine lettuce many years ago.  However, I fell in love with growing the loose-leaf varieties because you can harvest up to 3 times from the same seed.  That's right!  When it comes to harvesting the lettuce, you simply snip it about 3/4" from the base.  I use regular scissors to cut the lettuce.  Then simply wait and it will grow right back!  If you planned ahead and staggered your seed planting, then you could end up eating one row at a time and end up back at the first row already regrown.  I did stagger this year, however the cold spring we had stunted the growth.  When they finally really took off growing, they were all the same height.  Oops.  So that means there's lots of sharing going on in our house with neighbors and friends.  So keep an eye on your lettuce and whenever possible, support the local farmer too!

 

If you're near Downingtown, PA, check out our new farmer's market on Thursdays, 3-7pm. Click here for more information.

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