Saturday, August 1, 2009

Garden Update

  • Tomatoes not doing so well. I think it's the heat, humidity, and that they need to be watered more. The snowberry cherry tomatoes have done the best, but the orange ones (Jenny) were the tastiest of the three I grew.
  • Cucumbers continue to produce well. So tasty, and they've been so easy to grow. I have started 3 more regular cucumber vines (can't remember the variety I'm growing) and 3 more lemon cucumbers. I really want to make fresh pack pickles.
  • Peppers are holding up to the heat well.
  • Got more beans on the way. I was surprised by the difference in taste between the two types of bush beans I've tried. I've been saving bean seeds for next year.
  • We harvested a single eggplant. I'm hoping for a few more, as it was tasty. (Black beauty).
  • I have 2 canary melons (Amy) almost ripe.
  • A couple of watermelons have set fruit!
  • My volunteer pumpkin plant is producing a pumpkin, and a volunteer gourd plant is making some gourds.
  • We harvested some okra, and we both tried to deep fry it, but it was spiney and gross. I should post on a garden forum about that and try and figure it out.
  • I started about a week or 2 ago 4 broccolis, 4 cauliflower, 2 red cabbage, and 2 white cabbage. They should be ready to go in the garden in September. I hope that will not be too early, especially for the cauliflower.
  • Things are coming out, and I'm mulching, making space for new plants.
  • My husband said we definitely need more garden space next year!
  • I bought a sprinkler, which I know is not environmentally friendly, but it was taking me over an hour to water the entire garden by hand. Maybe a drip system will be an option for next year, but the sprinkler has been a great source of fun for the children, and I only need to use it for the garden during dry spells, which are not too frequent here.
Things I plan to do differently next year:
  • Water more when the weather gets hot.
  • Forget about growing corn.
  • Grow melons as mulch around my tomatoes.
  • Try purple tomatoes.
  • Plant more tomatoes.
  • Try pole beans.
  • Plant more cucumbers, more varieties, and more of them.
  • Learn to pickle and can.
More later.