Due to some serious commitments in my other life, I've been unable to post about the goings-on in the garden. I did some work in the yard today, including taking out the brick walkway because it looked like shit. contractors. When we get around to doing some more serious landscaping for the front yard I've got some plans for a path. I also dug out the front bed to about 10 inches and lined it with weed cloth. I plan to enrich and acidify the soil then fill the bed with blueberry, blackberry, and strawberry plants. I'll do that over the winter though:
The citrus trees are doing well. There's a few small limes, the lemons are growing pretty well, and the Satsuma has one large fruit on it:
We also have grapes (wild) growing across the back fence. Based on the taste and look, I think they're concord but they aren't as sweet as supermarket grapes.
These sweet banana peppers (in the pots) have been producing ok and the melons in the box (watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew) are growing well and putting out runners. They'll probably start to fruit in a few weeks. The pumpkins were a disaster- they started off amazingly well and were the fastest growing plants in the garden by far. Then their stalks started to die and hollow out. I don't know if it was bugs or disease or what, but after a few weeks the main trunk of the plant was detached from the root. I tore them out. The fourth square is lima beans, which are also truckin.
The cucumbers (these are the pickling cukes) have taken off and basically gone up the cage for the cherry tomato plant:
I picked the biggest one a few days ago but I have to take a look at how to pickle things, although I need alot more cucumbers to run a pickling operation:
The peppers have been pretty disappointing. I've gotten some good banana peppers, but only one Santa Fe Grande and a Jalapeno is growing now. No action from the bell peppers, cherry bomb, anaheim, or habanero, and no action from the sweet pickler either after getting a few of them a couple of weeks ago. The exception is the Cayanne peppers, which are growing like mad (I'm drying them for spice):
Specifically on the tomatoes. The cherry tomatoes are producing really well, still. I've gotten about 50 tomatoes off of the plant so far and it is still setting fruit, but now its only fruiting at about 4 feet off the ground (you can see the plant has exploded out of the top of the cage).
The Porter's Dark Cherry have been great and I'll add a bunch more of these plants next season. They grow fast, have a good taste, are prolific and heat tolerant, and are a nice size.
The Roma's have also come in and, despite the weak start, they've been putting out some pretty good fruit also. They aren't as prolific as the dark cherry (nor are they as pretty, they're kind of mottled red and yellow). Because I have alot of Romas and Dark Cherry I've been making tomato sauce and freezing it until I'll have enough to cook it down and make a sauce proper. I get this many tomatoes about every week and a half:
The Black Krim tomatoes were coming along beautifully and were about the size of baseballs, but now they have all cracked (there are about 6 on the plant). Its been because of the weather here- we'll go for a week or so of 100+ temps and no rain, then we'll have a torrential downpour or three in a few day period. The plants take up water faster than the tomatoes grow, so the skin splits. Some of the splits are are only cosmetic (they look like cork), but others have split wide open, like this one:
One thing I've learned is that its necessary to have a bunch of plants going to get a good amount of fruit. Excepting the Cayanne, I'll need multiple plants of each variety and, based on what I've seen so far I think I will focus on the Dark Cherry, Cherry, and Roma tomatoes (and maybe a crack-resistant variety). For the peppers, I'll probably try to grow more banana peppers and maybe another type of jalapeno. I've been happy with the cucumbers also, but I need to add more if I want to have enough to make some pickles (I also plan on pickling the banana peppers).
Due to some serious commitments in my other life, I've been unable to post about the goings-on in the garden. I did some work in the yard today, including taking out the brick walkway because it looked like shit. contractors. When we get around to doing some more serious landscaping for the front yard I've got some plans for a path. I also dug out the front bed to about 10 inches and lined it with weed cloth. I plan to enrich and acidify the soil then fill the bed with blueberry, blackberry, and strawberry plants. I'll do that over the winter though:
The citrus trees are doing well. There's a few small limes, the lemons are growing pretty well, and the Satsuma has one large fruit on it: 
We also have grapes (wild) growing across the back fence. Based on the taste and look, I think they're concord but they aren't as sweet as supermarket grapes.
These sweet banana peppers (in the pots) have been producing ok and the melons in the box (watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew) are growing well and putting out runners. They'll probably start to fruit in a few weeks. The pumpkins were a disaster- they started off amazingly well and were the fastest growing plants in the garden by far. Then their stalks started to die and hollow out. I don't know if it was bugs or disease or what, but after a few weeks the main trunk of the plant was detached from the root. I tore them out. The fourth square is lima beans, which are also truckin.
The cucumbers (these are the pickling cukes) have taken off and basically gone up the cage for the cherry tomato plant:
I picked the biggest one a few days ago but I have to take a look at how to pickle things, although I need alot more cucumbers to run a pickling operation:
The peppers have been pretty disappointing. I've gotten some good banana peppers, but only one Santa Fe Grande and a Jalapeno is growing now. No action from the bell peppers, cherry bomb, anaheim, or habanero, and no action from the sweet pickler either after getting a few of them a couple of weeks ago. The exception is the Cayanne peppers, which are growing like mad (I'm drying them for spice):
Specifically on the tomatoes. The cherry tomatoes are producing really well, still. I've gotten about 50 tomatoes off of the plant so far and it is still setting fruit, but now its only fruiting at about 4 feet off the ground (you can see the plant has exploded out of the top of the cage).
The Porter's Dark Cherry have been great and I'll add a bunch more of these plants next season. They grow fast, have a good taste, are prolific and heat tolerant, and are a nice size.
The Roma's have also come in and, despite the weak start, they've been putting out some pretty good fruit also. They aren't as prolific as the dark cherry (nor are they as pretty, they're kind of mottled red and yellow). Because I have alot of Romas and Dark Cherry I've been making tomato sauce and freezing it until I'll have enough to cook it down and make a sauce proper. I get this many tomatoes about every week and a half:
The Black Krim tomatoes were coming along beautifully and were about the size of baseballs, but now they have all cracked (there are about 6 on the plant). Its been because of the weather here- we'll go for a week or so of 100+ temps and no rain, then we'll have a torrential downpour or three in a few day period. The plants take up water faster than the tomatoes grow, so the skin splits. Some of the splits are are only cosmetic (they look like cork), but others have split wide open, like this one:
One thing I've learned is that its necessary to have a bunch of plants going to get a good amount of fruit. Excepting the Cayanne, I'll need multiple plants of each variety and, based on what I've seen so far I think I will focus on the Dark Cherry, Cherry, and Roma tomatoes (and maybe a crack-resistant variety). For the peppers, I'll probably try to grow more banana peppers and maybe another type of jalapeno. I've been happy with the cucumbers also, but I need to add more if I want to have enough to make some pickles (I also plan on pickling the banana peppers).
