This year, I've been able to let our tomatoes ripen on the vine. Last fall, in an attempt to save our tomatoes from garden pests, I picked all my tomatoes while they were still green to ripen inside on the counter.
We were given six "zucchini" plants, but I think they are squash.
Dwarf apple tree
After aggressively pruning the plum trees and grape vines, it looks like this year's harvest will be very good.
A couple of weeks ago, in a thread on the 4Real board about growing your own food, Lindsay shared that she has had luck starting seeds in her oven. I hadn't ever heard of it, but this is only my second year growing vegetables in our backyard. It sounded like a simple, inexpensive experiment to purchasing and setting up grow lights in our shed. I'm sure grow lights will come, but I really wanted to start some tomatoes and chili peppers.
Have you ever been able to plant seeds without someone wanting to help? I think I'm a bit obsessive about it. I planted the seeds, and Olivia watered.
It works! Three days after planting our seeds, we have little seedlings waving hello! (Yes, that is what they are doing 8-)) I turned the tray before taking the picture. The seedlings were all heading toward the light.
The oven is actually very warm and cozy with just the light on. I need to place a thermometer inside to find out the exact temperature.
These pictures of Teresa have nothing to do with seed germination, however I couldn't help but show my youngest green thumb. She spent the time adding soil to potted plants, then giving them a little spritz.
Are you planning a garden? What's going in your garden? If you'd like to try vegetables, but have no space. Try container gardening. . We were able to grow pumpkins, tomatoes, lettuce, and spinach last year in small containers.
The rain let up, so I decided to check out the garden.
Several tomatoes had been taste tested by the wild rabbits, which doesn't bother me at all since I don't mind sharing. Next year, however, we plan to add several raised beds, and will need to protect them with fencing.
After a closer inspection, I noticed several more tomatoes had holes. Inside, there were various bugs and even slugs enjoying a feast.
Well, that was a bit much. With many of our tomatoes still green, I knew if I waited to pick them when they finally ripen, there would certainly be more loss.
Just over a week ago, I emailed Rhonda to ask why she had picked an entire basket of green tomatoes that I noticed in a picture on the right side of her blog. She graciously took the time to reply, and shared that she always takes them off the vine green to ensure bugs don't get to them.
Olivia and I tore into two of the plants... the Big Boy and Orange Banana. Notice the size of the Big Boys compared to Olivia's foot.
We've waited for our grapes to ripen, and now that they have, we have to figure out what to do with all of them.
Robert cut a few bunches down, but we quickly agreed that the grapes that are out of reach would have to wait until this weekend.
We went to an area of the vines where Robert simply reach for bundle after bundle without having to move around.
The chickens stayed close by, hoping to gobble up any grapes that fell to the ground. They certainly weren't disappointed. One large bunch slipped from Robert's hand, fell to the ground below, only to be quickly devoured by our feathered piranhas.
It was a bit intimidating to have this big bowl full of grapes knowing that he only grabbed what was in arms reach. We still have at least 60 feet of grapevines to harvest.
Now I have to find recipes so that they aren't wasted. This batch has been refrigerated, but come this weekend, unless I find a tempting recipe to try, the rest will be frozen for nutritious snacks.
After neglecting the garden for a few days, I decided to get out there and pick the fruits and vegetables before I had to feed everything to the chickens.
Our cucumbers desperately needed harvesting. Even though Olivia eats one or two each day for a snack, and I try to make a cucumber and tomato salad with dinner each night, there were still many more cucumbers waiting to picked.
What can I do with an abundance of cucumbers?
Well, I decided to try Rhonda's recipe for Bread and Butter Cucumbers.
Sliced cucumbers are a huge treat for everyone in my family. It was a little funny to have to continuously remind little hands not to eat these cucumbers because I hadn't rinsed the salt of off them yet. They would attempt to sneak a few cucs, then tell me that I added waaaaaay too much salt. LOL That's how they are supposed to taste until the salt is rinsed!
The only problem was when I realized that my husband, a diabetic, wouldn't be able to eat any of it because of the sugar. The sugar in the recipe didn't even register until I started adding it to the pot!
After Mass today, we took a jar to my mom. She enjoyed them, and asked for a copy of the recipe. 8-)
The tomatoes have gone from Green to Red in a matter of days.
We've been quite busy recently, and consequently I have neglected to get out in the garden. There hadn't been any changes for a while, so it was surprising to look over to see several red tomatoes.
They were ready to be picked. I doubt they would have been any good if I had waited a few more days.
Edited to answer Marcia's question: We are growing Roma, Big Boy, Banana-Orange (from our parish garden), Cherry tomatoes, and several varieties that I don't know the name of, other than...tomatoes.
Last spring, my mother told her employer that I was planting my first garden, and they blessed me with several tomato plants. At the time, I didn't think to ask what kind of tomatoes they were.
These are the Roma tomatoes.
The pole bean plants continue to yield enough beans to harvest this amount every two days. We definitely plan to plant them again next year, however this time, not with the corn.
They will get their own bed and more thought will go into the trellis we build. I had no idea the plants grow so HIGH. The cute little teepee poles...they are too short, by at least five feet.
The tomatoes, well, we have 14 plants drooping with tomatoes, but unless they ripen...it doesn't mean a thing.
One thing we will do differently is start the seeds indoors earlier.
The watching and waiting makes it feel longer, but after a month, there has been a lot of change.
This is the larger of the two beds Robert built for an anniversary gift.
Hidden within this jungle are cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, and fava beans.
This is the second raised bed with the corn that I thought may have been a mistake to plant.
I'm so excited about the changes!
I planted two pole beans seeds per cornstalk, one on each side, and have waited to see the results.
Here is a better angle with a clear view of the pole beans growing quite nicely along side the corn. The beans are growing so quickly that I watching to see if I need to intervene or will they grab onto the cornstalks the same way they do to a pole stuck into the ground.
potato (growing in tire)
tomato plant
bell peppers
pea plants have flowered
At the start of this, I had hoped we would be able to eat at least one thing from the garden. The continuous radish harvest ensures my lowly goal has been met. ;-) Yes, radishes are probably the easiest vegetable to grow (after those tire potatoes) but I am happy.
After Robert ate some radishes from our garden, he built two additional raised boxes as a gift to me for our 22nd anniversary of the day we met. Yes, we have always celebrated in some way the day that we met.
Of course, I got to work and planted right away.
This bed is in the best sun spot in our entire yard. (Reminds me of the real estate saying, It's all in the Location, Location, Location.) This picture was taken before 7am and by 8am it will receive full sun all day until the sun goes down after 9pm!
The white containers belong to my three oldest children who asked to have their own place to plant a few seeds. We are going to have to do some transplanting because Nathan has a green thumb! His lemon cucumber and brussel sprouts are growing well and will need more space soon.
The weather hasn't cooperated with my plans. ;-) It has rained, every single day, for the past two weeks. Thinking positively, I don't have to water the garden, right? However, without sunshine, the garden is growing at a snails pace.
During my reading, I found out that cucumbers should not be started until AUGUST here in Washington. Wow! I jumped the gun by four months.
Consequently, I decided to experiment and dig up one cucumber plant to bring back inside. Don't worry, even though this is my first vegetable garden, I am aware that this isn't the way that most people grow their cucs. However, I had noticed that my tomato plants inside are growing better than those outside even though they were started at the same time.
Thankfully, most of my radishes don't mind the cold temperatures and should ready in a week or two.
This is our second raised bed. Every day I go out there, I stare at it , wondering if it was a good idea to plant the corn.
I'm keeping detailed notes on what/when/where and amount of everything we've planted. Next year, it will be very helpful to look over during the planning stage.
Well, the grapes are coming! When we moved in here last October, the vines were overflowing with grapes.
The plums are noticeably further along. We were about to trim back what we thought were bushes only to find out that we have seven additional plum trees crowded together in an area of about six feet. They are young, so hopefully we'll be able to transplant them to other areas in the yard.
The last thing I wanted to share was the apples. No the picture isn't upside down, but they are growing upward insearch of the sun. The bad news is that on the ENTIRE tree, there are probably less than 30 apples. Most of them are growing in one area. I think something (moss?) has taken hold of the tree.
