I haven’t been taking pictures of my CSA share. It looks pretty much the same until the summer vegetables start to come in. You can just imagine Swiss chard, kale, spinach, green onions, chives, parsley, lettuce, kohlrabi, mini cabbages. Ooh, we did get fennel and carrots this week!
Having a garden of my own this year has made me appreciate Trillium Haven and other CSA programs so much more. It is challenging to get those buggers to grow! I could never grow the wide variety that I get from them. Still, it is fun to supplement and watch things grow so I hope to expand my garden next year.
One item on my wish list for next year is an herb garden in my front yard. The containers are so needy. As you can see from the photo, some look the worse for wear from not being watered when I was gone the 4th of July weekend.
The parsley and mint are doing great, but the others could benefit from more sun, more water I think. The lettuce has also bolted again. I think it’s done for. It’s been so hot (upper 90s) the past week or two. So if I move the sun-loving herbs to the front yard (much more sun) I think I”ll have better luck. I think a decorative bed would be a nice addition aesthetically, too. Right now we just have two huge shade trees and a couple of beds with lilies. But more towards the road it’s bare.
I think the peas are also about done for. They did not like this heat either. Next year I really need to get them planted earlier. I was a couple of weeks behind where I should have been.
The tomatoes, however, are loving this heat and have become a jungle! All but one of the plants has little green tomatoes on it now. I can’t believe how many bunches of tomatoes are on some of the plants! Some are larger than others, of course, but even the plant with no greenies has flowers. I don’t think I have blight – for some reason one of the plants had started to get some brown leaves but they went away and it looks very healthy now. Which reminds me, next year I also need to get some actual tomato cages and not use those stick things. I had no idea the tomato plants would get that big.
The other half of my garden is also growing well, although it doesn’t look quite as jungly as the tomato section.
Remember that itty bitty pepper? It’s growing bigger! Now I can’t wait for it to turn red.
The middle pepper plant just has flowers, no minis, but the third pepper plant does have some itty bitties starting. They are so cute.
The melon and cucumber plants are trying to escape. There are tons of flowers – hope that means tons of produce!
The beautiful flower on the okra plant is gone, but it’s now growing these tube things. Hopefully that means it’s doing something.
I had planted some cilantro seeds a couple of weeks ago and had given up on them doing anything, but this morning when I went to take photos I noticed these two little sprouts that I *think* are cilantro. Fingers crossed!
Last but not least, I thought I’d show you some of DH’s hops. This is their third year, I believe. I don’t remember how tall they are but they have started to come back down from the top of the pole. There are several varieties, I’m pretty sure Cascade and Centennial but I don’t remember the names of the others.
DH was a bit skeptical about me doing a vegetable garden, but he has enjoyed it and has agreed to help me expand to do a fall bed and said he’s been watching the yard and thinks he found a sunnier spot where we could put some of the sun-loving items. That would be excellent – have one sunny bed for tomatoes and peppers and the existing bed could be used for a spring/fall/semi shady section.
I’d also like to plant some blueberry and currant bushes, not where where though.
It’s kind of funny – I’ve seen square foot gardens all over the place this year! I think the guy who wrote that must be selling a TON of books. How about you? Have you seen any square foot gardens? Do you have one?
Also linked to $5 Dinners
This year I am doing some pots on my deck just to work on my green thumb a bit….still not very green …..yet. We had a tree die out in the front, and after pulling it up I think we are going to build two garden beds there instead of replanting a tree (probably two beds of 4 X 6 each would fit there). The backyard is run by the dogs, so unless we fence off a huge section, a garden is impossible back there. So thinking front yard is my least expensive step next year. The HOA can shove if it if they get uppity about it too! 🙂
I can empathize with receiving the same items in the CSA share – it’s been a few weeks since I’ve updated my blog with pictures because it’s mostly been lettuce, zucchini, green beans and onions. (Although this past week, plums and corn showed up.) I’ve also been meaning to provide an update my basil and tomato container garden, too – my tomato plants look very similar to yours and I can attest that a cage is definitely needed to help keep them upright!
Everythings going crazy in my back yard too… I can’t keep up with it. I never do get red bell peppers, I wish I knew why?
Happy Gardening 🙂
Peppers, as well as eggplant and melons, need it to be at least 60 degrees at night before the fruit will have the proper conditions to mature, and the peppers ripen to red. If your nighttime temps. are colder than 60 degrees, this could be the problem. You can put slender 1/2 inch PVC plastic pipes from the hardware store pushed into the ground over the plants to form hoops over them, and then cover them with clear plastic and hold it down with rocks in the corners. This will up the nighttime temp. maybe 3-4 degrees, and may help. You will need to open the plastic when it gets warm during the day, or you can overheat the plants and cook them!
Hope this helps!
Tomatoes are doing well here also. Wish I’d have planted more! The pickles are oout of control huge. Gotta keep a closer eye on them! (see today’s blog!) I need to harvest basil again! Wasn’t it just a week ago I made all that pesto???
I was glad to see more lettuce at pick-up this week. Last week was sparse and we really felt it. I refuse to go buy lettuce from the grocers however, and will just wait for the next round from the farm.
You are right, tho. You really appreciate the variety the CSA gives when you see for yourself how much work an actual garden is!
Great pics, garden looks great! CSA’s are such a great thing. At my home, I’ve been working on a container garden. It’s very difficult to grow things in south Texas, though! This is my first Lady Blogger Tea Party, and I really like your blog!
Garden LOOKS awesome…Mine is slow and a bit behind schedule but its moving.
There is an award for you over at my place…Come stop by..
Those are definitely cilantro seedlings!
Your garden is doing great with all the blossoms and little okra pods and peppers. My tomatoes are in cages but they’ve still managed to escape while I’m not looking–guess they’re happy with all the heat so I’ll let them get away with it!
Your garden looks wonderful! Ours is entirely in containers, though it has been working pretty well for us. We also like to be able to supplement our CSA box… hopefully our tomatoes will start ripening soon!
Followed you here from TGP. Your garden looks great and the okra looks like it is about ready to harvest. For most varieties they are the best around 3-4 inches long.If they get too long, they get hard. I have lots of okra and tomatoes in my garden. YUM!!
What a lovely garden–I am jealous all of your tomatoes! We had a long cold spring where I live, and my tomato plants are pretty far behind in growth where they ought to be this time of year. The hops are really going to town for you! I’m glad you have a big trellis for them–they will need it.
Athena at Minerva’s Garden
my last blog post: http://minervasgardenwriter.wordpress.com/2010/07/13/garden-update-and-troubleshooting-guide/
Such a beautiful garden!
Thanks for linking up!
~Liz
Herbs and okra are on my list to plant is next years garden. Everything looks to be coming along great. I’d be very interested to learn more about the hops. Is he going to be making beer with it?
yes, he is very big into brewing. I’ll have to post about it one of these days.