Last summer harvest

Even though it hasn't been a bountiful growing season,   I still harvested enough for Jennie and I, with a little left over to share with friends.

With the temperatures now consistently hitting triple digits, I have stopped watering and am just letting everything bolt and go to seed. The tomatoes plants only have a few tiny fruits on them so no big loss there.   

Today I picked 6 good sized straight eight cucumbers.   Looks like I'll be making some more pickles and maybe some to Hummus or or dip.  

I am using the last of the tomatoes to make some homemade pasta sauce. Add some fresh basil, oregano, and peppers from the garden to some goat cheese, ricotta, deli turkey and prosciutto on some whole wheat crust and grill it on the grill, you get one delicious pizza.  

I ate half of it before taking this pic because it looked so yummy... and it was.  

Hopefully before going back to work, I can get my beds ready for the fall growing season.   Going to scale back though to give the soil time to replenish its much needed nutrients.   

Get dirty and keep on gardening!

Vineyard table finally done

Got the legs stained and now just need a coat of poly to protect it from the elements. 

Harvested another dozen green and semi-red tomatoes, roasted them, and made some delicious salsa. Picked a couple cucumbers as well and made some cucumber,tomato,jalapeno,garlic, and sour cream salsa.  

Now that we have officially got the Texas heat here, the garden isn't looking so well anymore.  Not much growing still so I think I'm not going to waste anymore water on it and think I'll will just start getting things ready for the fall garden.

Get dirty and keep on gardening!

Getting the fall garden ready

So after a couple of days a good rain, today was a good day to get the beds ready and plant some seeds.  I removed what was left of the cantaloupe vines and tomatoes and planted some seeds. I also took some cuttings from the cherry tomato plants and transplanted those into different beds.  While transplanting some the cherry tomatoes I found this little green fella, first one I have ever seen.   

Hopefully he is taking care of these little things. 

For this year's fall garden I planted cantaloupe, carrots, watermelon, beets, broccoli, cilantro, brussels sprouts, and kale.  Plants that are continuing to grow from the summer are tomatoes, jalapenos, eggplant, sweet peppers, and celery that I took from the kitchen and planted.  The Swiss chard which was completely eaten by bugs, a couple of weeks ago, I just cut everything off and after the days of rain, new leaves have started to grow.

The herbs are doing pretty good still, after the rain the basil has sprouted back, the mint has come back and it looks like new basil has started popping up in A few new places.

Can't remember if I posted this in my last post but some onions that I planted four years ago in one of my old beds are still growing. I transplanted them to some new beds and they are still looking good. We cut off the tops and eat fresh scallions.

About a month ago I planted some tomatillos and forgot about it. Plants that were popping up where I planted them. I. thought they were weeds and so I ripped them out but it looks like that's what a tomatillo plant looks like.  So I'm gonna leave them in this time.

I decided to make some markers for my plants because I always forgot what I planted and the old markers I used had either faded or they broke so this time I took a paint pen and wrote on some rocks I had in the backyard. 

I am still thinking about transplanting my grapevines but my neighbor keeps telling me not to. He tells me I should make some cuttings and then plant those into my new spots. I just don't like how my trellis project looks and I want to build a new one. I want to take the the cross support beams that I used for my grapes and move them to the side of my bed and use it as a wall for my cucumbers and watermelons to climb up. The only problem would be that after a while the plants would block out the morning sun from the rest of the garden. 

Some other good news that happened to me this week, a friend of mine called me up because he got a garden plot at community garden in downtown Austin and wants me to help him out getting it started. It made me feel good to know that my gardening experience is getting recognized.  

Get dirty and keep on gardening!

End of summer harvesting

I have pulled the third cantaloupe and so far the first two were good.  I have got three more still growing on the vines that I hope to enjoy in a week or two.

The aphids are terrible and my DIY garlic pepper spray just isn't working and they are devouring all of my large red tomatoes.  I went ahead and pulled most of all the remaining green tomatoes, which I plan on roasting on the grill and making salsa and/or some fried green tomatoes.

The eggplant plant only produced one decent size vegetable.  Will have to check out some paleo recipes to use this one. 

I need to start planting seeds for the fall right about now but never do because the summer crops usually keep producing till mid to late September.  However, looking today, many of the plants are already showing signs of dying.  I hope to get out later this week to clean out the beds, add some good compost, and plant some seeds.  School starts back up next week so this week is my last chance. 

Ideas fall garden:  

Brussels sprouts, pumpkins, kale, broccoli, sweet corn, bell peppers, cucumbers, carrots, watermelon, beats, and tomato transplants

I recently read that tomato transplants might do well in central Texas in the Fall. So I am going to experiment.  It will be more of an experiment with transplanting cuttings since I haven't done it that much.  Will also need to do it later on with my grape vines.  

Speaking of grapes,  I didn't bury the timbers in deep enough and the cantaloupe vines have started making them lean.   I tied some runner strings to the top of the timbers for the grapes to grow up but it's not fairing out like I had imagined. I have been considering spending some money to make a really nice arbor walkway on the back of my house, move the grapevines, so they will grow and provide a covered shade porch.  Having the grapes in the back of the garden, they are getting crowded out and don't get enough sunlight.  I have also been thinking about doing something in the front yard as well.  Not sure yet though. 

Get dirty and keep on gardening!

Best cantaloupe ever

First melon that I have successfully grown!  And it taste amazing.  

I have a few more on the vines so if I am lucky it's going to be a good few weeks. 

Get dirty and keep on gardening!

A little produce every few days

So this year the produce is ready every few days which is better than last year which nothing grew and previous years I had to much at one time.  So I pick about a handful of tomatoes and jalapeño peppers about three times a week.  Mosquitos are bad this year as they are thriving in the thick vegetation.  I can officially say now that the local nursery mislabeled their seedlings because instead of six cucumber plants I have cantaloupe vines growing everywhere.  Cantaloupes take longer to grow than cucumbers and less produce. Picked my first one a few days ago and letting it ripen a little more before cutting it open.

I planted some radish, watermelon, and cucumber seeds a two weeks ago and the shoots have already started.  Some wild basil is finally making an appearance too.   I cleaned out what was left of the lettuce stalks as it was all going to seed and I needed to clear the space for fall garden planting soon.  

With the tomatoes we have really enjoyed fresh salsa.  I used half of my jalapeños to make two jars of jalapeño jam.  I didn't go through all the preserving process as I am sure it will be gone within two to three  weeks (life expectancy for non preserving jams). 

 I didn't use any food coloring so it lacks the beautiful green color you might expect to see it in.  This is all naturalelle. 

Until next time.... Get dirty and keep gardening. 

It's finally starting to feel like summer.

So we finally are having consecutive days of temperatures in the 90's.  Cherry tomatoes and Bibb lettuce are still being gracious and supplying me with a harvest.  My Roma tomatoes are beginning to fruit and I expect to have some ready to eat in about two weeks. The other day as I was checking my plants I came upon this melon.  I didn't plant any melons and actually bought and planted cucumbers, but it looks like they were mislabeled. To get them off the ground I tied up a rope and wrapped the vines around them.  I also had to put up an a-frame that I was going to trash as a support wall for my Roma tomato plants to get them off the ground as well but to also open up my walk path between my beds. 

The old ash tree into back yard is still growing and providing shade to about 75% of my backyard.  This after two years ago a licensed arborist informed me that it was dying and wouldn't last much longer.

Today I also cleaned out some beds of dried cilantro, withered lettuce, and some weeds to get the beds ready for some July sowing.  Seeds to plant this month are cucumber, tomatillo, radishes, carrots, and sweet corn.  I was planning on sowing some sugar baby watermelons but I think I have enough melons already growing and don't think I have the space. 

Until next time,

Get dirty and keep on gardening.  

Most useful garden/kitchen tool for this year's growing season

A cheap salad spinner. This handy tool is being used at least once a week to wash and spin my lettuce from the garden.  

A couple of changes for this years Summer garden are: 

Not worrying about companion planting. Using soaker hoses with a timer that waters every morning, early in the morning, 3 AM for 30 minutes for deep soaking and not mulching like last year.

So far this growing season is doing a lot better than last year.

So well in fact that I still have a lot of. Jalapeño peppers still in fridge to use.  

The first of many cucumbers has started to grow.  These are going to be some pretty big cucumbers. 

Here's a view of more cucumber vines, Bibb lettuce, and buckets of herbs (basil, mint, and cilantro). 

The grape vines actually started out great in May but are now beginning to turn their leaves yellow. Not sure what the cause is so will have to do a little research to find out.  On the left side is a tomato cage containing about four cucumber vines.  I have never had vines so long before, so I am looping them up in the cage to try to keep them off the ground away from slugs and other hungry critters.  This past weekend there was a squirrel convention in my backyard. I counted around 10 squirrels in and around my garden.  As son as I would chase some in one direction. Others would flank the garden from the other side.  Cassie was even trying to help me but there were to many for us.  Some of them even started charging us. These squirrels are getting pretty dangerous. I might have to break down and get an airsoft gun to protect my property and my life.  

Get dirty and keep on gardening. 

The HEAT is ON!!! Saying hello to triple digit temps.

So now that central Texas has officially hit the triple digits, I foresee my garden gradually dying.  With it positioned to get about 11 hours of sun a day, its already starting to show signs of distress and fatigue.     Even though we have already had a few triple digit days, I am still harvesting a little over 2lbs of tomatoes a week.   YEA!

My cucumber vines are done for for the season and it looks as of today, that I am down to one zucchini plant left.   Six of my pepper plants in the newest garden addition are shriveling up like and old man who's been in the pool to long.  This past week I found my little melon plant hiding in the potato stalks with his cord gone.   I took him inside and cut him open.  Tasty little fellow.   About the size of a softball, but nevertheless, it still counts.

 I found a recipe for quick pickling in the latest edition of Everyday Food, so I gave it a try with some of the many cucumbers that I have harvested in the past few weeks.  Haven't tried them yet, thought I would give them a few days to marinate.  The heat has also been a killer for my herbs, which are also exposed to the sun for a good 8 hours a day.  I still want to build a decorative fence in front of the herb bed to give it partial shade for later in the day.  I just have to call the gas company first before I start digging holes.   No new recipes lately, just enjoying the tomatoes via more gazpacho and CBLT (Canadian bacon, lettuce, tomato sandwiches).  Canadian bacon is healthier than regular bacon.

Running Total of  Summer 2012 Produce

Cucumbers: 26

Tomatoes: 392 oz = 24.5 lbs

Zucchini: 5

Peppers: 6

Get dirty and keep on gardening!

Surprise zucchini today

After helping my father-in-law move into his new house over the weekend, I hadn't had time to check the garden in two days.  I already knew I had a zucchini that was about ready to be cut off so as I went to get it this morning it had doubled in size.  Zucchinis grow fast.  I did my usually walk around picking a few ripe tomatoes (today's haul was a little over 13 oz).   As I was rounding the back side checking on my cucumbers, low and behold, I was surprised with another 10" zucchini that I hadn't seen before.  So I told Jennie that we will have to make some zucchini bread soon before they go bad.

 
 With the netting on top of the tomato plants, the stems are now reaching about 6 ft long so they are beginning to lay sideways and starting to crowd out and shade my sweet pepper plants and into my kale "tree".  Not sure what to do, so will just leave it be for now.

Get dirty and keep on gardening!

Tomatoes are a coming!!!

As of today, I have harvested 3.5 lbs of tomatoes from the large cherry tomatoes and some Phoenix tomatoes.  Pulled a few cucumbers as well today because they were looking a little yellow.  This will give  the other ones a little more energy and juice to mature better.

One disappointment for today is after constructing a net tent over the length of the entire beds, I discovered that one of my Brandywines (a little larger than the size of my fist) was just starting to turn red and low and behold, I find a place where something started eating it.  Not sure what it is, the net is far enough away that it couldn't be a bird and its too small to be squirrel, so its got to be an insect of some sort.  The problem is, is that I haven't seen many bugs on my tomato plants.  I will have to do some night surveillance to find the culprit.  I went ahead and left it on hoping that whatever it is will continue to focus on that one tomato and leave the rest alone.

Now I just need to find some good recipes to cook and enjoy my harvest thus far.

Running total of Produce

cucumbers:  12

tomatoes: 3.5lbs

zucchini:   2

peppers:  0

potatoes:  0

peas/beans:  0

Get dirty and keep on gardening!

First fruits of summer 2012

Summer Garden: day 67


Thanks to the extended cool weather, I have been able to enjoy the garden with little watering and some of its first fruits of the growing season.  So far the cucumbers are winning... with eight fruits already harvested for eating.  The zucchini plants have already produced 2 good sized fruits, both about 11" long. What I have been waiting for are the tomatoes.   There are dozens of really big green ones just waiting to turn red.  I picked 2 medium sized a little early, because a third one had already been attacked by a bug.  Jennie put the two in the window and they continued to turn redder.  This morning, I went out to cut the second zucchini and saw a small cherry tomato ready to be picked.

Produce total as of today:
Cucumber: 8
Tomato:  3
Zucchini:  2



The tomato plants have now become a 5ft high dense jungle that has outgrown my homemade tomato cage/grid.  The good thing though is that all the branches are holding on to each other for support (survived a severe thunderstorm with some pretty strong winds about a month ago), plus the dense foliage is hiding the redness of the ripe tomatoes from the pesky birds in my backyard.  I think the squirrels though are a bit smarter and will eventually find them.

5ft tomato plants

                                                    

Brandywine 

Large Cherry tomatoes

another Brandywine

The pear tree has some small fruits on them, but probably won't make it to a worthy size of being eaten.                   

Being that last year was the season of cilantro  (it was everywhere and wouldn't die), well I think it finally decided to call it quit and is flowering everyday.   This season though I have a new friend that has secretly made its way to my garden beds... basil.  I have found shoots spring up in the potato bed, some around the beans, and some below my kale tree.  Yeah the kale plant is about 5 ft tall with leaves as big as my hand.   Jennie and I are doing our best to manage its growth but there is only so much that one can eat of kale chips.

  

 The Aladdin sweet peppers are starting to grow, along with an unknown melon (most likely a cantaloupe.)



The front herb garden is continuing to do well now that its established, thanks to the two weeks of off and on rain we had a few weeks back.  I make smoothies every morning before work and decided to add some chocolate mint and regular mint to the mix....it definitely gives it that real fresh flavor.

 

Get dirty and keep on gardening!

Some late bloomers in the garden

So my wife and I just got back from a trip to Hot Springs, AR and I returned to find a small black diamond watermelon about the size of a softball.  It's the first of hopefully more to come, as I can see a few flowers and small marble size melons elsewhere on the vine.

The basil is continuing to do great in this Texas summer heat and it even looks like the parsley is trying to make a comeback.   I bought some organic plant food to spread out to help my tomatoes and covered my beds with the remaining 3yr mulch I had made.  I went ahead and emptied out this years mulch to the open container to let it cook up in the heat, and start the new batch in the closed container to keep out the rodents.

Pretty much everything else is just barely hanging on.  Watering every morning, a few hours before the sun rises, there's not much else I think I could do.  I believe the biggest problem I have is that my raised beds are exposed to to much sunlight to long.  Its about time to start planting for the fall garden, so I think I am going to move it over more in the shaded areas of my backyard.  I was reading an article in the latest Urban Farm magazine about shade gardening, so I think I will give it a try.  The writer said that his cherry tomato plants did well in partial shade along with some variety of beans, leafy greens, and carrots.  Herbs also do well in partial shade, so I think I will do more container herbs so that I can move them around if needed.

Here are a few of the books and magazines that I like to use to help me with my gardening adventure.

 
This time of year you will find hundreds of cicada shells.  I came across these on the underside of a leaf.  Wonder what was going on here?

camera on phone has the worst macro

Get dirty and keep on gardening!

Another small harvest

As May comes to an end and the hot summer weather returns, I am hoping that my garden produces more produce in the next few weeks.
I went ahead and cut the two remaining cucumbers from the vines.  I think I left them on a little to long though, as they were turning a pale greenish/yellow color.  The thing about cucumbers is that the more you pluck, the more they will produce.  I also cut the zucchini, which reached about 11 inches long.











Some friends of ours already gave us two big zucchini earlier this week, so my wife and I are trying to find different ways of cooking it.  I grilled it on the grill with a little olive oil and salt and pepper.  My wife made a cucumber sauce and it was quite tasty.  We also made some kale chips in the oven, which were good.














I also picked two jalapeno peppers and two tiny little cherry tomatoes.  Besides waiting for the rest of my produce to grow, I am having a small battle with some squirrels, who have already eaten the first of my strawberries.  I had bought a squirrel feeder when I first planted my seeds, hoping it would divert them away.  I guess my little friend just loves sweet strawberries.

Get dirty and keep on gardening!