Tuesday, October 28, 2014

VIDEO UPDATE - OCTOBER 26 2014


FALL 2014 GARDEN UP

Last Eggplant
Well I harvested the last of the Eggplant.  Sad to see them go, they were so delicious and we had so many of them.

Most of the seeds planted are coming up; carrots, radishes, broccoli and a few brussel sprouts along with escarole, which is a first.  I'm also trying celery, although it may be a bit late, I'm going to see what happens.

White Onion sets are looking good and I also planted large yellow onions.
Carrots and Radishes
I grew impatient and harvested the sweet potatoes.  Not a bad harvest for my first time.  If I had left them in a few more weeks, chances are they would have grown a bit larger but I just couldn't wait to see what was there.  The bad news is that I had left them on the porch and low and behold, something ate all but the 3 large potatoes.  I'm sure the culprit is another RAT! 

I was totally heartbroken as I wanted to use them for Thanksgiving!  Live and learn!


Broccoli
The 4 x 4 sweet potato bed is cleaned out and ready for planting.  I haven't decided what's going in yet but will most likely plant potato tubers early next year.  It's hard seeing an empty bed and refraining from planting.  I've learned the hard way, that pre-planning for future crops is key to success!

Happy Gardening!

Mary
Sweet Potatoes!!


Sunday, October 5, 2014

FALL PLANTING AND STILL HARVESTING SUMMER VEGGIES!

COWHORNS
What a beautiful weekend!  Temperatures in the low 70's, just love it!  There's nothing better than working in the garden all day and not even breaking a sweat.  :)

I can't seem to harvest the cowhorns fast enough.  The plants are healthy with lots of blooms even still.  I'm guessing they will keep going until at least our first frost.  There are also red bell peppers that have finally bore fruit, just waiting for them to turn red along with the eggplant which is also still putting out fruit.
SWEET POTATO VINES
The sweet potato vines are hanging in, bug damage which I can't seem to get under control, I only hope there are actually potatoes growing and they are not affected by the bugs.  There is also watermelon vines that are beautiful and healthy but have not produced anything.  It should probably come out to make room for more fall/winter veggies but I don't have the heart to remove a healthy plant.

So far there are seedlings coming up, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, kale and radishes.  This weekend, I succession planted more of the above along with different varieties of lettuce.   It may be a bit late for some, but as with everything in the garden, if it grows, it grows.  ;)


SWEET POTATOES
Enjoy the photos, video coming soon.

Happy Fall and Happy Harvest to all!

Mary, The Ambitious Gardener
COWHORNS

PERIWHINKLE

WATERMELON VINE



WATERMELON VINE

BELL PEPPERS WAITING TO TURN RED

CARROTS

RADISHES

Add caption



CAULIFLOWER



EGGPLANT





Saturday, September 6, 2014

AUGUST GARDEN UPDATE- BOUNTIFUL BOUNTIFUL!

Cow Horn Peppers/Eggplant
 What a wonderful summer season for gardening.  I can hardly wait to get seeds in the ground for the fall!

The most surprising of all were the eggplants.  I have tried over the years to grow these Delicious beauties with little to no luck.  This year, I bought a few plants late in the season to replace the last of the lettuce and onion plants that were spent, thinking, "if they grow, they grow".  Well they grew!!! The 4 or 5 plants took over both of the beds and left room for little else.  Not complaining because they put out more eggplant than I could have ever hoped for!  The were very
Peppers
 healthy up until a few weeks ago.  Caterpillars were the culprits.  I sprayed with Safe Caterpillar killer and they held them at bay for a bit but I finally gave up and harvested the last of them last night.
The cowhorn peppers are still producing like crazy.  There was one plant that I did not harvest, waiting for them to turn red.  I've never done that before, you have to be patient, it takes time.  I harvested the whole plant, about 14 peppers, beautiful red.  Can't wait to try them.
Watermelon growing
 The tomatoes finally succumb to blight last week but I still had a nice harvest.  They kept producing all summer, very happy!   The horn worms were a problem but I was able to control them.

Today was clean up day in the garden.  The hardest thing to do is removing plants that may still have a chance of putting out more fruit.  When you need to make room for the next seasons planting, you have to do what you have to do.  I took out all but two eggplants and left the peppers and watermelon, at least for a few more weeks.
Basil
 Now is the time to Carrots, radishes, lettuce and spinach seeds.  By the time October rolls around, the rest of the summer plants will be done and time to plant more fall crops.
s
Sweet Potatoes
 The sweet potatoes are doing OK.  There are roots producing, small, but they're there.  Harvest will be the end of October beginning of November.  Just in time for Thanksgiving! 

Enjoy the photos, video coming soon.

Happy Gardening!!

Mary
Eggplant

More Eggplant

Bush Beans/Eggplant

Clean Up Time

Cleaned bed-more room for sweet potatoes

Eggplant gone, ready for Fall planting

Saved 2 Eggplants, room for fall planting


Friday, July 25, 2014

SUMMER GARDEN UPDATE JUNE/JULY 2014-BOUNTIFUL

 All I can say about this summer's garden experience is BOUNTIFUL!   I believe I can put my "Novice" title behind me now.  The hours spent researching, reading, experimenting has finally paid off.  Just about everything I've grown this summer has produced and remained healthy.  No major insect or bacterial issues due to constant preventive maintenance.  Well worth the time and effort, I can assure you.

As you will see from the photos, Carrots, Potatoes, Tomatoes, lettuce, peppers and even


 flowers have produced and keep producing.
The succession plantings of the carrots provided harvests all summer.  I will be starting fall planting of carrots in the next few weeks and will plant every two weeks to ensure the same outcome.

The baking potato harvest wasn't as good as the potted red potatoes but still enjoyed cooking and eating them just the same.  I made a wonderful potato and onion hash that was out of this world.

I am most impressed with the Roma tomatoes that
 I planted from seed, started early in the spring.  The five plants that survived have been consistently producing healthy Delicious tomatoes and make in my opinion, the best sauce.  I've been harvesting these little gems and instead of  going through the labor intensive process of "canning", I've opted to simply blanching, pealing and putting in freezer bags with fresh basil and sticking in the freezer for later use.  This is SO much easier than canning.   The flavor of the Roma tomato is very sweet and robust, typically used for paste but just as good to make a fine sauce.
 The cow horn and Jalapeno peppers are also a favorite, although I'm struggling to come up with ideas and recipes to use them in.  I've been frying the cow horns in olive oil and garlic and they keep in the refrigerator a long time.  Chopped jalapeno added to a taco pie adds a nice kick also.   I found a good recipe for pepper jelly/relish and am going to try it this weekend.  I love that poured over soft cream cheese with a good cracker. 

 Having space in the two 4 x 4 beds after pulling out the spent cucumbers, I decided to try sweet potatoes.  They seem easy to grow and I put the slips in with I believe enough time left with the summer heat to produce a nice harvest.  I also planted a few watermelon seedlings in the other bed however its been at least 3 weeks and no new growth has begun.  I may have missed the window of planting time for watermelon.  I will leave them in a few more weeks, if no change, they will need to come out to make room for my fall plantings.

 The Japanese Eggplant is also producing and is the sweetest I've ever grown.  I also tried the black beauty variety again and am very happy that both plants are healthy and have already produced a nice size fruit with more flowering on the plant.

Yes, it's been a very bountiful season for sure.

HAPPY GARDENING!

Mary