Saturday, July 27, 2013

Success from the garden :-)

Tomato and Pepper Plants
Squash, beans, and corn plants










My first try at gardening has been going pretty well. The plants are full and lush and going pretty strong, in spite of the small battles with early blight, slugs, and other pests. I've been getting a decent little harvest - especially from my tomato plants.
Tomatoes, beens, and zucchini squash
Some of the tomatoes are half the size of my niece's head! And there's more to come.



While I haven't seen too many ears of corn on my plants, there are a couple almost ready to pick. Also, I have a bunch of plum tomatoes and heirlooms that just need to ripen. I'm going to have to get a bit creative with tomatoes. I've already used a few in a grilled chicken bruschetta and will be using some in a tomato tart. A fresh tomato salsa might have to be on the list too. I'll try to have the camera out to snap a few photos of my tomato creations.

Plum tomato plants surrounded by wild flowers.
The experimental garden in front of my sidewalk, where the azaleas used to be, has been successful for the plum tomatoes. There are a few green bean plants that have produced a handful of green beans. However, the squash has not done very well. I think it's because they are shaded and squash plants are fiends for sunlight.  Oh well. 

With the success of the garden, I'm already thinking of what I can do for a fall garden. Looking around the web, I think I'll soon start some beds with more green beans, carrots, lettuce, and maybe some kale.



2 comments:

  1. I love it sheena! Jenn and I have a container garden and have harvested about 10lb of toms, and a bunch of cukes, onions and squash. Our corn looked beautiful but is really dense and starchy, gonna be our first attempt at traditional chicha (corn beer). The beans were so-so. Let us know how yours work and what you did wrt fertilizer. Cheers, jeff.

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    1. That's awesome Jeff! My beds are mounds of soil and soil conditioner that I got at Merrifield Garden Center. I fertilized it once with an organic fertilizer a few weeks back, but haven't really been giving that much fertilizer to it. I've also been treating the tomato plants with a copper based fungicide that is supposed to be good for organic gardening (I tried the baking soda technique and it didn't work), and have sprayed it twice with a diluted soap spray to get rid of pests. Oh, I've also used beer traps for slugs.

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