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Archive for the ‘Vegetables’ Category

>Garden Firsts

Posted in cucumbers, pepper, tomato on April 20, 2011| Leave a Comment »

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With the move and having to wait on the deer fence, my garden got in a few weeks later than I would have liked. It can be a little discouraging to see others’ plants doing so well, where mine seem to be stagnant, especially my heirloom tomatoes. At least I’ve had a few firsts this week though, including my first ripe cherry tomato (Sun Gold).


First Cucumber Siting, General Lee

First full size pepper, Hungarian Hot

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>Vegetable Garden In

Posted in Vegetables on April 6, 2011| 5 Comments »

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Here’s the list of what I’ve got going this year…
Tomatoes
Romas – 8
Cherries – 1 each of Sun Gold, Black Cherry, Yellow Pear, Red Pear
Black Krim – 2
Cherokee Purple – 2
Green Zebra – 1
Kellogg – 1
Homestead – 1
Lemon Boy – 1
Striped German – 1
Peppers
Big Bertha – 1
Red Beauty – 2
Purple Beauty – 1
Poblano – 1
Anaheim – 1
California Wonder – 1
Serrano – 1
Jalapeno – 3
Tabasco – 1
Hot Hungarian – 1
Tomatillos – 4
Clemson Spineless Okra – 6
Tiger Stripe Eggplant – 1
Beans
Butter Beans – 4
Black Eyed Peas – 4
Yellow String Beans – 3
Green String Beans – 3
Cucumbers
Sweet Slice – 2
General Lee – 1
Additional – 3 (need to get the names)
Cantaloupe – 1 Sugar Queen, 2 others
Watermelon – 1 Sugar Baby, 1 Yellow
I decided against squash this year. I didn’t have the energy to fight those Borers.

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>Tomatoes Planted

Posted in tomato on March 10, 2010| 4 Comments »

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I started planting tomatoes this weekend. I didn’t plant all of them, as I am still clearing out the beds. By clearing out the beds I mean eating lots of winter veggies. It’s a tough job but someone has to do it 🙂 Sunday night we had a salad with two kinds of lettuce, radishes, carrots, and kohlrabi. Monday night we had my daughter’s favorite, bacon-lemon brussel sprouts.

I know it’s risky planting this early, but I have row cover handy, and actually used it Sunday. It was windy enough that I thought it would be a good idea to shelter the plants. It seemed to work as they look really healthy. I planted romas, pear cherries, and sweet 100 cherries.
I decided that the swiss chard takes up entirely too much room in the beds. I’ve seen them mixed in with flower beds and thought I’d try it. This spot was previously occupied by “Purple Heart”. Although I really liked them, I like having edible chard more. The chard took quite a beating with the 80 degree temps today. I’m hoping it bounces back, otherwise, I’ll be taking a trip to “The Natural Gardener” for new plants.
Here’s my new toy! It is just amazing for hauling dirt, rocks, and plants.

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>New Seeds

Posted in seedlings, Vegetables on January 10, 2010| 1 Comment »

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Friday the 8th during my lunch break I drove to The Natural Gardener and picked up some seed packets. Since the peppers and herbs are well underway, it’s time for tomatoes. I picked up “yellow pear” cherry, “supersweet 100” cherry, “cherokee purple”, “green zebra”, and “celebrity”. I also bought toma verde tomatillos and some amaranth.
Planting Dates
Romas – Jan 7th
Cherokee, Zebra – Jan 10th
Cherries, Celebrity – Jan 16th
Last fall I spoke to The Natural Gardener about making my own seed mix. They recommended a mix of Worm Castings, Perlite, and Vermiculite. As for amounts, you want it too retain moisture, but not be too soggy. The amounts I have used for my seed mix are 4 parts perlite, 3 parts worm castings and 2 parts vermiculite. So far it’s working great.

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>Canning

Posted in Vegetables on January 5, 2010| 4 Comments »

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The cold weather can be a bit discouraging. I found I had a bit of cabin fever over the break, all of the time off and too cold to go outside. I’m not as brave as some, as under 60 degrees is pretty much off limits for me. The few nice days that we did have were spent outside with the family roaming around.
I did manage to put some of my time to good use, practicing my canning skills. Canning is a necessary step for my goal of eventually eating produce only from my garden. They also make great gifts 🙂
I used Jenny’s recipe from “Rock Rose”. This recipe was so delicious, I’ll be using it again. It was also very easy. My 12 year old daughter made a batch and turned it into shortbread lemon bars, mmm! I’ve frozen several bottles for later.

This corn relish recipe is from the official Ball canning cookbook. It uses frozen corn, which is always in season, and cabbage straight from the garden. It has a great vinegar bite to it, with a nice sweetness as well. Next time I may add a little heat.

Fig Jam. This was my first attempt at jam. It was very easy and turned out well. This one is made with dried figs, so can be made year round. This was also from the Ball cookbook.

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