Garden goodies!
So far - this has been the majority of my bounty - which has been awesome and delicious! But somehow all I keep thinking about are tomatoes... still not ready to eat. I pruned them within an inch of their life tonight, so I'm hoping to see some improvement in the next week or so.
I have been eating a few Golden Honey tomatoes from a plant that my mom purchased for me down south.
Can't seem to find a lot about them, and they aren't one of the varieties that my
regular source carries, although I may suggest it to him. Remarkably early! Here's what I could find out them:
Golden Honey Bunch Grape: Vigorous vines produce clusters of 10 to 20 fruit. First golden grape tomato .
I think this is it... they are definitely the bunching-est tomatoes I think I've grown, and early is right. I may save seeds from these guys. Here's a link to a
good picture of what I might expect from this plant!
Some things are growing...others, not-so-much
The lack of heat and enormous amount of rain has definitely had a dramatic effect on my garden this year. Here's the long and the short of it:
Lettuce (3 kinds) = booming! This picture shows the 3 varieties nicely starting with the
Baby Leaf Blend on the right, the
Sangria butterhead lettuce next, and then the
Little Gems romaine. The Sangria came in more like leaf lettuce than a head lettuce, but it's still awesome. May also be because of the rain, flattening everything out, especially that variety being so fragile to begin with. You can also see the beaten-up
Tatsoi on the far left.
Zucchini (4 kinds) = growing fast. The
Sunburst patty pans are what I'm most excited about, but they haven't really produced any fruit yet, I have tiny
Golden Dawn and
Richgreen ones starting (regular style), and the
Magda are almost ready to eat. From Vesey's: "The Magda is a Cousa (Lebanese zucchini) variety. Beautiful, uniform mid-sized 4" fruit have a creamy green color and succulent, nutty, white flesh. Magda is early and very productive over a long season. Maturity 50 days" - very exciting!! Here's a peek under the zucchini leaves of the Magda:
Cucumbers: they are struggling, but there is one
Sultan ready to be picked - can't wait to try it!
Tomatoes: the plants look pretty good.. I top-dressed with a combination of compost, eggshells and banana skins the other day. There are a lot of green tomatoes still.... we need more heat!!! The Thai Pink eggs (old faithful) look like they are on the verge of turning color. I'm hoping for tomatoes within a week or so. And the one Isis Candy plant that
Science Nerd gave me is starting to show it's stripes (in a good way!!) see picture (they are about an inch or so here)
Beans: despite my aggravation with them at the beginning (stupid cutworms!!), they have filled out to a beautiful bean patch and I should be eating beans within days. I originally planted 2 varieties, but then as theses plants were getting eaten, I was re-planting using whatever seeds I had lying around, so I've basically lost track of what I have. There will be some yellow beans and some green beans.
More promises from the weatherman, but apparently it will be hot in the next week, so hopefully I will have some exciting ripe tomato pictures and news soon!
Report on Tatsoi
I harvested the first bits of Tatsoi today .... or the first bits that I have dared to eat. The plants have taken a beating with some kind of pest eating a good deal of the leaves, and giving them a less-than-appealing look. But upon closer examination I found many of the leaves not as bad as my initial impression told me, in particular the newest growth in the middle.
After picking out the "bad" stuff, the tatsoi was quickly stir fried with garlic and was healthy and DELICIOUS.
NERD NOTE1: Tatsoi is in the genus
Brassica, (along with cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, turnip and others) which is part of the mustard family (Cruciferae aka Brassicaeae). I now remember where the term cruciferous veggies comes from... and I'm thinking cruciferae is probably latin for noxious gasses. Turns out it's something to do with the shape of their flowers. I suppose that's easier to key out.
Not sure what is eating the Tatsoi.... but from the reading I've been doing I suspect that it's
Flea Beetles. Apparently they LOVE all things
Brassica. Which explains why there are 3 rows of delicious lettuce varieties that haven't been touched. Obviously very fussy eaters.
For next year some suggestions I've read (non-chemical):
- row covers
- early spring or fall planting (Tatsoi is extremely cold resistant, even seems to do better in cold weather)
- encourage faster more vigorous growth (larger plants=more resistance) by planting more vigorous varieties, and shallower planting
NERD NOTE2:
http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/QAA366540 Apparently cruciferous veggies are fart-makers, as they contain raffinose, an indigestible sugar that the methane producing bacteria in your guts go nuts for.
