Ready, Set, Grow

I got up early on Sunday morning to head to Russell's Garden Center so that I could buy everything needed to get my garden going for the season. I wanted to beat the traffic and the crowds, since it was going to be another beautiful day in Boston.  I also knew that I had a long day ahead of me since I had not quite yet finished prepping the beds.  In addition to my "standard" list of veggies (with a few new varieties thrown in), my goal was to vary my raised beds this year with some flowers.  I am very fortunate to have extra space this year, as my friend is not able to garden in her 6' x 3' bed.  I was incredibly overwhelmed by the vast amount of flower varieties, but ultimately ended up going with a few favorites that will hopefully make nice arrangements throughout the summer. Here is what I ended up with...

Veggies/Herbs
Cucumber - Burpee Gold Standard Hybrid
Tomato - Sugary (grape), Sunsugar
Eggplant - Black Beauty
Pepper - Valencia
Sweet Basil
Rosemary

Flowers
Argyranthemum - white & pink
Dahlla
Coneflower
Snapdragon
Cosmos
Zinnia

After a lot more work prepping the beds and refreshing the "square foot" lines with new string, I planted got everything planted.  In addition, I planted the three grafted tomato varieties I had ordered from Burpee (Bradywine and two San Marzano) and sowed one row of the following:
Carrot - Little Finger, Danvers
Bean - Kentucky Wonder, Pole

Since I am always looking for new tips and tricks, I decided to try the "Tomato and Pepper Automator Trays."  I have to say that they were a little awkward to set up, but I am hoping that they give my two Grafted San Marzano plants an extra boost.

Overall, I am really excited for my garden this year and to see the transformation as everything grows. Who knows if the flowers will eventually overshadow the veggie plants, but I tried to place them as best I could based on sun pattern, and all I can do is hope for the best.  With rain the past two days, hopefully everything will adjust to their new home.

5.20.2012

Thanks Hurricane Irene

There is nothing like a hurricane (or tropical storm for MA) to force a person to finally update a neglected blog!  It has been almost three months since my last post - just plain embarrassing.  Three months without a post is not too bad in the winter (which, regretably I am also guilty of) but these past three months have been prime growing/harvesting time - providing no shortage of updates and news.  Travels to Colorado and Maine combined with training for a sprint triathlon and having a busier summer at work has made it difficult to write and keep up with my growing veggies.  Fortunately, I was made sure to at least maintain the garden's progress though photos and harvest totals.

With my garden secure as much as possible, I now wait for the storm to pass.  Here is a quick summary of what the past few months have involved, hoping to make up [a little bit] for lost time. 

Heirloom/Grafted tomato experiment update:
The three plants I ordered from Burpee have been doing pretty well, and I would say that all three experiments (mail order, heirloom varieties, and grafted plants) have been successful and worth it.  The seedings transplanted without problems a few days after receiving them in the mail.  I planted the Big Rainbow in a container and the two San Marzano plants in with the other tomato plants in a SFG box. I don't have anything to compare the grafted San Marzanos to, but I feel that there production is very high (having harvested 47 tomatoes between the two plants as of today).
 

 

Three seedlings recovering from shipping.

Close up of grafted stem.

     

Planted experimental tomatoes! 

A cluster of San Marzano tomatoes.

The flowers of the Big Rainbow were really interesting - very different than most tomato flowers!

A beautiful, Big Rainbow tomato.

Harvests:
Overall, I have been getting some great harvests and made a lot of farm-fresh food.  Tomatoes, eggplants and tomatillos have ruled.

Tomatillo craze:
My two tomatillo plants have taken over their SFG box.  Even having trimmed them back numerous times, they keep growing out of control. New to me this year, I have made a lot of salsa and have really loved growing them but I am not sure if I will grow them again in my current garden since they require so much space.  They have affected the success of almost everything else in the box (peppers, cucumbers, beans).

Tomatillos look like little lanterns.

Tomatillo takeover!

Failed/Poor Producing Crops:
My Sugar Snap Pea plants did not do very well this year.  The plants grew pretty well, but did not produce as many pods as last year, and then died off pretty early.  I used the same seeds as last year, so I am not sure if that was the problem.

As I mentioned above, my tomatillos have prevented my two pepper plants (Golden Summer, Red Beauty) from producing any peppers.

My Black-Seeded Blue Lake Pole beans also did not fair very well.  I used seeds from the very successful crop last year.   Again, not sure if it was the tomatillos, soil or using the harvested seeds that affected their growth.

Tomato results have been  mixed this year.  My regular San Marzano plant never produced a single tomato and was pulled out in July.  Out of the four volunteer tomato plants that appeared on their own, I gave two away and planted two in my garden.  One of them turned out to be Sunsugar or Sungold (noted by the ? in the harvest report) which produced almost as much as my Sunsugar I have this year; One turned out to be Yellow Pear, which failed after providing about two tomatoes.

Disease and pests
I feel that there comes a point were all tomato plants start to get discolored leaves, a fungus or a disease.  I am not sure if others in the area experienced the same thing.  It didn't seem to affect tomato production, but just looks awful.

  

I was curious to see if I would have any problems with pests in my new backyard location.  Until a few weeks ago, I had no problems.  Then I noticed multiple ripe tomatoes gone without a trace from my San Marzano plants.  I had been waiting to pick them until I had enough for a canning session.  Since only the ripe ones had been taken I thought that a person had jumped my fence and grabbed them.  However, a week later, after another round of missing tomatoes I saw evidence that it may have been an animal (raccoon, squirrel?) I am now trying to grab tomatoes as soon as I can before someone or something else does!

   

A similar experience to last year in my community plot, I have had baby bunny visiting my backyard.  All of my plants were full-size, so I was not worried about damage it would do.  He seemed to have no desire to eat anything but grass and enjoyed being able to sit in the shade the tomatillo plants.  It has now grown up a bit, but still visits from time to time.

Lettuce and Strawberries...on repeat.

Aside from Wednesday's crazy weather of severe thunderstorms and tornados, the weather has been sunny and mild. It has been great to spend so much time outdoors. This week's harvest continued to be all about lettuce and strawberries. I harvested a few more ounces of Salad Bowl and Boston lettuce, in addition to six perfect Junebearing strawberries, which are really living up to their name.

The Everbearing Strawberries look just like they did last year - not very appetizing. They are supposed to be more of a small, alpine berry (compared to the Junebearing variety), but I am not sure why they look so bad. I have not tried eating one yet - but maybe that will be the true test since it is the most important factor!

Other news...

The first pea flowers came out this week. They always remind me of birds...

I moved the largest of the mystery volunteer tomatoes to an open square near the rest of the tomatoes. I hope that it proves to be a successful transplant so I can find out what variety it is. I hope to move the remaining three from their current and crowded location, but need to get more soil to put them into containers.

My Golden Summer pepper plant is getting a little ahead of itself. At only 8" tall, I noticed that it had at least 4 peppers starting to grow. There is no way that it could support them, so I pinched off a few to encourage growth upwards!

Garden overview 6/4/11

Commencement

This past weekend seemed to be all about commencement. One of the great volunteer opportunities I have in working at a college is assisting at the annual graduation ceremony. For the second year in a row I signed up to be a "marshal," someone assigned to lead/direct a row of students during the commencement activities. Although a bit stressful at times, it is such a great opportunity to share the day with students. It also means that I have to look the part - wearing the whole outfit: black robe, a hood with my grad school's colors, and even the hat with tassel! Saturday's ceremony was ordinary and extraordinary at the same time, and everyone was thankful that the weather cooperated.

Immediately following the commencement ceremony, I went over to Russell's Garden Center in Wayland, MA to buy a majority of the vegetables I wanted to plant this year. I had everything calculated and planned out - expect for a few varieties of tomatoes. There are many varieties to choose from, but I just picked a few based on wanting a combination of cherry, paste and slicing tomatoes - with some 'new to me' varieties. I am very excited to have the 2011 growing season officially commence. This is what I came home with:

• Marigold (Durango Orange, Durango Outback Mix, Bonanza Yellow)
• Tomato (Italian Ice, Jet Star, San Marzano, Sunsugar, Better Boy)
• Basil (Sweet)
• Cucumber (Diva, Northern Pickling)
• Tomatillo (Toma Verde)
• Eggplant (Black Beauty)
• Pepper (Golden Summer, Red Beauty)
• Parsley (Flat)
• Zinnia (Cut & Come Again)

Tomatillos are new for me and although I have some research still to do, I hope to diversify my salsa creations this summer. I am also curious about the Italian Ice cherry tomato variety. They are going to be white/ivory! The Sunsugar cherry tomato was just too amazing last year (about 240 harvested) to pass up. I grew impatient waiting for my marigold seeds (planted 4/17) to grow, so I bought some plants. I just love the instant color they bring to the boxes. I left a few of the marigold seeds that actually germinated, but there may not be enough room for them all to mature.

On Sunday I was able to get everything in the ground, but a rain storm interrupted me mid-day so I had to stop. Luckily it stopped in late afternoon just enough to allow me to plant the rest. I cleaned up the tomato plants, trimming the lower leaves to promote upward growth and placed a few crushed egg shells around the base of the tomato and pepper plants for added calcium. I have a few empty squares as I wait on the arrival of my mail-order grafted tomato plants, wait to sow the next succession of carrots & lettuce seeds, and purchase two cabbage plants. Here are what the boxes look like after planting - it is great to have them full.

This week I really need to start harvesting some of the Salad Bowl lettuce, which will be my first harvest! Over the past few days, I noticed a few volunteer tomato seedlings among the weeds that have popped up in the SFG beds. I am hoping to let one grow a bit to see what it turns into!

This week looks to be very rainy. Hopefully my all my plants will survive the heavy downpours. I have heard from a few people that crops seem to be behind compared to this time last year. It has definitely been a cool spring. However, since weather can change in a second, who knows what this summer will bring. My fingers are crossed that it will be as good of a year as 2010!

Garden Overview 5/15/11

Harvest Monday: Slowing Down

Sunday was my first visit to the garden in almost two weeks, and after we had 4.5 days of horrible rain. My rain gauge was almost overflowing! I felt bad for neglecting my plot and was not sure what condition the plants would be in. I had to pull out my popping corn that had gotten totally devastated by...squirrels? Otherwise, left growing are: tomatoes, basil, peppers, watermelon, eggplant, butternut squash, carrots & potatoes. The butternut squash look great! I have about 5 that are almost ready! Yumm, I can just taste the soups!!

I harvested a few cherry tomatoes, one Roma, lots of short n' sweet carrots and two Italian Pepperocini peppers. In addition, I pulled some of the seeds out of the dried pole beans, hoping to save them for next year!

a small harvest 8/29/30

Black-seeded Blue Lake Snap Pole Bean seeds

Harvest Monday: Watermelon!!

I have to confess, I am not a die-hard watermelon fan. However, in my quest like more things, I figured that growing one would help! I picked my first Sugar Baby watermelon today, with one still left in the garden. It was definitely the sweetest and most flavorful one I have ever had!

Additional harvested items include lots of tomatoes and basil (small varieties not shown). The dry, hot weather and my inconsistent watering are taking a toll on my large tomatoes, where they have developed many cracks. However, I am just happy to have so many this year. Last year, my plants did not produce as many and critters always selected the ripest ones to munch on right before harvesting!

My Green Zebra variety is being very neglected. The fruit are so hard to see within all the greenery from neighboring tomato plants, that I keep leaving them too long on the vine. I have to make a more conscience effort to look for them since they are not as easy to spot as the red ones.

Green beans were plentiful, along with some of the last pickling cucumbers. I harvested my first red Giant Marconi pepper and four small Italian Pepperoncini.

It is sad to see signs that the garden is slowing down, but so am I. Sunflowers were pulled and the weeds are starting to win. However, I still have a lot to look forward to...like potatoes (fingers crossed) and butternut squash!

A crooked garden overview, 8/8/10