Preserving

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Empty Spaces & Blushing Faces

Yesterday was a busy day here at the home garden. The garlic was harvested. Although the garlic was not as big as last year, the harvest was good and more then enough to keep "The Italian" and I well stocked with garlic for the year! (garlic harvest pic on Harvest Monday)

The garlic and a couple of other things (Harvest Monday post) were harvested from this bed. I also pulled the shelling peas as they were about done producing. There are some cucumbers planted along the edge of this bed, a couple of lettuce plants and the celery is growing well at the other end. I added a good layer of compost and made some decisions about what to plant next. I decided to plant some dry beans in half the bed and leave a big space to plant some spinach later in the season. I am also going to sow some Spring Blush Snap Peas at the far end past the celery later in the season

Some cucumber seedlings emerging along the end of the bed. I planted a few Japense Climbing and a slicing variety. These will be our eating cucumbers. The pickling cucumbers have been sown at the plots.

The left side of the cold frame beds was cleaned out and a layer of compost was added. There are some leeks against the back, 3 pepper plants and some lettuce remaining in ths bed. I put in a few baby basil seedlings and the empty spaces will be sown with some more carrots.

The right side of the cold frame bed was also cleaned out and compost was added. There are two tomato plants a couple of peppers, four eggplants, some lettuce, onions here and there and some baby basil in this bed. I am going to sow some summer (heat tolerant) varieties of lettuce close to the tomato plants and see how they make out. Hopefully the shade from the tomatoes will make them happy.

As I was working on the beds I noticed that the Black Cherry tomato (seed from EG) was starting to blush. I have to say that these are the biggest cherry tomatoes that I have ever seen! Thanks EG!

Then I noticed this!!! Yes, it is a Cherokee Purple! You wouldn't believe how happy "The Italian" was when he got home!!

Late yesterday afternoon I picked up the fuel line for the trimmer....now I have to get

this thing running!!! Wish me luck!

14 comments:

  1. I pulled about four garlic that had died down completely and they are pathetic. Looks like a lean garlic year for us!

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  2. I like your approach - making the best use of your space, by replacing plants that are finished by something young and new, as soon as possible. I grew those Black Cherry tomatoes last year, but many of mine split. I thnk this is a common problem with this variety.

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  3. Sue, sorry about your garlic this year. Mine wasn't as big as last year but it was still good.

    Mark, I try to keep on planting to get the most use out of the space I have. Those black cherry tomatoes are big. I hope that I don't get a lot of splitting!

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  4. We've got Black Cherry's and CP's coming on, but I haven't seen any blushing! I'm happy with the Sungolds until everyone else starts ripening. I grew Black Cherry last year and splitting wasn't an issue for me. Sungold is notorious for that. I think weather can make a big difference on whether tomatoes split or not, but some varieties are definitely more prone than others.

    Good luck with that trimmer. I would think it would be no match for you!

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  5. I'm so jealous. I so want some tomatoes and I'm growing both of those varieties this year.

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  6. (sigh) No ripening tomatoes here yet, although the Sungold is blushing. We need some warmth first before they will get serious here about ripening.

    The garden is looking great and have fun with the trimmer (my least favorite garden chore is weedwhacking the walkways of the garden!).

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  7. Some exciting stuff going on in your garden!! Hooray, you're really close to fresh tomatoes!!

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  8. Villager, We are excited about those Black Cherry tomatoes. I hope that they do well! That trimmer is another story!! I didn't get it going yesterday. We actually went out and rented one late yesterday afternoon so I could take care of the weeds at the plots. Maybe I'll get it going today!

    Daphne, I just realized that the CP is seed from you....thanks!! We can't wait to eat it. You will have some blushing tomatoes soon.

    Laura, I was really surprised to see those two tomatoes blushing. I thought the first big tomato to ripen was going to be another variety. I don't mind weedwhacking...it's the darn machine itself that I seem to have problems with!

    Holly, Yes...yipee for tomatoes!!

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  9. Robin, you're such a tease with talking about harvesting but not posting any pictures yet. Ughhh, I really have to work on my garden patience. :) You are very organized with replacing one plant with another. That's something I still need to work on.

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  10. Minji, I have save some surprises for Harvest Monday! I think that the CP will be harvested tomorrow and it will definitely be honored with it's own post! I try to plan ahead when to plant a second crop in a space....but, quite often Mother Nature changes my plans. So I usually just wing it!

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  11. So much hard work going on around there! You said you're leaving space for spinach. When do you think you'll plant it? Will you direct seed?

    We're going to need to pollinate our squash too. How do you tell a male flower from a female? I haven't looked closely yet. Is the difference obvious?

    Your cantaloupe looks great. We planted ours a little late. They're just beginning to flower.

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  12. Looking at your pictures, it looks like your garden is about 3 weeks ahead of our...which I guess is the difference between zone 6 and 7. I really enjoy clearing and cleaning up the garden in July. It's just another sign that fall planting time will be here sooner than we think.

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  13. Jody, go to this website about hand pollinating your squash

    http://pollinator.com/squash.htm

    I am going to direct seed my spinach between Aug 1-15. Hopefully I will get a fall crop unlike my spring planting. It was a total failure.

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  14. Thomas, the home garden is definitely ahead of the plots with the exception of the pepper plants. We are supposed to be in zone 6B. I really don't know the difference in the amount of weeks between 6 and 6B. I always think the garden looks good but empty when you clean out a bed.

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