Sunday, July 24, 2011

I take that back...

So earlier this season I was extolling the virtues of home grown lettuce, and I still stand behind the joys of going outside and picking a salad. I may have over-emphasized the ease of growing it... and I am going to have to have have a little conversation with the squirrels who were digging in my alley pots before fall rolls around. So while I work on my lettuce growing skills (and bb gun aim...) I will add a new recommendation for easy gardening. Green beans. Every few weeks from early summer, through to 2-3 weeks before frost, soak a few beans in a bowl of water few a few hours, scratch a hole in the ground, drop a bean in, and work your way down the row, filling in any bare spots or space left on the trellis. This will guarantee a family's worth of green beans for the summer. I only have half of the trellis growing, and I'm already thinking of all the new ways we get to try green beans through the summer. Guess I better get a few more seeds in the ground tomorrow so I have plenty to practice with!

Friday, July 22, 2011

yard

I will have to go back and look at my notes from last year, but I feel like besides the impatiens under the apple tree, the flowers are taking their sweet time in blooming this year. Either that, or I need to find more edible flowers to fill in amongst all the green!
With a new table (fountain/pond, tiered beds, and a touched up patio-it's off to the right), I think I should submit the yard to a magazine and show people the oasis that a small yard can be!

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Stoop

The summer heat is taking its toll on the pansies. My planning has paid off though. The peppers, zinnias and sunflowers have filled the containers at the front of the house with green. (with a little red, white and blue thrown in) Despite the greenery, I think I will start the plants in containers in the back next year. Since I wasn't sure of the age of some of the seeds, the fact that some of them never took means that there are a few extra peppers in one container and an extra sunflower in the other, so they look a little lopsided.The sunflowers are enjoying the heat radiating from the sidewalk and the brick front! I can't wait until more open. From the looks of it there will be 4 more flowers on this plant, 3 or 4 in the other planter, and hopefully a few more on the runt of the bunch.The mum has had its final hair cut of the summer (remember- 3 trims before the 4th of July for nice, full plants! I wish I remember where I read that). Hopefully the trims will pay off in a few months and the sunflowers will be replaced with sprays of colorful mums. And a few volunteer tomatoes....

Monday, July 18, 2011

Roof

It's been a little warm and humid in the city....I can't say that my tomato plants look beautiful, but they apparently feel beautiful because, but despite how ugly the plants look, they have been kicking out the fruit!

I have been keeping track of the weights of the tomatoes as they come through. This week alone I had a pound! Also collected 3 banana peppers, basil and onions from the roof. We will be having fresh tomato salad AND BLTs for dinner this week!


Monday, July 4, 2011

July garden update

Seeing Mich's amazing harvest motivated me to post an update. We have gotten a ton of kale, so much so that I don't have to buy it right now. The cabbage is almost ready. What do you do with 7 heads of cabbage, anyone?



My tomatoes aren't ripe yet but they are making me very hopeful. The verity that is likely to be ready first is the orange plum tomato
from Baker creek, followed by either Mich's Gold Nugget or Stupice form Seed Savers.






First pepper, Chocolate bell












Tiny optimistic watermelon, golden midget watermelon







Ridiculous space-invading pumpkin of unknown providence. Likely a kabocha of some sort. The black sling is there to support its weight and is made from the sleeve of an old t-shirt.