Tomato Salad

Ok, so it's not really a recipe, but it is yummy.
Cut up a bunch of different types of tomatoes
Sprinkle with fresh cracked pepper and Celtic sea salt.
Top with fresh mozzarella.
Serve with a splash of balsamic vinegar & olive oil.

With this we had pesto pizza with fresh tomatoes and mozzarella. The pesto was made a couple of days ago. My son makes a mean pesto with multiple varieties of basil, walnuts and olive oil. Yummy!

A Colorful Harvest

Left to right:
red bell peppers, banana peppers, jalapeno peppers, pink brandywine tomatoes, lemon boy tomatoes, husky cherry tomatoes, sweet 100 tomatoes, early girls, marion tomatoes, royal burgundy beans and zucchini.

7-20-09 Cantaloupes

We've tied up about 6 melons and have 4 or 5 more small ones starting. I'm hoping for a few more than we had last year. These are 'Ambrosia' melons. We planted them and Hale's Best last year, but these were sweeter.

7-18-09 The Ripening Begins

The tomatoes are starting to ripen. The Sweet 100 is full!

7-17-09 Lush Greenery & Watermelons

Looking through the Southern bed toward the Kids' Garden. The various basils, Rutgers and Mountain Pride tomatoes.

The Cantaloupe vines are spreading everywhere with lots of tiny melons still starting. About 5 melons were large enough to need tying up (since they are on the vertical section.

Our largest watermelon is now bigger than my older daughter's head. It has now required a 2nd support for its size. The Crimson Sweet seems to be getting larger than I expected.

She is holding the newest one forming. It's weirdly shriveled and wrinkled. Unfortunately we had several that started and yet disappeared leaving black stems. I hope that more will come from the few blossoms still on the vine.

7-17-09 The Garden Ripens

The tomatoes are ripening. The Marion, Early Girl, Pink Brandywine, German Queen, Bradley, Rutgers, Sweet 100, Bonnie Select Grape, Roma and Yellow Boy have all begun to ripen. I still haven't received any Big Beef, Mountain Pride or Yellow Jubilee. They are getting close.

The Sweet 100 is in the middle of this shot and the Marions are off to the right.

These are the Marions (there are 8 off them).

These are the lovely (and profuse) Pink Brandywine.

The Kids' Garden on 7-12-09

My little one is almost hidden in the Kids' Garden. We've already cut back the marigolds once, but they keep growing SO tall that we will probably have to pull them. She's counting to see how many melons have started.

7-12-09 A Look at the Gardens

The girls decided to check out the garden.

Everything seems to be growing very well.

We've already been harvest a little bit of most everything.

Even the melons are growing well.

The basil is getting thick too.

Now just probably a few days until tomatoes start coming in rapidly!

July 10th Harvest

We're finally getting some vine-ripened tomatoes! We had been pulling some in to the window sill as soon as they blushed because the squirrels have been relentless. After applying some bone meal they've slowed down.

So far I've harvested 'Marion', 'Lemon Boy', 'Early Girl', 'Roma', 'Bonnie Select Grape' and 'Sweet 100'. I think there may have been a random 'Rutgers', and 'Bradley', but they are further behind.

We've been picking a LOT of zucchini for about 10 days now. The banana peppers were slow to get going, but now one plant is producing at a break neck pace!

The 'Royal Burgundy' beans are starting to trickle in, but they have only a small section in the Kids' Garden. The jalapenos will be profuse in another week or two.

The bell pepper plant is full of green ones, but only 1 has started to redden up. That seems to take forever!

The First Harvest from the Kids' Garden

We pulled 2 zucchini and a few 'Royal Burgundy' beans from the Kids' garden today. My older daughter was busy digging around checking the veggies and was happy to find some ready for picking.

The kids seem to really love the deep purple color of the 'Royal Burgundy' beans, but didn't believe they'd look just like a regular bean inside!

We trimmed back the marigolds (which must have been giant versions, though that's not what the seeds were!) to give the 'Mr. Stripey' and 'Husky Cherry' tomatoes more sun.

Melons Starting to Grow!

I planted cantaloupes last year and was surprised how well they did. While they did take a lot of room, those sweet melons were worth the space sacrifice. The kids begged to plant them again and try watermelon this year.

In an attempt to save some space, we are trying some vertical growing and see how well that goes. We planted 'Ambrosia' Cantaloupes in one of the main garden beds on 5-20-09. Here's what they looked like on 7-3-09:


We planted 'Crimson Sweet' Watermelon in the Kids' garden on 5-23-09 and here's what they looked on 7-3-09.


Only 4 days later the above watermelon was large enough to warrant support. I decided to use panty hose! What's next to help support it? A folding chair????

Dealing with those Thieves!

I've been trying to figure out who was eating all my tomatoes. Every time a tomato even hinted at starting to blush, it was eaten. Some just had bites out, but some were eaten up to the stem. Since I cut back my tomatoes, these were a good 15-24 inches off the ground. I had begun to pick them as soon as they started to ripen and put them on the window sill. They ripened quickly and still tasted much better than the store, but not as sweet as vine ripened ones!

Last year I had similar problems and caught the bunnies red-handed (or pawed). After using fish emulsion, the bunnies hated the garden. Fish emulsion was not working this year, so I figured I had a different thief. After checking tracks, eating habits, local gardening blogs, etc. it seemed likely that it was squirrels. I decided to try some good 'ole fashioned bone meal to ward them often. It worked like a dream! They haven't touched them since!

Finally my lovely tomatoes are ripening on the vine... YUMMY!

Kids' Garden status on 7-1-09

We ended up having to cage in the 'Royal Burgundy' beans in the kids' garden since they were overshadowing the carrots.


You can see the raspberries and the 3 garden beds in the background of this photo. The center is small path for the kids to walk through the garden.

Zucchini & Cantaloupe at the end of June

The garden seems to be thriving in this heat wave. It has required a LOT of watering. The kids don't mind, especially when I use the sprinkler - because they get to run through it!

Above - the zucchini to the right is actually 3 plants. There is another plant in the kids' garden too. Just to the left are 3 rows of late planted beans 'Top Crop'.




Above - the left is the 'Contender' green beans. We've already pulled 2 harvests of this row. The early rows have given 4. To the right is the 'Ambrosia' cantaloupe plants. There are 3 plants (they were really small, but clearly they aren't now!) They've begun to trail nicely up the supports.

Status of the Tomatoes 6-26-09

Back on the 18th, I severely trimmed the tomatoes (just 8 days ago!) and see how full of fruit they are! Now if I could just stop the bunnies and whatever else keeps eating them!

The End of the Peas

Today we pulled up the pea vines (both the Wanda shell peas and Sugar Snap Peas). Both did fairly well even though they were planted a month late! Next year I'm planting earlier and separating them!

They had been providing some nice shade in the morning for the 'Armenian' Cucumbers, but that's over! I think I may put up new support and use it for the cucumbers.

The Progress of the Kids' Garden

The Kids' Garden was planted fairly late in the season (5-23-09), but seems to be doing pretty well.









Implementing a modified square foot gardening method, we crammed a lot into a 6' X 6' space. There is a 2' wide path across the middle.

The front row of the garden has:
Husky Cherry Tomato, 1 Row of Carrots 'Big Top', 2 Rows of 'Royal Burgundy' Beans, a 2nd Row of Carrots, Mr Stripey Tomato



The Back row has Watermelon and Zucchini.









Here's what it's looking like now!

We've had to support the watermelon with fencing. We've also had to fence in the 'Royal Burgundy' beans so they don't kill the carrots!


She helps take good care of her garden!

First Tomatoes Starting to Blush!!!

The first Marion Tomatoes are starting to blush after cutting them back and letting the sun in!

The Heat is Killing the Peas

We are hitting the mid 90's this week with very little rain and the peas don't seem to like it.

I put my peas in over 3 weeks late, so I expected this. However I was pleasantly surprised to get as many peas as I did.

Trimming Back My Tomatoes 6-18-09

I have always trimmed back my tomatoes. I find that they get way too heavy and the leafy vegetation prevents them from ripening. I also noted that when I started trimming, they produced much more fruit.

When people see how drastically I cut back my tomatoes, they are often shocked and appalled! Here's what the Big Beef, Sweet 100, Rutgers, the 9 Marions looked like after a serious trim!
Check back for the pics after a week or two!

Finishing the 2nd Raspberry Bed

We finally put in the 2nd Latham Raspberry Bed. There is a Heritage Raspberry at the end of the top bed in the pic (it's older and purchased locally). I'm hoping these guys survive the late planting!

My Tomato Obsession

Ok, I admit it. I have a problem. They say that admitting it is the first step. I planted WAY too many tomatoes!
I also took a risk and planted my 'Marion' tomatoes early and protected them with a temporary greenhouse. Unfortunately none are coming close to ripening. This happens every year. I see TONS of green tomatoes and just can't wait for them to ripen. Then all of them seem to ripen at ONCE!

This is the first part of the tomatoes. Running from left to right:
Big Beef, Sweet 100, Rutgers, Marion (9 plants set in early), Early Girl (2)


The above photo is that same tomato part of the garden from the other end. From this side you can see the Lemon Boy & behind it is the Pink Brandywine. Just past this is a German Queen, but I forgot to take her pic!


In the other bed Golden Jubilee & Mtn. Pride (2)


Top left - Bonnie Select Grape and Roma


In the children's garden the left on is Husky Cherry and the right is Mr. Stripey


Now PLEASE start ripening!