Garden Update 2014

We are officially members of our local senior garden community.  They have 26, 16x16 plots.

We started working the soil and amending with compost and organic fertilizers on March 7th.  I planted my first seeds and plants on March 9th.  The photos  below were taken on March 26th.

We have 8 tomato plants, 1 Poha, 2 eggplants, 4 summer squash areas, carrots, lettuces, beets, beans, peas, 6 basil, 6 plus tatsoi plants, 1 found spinach plant and marigolds. 

We recycled some wood from our tomato cages and built smaller ones for this garden.  They have a 6 foot height limit and I hope that is high enough for the tomato plants.  I know they will go at least two feet over that but I planted them next to another so they can, hopefully support each other.

In the far left corner is Dr. Wyche and Ponderosa.  In the right corner, back is Southern Night and San Marzano.  In the center is German Queen and in the red cage is the Poha I seeded. The four 'round' sections in the center are the seeded summer squash.  I planted Ronde de Nice  a French heirloom round zucchini that will be wonderful for stuffing.  Also planted Cocozelle Squash, an Italian heirloom striped green zucchini.  It was called Cocozella de Napoli in the 19th century. Next we have an early yellow heirloom Crookneck Squash and then the final one on the right front is  Scallop or Patty Pan Squash another heirloom blend that will give me three colors; a light green, a white and a pale yellow. I love to stuff these too.  Click HERE for a photo of my frozen stuffed patty pan from 2012 (you will need to scroll down past the frozen tomatoes).  I have lots of recipe ideas on my cooking BLOG so feel free to check them out.

 This is Tatsoi

In the back is the Basil plants.  There are many clumped together, I didn't feel like separating all of them so the plants will be thick and bushy.  This is what happens when you see plugs with more seeds then you think will germinate!  I think every one came up.  In the center of the Tatsoi plants is one Anaheim Chili Pepper. The left corner cages have Cherokee Purple and Chocolate Stripe tomatoes.

 This is a few of the lettuce plants, Speckled and a couple of red Romaine along with some marigold plants.

 Carnival carrots in the box, which is a blend of red, purple, white, yellow and orange carrots.  Along side the box I seeded a wonderful French heirloom carrot called Paris Market, they are small, short and round. I grew these in the winter last year in my raised bed at the house and they did very well.  They are a perfect carrot to grow if you don't have a lot of space or planting depth since they are so short.

In this area I planted a Japanese Soyu Cucumber, a long, straight, sweet cucumber with ridges.  It will get 18 inches long on the trellis we provided.  Hopefully!

 In the back is more lettuce, two eggplants in the center, one Rosa Bianca an heirloom round, light pink lavender color with a bit of white.The other one I planted is Japanese millionaire, this is a hybrid that is very popular so I thought I would give it a try. It doesn't have very many seeds so it should be great on the grill.

 Romaine lettuce, Rouge D'Hiver an organic French heirloom.

Looking at San Marzano

Rouge D'Hiver

Looking at Ponderosa

The back, left corner cages is another San Marzano tomato.  Center beds are also seeded with beans, lettuces, radish, beets, spinach, summer squash as noted, also mixed in the the lettuce plants along the fences are some snow peas, and beans and cucumbers.

My list of tomatoes plants in this garden is: 
(these I grew from seeds started in January)
2 San Marzano
1 Cherokee Purple
1 Chocolate Stripe
1 German Queen
1 Dr.Wyche
1 Ponderosa
1 Southern Night

Plants of:
1 Anaheim chili pepper (El Plantio Nursery)
12 lettuce plants (varieties noted above) El Plantio Nursery
Italian Basil (seeds I started in February)
Tatsoi (El Plantio Nursery)
6 multi-colored Bell peppers
1 Poblano pepper
1 Japanese eggplant
1 round eggplant

The rest of the garden is seeded with:
Poha (in the red cage) these are seeds I saved from last year
4 type summer squash (varieties noted above)
several colors and varieties of carrots
Japanese soyu cucumber
Straight 8 cucumber (1 plant came in)
Gold Rush beans
French Fillet beans
Blue Lake beans
Royal Burgundy beans
Sugar Snap peas
French Breakfast radishes (seeded)
Easter blend radishes (seeded)
Farmer's Market blend lettuces (seeded)
Bull's Blood beets
Chioggia beets
Gourmet blend beets

I will post another update later with what I have planted in my beds at home.  I will not have as many beds since I have the senior plot now, but I will be growing more tomatoes.  I have 4 planted right now along my driveway bed.

That's it for now from a Tomato Addict Gardener!

The Orioles are back!

Even though we really never had winter the orioles are just now back.  Of course they may have been around and I just didn't see them, but normally I hear them before I see them.  This beauty has been around for a week now, but so far I have not seen his mate.  He is enjoying the birdbath daily and getting himself all groomed for his mate's arrival, no doubt. 

16 Doves in the Avocado Tree on a Rainy Day

 

I took these shots a few days ago and just now got around to posting to my blog.  It was raining and the doves all roosted together on this old avocado tree.  One day I saw 5 different species of birds all together.  Now if the rest of us could just get along as well as birds we would be a far better world.

Tomato Seedlings, Tomato Update 2014

I put the tomato plants on the window ledge during our rainstorm this past weekend. I have had them outdoors now for several weeks.  My plan is to put them out in the raised beds sometime around the third week of March, if the weather permits. We have had hail storms in mid-March in past years so waiting until the end of March will be a wise choice.

My plants this year are as follows:

San Marzano
Southern Night
Ponderosa (also know as Henderson's Pink Ponderosa)
Gold Medal
Chocolate Stripes
Black Krim
Cherokee Purple
Big White Pink Stripe
Flame (also known as Hillbilly)
Dr. Wyche's 
German Queen
Green Zebra
I still may put in Goliath if I can find a plant at the nursery.  I didn't save seeds from last year and I really liked this one for canning.  

Cherry Tomatoes:

Sundrop
Gold Nugget
Brown Cherry
Sweetie
Green Grape
Super Snow White
Bicolor Cherry

Poha (also known as Cape Gooseberry  Physalia peruviana L.)

Steve Goto will be speaking at Green Thumb Nursery on March 8th and the 18th and I plan on attending his seminar.  Hopefully they will have some San Marzano and Goliath plants for sell. 

We Have Rain! and Lots of Produce, too.

It has been raining since yesterday.  We should get at least 2 inches by the time the storm moves out on Sunday.  This is a very warm rain for February, it was 58 at 6:00 AM.  Hoping we don't have any flooding or mudslides!

I took the photos below on Wednesday.  Also picked a big batch of lettuces and onions before the rain started yesterday.  Lots of flowers blooming which I added to my salad.

Calendula

for my salad, Calendula, Nasturtiums, Oxalis and Salad Burnet

Arugula

2nd planting of Lacinato Kale

one of several Giant Mustard

Speckles Lettuce, one of our favorites this year.

Loquat tree is loaded with fruit, these should be ready in May.

Raised bed planted with lacinato kale, ruby and bright lights swiss chard.  Seedling of radish, collard greens, beets and carrots.

Tatsoi, beets and collard green sprouts (I think)

More Speckles lettuce and Lolla Rossa lettuce

Leaf lettuce that bolted in the heat. I will let this go to seed head and then save the seeds.

More Tatsoi, most have shot up seed heads so I may need to plant out more seedlings now that the rains have come. 

Onions and swiss chard I pulled from the bed along the driveway

Little Gem Romaine and Lolla Rossa lettuce from the bed along the driveway

Bath Time!

Pretty little Finches, males just beginning to show the vibrant red colors.  These photos were all taken through my kitchen window today.  Not bad considering it is a double-pane window.  You can even see the water splashing up from the birds bathing.  We had a beautiful day today, around 65 degrees.  Warmer, with low 80's forecast for the week ahead and next weekend will be around 85.  No more rain in site for now which is not a good thing for us.  Not at all like February should be.  I will keep the birdbaths full for our feathered friends and cut back on watering the plants.

 I think she saw me through the window, look how sweet she is looking towards the camera.

 The male was always fluttering about the bath and watching for incoming birds.

"They shall go flying
      With musical speeches
High overhead in the
      Tops of the beeches"

from "Nest eggs" A Child's Garden of Verse by Robert Louis Stevenson