Summer Garden 2015 Update

Lots of goodies in the garden. We are still picking Cocozelle Zucchini, Yellow Summer Squash, Lacinato and Ruffled Kale, some tomatoes although they are not as prolific again this year.  I lost a lot to early blight or ?? San Marzano's have been very small this year.  Peppers are doing much better this year than last.  Also, the Japanese eggplants are going wild.  I pick around 20-40 a week off of the six plants. Amazing!!  I also have the Ronde de Nice Zucchini coming in now as I planted those only a month ago.  Some cucumbers are forming on the plants which I planted from seed around the same time as the Ronde de Nice.  String beans are starting to climb.  I have three Butterneck Squash plants that are forming small squash now.  They still have a ways to go since putting in so late.  I think as last year though that we will have a late summer and a mild winter.  Rains are in the forecast for this week again. What a treat for us Southern CA gardeners to have these summer rains.  Winter is expected to have El Nino and bring us lots of rain.  Keep those fingers crossed that it happens for us. 

Tomatoes

 

 

Cocozelle Zucchini and Yellow Zucchini

Ruffled Kale

Straight 8 Cucumber

Armenian Cucumbers

Ruffled Kale

Kentucky Wonder String Beans

Bell Peppers and some round Lemon Cucumbers on Right

Butternut Squash just coming in now

Yellow Bell Pepper

Purple Bell Pepper

Jalapeno Pepper

Lacinato Kale ( Dino Kale or Italian Kale)

Basil in background

Japanese Eggplants

More Zucchini

Todays Harvest

Japanese Eggplant and Tomatoes

The recent rains have nourished my little garden plot, so much so that I picked more eggplant than I have in recent years.  Lots of goodies coming in now.  We are grateful!

The last of the lettuce for now

Curly Kale and a couple of Bell Peppers

Cocozelle Zucchini and Early Prolific Straight-neck Yellow, plus a few Hot Peppers

Roma Tomato called Health Kick and a few San Diego Tomatoes

Mix of San Marzano, Health Kick and a few Yellow Gold Cherry Tomatoes

Jalapeno Peppers

Monday I will be making Jalapeno Peach Jam, a Zucchini Lasagna and Roasting Eggplants!

Busy, Busy,Busy

  Here sleeps the sun long, idle summer hours;
Here butterflies and bees fare far to rove
    Amid the crumpled leaves of poppy flowers;
Here four o’clocks, to the passionate night above
    Fling whiffs of perfume, like pale incense showers.
    A little garden, loved with a great love! 

-Excerpt from The Little Garden by Amy Lowell (1912)

Update on Summer Garden 2015

Harvest today of onions, eggplants, zucchini, crookneck, patty pan, bell peppers and tomatoes

 It seems that I am always finding something to do besides keeping my blog up-to-date on this years summer garden.  This is our senior garden plot that we have now.  I only grow a few tomatoes here at the house and then of course I have my herb garden.  With the cutbacks we are required to do now with the serious drought situation here in California, one wonders if we will be able to garden at all.  We are only allowed to water twice a week for 5 minutes each.  I will be letting a lot of my plants die, sadly.  

Just pictures today.  No explanation needed for my vegetable garden friends will know what I have.  Not many tomatoes this year, again.  Let's just hope that they produce in this heat!

 

Missing In Action

I can't believe it has been 5 months since my last post.  My winter garden didn't do all that well and I ended up with just swiss chard, beets, kale, sorrel, onions, and some lettuce varieties.  This of course is after the wonderful cauliflower harvest.  After that we had super hot weather and I lost the cabbage plants to bolting and lost the brussel sprouts to aphids.

 On to better news.  I have 11 tomato plants in at my senior garden plot and am still  harvesting swiss chard and beets.  Lots of onions are just about ready to pull, but the garlic is slow and small.  I will leave both in for a month or so.  

I have summer squash coming in now but the other day I saw the 3 striped beetle on the leaves and even found them on the radish leaves.  I hand picked them and disposed of them then sprayed with an organic oil spray to see if that will keep them away.  Once they move in you are pretty much out of luck. 

When I remember to bring my camera along I will add some photos to my blog.  I hope all of you gardener friends are in full planting mode and I look forward to checking out your blogs soon.

Life has been busy of late.

Happy Spring!!!

Purple Cauliflower!

I picked this cauliflower a few days ago.  It is one of six plants that I planted back in October.  I have two more that are just about ready to harvest.  The flavor is wonderful and the color stays even after it is cooked.  I saved half of it for eating raw in salads.  It is just beautiful!

Winter Garden Update January 2015

More photos of my winter garden.  These are again from my garden at the senior community garden that we are so lucky to have.  Our plot is 18x20, a good size for just the two of us.  I fertilized all the plants today. Sadly, I had to pull out the San Marzano tomato plant that got hit by the frost over the last few days.  Now I have that space to the right of the photo above to plant more lettuce seedling.  I started them a couple of weeks ago and they will be ready to transplant by the end of the month.  The good news is that the tomato plant is the only one I lost to the frost and this week we will be warming up again.  Monday and Tuesday will be 80 degrees!  Nights will still be cool at the mid 40's.