Garden Update

The garden is reaching a transition point where I really need to pull up all of the lettuce type plants and plant some hardier things in their place (or not).

Eggplants

(Japanese Eggplant)

Peppers

Ok I have to admit that I ran out of room in the garden and had to plant this bell pepper plant in a pot.  But it's doing great especially since I took it off the deck ( I noticed one of the bells had gotten a bit of sun scald, so I moved it to a somewhat shadier spot).

(Poor Bell outside the garden in a pot)

(Sun Scald - Where the sun has burned the fruit.). This can be prevented by making sure the fruit is well protected wite plenty of leaves and making sure that the plant is well watered so the leaves don't wilt when the sun is at it's hottest.  Sun Scald doesn't ruin the fruit, however that spot is usually mushy and and soft.  I will usually pick the fruit and cut out the soft spot or donate the whole thing to the compost bin.

These peppers can be eaten at any stage.  They will go from green to red (this particular type). The red peppers will have a much sweeter taste than the green.

This little guy looks to be on his way to turning red, so he won't get very big.  But the little ones taste just as good as the bigger ones, so I won't be discriminating in the kitchen.

(Mild Poblano Peppers)  I'm a real wuss when it comes to hot peppers, but I usually grow them to put in my pickles every year because my mom and husband like 'em spicy. No pickles this year so I can grow mild flavored peppers for salsas and sauces that I can eat.

 (Mild Chiles)

Squash

So I made a poor planting decision by planting this squash in front of my cucumber plant.  You can see the cucumber leaves peaking out next to the fence.  I had to make a decision and dramatically cut back this plant although I hated to do it. So what you see now is a quarter of the plant that it originally was. It was also beginning to encroach on my bean plants on the bottom right.

The trellised Butternut Squash experiment still seems to be doing well.

Beans

(Various Shelling Beans - Cranberry, Black Peas, Navy, Edamame etc)

(Soy Beans)

(Green Beans - lettuce in front that needs to be put out of it's misery, and a very vibrant Sweet Basil plant to the far right)

Plants on Their Way Out

(Left to Right - Arugula, Broccoli, Mustard Greens and Collard Greens)  The Collard Greens will be staying

Garden Update

I said a few weeks back that I'd be complaining about the heat soon...and now I am. We were at 102 degrees today, so after an hour in the garden doing the absolute necessary, I decided to update you on what's been going on here.

The yellow squash are making up for lost time and I am now doing the frantic search for new recipes to make use of all the bounty. Today, I thought I'd be adventurous and make squash croquettes. This recipe could use some "improvements" so I'll play with a bit. My other half didn't mention calling Poison Control, so that's always a promising sign for a recipe. Of course considering that it was so hot today, I probably shouldn't have been frying ANYTHING in the kitchen, but I guess I'm a glutton for punishment.

 

The tomatoes are happy and blooming away, I hope we don't have to many of these hot days, as this is something that we battle with here in Sacramento. Tomatoes tend to stop setting fruit at temperatures over 90 degrees. You have to battle to ensure consistent watering to prevent splitting and make sure the fruit have proper sun protection with their foliage to prevent sun scald (the fruit turning yellow in spots facing the sun). This year I'm trying to stay on top of all these things (almost time to begin the Horn Worm war).

The Ichiban eggplants have begun to bare beautiful glossy slim purple fruits. The Thai eggplants are still growing and have yet to flower. I can taste the green curry dishes and eggplant Parmesan now.yumm.

Once in awhile, we plant something or think we plant something and it grows to be something else. Or the plants got mixed up, or I forgot to label it. But, whatever...so what the heck are these beans? I can clearly tell these are beans and they appear to be pole. They are dark green with a purple hue on each end. Well the good thing about gardening is always the discovery of a hybrid breed or something that was dropped by the local wildlife. So...we shall wait and see and if we don't like it I'm sure the dogs will :).

Still working on trying to trellis the butternut squash.

 

This weeks Harvest

Yellow Squash

Broccoli

Strawberries

Green Beans

This morning..fresh strawberry smoothies..yuuuuuuuuum!

2 cups fresh strawberries

1/2 cup vanilla soy milk

1 cup o ice

1 tablespoon agave sweetener

1/2 cup frozen strawberry dacquiri mix

Blend well and enjoy!