The garden is just exploding right now, so I thought I would show some pics. Some heirlooms lead this row:
Now some nice peppers:
Much more below the fold.
by John Cole| 78 Comments
This post is in: Garden Chats
The garden is just exploding right now, so I thought I would show some pics. Some heirlooms lead this row:
Now some nice peppers:
Much more below the fold.
I still have two more full crowns growing, but even the broccoli I cut once is still producing:
Peas are doing ok:
Going to give the green beans another couple days to get bigger and fuller before I do a pick:
Here is some generic tomato (big boy? Better boy? Who knows…):
Another broccoli crown:
Couple cabbage at about this stage:
Finally, I have about ten Roma plants, and they all are exploding, which is great, because I would love to be able to freeze a lot of them for the winter:
The jalapenos, bell peppers, and other peppers are also doing well, but I didn’t want to make you to jealous.
by John Cole| 72 Comments
This post is in: Garden Chats
For all of you who told me my broccoli would just go to hell, this just came from the garden:
Just so you know, that is an 8″ chef knife for comparison. Dad and I will be using one head tonight with the peppers for some stir fry. Yum!
*** Update ***
No stir fry- had an orzo salad with tomatoes, cukes, basil, and pepper, steamed broccoli with a little salt, pepper, and tarragon, and grilled sea scallops. The vast majority from our collective gardens.
by John Cole| 67 Comments
This post is in: Garden Chats
Another exciting morning of tomato bondage:
This is almost a completely mature head of broccoli, and I have three more about half that size. You can’t tell by the picture because there is no frame of reference, but that is about 5-7 inches across. The week of cool weather last week was perfectly timed and all the broccoli just exploded in size:
And here is one of my bells, which is going to be massive:
Not sure if you can tell by the big picture at top, but the tomato plants are about to start exploding with fruit. I have about 75 roma tomatoes that are about thumb sized or bigger, and the big boys and heirlooms and big girls and all the others I planted are starting to really grow fruit. I’m excited. The green beans are quite the recidivist escape artists, though, breaking away from my poles every other day it seems. Peas are coming along nicely, too, and I have a ton of hot peppers in the back that you can not see.
Are there any health risks to eating tomatoes for three meals a day? We shall soon find out.
by John Cole| 35 Comments
This post is in: Garden Chats
Picked that yesterday and am letting it ripen a little more on the table- was terrified the varmints would get my first or I would have let it stay on the vine longer.
I have to get some work done and hit the nursery, so I will see you all later.
by John Cole| 39 Comments
This post is in: Dog Blogging, Garden Chats, Open Threads
Just got back from a picnic for a friend’s birthday party- great food- shish kabobs, numerous salads, cous cous, etc. It was a really good time and the bitches (I love yelling “C’mere bitches” or “C’mere girls” and having them both come running) were mostly behaved- Lily was, as always, a perfect angel, and everyone agreed Rosie was so much better from a few weeks ago, although she went into snarls when the young lab at the party got up in her grill to play. Got home and my brother had sent me some new pictures of Boghan:
I’ve decided I am calling him the Boghanator. When I met him the other day, I was struck by the pure rich chocolatey beauty of his eyes and that big beautiful brown nose.
Also, don’t forget the Thursday night menu:
I had some chipotle peppers left over from the Baby Back Ribs with Citrus Glaze last week, so I thought I’d pull this marinade out for this Thursday’s menu. Since it’s a 3-day holiday for many, I figured grilling would be a safe bet. I love 4th of July, that and Thanksgiving are my favorite holidays. Time to break out 1776, do some grilling, have a picnic and enjoy the fireworks. Really, what’s not to love? All week long I’ve been posting 4th of July recipes, so check them out if you’re looking for ideas. I’ll be making the Drunken Chicken Appetizers for sure (and I’m pretty sure I’m soaking more than the skewers in bourbon). What plans do you have for the holiday?
On the board tonight:
1. Adobo Sirloin
2. Garlic Roasted Potatoes
3. Cucumber & Zucchini Spears tossed with Italian dressing
4. Summer Fruit w/Mint
I love everything on that menu and the only thing missing is tomatoes. I may have to hunt down Tamara and swoon her. Adobo is such a good taste.
Also, everyone there agreed that you all are great people (they are all readers). I concurred. Group hug.
Must run- Tunch is bitching.
This post is in: Garden Chats
I think DougJ and Mistermix are on the road (DougJ is somewhere really elitist, Mistermix said he was in Real America somewhere), and Anne Laurie is out and about, so I doubt there will be much in the way of threads today, because I have a ton to do.
Does anyone have any practical experience with this Fiskars Garden Cart? I love all the Fiskars products I have, but would like to know if anyone has tried it. I still have not found a wheelbarrow I like.
At any rate, I’m off to mow, weed-eat, edge the sidewalk, fertilize the lawn, weed the garden, and engage in some tomato bondage. I just can not pass up this 70 degree weather.
This post is in: Garden Chats
News of a new blight, which I had not heard about until people started talking about it on yesterday’s pesto threads:
A potentially fatal fungal disease called downy mildew has been attacking basil plants in New York, New Jersey, Ohio and Florida. Gardeners are worried that it could spread farther throughout the summer, turning delicate green basil leaves an ugly shade of brown, yellow or gray…
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So-called basil blight is similar to late blight in tomatoes or downy mildew in cucumbers, squash and melons. McGrath says these are considered “community diseases” because they move easily. “If you have it in your garden, you can affect other gardeners and farmers because the pathogen can jump onto their crops and plants,” she says…
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The sign of the blight, McGrath says, is the top of the leaf will start yellowing. But to really know the state of the plant, you have to flip the leaves over and look on the undersides.
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“You’ll see a grayish, almost purplish dusty growth on the underside, sometimes turning to almost black — and that is all of the pathogen spores. And there are incredible production of them on the underside of the leaves,” she says. “The wind will pick those up and blow them off and the disease just keeps multiplying like crazy.”
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McGrath says that if you see the blight, you could get rid of the leaves, but if you remove one, you’ll probably knock around the spores and they could get on other parts of the plant. She suggests making pesto on the spot with the healthy leaves when you see the first signs of blight.
This would be the year I decided to grow more than two basil plants. I’m planning to spend some time this afternoon spraying a product called Serenade on my plants. Don’t know if it will help with the basil blight, but it’s supposed to be a broad-spectrum fungicide, and I already planned to try it on the tomatoes, roses, and lilacs.