Must Try

Someday when I build up enough courage, I'm going to have to try this Raspberry & Green Tomato Cobbler

Tomato Hacking

The Juliet and Lemon Boy tomato plants I planted last September have exploded out of control, so I hacked them back quite a bit this morning, taking lots of little tomatoes with it. We picked any ripe or almost ripe guys we could, but there were probably just as many little green tomatoes that went into the yard waste bin.

On a related note, I'm unimpressed with these Lemon Boy tomatoes. We pulled off a dozen tomatoes today and all but the three smallest were cracked, rotting, and bizarrely shaped. I'll have to give those that we did save a try, but unless they are the most delicious tomato ever I'm not sure they're worth the vines they grow on.

Harvest:
2 lbs 7 oz Juliet Tomatoes
11 oz Lemon Boy

Busy Weekend

Alright...I spent all of Saturday afternoon and a couple hours on Sunday in the garden. Here's what happened:

In the Tomato Bed:

1. Tomatoes got pruned (any branches that were dead, dying, munched, or too close to the ground) and tied vertically against the fence



2. 13 Basil Seedlings (3 each Lemon, Mini, Purple, Genovese and 1 Sweet) were transplanted into the bed



3. 3 Scallions were transplanted into the bed



4. 1 Anaheim Pepper and 1 Red Bell Pepper purchased from Home Depot were planted
   


5. A cup or two of E.B. Stone Vegetable fertilizer was sprinkled on the bed
   


6. A bag of compost/mulch was spread around the bed

Along the concrete wall:

1. The edible peas and sweet peas were yanked up



2. Two bags of compost/mulch was spread around



3. Runner beans were planted (12 inch spacing...right under the drip line drips)



4. 1 Edamame bean was planted (I had others but I left them out overnight and somebody stole them)



5. Carrots tops were unburied so that they can continue to grow despite the mulch



6. Cucumber seeds were planted (3 sweet cucumbers, 3 English cucumbers)



7. A 5ish ft row of radishes alternating with carrots was planted.
   

In the corner:

1. 1 bag of compost/mulch was spread around



2. 7 corn seedlings were transplanted (and one new seed)
   


3. 1 acorn , 1 delicata, and 1 spaghetti squash were transplanted



4. 4 Sunzilla Sunflower Seeds
   

Beans Begin!

I emptied a package of Magic Beanstalk Scarlet Runner Beans and 6 Edamame seeds into a wet paper towel in a bowl. I'm planning on putting them in the ground on Friday or Saturday.

Tonight's dinner menu comes from our garden again. My Juliet tomato plant has finally decided it wants to fruit so I decided we should have BLTs tonight to celebrate the little tomatoes. Bread machine sourdough is rising as I type and a pack of bacon is defrosting. I've got a little head of some sort of red leaf lettuce (it randomly grew in what used to be the chard bed) that will join some Juliet tomatoes and a sliced red onion (sadly store bought). I also took out a cup or so of the fava beans I froze a little while back and I think I'll make a spread out of those to moisten the sandwich instead of the traditional mayonnaise.

All the squash seeds have sprouted except the Black Beauty Zucchini. Honestly, I'm not heartbroken about that! I only wanted the Black Beauty for its blossoms anyways, so having that plant get a little bit of a late start is fine by me. Zucchini squash is gross...except in zucchini bread (mmm).

The Dulcetta pepper seeds definitely get the award for being the most reliable seed. Another one has sprouted, and nothing from the other three types of peppers I seeded at the same time.

My tomato bed is becoming overrun with (surprise) tomato plant. I'll have to go out as soon as I get a chance and start training those up the fence so I don't lose the ground space. My plan is to plant my basil, onion, and pepper seedlings in there on Friday or Saturday.

Tally:
11 oz Juliet Tomatoes

Seedlings Update

I moved some of the basil out of the covered seedling tray so that I can keep that tray covered. In their spot I put some Bon Jour Bicolor corn. The Marigold and Borage seeds I think are just not coming up, so I replanted their spots with Globe Amaranth seeds. I also added more Sweet Basil seeds and Scallions seeds because only one Sweet Basil seed sprouted and three Scallions. The new layout can be seen here:

Tomatoes

Picked 11oz of cherry tomatoes this morning, and remembered that I'd picked about that much a couple weeks ago to give to our landlord.

Harvest:
1 lb, 6oz Juliet Tomatoes

Seeds Sprouting...slowly

Two scallions have sprouted and a third is just popping through. The Acorn squash has sprouted and both it and the Delicata are working on their first true leaves. Only one sweet basil seed has sprouted so I'll be adding a few more of those seeds this weekend. I think I'll replant some scallion seeds too. The marigolds seem to just be a total nonstarter. I probably didn't treat the seeds well enough when collecting or something.

When I went to water the flat this morning it looked like the 9-pack of melons and eggplant was only wet to the first 1/8 inch or so. I watered a little more aggressively and what I think is a Charentais seed popped up looking like the day I'd put it in the seedling mix. I made sure to water those few carefully and thoroughly, so hopefully they'll get started germinating soon.