My Latest Vegetable Garden Fantasy

Our current front yard - not bad, but could use some improvement

Maybe some day:fenced veg garden with arbor, new driveway with block edging, house facelift

Second Vegetable Garden Planted!

There are just too many vegetables that I want to grow!  I had to expand!  I started with a meager 4'X8' plot, but today June helped me add another plot 4'X7'.  I removed the grass, then added 3 bags of Vigoro Organic Garden Soil. 

In it we planted:
Burpee Organic Garden Bean - Provider seeds (55 days to maturity)
Bonnie Straight Eight Cucumber- plant (50-75 days to maturity)
Bonnie Straight Neck Yellow Squash- plant (46-52 days to maturity)
Bonnie Japanese eggplant - plant (50-60 days to maturity)
Bonnie Jalapeno Pepper- plant (72 days to maturity)
Bonnie Yellow tomatoes- plant (72 days to maturity)

New Veg Garden (fig tree behind and original veg plot to the right)

Now we just need to keep the bunnies and deer away and prevent the little kids from trampling the little plants - always a challenge!  Time for another round of Liquid Fence!

First Harvest

We planted six cloves of garlic last fall.  They all popped up and grew into great big bulbs!  I had never tried garlic before, but I'll definitely do it again this fall.  I'm not exactly sure what to do next.  I think I need to dry it somehow....?
We also ate a bunch of the romaine.  I am completely amazed that the bunnies and deer didn't get to it yet.  I guess the "Liquid Fence" actually works.  Either that or the foxes ate all the bunnies. 

Today June and I planted some red potatoes.  They were just 4 little potatoes from the super market that were growing little eyes.  So I threw them in the ground.  We'll see.   We also put in some bush peas.  They are an heirloom variety that don't need staking.  I need to expand the garden plot.  We have run out of room, and I didn't even get our orange cherry tomatoes in yet!

Front L to R:  oregano, parsley, basil, romaine, potatoes, peas, thyme.  Back: Sweet peppers & Tomatoes

Veggie Planting Schedule - Zone 7

Basil Harvest

While Robin sat quietly in her stroller, I took out all the basil.  Robin is pretty grabby these days, and couldn't resist trying to stuff some basil leaves in her mouth. After letting her do a little taste testing, I made a big batch of pesto.   I froze most of it in ice cube trays to use later. 
I also took out a tomato plant, harvested a fig, and planted 10 cloves of garlic. 

Fig Tree Planted Yesterday

Yesterday, June and I planted our fig tree right next to the vegetable garden.  Gram bought it for us from Mostardis Nursery.  I hope it makes it.  It was in its pot for quite a few weeks while we figured out where to put it.  A good number of leaves turned yellow and fell off... Fingers crossed for a full recovery.

Italian Everbearing - A bush type grower with at least 2 crops of large, prolific bearing, reddish brown figs having sweet, pink flesh.  The large and flavorful figs resemble those of 'Brown Turkey' but they are larger.  It is a very popular fig in Italy as well as in California.  It is excellent either fresh or dried.

Not our figs, but we hope to get some soon.

Broccoli and Pea Harvest

We just got back from a week long vacation in Florida.  I left the broccoli just starting to bud, but when we got back it was already about to flower.  I missed the ideal harvest time. June and I wasted no time in harvesting all the crowns.  I filled a gallon ziploc bag with the freshly picked and cleaned bounty and stuck it in the freezer for steaming up later.

Our first peas are popping now too. Delicious!
The spinach got to be about two feet tall and stringy so I yanked it out of there.  I'm tired of spinach now anyway.  We have tons in the freezer and we can do some more in the fall.
Little tiny peppers are forming on the one pepper plant.
The tomato plants all had their tops nipped off (deer).  I doused them in Liquid Fence.
Most of our sunflower seedlings are suffering.  June can't resist stamping on them or digging them up.  We might still get a couple.
Now that the broccoli is done I think I'll try some string beans in their place.  I couldn't find any plants, so I guess I'll have to try them from seed.

Sunflower seeds planted

June and I planted sunflower seeds together this morning on the north edge of the vegetable garden.  I expanded the plot out about a foot.  I really hope some of the seeds actually sprout.  I was pretty lazy about the planting operation, not taking the time to cultivate a nice loose soil mix for them.  And the seeds were from last year.  I hope they are still viable.  We shall see.

Proposed Veg Garden

Before

Here is a rough sketch showing the proposed location of an enlarged fenced vegetable garden and driveway courtyard.  I'm thinking of adding a trellis pergola entrance into the garden and maybe lining the courtyard edge with some beds. 

Proposed

Veg Garden Inspiration

This is what I want!

Pea Seeds & Blueberries Planted

Today June and I planted some "Pea Shelling Progress #9" Organic Heirloom" Peas.  They grow to only 18" tall so they don't need staking.  I haven't had much luck with starting seeds in the ground so we'll see if I can keep these guys moist and happy  Full info here:
Botanical Interests

I planted two short rows about 3' long (seen in foreground above) It was supposed to rain today, but we barely got a sprinkle.  I'll need to haul a couple buckets of water out there until i get a longer hose.

I also put two "Tophat Blueberry" bushes in containers out by the laundry room door  I bought them from:Springhill Nursery

Vegetable Garden - First Crops In

Arugula Salad Green

Bubbles Brussel Sprouts - Mature 85-90 days

Spinach - Matures 38 days

 

Packman Broccoli - Matures 45-50 days

Vegetable Garden Begins!

I tilled in some humus and manure mix with a little peat moss into the veg garden today I also bought some spinach, arugula, brussel sprouts, and broccoli to try.  I plan to put those in tomorrow. I can't wait until harvest!



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Late summer pics

Just a quick recap of what is going on out in the back yard in mid-September (need to weed!):
Vegetable garden with the last of the tomatoes, marigolds, rosemary and broccoli and beet seeds. B7

Front porch garden with marigolds, sedum, and rose of sharon still blooming.  Red gaillardia still hanging in there. B6

 Garage side garden - needs some serious weeding, but the hostas are doing well. B4

 Daylily bed B5. It really was just all daylilies!

 Back fence line - B10

 North fence line B11. After I removed some thorny shrub.  I thought it was a rose of some sort, but the blooms were just tiny white flowers - definitely not worth the thorny mess. 

 Screen porch ferns B1

 New japanese holly and chysanthemums. B2

 Family room bed B3

Summer Vegetable Recap

I thought I'd recap what went wrong and right this summer with the veggies:
Yellow straightneck squash: planted 2 plants from Home Depot.  Yielded 2 lovely little straightneck squash.  I definitely did not have enough room for these since the tomato plants just took over EVERYTHING.

Red Bell Sweet Pepper: planted 2 plants from Home Depot. These totally got overshadowed (literally) by the tomato plants.  We got one pepper.  Unfortunately I picked it too early - I forgot they were supposed to be red peppers.  Next year, I'd like to so a separate bed with sweet and hot peppers.

Black Prince Heirloom Tomato: I guess these are heirloom for a reason.  They tasted awesome, but we had trouble with these tomatoes being deformed, split, or hole-ridden.  We didn't get many perfect ones, the rest I just incorporated into sauces.  Not going to do this one next year.

Sweet 100 Cherry Tomato: This plant went crazy.  Good yield, good taste.  Would definitely plant these again. Next year I need some better and taller supports.

Orange cherry tomatoes - GREAT SUCCESS.  June loved picking these and eating them.  Huge yield!  There are still lots of green tomatoes ripening on the vine now in mid-september.  Again, next year I need better supports - the plants grew to about 7 feet tall before slumping over and shadowing all the herbs.

Rutgers Heirloom Tomato: Tasty, but unfortunately the deer and rabbits took a lot of these.  Next year - fencing!  These grew pretty big and we didn't have too many problems with splitting or disease.  I might stay away from the heirloom varieties next year and stick to the hardier types.

Sweet Basil - total success!  No deer or rabbit trouble.  but gone now :(
Oregano - success - gone now
Parsley - success - gone now
Rosemary - success- still going strong
Mint - in pot, could use a sunnier location next year

Fall Vegetable Planting

I cleared out the weeds and low-producing tomato plants yesterday.  I added some peat, and churned up the soil.  Today I sowed seeds for:
Touchstone Gold Beets:

and Nutri-bud Broccoli:

I've read that these can be harvested through the fall.  The broccoli is 55-70 days to maturity.  The beets are 45-60 days to maturity.  It is an experiment. Cross my fingers!

If these deer weren't so cute....

Yesterday, I awoke to discover that deer had chomped off the tops of all four of my tomato plants!  It looks like they were just going for the new leaves.  Luckily, they didn't touch the perfectly ripe green pepper or budding green tomatoes.  These are the culprits: Mama and her two little babies.  They are lucky they're cute.  I decided another spray with "Liquid Fence" was the way to go.  It stunk for a few hours, but hopefully it will keep them away.  Sorry, deer, no more tomatoes for you!  But there is some tasty bamboo in the back yard!