Tag: vegetable gardening

Productive.

From the beginning of the growing season in April through August, this 20′ x 20′ plot (plus a much smaller one in the back yard) has yielded (list below photo):

5.4 kilos of Chocolate Cherry Tomatoes

4.2 kilos of Piennolo del Vesuvio tomatoes

0.6 kilos of Purple Heart tomatoes

0.1 kilo of Beefsteak tomatoes

3.9 kilos of cucumbers

5.2 kilos of green zucchini

2.3 kilos of Cocozelle zukes

2.8 kilos of Kusa zukes

0.5 kilos of tomatillos

0.3 kilos of jalapeno peppers

0.4 kilos of Sugar Rush Peach peppers

0.4 kilos of Cayenne peppers

0.3 kilos of Scarlet Runner Bean pods (after a short harvest time we’re letting the beans go to 

4.7 kilos of asparagus

2.2 kilos of haskap berries

48 bulbs of garlic (huge aromatic cloves, enough for replanting and for cooking well into winter)

An unrecorded amount of rhubarb

Lots of lettuce

More tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers, and *maybe* some figs are on the way.

And from elsewhere in the yard:

1.5 kilos of blackcurrants

An unrecorded amount of redcurrants

More rhubarb

Some pole beans

Some chives and green onions

We’re very unlikely to have bought this volume of most if not all of this produce. The green zukes alone would have cost around $40 at the grocery store. We will never be self-sufficient yet we know our produce is pesticide- and herbicide-free.

A much more productive, healthy, green, critter-friendly, use of 400 square feet than growing, and mowing, turfgrass.

Bounty

From the garden, clockwise from top: a cucumber and three zucchini, Chocolate Cherry tomatoes, and Piennolo del Vesuvio tomatoes. We love the Chocolate Cherry tomatoes – they have good flavour, are a little crack-resistant in variable watering conditions, will ‘volunteer’ next year.

A photograph of vegetables from a home garden. Pictured are a cucumber with three zucchini, a basket of Chocolate Cherry tomatoes, and a basket of Piennolo del Vesuvio tomatoes.

A feast for the eyes and stomach.

One can grow a lot in a 20’ x 20’ space. Around the perimeter, clockwise from upper left.

Tomatoes – 3 varieties, and tomatillos, with basil underneath

Zucchini

Thyme

Some flowers (forget the variety)

Cucumbers (1 so far, 4 on the way)

Sunflowers

More sunflowers

Another tomato

Small evergreen tree

Another zuke 

Squash

Nasturtiums and marigolds

Sage

Inside the perimeter, again clockwise from upper left

Haskap

Sunflowers and oregano

Tomatoes and hot peppers

Some dill

Still more tomatoes

The bare patch: just dug up the 48 garlic plants

Asparagus allowed to grow (we harvested about 10 lbs this spring)

Rhubarb

A 20 foot by 20 foot plt growing flowers and vgetables including tomatoes, asparagus, squash, peppers, sunflowers and herbs

Yum.

Have picked about 4 cups of Chocolate Cherry Tomatoes in the last few days. That’s on top of the 8? cups picked before this week. More are on the way, in varying stages of maturing and ripeness.

So good simply popped in my mouth – not all make it inside – in salads, baked in a little olive oil with garlic, rosemary, and pepper.

Yum.

Bounty.

We grow a few of many things in our small garden.

Todays’ harvest: jalapenos, ‘ugly’ tomatoes (which are volunteers from last years’ effort), Chocolate Cherry tomatoes, tomatillos (also volunteers), beans, a cayenne pepper, ground cherries. Also growing: rosemary, spearmint and peppermint, basil and Thai basil, sage.

How it is.

July 2022. The haskap has grown considerably and shares space with asparagus, strawberries, and sunflowers. Partly or completely obscured by the haskap and asparagus are Chocolate Cherry tomatoes, garlic, beans, tomatillos, broccoli, Chicago figs in pots.

Up against the foundation are ferns, more sunflowers, columbines, Purple Coneflowers, and more stuff I do not remember right now.

Some might call this untidy. Weedy. Even messy.

I say, less lawn to mow. More diverse. More welcoming to birds as well as pollinators and insects.

A little hard to see.

It is a little hard to see the seven asparagus spears in our small ‘spare grass’ patch. We have already enjoyed several fresh spears. The strawberries are starting to flower (though you cannot see the flowers in this image). The haskap bush in the background has flowered and should set fruit soon.

The tomato patch.

The three Chocolate Cherry Tomatoes we planted have been more successful than we anticipated. We have picked more than a dozen pints’ worth so far and have many more pints’ worth on the way.

WordPress is not allowing me to upload the photo. Imagine a jungle of three plants, six feet tall by six feet wide. Imagine crawling on elbows and knees into the jungle, looking for ripe tomatoes. This is the happy problem we have.

 

 

Last harvest

A very hard freeze is predicted so Faye cleaned up the vegetable garden today. Clockwise from upper left: Tomatoes; tomatillos; honey (not ours – locally sourced); home canned applesauce (not our apples though locally sourced); not quite ripe Chocolate Cherry tomatoes; little bitty poblanos; and jalapenos.

Version 2

Harvest

Our garlic is in, forty five bulbs worth. That is enough to plant this fall and have plenty to use in cooking well into, if not all the way through, winter. While probably not enough to be completely self sufficient, it is enough to reduce our dependence on store bought garlic.

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