Goodbye Tomatillo's

In the last week I've been noticing that the tomatillo plants are dropping leaves. They have been turning yellow and dropping fast. I think the change in the weather for the cooler has not been favorable to them. So, on Tuesday I decided that was it. I tore them out...

What a jungle! It took me over and hour and a half to pick the fruit and tear out the plants. The vines, yes, vines... were intermingled with my overgrown patty pan squash and I had to be delicate so that I could try and save the patty pans.

When I researched growing tomatillo's for the first time this past winter, all indications said they would be about 4ft and bushy.... nope!! If they'd grown straight up I'm sure they would've been 8ft, and definitely leggy! I suppose it could've been the environment this year. Lots of water and extreme heat, and boys do they love the heat!

All in all, I now have a huge stock pot full of tomatillos to make salsa verde this weekend for canning. I'll be making small batches as I'm tweaking the Ball canning recipe, it's not quite the right flavor but close. I'll try to remember to share later...

Oh, and I found a bucket of patty pan's hidden in the process...

What to do....

... When you are getting sick of the garden? Or should I say the work of it?

After coming back from vacation, where I all to quickly got used to the more moderate temperature, I was struggling with garden motivation. I think it was the heat.... on vacation we spent almost 3 weeks in a more moderate climate and came back to extended heat waves in July through August. Ugh! Not the type of weather to want to be outside in,

Fortunately in September has cooled off and the interest has peaked somewhat again.... too bad the garden was scorched and now chilled. Hopefully I get half of the veggies I hope to get.

How NOT to grow potatoes

Some things I just have to learn the hard way...

Amongst the any other "firsts" this year, I decided to plant potatoes. I had not tried them before now because they are root vegetables and I didn't have the soil in my beds turned deep enough. This year I decided to give it a whirl anyway. I love to eat potatoes!

I decided to grow Blue Caribe because they are drought resistant and Nebraska can get very dry. At the time I had not yet invested in my sprinkler hose system. I only bought one small bag of seed potatoes from my favorite local nursery and I planted them in my corner bed which is an odd L shaped bed for which I did my best to raise mounds. They were not very high mounds though, and in my typical fashion I planted closer than suggested. The plants were slow to start but when they poked through I did my best to hoe the soil despite the close quarters.

In April we had the crazy heat wave in the plus 100F's and the potato plants were not looking good. It was too hot early in their getting established and I wasn't sure that they were going to make it. Fortunately that spell only lasted 3 days and the plants did recover.

Here's the plants on June 4th

By the middle of June I gave up any attempts to hoe, the plants were huge! I had no idea they would get that tall or bushy. I don't recall my grandfathers potato plants ever getting like that. Maybe it was the potato variety, soil, watering system, or even the climate. Whatever the case, I could barely get to the side of the raised bed, let alone get to the soil to hoe it.

I decided to let fate be what it may. This is what they looked like on July 1st

In the middle of July we went away for two weeks vacation during what turned out to be an extended extreme heatwave. When we returned at the end of July, that was it. There was nothing but some dead stalks lying on the ground. Knowing that the potatoes would likely still be under there I set to work digging up what I could find.... And did I ever!

Here's the devastation left by the heatwave

In the end I harvested 2/3rds of a paper bag of beautiful potatoes that are the best tasting I have had in a long time.

My family enjoyed a pan of oven roasted potatoes and they disappeared fast. That paper bag of potatoes is not going to last long enough for us.

 I'm am thoroughly pleased with the harvest and will be planting lots more next year, although in a different bed. This time I think I'll try the idea of growing them in a recycled WholeFoods bag with holes in the bottom.  Dumping that out to get the potatoes will be a whole lot less work than digging deep. And, I will definitely be taking into account that "drought resistant" does not mean "heat resistant"!

Taming of the Shrew

Ok, I've never read the book and I'm taking an educated guess that it has nothing to do with gardening but that thought was what kept going through my mind as I tackled the garden.

We had gone away on a long vacation during what turned out to be an extended heatwave with temps in the 100F's. Fortunately I have the garden on a timer with sprinkler hoses so all but the furthest corners were watered well each morning. Returning from vacation I came back to an overgrown jungle.

Notice the 6 foot privacy fence and how tall everything is in relation to it!

This mess is the before picture, there's a walkway in there that you can't get to because of the tomatillo's and tomatoes.

And this is the after...

The herb garden was a mess gone wild...

And still is, this weekend I will be doing some serious weeding and Pesto making..

The patty pan squash has only produced one to harvest but is loaded in flowers, I think I may need to eat the flowers instead.... and the zucchini is out of control! Not producing much but a plant out of control!

My potato plants did not survive the extreme heat but I dug up what was left of the plant and am happy to say that I got way more than I expected for my first adventure with potatoes, so all's good :)

The most interesting new adventure is that some of my kaliedoscope carrots have gone to seed. I've never had this happen before but likely due to the type of seed I've planted. These were heirloom seeds and I'm guessing more apt to seed than the former hybrid's and organic's I've grown. I think I'll see if I can harvest them.

My shade bed made out well in the heat, probably thanks to the shade. 

I'm happy to say that despite the neglect and extreme heat, the garden is still doing well.... and keeping me very busy, I'll be canning and freezing on a regular basis for the rest of the season!

Tropical Jungle

Rain, sun, rain, overcast, rain, sun...... I think you get the point. It's been a moist season so far and much cooler than normal for this time of year. We had our hot crazy weather in the early spring and now that it's summer we are having spring weather.

... And the garden is loving it! It's growing like mad and I am going to be very busy soon. I think that while we are gone on vacation there will be some things that should have been harvested and will be lost. With the weather being so nice I think I'll have an early crop. The beans, patty-pan squash, zucchini and cucumber are blooming like mad!!!

Once again the peas are not doing so well though, I just learned this year that they don't like something wide to climb so the lattice I put up won't work.

This bed is the old well established tomato bed with the tomato plants that were fried in April's 100+ temps... not looking so fried now...

And on the right is the tropical jungle called the herb bed.... oregano gone wild!

In the second oldest bed is a wild mess of potatoes and broccoli... oh my, I way over planted this bed! The plants are growing well so I'm hoping to enjoy a harvest later this year but there's no room to get in and work the soil around these puppies...

Next there's the bed we put in last year with cuke's, carrots, asparagus, kale, garlic and eggplant.... like I said, tropical jungle!

Then there's the new beds this year. The first of which has 4ft tomatilla plants and patty pan and zucchini taking over..

Hidden amongst the tall mess is pepper plants who are doing nicely...

Not to mention the blue-lake green beans growing high behind the tomatoes...

And it's not going to be long before I'm harvesting these zucchini...

I'm excited to see the tomatillo patio lanterns, they're still light and have not developed the fruit yet but it's only a matter of time..

..and not to mention the cuke's which are soon to be ready too...

Lastly, and appropriately so is the last bed put in this year. Carrots, romaine, celery, parsley, summer savory, and leeks growing nicely in the part shade.

 Oh, my.... I'm going to be busy harvesting soon....

Seedlings galore - draft from April....

I just realized that I never finished this draft from back on April 17th. I'm going to publish as is, unfinished.....

This year I decided to try and sprout the majority of my plants from seeds. It's much cheaper to buy the seed pack and you can save the seeds you didn't plant in a ziploc bag in a dark place for planting another year.

My first tray was an experiment that I learned quickly from. It's pellets and I planted leek and romaine lettuce. After I discovered the pale, stringy looking romaine I researched and realized that even though I have a bright room, the seedlings weren't getting enough direct light. I think the leeks will survive this but the romaine may not. I also decided that I didn't like the pellets.

Fortunately I learned quickly and got deeper trays to add potting soil too and took my curtains off the windows to get more direct sunlight. I started one tray of 72 with:
- Roma Tomato
- Beefsteak Tomato
- Eggplant
- Basil
- Parsley
- PattyPan Squash

So excited!!!!

I am so excited, the garden is growing fast and furious and the money that I invested this year really seems to be paying off.

The tomatoes, that I was sure were fried and lost, are now almost 2ft high.

The tomatillos are still an experiment but growing quickly and fast going to bloom.

Every other day I'm pulling the plants back into the cages so that they grow straight up. They're growing fast and furious and trying to go every direction.

The 3 basil plants I put in around the tomatoes are doing extremely well. That is my oldest (was the only for about a decade), best fertiziled bed and they are loving it! The other 4 basils are in my herb bed that was built 3 years ago. They are not doing quite as well because the soil is not as well established but still doing quite nicely.

The oregano I planted 3 years ago in my herb bed is a monster! I dug half out before the plant really started growing and still had to whack back the plant this week cause it was threatening to smother my other herbs. I took a grocery bag full of oregano to work to give away and still have tonnes left in the garden! I foresee a huge batch of oregano pesto in my future (if I have the patience to pick off all those tiny leaves).

The sad pathetic romaine lettuce that I started from seed this year (my first seed expirement) were really leggy but I buried deep and they are growing amazing in my part shade bed. I'm so excited! I should be able to harvest nicely before the end of the month.

The potatoes seems to have recovered from our +100F weather which caused them to fall over, they are all upright and healthy looking now. Note to self, despite the full sun directions plant in part shade next year.

Looking back on my debates about investing in a CSA this year, I'm glad I decided to invest that money into expanding my garden instead. It's so sad to see the destruction to the crop fields that the flooding of the Missouri is causing. I will find other ways to help but I'm glad I'm not losing the garden/veggie funds.

Stay tuned, I'm yet to lose my mind with all the harvesting soon....

Finally weeded!

It's been a busy spring because we doubled the size of the garden with new beds. Now, a couple weeks after seeding, I can tell the difference between what was intentionally planted and what is not. 2 & 1/5 hours of weeding later on Saturday, I now (at least temporarily) have lovely garden beds. I took pictures because in about a month it'll be a tropical jungle....

To show off the new beds, this one has Tomatillo, 4 different Peppers (Jalepano, Yellow Banana, Poblano, & Sweet Red) along with Eggplant, Patty Pan Squash and Zucchini. I've snuck a Rosemary plant in this bed near the Zucchini, hopefully it doesn't get smothered. All but the Zucchini and Eggplant and new adventures for me this year.

In all of the beds I have planted random Marigolds to try and keep away the pests.

In this new bed is Parsley, Romaine, Little Finger Carrots, more Romaine that I started indoors, Leeks, Celery, and Summer Savory. Cellery and Summer Savory are new adventures this year and I'm considering the Romaine a new adventure because last year the Zucchini smothered it so I wasn't able to harvest. Made sure they are in separate beds this year.

Then there's the new bed from last year. This is where I planted the Asparagus roots, Garlic, Kaleidoscope Carrots, Kale, more Eggplant, pickling Cukes and Burpless Cucumbers. The Asparagus and Garlic are new adventures.

In this existing bed I planted Caribe Potatoes because they are supposed to be drought resistant, Broccoli, Blue Wonder Green Beans (Kentucky Wonder/Blue Lake cross) and Peas. The Potatoes and Broccoli are going to be some real adventures! New ones :)

In the first of these two beds is the Tomatoes that I started from seed and that got fried but still planted the best of. They are growing nicely and I hope to have the Roma's and Beefsteaks I planted. I also have the Green Beans behind these too and Basil hiding in around the front. Then the farther is the beastly bed. The Oregano I planted years ago grows like a weed and so does that darn, darn Peppermint. I pull the Peppermint out every year but it's impossible to get rid of. Also returning is the Thyme and the Sage I planted last year. In the space you can't see in the middle I've planted Basil and Dill. I'm going to have to keep the Oregano whacked back though to allow them room to grow.

These pictures were taken two days ago. We've had a lot of amazing sun/heat since then and boys has everything jumped up in just two days!

Long overdue!

Ok so I've been busy, to be honest that's an understatement!

So to catch up, I started seeds indoors this year to save money and over a couple weeks in March I started:
- Leeks
- Celery
- Parsley
- Summer Savory
- Roma Tomatoes
- Beefsteak Tomatoes
- Tomatillo's
- Eggplant
- Romaine
- Basil
- Marigolds
- Patty-pan squash
- Mammoth Sunflowers rota
and
- some annuals for the flower bed

Note to self: The squash and sunflowers do NOT need to be started early. Everything else should be started EARLIER!

I doubled the garden this year with a lot of help from the hubby, and as a result I've concluded that I need rotatiller. I've made out fine hand turning the soil up to now but oh my, that's a lot of soil now.

As of this morning the last of the beds was prepped and seeded. The garden as it stands now is: