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Kitchen Garden: post-vacation review

Oh my. What a little time, less water and benign neglect can do to a garden.

Compare this photo at right to the photos below at this post.

Wowzer.







These Early Girl tomatoes are just beginning to blush; I expect to pick them within the next 10 days.

But they aren't very early, should have picked the first ones a few weeks ago.





Another expectation shot in the keister: zucchinis are not yielding at all, only one has been harvested so far.

You can see they've developed a case of mildew already, and that the young zucchinis yellow and drop off before they become established mature fruits.

Going to hurt the double-chocolate zucchini bread forecast.


Cucumbers, however, have been plentiful to the point of obnoxiousness. My spouse kept them picked while I was en vacance; I came home to a peck of them on the counter and more than a peck in the garden waiting to be picked.

Unfortunately, the salad cucumbers outpaced the pickles on a 3-to-1 basis. May have to break down and pickle the salad cukes this week.



The biggest disappointment remains the pole beans, all three varieties. Only one species of the three I planted has begun to flower. I'll let you guess which one it is.







The loveliest thing so far this year has been the Gypsy peppers. They are also beginning to blush, having started as a pale ghostly green, becoming Hungarian yellow, and now an appetizing red. I'm going to continue to resist the urge to pick them until they are scarlet, head to toe.

Tonight, weather permitting, I'll take a photo of the garden at night. I should have done this all summer, but it will be even more lush with all the neglect of the last two weeks.

How's your garden doing? Do tell.

Comments

Roberta "Bobbie" Stacey said…
We must live in the same region of the country. I saw your tweet mention of Lake Superior.

My tomatoes are still mostly green, and sunshine gone again for the rest of the day. Must be close to a record cold summer in Escanaba.

I too am surprised by my peppers. I thought they were more of a hot weather plant.

Does your city/town have any strong initiative for local agriculture developing? I'm hoping to start a client/consumer garden here next year through a local social services agency, but I'm getting fearful about how the new farm bill will kill such small time initiatives.

If you have a regional example, do tell.
8/25/2009 02:08:00 PM
Liz Harrell said…
Our garden has been odd this year, to much rain? I'm not sure, but we've had very few tomatoes, but loads of peppers.
8/31/2009 11:12:00 AM
Rayne Today said…
Bobbie -- sorry so late in responding. I'll have to do some homework on local ag; we do have a thriving farmers' market. We're also in the middle of farm country, even though the immediate municipality is seen as a manufacturing town. Lots of potatoes, pickles, cabbage, peppers, white beans, beets, apples within only minutes of my house, so I tend to think there aren't as many initiatives as the crops are already a big part of the economy.

Liz -- my tomatoes are only now starting to come in, and few in number, small in size. The cukes have been obnoxious producers, though. Pickles, anyone?
9/07/2009 08:55:00 PM
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