here is the update of the garden...

the sweet 100 tomato bush getting out of control, but I have been getting a good amount of tomatoes from these bushes the past few days.


the thyme plant is blooming, although its quite small...pretty though, huh?


here is the thyme plant from afar (see how small it is), to the left of the grape tomato that i planted from seed (with the huge fruits).


here are the latest seedlings. i have some new soybean plants growing (planted last weekend), plus some new peat pots with seeds of yellow beets, fordhook giant swiss chard, and broccoli.


here is that pepper plant that i planted next to the broccoli plants (which were harvested some time ago). it is actually GREEN with PERKY leaves. i also just fertilized them today to keep them that way.


my basil plant (also perky and green! yay! it was ailing because of too much water) and, again, the grape tomato.


okay, here is an overview of the left garden, starting with the part closest to the house...













here is the overview of the top garden...


here is the sugar baby watermelon plants. they are branching wonderfully!


here is that female flower that i pollinated earlier. in about a month (i hope!) this watermelon will be ready to harvest and enjoyed!




the soybeans are coming in nicely. not sure how long they will take to reach maturity, but i am judging them on the bulgey-ness of the pods.


in this picture, there are 4 cucumbers almost ready to be picked! i counted, overall, about 6 of them which need to be picked soon.


the almond tree...i was at the farmer's market today, and someone was actually selling green almonds (which is what i currently have now on that tree). interesting. and when i stand on the edge of the raised bed, the tallest branch is taller than me!


my bushy jalapeno plant. i think its really pretty...but i could be biased. (since its the ONLY pepper plant that actually has blooming flowers and peppers growing on them!)


after those highlights, here is the complete overview of the top garden...


(see my sugar snap pea plant falling over? - left side of pic)




(japanese cucumber claiming the lawn as its own growing area)











my flower garden...i don't notice any changes to the tangarine tree yet. i should take some up-close ones and compare these with future ones.


the tomatoes (for the most part) are doing okay. no casualties after the amish paste. i took away the cage which surround the amish one and i am thinking about growing either a blue lake bush bean or a soybean plant there (i currently have seedlings of both).


right garden overview


here are the upper two plots i will use for fall veggies. i will start planting seeds for some of them next month. i have already started some seeds for the fall veggies already (swiss chard, broccoli, and beets - since they all can tolerate some heat well). in the plots with no bush bean plant, i will plant the garlics and onions (since these two plants dont do well with beans/peas).


here is the third plot...


and here is the fourth. i had already prepared these plots by digging/tilling to about 6 - 8 inches down, and adding some of the organic soil compost/conditioner and some organic fertilizer. but now, i just added a few inches of the same organic soil directly to the top of the plot and added mulch ontop of that. doing this, im hoping that by watering this plot, the nutrients from the compost and the mulch will drain through the clay soil and help with its tithe before i plant some beets, broccoli and chard in this plot in about 2 - 3 weeks from now.


here are some green tomatoes on the heirlooms...

monte carlo


mini


bountiful harvest grape


the empty amish paste location


roman candle

garden highlights...

so i went out to the garden this afternoon after getting home from work because i just had this feeling that my watermelon flower buds were going to bloom today...i was right! here are some other things going on as well...

this is on one of the watermelon plants. here is the female flower. there was also a male flower, but as soon as i saw both, i quickly picked the male one and did the business of pollinating the female one. (sorry that these are so blurry)



you can tell it is a female flower by looking at its base. it has a miniature-looking watermelon right behind the blossom. the males don't. this is the same for zucchinis and cucumbers.




the bush bean plants are doing very well in the right garden...




and the bush bean plants in the left garden are doing better after i stopped watering them so much.




even the bell pepper plants in the left garden are doing well - there are flower buds on them!




here is the grape tomato plant from afar - the plant that has those 3-inch long and 2-inch wide grape tomatoes - i didn't think that they get so big!




my carrots - some of these are danvers carrots - they do better in clay soil since they don't grow as long as normal carrots.




and the bush bean plants in the top garden are doing the best and are the biggest so far.

here are some of the highlights in my gardens around the backyard...

the watermelon plant is growing wonderfully and spreading every which way!


also, look what i have spied! the plant looks still young, but it is already starting to show flower buds all over the vines! how exciting!!!


here is another one.


also, my sweet potato is finally starting to branch out. i love the dark foliage of this plant. it is very bushy probably because i planted the entire LARGE sweet potato in the ground without cutting it by number of eyes.


here is a view of the sweet potato plant further away for scale of how big this plant actually is.


how many small jalapenos can you see in this picture? they are just all over the place!


my jalapeno plant is getting really bushy and beautiful!

soybeans are a-coming! from what i hear all the beans on one plant will mature at the same time. woohoo!


my grape tomato is still green and still growing! it is around 3 inches long now! i doubt this is a grape tomato anymore..its just so HUGE.


here are the blooms in the garden...

petunias of all colors


marigolds


african daisies


sweet alyssum


the small flower garden...do you notice the red flower blooming in the top right corner of this picture?


well, its a dahlietta - a mini version of the larger dahlias. it has stunning small red blooms.


nasturtiums..it still keeps coming.

hello to those who read this blog...

sorry i didn't put an update on here this weekend. it was a little crazy around here. we had an insurance person here as well as an electrician (the house inspector said we have too little amps coming into the house normally for a house this size.)

well, most things around here are growing well, and some are not.

my biggest worry are the heirloom tomatoes. after pulling out and carefully inspecting the amish paste plant, i am seeing one, possibly two others that are showing the same traits. i am hoping it is not a spreading disease...this weekend, i seriously have to buy one of those soil tester kits and see what maybe wrong with it. if its nothing, it must be some kind of pest-related disease. maybe tomatoes are just one plant that i have to do without. :-/

my own tomato plant that i grew from seed is doing rather well (knock on wood), and so are the sweet 100 tomatoes in the left garden. maybe its just the heirloom variety?

other plants that are showing stress are the bush beans that i planted in the left garden. too much sun? too little water? the leaves are all lime-colored. i saw some new leaves growing on some of the bush beans in the left garden and they seem promising, but i still don't know what caused such a crazy reaction.

well, im happy to state that, that wraps up what is looking depressing in my garden. on to the good stuff...

with the zucchini plants, it seems like i'm harvesting zucchini every other day. just this weekend i gave out 8 zucchini and 8 cucumbers. some of those people gave me stuff in return (which i don't expect) - one person gave me some plums, and another gave me some oranges fresh from her tree. i just wonder if there will be an end to the zucchini forest madness...?

the japanese cucumbers are growing really well. i also find that if the cucumbers are hanging instead of lying on the ground, they tend to grow straight instead of curled.

the soybeans are showing a lot of young soybeans. its so exciting! i can't wait to start harvesting and eating them. i have started a few more soybean seeds in hopes of getting more out of this summer season. oh, and i also planted more bush bean seeds last weekend. a week later and they have all sprouted with their first set of leaves!

the jalapeno plant is really taking off. it has gotten really bushy and it is covered with small jalapeno peppers! i have to look for recipes that i can make with these hot peppers.

talking about peppers, the bell pepper plants that i planted in the left garden are hanging in there. the dark green color has returned and now i see some flower buds coming up. for these plants it seems that i need to continue and fertilize and add compost to it every few weeks or so to keep up the growth. i believe i also water it less - maybe these tactics will also help the bush beans on this side.

oohhh...the watermelon and the sweet potato plants are growing bigger and really starting to branch out more. no flowers yet on the watermelon, but it is still kinda small.

the bush beans in the top and right gardens are growing very well. they have surpassed the size of the bush bean plants planted in the left garden and the leaves are much bigger too.

i will try to get to taking pictures of them during the week, but i can't promise this. school starts tomorrow and i have to teach 2 classes this time. im a little worried about it, but they are both classes that i've taught before. if i can't do any pictures of the plants during the week, i will definitely make it a point to take some on the weekend.

mourning the loss of an heirloom

*sigh* a moment of silence for an heirloom tomato plant that i lost today...

i hoped against the possibility of this day, but the inevitable happened. this could have been due to the plant being in the hands of a complete novice or due to forces of which i had no sway. either way, i am truely saddended with my loss.

today, i uprooted my amish paste tomato plant. and i took pictures in hopes that someone could identify the malady which this plant suffered from. it did suffer for a while, but i thought it was just a passing thing. the leaves and stems from which they grew drooped and curled at the ends. there were no other markings or spots on the plant. i knew the plant was done for when i saw the tomatoes which grew from it. it looked tight, ribbed slightly and deformed.

i am hoping this will not spread to the other heirlooms that i have growing nearby...needless to say, i am keeping my fingers crossed.

can this be due to something as easy as calcium deficiency? or something as malicious as a bacterial or viral infection of some sort? if anyone knows, please clue me in. thanks in advanced!

today was extremely warm and humid. tomorrow will supposedly be even hotter.

i've found some plants who are just thriving in this heat, and some just begging for a little coolness.

zucchini - this vegetable is just a-mazing. the heat only spurs more overall growth, more flowers, more zucchini. what was a tiny zucchini this morning, is at a normal size in the evening. i think if i set a chair in front of the zucchini forest and just stared at it on a hot day, i would be able to see it grow.

cucumber - same as the zucchini, although its a creeper, not a out-and-upward grower. i am just worried about this plant not getting enough water because i would hate to bite into a bitter cucumber. with this heat coming up, i will probably water this plant every morning.

sugar snap peas - 3 words...cool weather plant. yep...this one is going down, and painfully slow at that. i'm trying to keep this plant alive as long as possible, since it is just producing peas left and right. its great, and my birds love it the best. i will eventually have to till it into the ground, but i'm hoping that is about a month out.

tomatoes - these just thrive in the heat. the growth on this is almost as strong as the zucchini. like with the cucumber, i need to keep on with the watering of these plants since there are green tomatoes everywhere. but i saw some spotting on one of them so i really have to watch out with how i water these plants - water low and NOT on the plant itself as much as possible.

nasturtium - well, this plant is supposed to take the heat, but i guess there is a limit to how much heat this poor plant can take. with today's sun, some of the leaves on my nasturtium plants have crisped on the ends.

pepper plants - i think these are doing very well in the heat, even the ones that i have been worrying about in the left garden. they are all actually full of leaves and i see small buds on them too!

green beans - the planted ones in the left garden still look very sad. one of them even has a crispy-ended leaf! i don't know what is going on. i thought it was too much water because after stopping the water for a couple of days, i really thought the green in the leaves were getting to the normal green color, but today, they are still a light lime green color. ugh! and the bean plants planted every where else are growing wonderfully! i guess i have to avoid planting bean plants in the left garden, period.

the small german chamomile that i planted in the ground everywhere are either dead or dying. its just too much heat for them. i am going to keep my potted chamomile seedlings in there for a while, at least until they get their second or third real set of leaves.

the grape plants are thriving...lots of new growth. no grapes, although i think they grow fruit in cooler months...correct?

no changes in the sweet potato plant. lots of leaves on it..its like a tight ball of leaves...no creeping growth yet.

the watermelon plants are still on a good growth pace. i just need to water it daily.

the best part about growing veggies? the sharing of my crop. i have a very humble plot of land, compared to the people who write garden blogs that i read. but with the 4 zucchini plants, 7 japanese cucumber plants, and 4 sugar snap pea plants, i have been able to give veggies to 6 families, including ours. soon i will have tons of tomatoes (14 plants), lots of peppers (hopefully!), soybeans, bush beans and watermelon to give out and enjoy myself. i love giving my vegetables to people who enjoy eating them as much as i do. it really gives me a sense of accomplishment and it is my way of helping out my community.