Harvest Monday: July 19, 2010

Each Monday, Daphne’s Dandelions hosts “Harvest Monday” where everyone can share links to their harvest for the week. It’s fun to see what everyone is harvesting from his or her gardens in different areas.

This was an exciting week in the garden spot as more variety of fruits and vegetables were harvested. The warm weather has continued and with some supplemental watering, the growth has been abundant.

We will begin with a few pickling cukes and small carrots:

I pulled a couple carrots to see how they were growing. I believe these are Little Finger Carrots. They were about 4-inches long and skinny but tasted great. Hopefully they will fatten up soon.

A large bunch of cucumbers were harvested on Thursday:

I left some small cucumbers on the vine and by the following day they were also ready for picking:

The harvest of cucumbers from the two days amounted to about 6 lbs of cucumbers. I weighed them because I wanted to use them for “Granny's Favorite Bread & Butter Pickles.”

Some of the last of the Swiss Chard that was planted in the spring. There will be more planted for fall:

More young Dark Red Norland Potatoes. We are really enjoying these:

The Blueberries are beginning to ripen up. We are now harvesting a small bowl full each day:

Celery and more Cucumbers:

The first Zucchini and some small Red Onions:

The first Raspberry from the new Heritage Raspberries planted this spring:

Be sure to visit Daphne’s Dandelions to see what others are harvesting this week.

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Tomato Update

We had some wicked thunderstorms work though our area last Wednesday evening. Tornadoes even touched down in several locations in southern Maine. The National Weather Service has confirmed three E1 tornadoes so far.  Surprisingly no one was hurt but there was some damage. One story in particular touched my heart. A barn collapsed in Gorham, ME. As soon as it happened, the community rushed to the site to help rescue the animals trapped in the fallen debris: Portland Press Herald “Farmers find friends indeed.”

No tornadoes here at the garden spot, but we did have some strong winds that knocked over most of the Early Girl Tomatoes in the garden:

The tomato cages bent right over. We propped them up, pounded in additional stakes, and secured them as well as we could. It’s not pretty, but it will serve for now:

So far, there were only minor casualties. Only a few stems were damaged and trimmed off and about a dozen green tomatoes were lost. The tomatoes in the Square Foot Gardens (SFG) and in the Self Watering Containers (SWC) are fine.

San-Marzano Tomatoes in the SFG:

 Roma Tomatoes in SWC:

 Bush Boy Tomatoes in SWC:

If I decide to grow tomatoes again next year, I will have to plan on a more secure support structure for those grown in the ground.

Wait, did I say “if?”

::sigh::

Well, it seems that Late Blight is creeping its way through the area once again. Earlier this week, MOFGA reported that Late Blight was confirmed in Waldoboro, Maine. Since then, a fellow home gardener and blogger in my town has also discovered late blight on some of her tomatoes. Late Blight spores can travel on wind, I fear it may be only a matter of time. So now I wait and watch and try to hope for the best, but prepare myself for the worse.

Unlike last year, at least we will enjoy a few ripe tomatoes this year:

Info on Late Blight:

MOFGA's 2010 Pest Reports - Compiled by Eric Sideman, PhD 

Cornell University “Late blight on tomato” 

Cornell University “Late blight on potato”

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Harvest Monday: July 26, 2010

Each Monday, Daphne’s Dandelions hosts “Harvest Monday” where everyone can share links to their harvest for the week. It’s fun to see what everyone is harvesting from his or her gardens in different areas.

Here in the Garden Spot, the Early Girl Tomatoes are living up to their reputation by ripening the first in the garden. The ones pictured below were allowed to ripen on the vine before harvesting:

Since the danger of Late Blight is near, all other tomatoes will be picked at first blush and placed on a windowsill inside to finish ripening. I know from my devastating Late Blight experience last year that this disease hits fast. Once you detect the tell tail signs, it will be too late to save any tomatoes. I would rather have a few ripen on a windowsill than lose them completely. I will consider them a harvest and include them in Harvest Monday photos once they are red.

Cucumbers pictured above were combined with those left over from last week’s harvest and made into Granny’s Bread & Butter Pickles.

It is a great year for blueberries. We are picking a bowlful every day and eating them by the handful, in our cereal, and as dessert topping:

Almost 5 pounds of Dark Red Norland Potatoes were harvested this week:

Again with Late Blight near, I didn’t hesitate to harvest whatever we could consume in a week. We enjoyed garlic-mashed potatoes, hash brown potatoes and onions, oven fries, and potatoes baked on the grill.

Not pictured are onions, celery, and herbs that are harvested as needed. It is so nice to run out to the garden and pick what is needed to use right away. Some cucumbers also missed their photo opportunity as I gathered them quickly to give away. I definitely overdid it with cucumber plants this year.

We are between lettuce crops now that we have cucumbers and tomatoes for salads. The last of the lettuce harvested several weeks ago and stored in the fridge was composted this week. There wasn’t much left. I am amazed at how long the lettuce stayed fresh in the refrigerator. It will be a while before the new lettuce is large enough for salads.

The melons are growing, the pole beans are flowering, and the peppers are finally forming. I am trying to keep a positive attitude, but the fact that Late Blight is in the vicinity is weighing heavily on my mind. There are 34 tomato plants and 32 feet of potatoes in the garden. All can be lost in a matter of days if Late Blight hits the garden spot.

Be sure to visit Daphne’s Dandelions to see what others are harvesting this week.

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GARDEN DESIGNERS ROUNDTABLE : UNDERUTILIZED PLANTS

Honestly, when have you ever seen a specimen like this ?

Guy walks into the tree and shrub department with a photo of his front yard and says he wants the most unusual tree we've got, cost not an issue.  Sold him an Acer 'shishigashira ' or  as its dubbed  ' The Lion Head '  Japanese maple for several thousands dollars. Saw him later and he told me it was the perfect tree and none of his neighbors knew what it was and he wasn't telling. Turns out he was a well-known restauranteur that felt he had to outshine all the neighbors.



As a tree and shrub specialist I get to see all the unusual specimens that our buyer brings in from around the country.   The most coveted tree on our lot is the aristocrat of the tree world - Acer Palmatum, or Japanese Maple.  I've seen cultivars priced at $5,000 and up .  With hundreds of varieties from bright red, orange, burgundy, variegated green and pink and, chartreuse, there is bound to be one that will steal your heart. For me it was the 'Autumn Moon ' Maple, shown above,  and since I've rarely seen another in a garden I think it is very underutilized.

 Whenever possible I use evergreens in my design and a very underutilized specimen is Chamaecyparis obtusa  nana , or Japanese Falsecypress.  Elegant and artistic, it is much pricier than other evergreens but its uniqueness makes it worth the cost. 'Templehof' is one of my favorites.  Note the beautiful swirls and do not, by any means, compare it with Thuja , or arborvitae.  There is no comparison.

At first glance you'd probably not be able to name the colorful specimen above, which is another underutilized plant that I love for its colorful leaves that are attractive all season.  St. John's Wort is easy to grow but again, underutilized .

Rhododendron 'poukhanense ' or Korean azalea is one of the beauties of the Spring garden with its pale lavender bell- shaped blooms.  Azaleas in general are underutilized in the Chicago area because some have proven difficult to grow in our harsh climate. This azalea grows in Korea's rugged Poukhan mountain region with only mother nature as her keeper.  Enough said.

A camellia tree in Chicago? Be still my heart ! Actually its a Stewartia pseudo camellia and it comes in Chinese, Korean and Japanese versions.  A much over-looked under utilized tree, it's beautiful camellia-like blossoms appear in July and its stunning Fall color and beautiful exfoliating bark make it an ideal small ornamental tree of about 30 feet in height. 

The list of underutilized plants is endless but it must end here for the sake of brevity.  Please visit the Garden Designers Roundtable to read the posts of members who are writing on the subject for this month's theme. 

Written by Carolyngail at Sweet Home and Garden Chicago All rights reserved

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Harvest Moday: July 19, 2010

Each Monday, Daphne’s Dandelions hosts “Harvest Monday” where everyone can share links to their harvest for the week. It’s fun to see what everyone is harvesting from his or her gardens in different areas.

This was an exciting week in the garden spot as more variety of fruits and vegetables were harvested. The warm weather has continued and with some supplemental watering, the growth has been abundant.

We will begin with a few pickling cukes and small carrots:

I pulled a couple carrots to see how they were growing. I believe these are Little Finger Carrots. They were about 4-inches long and skinny but tasted great. Hopefully they will fatten up soon.

A large bunch of cucumbers were harvested on Thursday:

I left some small cucumbers on the vine and by the following day they were also ready for picking:

The harvest of cucumbers from the two days amounted to about 6 lbs of cucumbers. I weighed them because I wanted to use them for “Granny's Favorite Bread & Butter Pickles.”

Some of the last of the Swiss Chard that was planted in the spring. There will be more planted for fall:

More young Dark Red Norland Potatoes. We are really enjoying these:

The Blueberries are beginning to ripen up. We are now harvesting a small bowl full each day:

Celery and more Cucumbers:

The first Zucchini and some small Red Onions:

The first Raspberry from the new Heritage Raspberries planted this spring:

Be sure to visit Daphne’s Dandelions to see what others are harvesting this week.

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Succession Planning: Getting the Most Out of the Garden Spot

Last weekend was dedicated to cleaning up the garden a bit and replanting more crops. This year I am trying to keep every spot growing. Once something is pulled from the garden, compost is added to the spot and something else is transplanted or seeded.

The lettuce had bolted and the Swiss chard had overgrown its area and has only been serving to feed the slugs:

Two Swiss chard plants remain and some of the unblemished Swiss chard was harvested. The rest was composted along with the bolted lettuce. New Lettuce and Swiss chard transplants will be planted into the squares where these were pulled. I am just waiting for the seedlings to get a little stronger before hardening them off.

I am growing a couple zucchini plant in a pot this year because I ran out of garden space. They don't look very happy:

I have been harvesting the new potatoes little by little along the edge of the potato patch. Some summer squash and zucchini seedlings will be transplanted to the area of the garden where the new potatoes have been harvested:

 The largest replanting this weekend was the Sugar Snax Carrots which were planted in the 4x4 SFG that the garlic was harvested from last week.

Several weeks ago, while it was too hot to work in the garden, I made carrot seed mats (Granny’s Seed Mat Tutorial at Annie’s Kitchen Garden). These were planted last weekend:

First a generous amount of fresh compost was added to the old garlic bed and mixed in along with a few scoops of Garden Tone fertilizer:

The SFG is 6-inches high but according to the package, Sugar Snax Carrots can grow 10-inches long. I loosened the soil beneath the bed with a garden fork by sinking the tines to the hilt in the soil and wiggling the fork back and forth. The objective is not to mix the native soil in with the SFG soil, just to loosen the soil below so the roots can penetrate easily:

Some of the soil was removed and mixed with vermiculite to cover the carrot seed mats:

 The carrot seed mats were laid out and sprinkled with some soil to hold in place:

 Then covered lightly:

 And watered generously:

There are still maybe 70+ days left to our growing season before the danger of frost threatens and I am going to try to make the most of it. I don’t think I want to try winter gardening just yet, but I will be using frost protection on two 4x4 SFGs in attempt to extend the growing season.

I also plan on overwintering some crops such as scallions, spinach, carrots, and maybe others. In the mean time, seedlings are also being started in soil blocks for herbs such as dill, basil, cilantro, and some cool weather crops that will go in the garden as the summer crops finish up: Spinach, Swiss Chard, Lettuce, and Broccoli. This is much easier to control for me this year since I am growing my own seedlings instead of purchasing transplants.

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