SeedGROW Project Post #3

Here we are into August already! My SeedGROW project plants are doing great, especially considering that none were started early indoors.

The 'Garden Babies' lettuce is keeping good company with this cuke....

 ...and was harvested a couple days ago for the second time this season. Very tasty, and eating a salad from home-grown lettuce is the ONLY way to fly as far as I'm concerned!

 The basil 'Italian Cameo' seems to enjoy this metal pot, even though I didn't thin the plants as much as I usually would. The plants were so pretty that I hated to disturb them....

 ....so I harvested the first group only a couple days ago. The flavor is fairly strong, and the fragrance almost reminded me of Holy basil. It tasted great in pasta though, so I'm hoping it bounces back for at least one more good cutting.

 As for the 'Summer Splash' marigolds, I can't say enough good things! Very vigorous plants (even here in part shade)....

 ....and continuous blooms!

 Every plant seems to sport a different shape....

 ....and color-all from the same packet of seeds.

 Even this late-transplanted thinning has grown bushy and commenced blooming!

This is shaping up to be the best GROW project yet!





I'm growing with the SeedGROW project. Thanks to Renee's Garden for the seeds.

GROW Project 2011: Post #2

 My GROW project plants are coming along. Some slowly...

...well, the lettuce have been harvested once already....

...and some others are coming along...

...nicely!!


I'm growing with the SeedGROW project. Thanks to Renee's Garden for the seeds.

SeedGROW Project 2011!

Well the time has come for another fantastic garden bloggers SeedGROW project, courtesy of Renee's Garden! This year's project promises to be three times the fun with three varieties of seed: basil 'Italian Cameo', lettuce 'Garden Babies', and marigold 'Summer Splash'. In this first planter I planted the marigold on May 9th, along with beans, peas, and a nasturtium...

 ....and the marigolds are coming along nicely!

 Here I've planted the basil (also on the 9th), and there's LOTS of good germination going on.....

 ...almost ready to do some thinning as a matter of fact (thanks in part to the grill grate protection from digging chipmunks).

There are 3 other areas with project seeds planted (including the lettuce), but with less progress. NOT the fault of Renee's seeds, however: my weather has been exceptionally cool this year. As a matter of fact, the low was 26 degrees on May 27th!! Frankly I'm happy that any of these plants are alive at all, they're rock stars as far as I'm concerned! :)

"I'm growing with the SeedGROW project. Thanks to Reene's Garden for the seeds."

What Do You Want For Christmas?

Now I love snow....I really do......but while looking through some pictures today I felt a twinge of wistful desire for something really different this Christmas.

I felt that a glimpse backward might be nice....

....maybe a colorful blast of sunshine....

...I mean, we all seek it from time to time......

...that delightful color explosion.....

....we just want to immerse ourselves in it.....

 ...long enough to feel those simple pleasures of warmth and relaxation...

....that make up this fabulous life we all cherish.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!  *~<]:-)

Late Season S.P.R (Summer Progress Resuscitation)

This was the foreboding forecast on October 2nd, signaling the beginning of the end of my veggies...
...so the rush was on to bring in anything edible! There were a bunch of green tomatoes....

...along with a nice assortment of peppers, eggplants, teeny zucchini, red asparagus beans (the long ones), broccoli bits, and even a squash blossom. I collected every speck of edible anything!

  

 

Then came an unexpected turn of events: my garden recieved some SPR ("Summer Progress Resuscitation"). Like a phoenix from the ashes, this tomato bloom rises from dead, curled foliage...

...and beans are forming once again on my 'Royalty Purple Pod' plants.

The "moon garden" of night-blooming plants has been largely un-phased by the cold all along, aside from the fact that my moonflower vine died back immediately, and this datura hasn't developed a flowerbud (yet).

These 'Caraflex' cabbages were sown August 19th as a fall crop, and they're cruising right along as expected (I have covered the wire with "row cover-type" material on the coldest nights, just to be safe.)

This 'Cocozelle' summer squash has been an amazing producer all season, and now even with damaged leaves I see that blooms are still forming! (Male-only thus far, so I can enjoy sauteed squash blossoms but likely no more fruit.)

This cute little 'Gold Rush Currant' tomato has fruit still ripening! It's growing against a fence on the west side of the property, but there's no radiant heat from a building or anything...amazing.

Check out the fruit and blooms on this 'Fairytale' eggplant! It's in a semi-protected spot between the house and garage, but there's no roof or trees overhead.

Look at my 'Red Deer Tongue' lettuce-the leaves are finally really red (earlier in the season they were mostly green with some specks of red, appearing sunburnt or dirty). All this late season activity is sooo exciting, I wonder if there's enough warm weather left for another modest harvest?

Apparently not according to this guy! He makes this declaration for my area on October 4th, but everything is hanging tough so far.

Good thing my plants don't watch TV!

The Rest Of The (Nasty) Story

Along with the SeedGROW project, I'd planned to (and did) grow several varieties of nasturtiums around the yard as companion plantings to my vegetables. This has worked out very well, as I haven't seen a single significant insult from bugs on my veggies. Anywhere. So here are the other nasty stars of my 2010 veggie planters....first is "Alaska Fancy", with beautiful mottled and variegated foliage, sporting red/orange flowers. It has grown and bloomed quite well all summer, even in the hottest weather (mostly due to our delightfully cool evening temps all summer.) But lately this plant has really taken off! Not to be outdone, look at the yardstick next to these peppers-have you ever had peppers plants get this tall?! I sure haven't, and even better they are still alive, blooming, and trying to set fruit! 

Yea, this nasturtium is happy, eh?

Here's another Alaska Fancy, not quite as robust due to more shade. In the same pot is an "edible-podded radish" (Rat-tail radish, Raphanis sativus), and it's still alive and blooming also!

The nasturtium looks a tad puny, but much happier than it did much of the season. (Again, shade...bad plant mommy! :)

This small coir-lined wall planter is rather amazing, as it contains nasturtuim 'Moongleam', Greek oregano, sweet pepper 'Pimiento De Padron', and a red malabar spinach (added mid-June).

All I did to help things along is add some "Soil Moist" crystals to help retain moisture, and everybody's happy (except the spinach, it seems to need more sun and the full season). This particular nasturtium was especially eager to trail along.....and along....and along!

This coir hanger also had some "Soil Moist", nasturtium 'Tall Singles Mix', alpine strawberry 'Ruegen', and hot pepper 'Numex Sunrise'. The pepper only produced a few small fruits (not enough sun), but the nasturtium and berries did quite well.

Similar story here-nasturtium 'Tall Singles Mix', alpine strawberry 'White Soul', and sweet pepper 'Italian Frying'. Add some "Soil Moist" and let em' go!

One more planter in the theme-nasturtium 'Tall Singles Mix', alpine strawberry 'Yellow Wonder', and sweet pepper 'Sunrise Orange'. This pepper only produced one lone fruit (sun shortage again), but the berries are still going and the nasturtium was especially amazing. You see, the blooms started out solid red/orange....

....then changed to this nice assortment of variations about mid-August....

....and much to my surprise they began to switch back just this week!

 My last nasturtium planting outside of the SeedGROW experiment planters was in this wooden trunk: nasturtium 'Tall Singles Mix', watermelon 'Katanya', Italian parsley, and tomato 'Siberia'. This time, the nasturtium turned out to be this bright yellow, and it trailed out into the yard like the watermelon did.

 It's still going strong this week, and producing lots of seeds for my upcoming nasturtium caper recipe experiment...

.....that I'll use to extend my season after the party's over.