2011/09/11 - A long overdue update

[Andrea]

 

Sorry for the delay, folks!  Life has gotten a little busy.  :-)

On my last post I had harvested a bunch of tomatoes, then blanched, peeled, seeded, and frozen them.  In the weeks since then I've harvested cucumbers and made them into bread and butter pickles (a big hit!), got the cattle trough up onto cinderblocks, and removed the cucumber and tomato plants entirely.  I simply couldn't deal with having cucumber vines all over the ground and hiding all the tomatoes from me.  I also pulled out the Brussels sprouts since the earwigs had so completely destroyed all the foliage. 

In the process of pulling out the plants, I did put branches containing ripe tomatoes into the trough for sorting through.  After sorting, the tomatoes I brought into the house were approximately 9 pounds worth.  And please remember, these were tomatoes I didn't even know I had because they were buried in the center of the plants or behind the cucumber vines!

I've been focusing less on the garden lately, and more on getting ready for Paul to move in.  But I still enjoy spending time out there every day feeding the fish and enjoying the peaceful sound of water falling.

And now, on to the pics!

Armenian cucumber hiding:

A batch of cucumber found:

One that I evidently failed to find for WAY too long:

Labor Day Weekend Saturday's harvest, when I thought I'd gotten everything ripe I possibly could, to take to my mom:

The tomatoes and cucumbers trying very hard to pull the entire trellis over:

Trough up on cinderblocks, ready to be hooked up to plumbing:

So the day after that "I'll harvest everything I can for my Mom" picture, I start to pull the plants out, not expecting to find much that's ripe in there.  Boy was I wrong.

Tomatoes that had been hiding behind vines:

Just the ripe ones that fell as I was pulling the plants out:

Finally, a clean bed!

 Branches of ripe stuff set aside for sorting:

 Some of my NINE POUNDS of found tomatoes sorted from that bed:

I gave a bunch to my new neighbors and took some to my coworkers.  But the rest I roasted in the oven then mixed with garlic and basil.  Those were bagged and frozen for later use in some kind of saucy lusciousness.

And now, to figure out what to plant for fall.  Replacement brussels sprouts, broccoli, and Paul wants a cayenne pepper plant.  And then... we'll just have to see!

[TCLynx]

I don't think peas are going to be quite the beasts that the cucs were and there aren't any other cold weather vines so it isn't like you will be competing between cucs and toms in the same bed.

 

I've had some good luck with roots and others that were a bit sad.  I would say that as they grow out you want to make sure the bed isn't flooding over the gravel.

[Andrea]

grrr...  hit delete when I didn't mean to.  Once more...

 

Have you done well with radish, turnip, carrot, and other root veggies in AP?  I tried radishes and they were okay at first but then got waterlogged and cracked.  I've been hesitant to try again.

 

I already have chard, and am waiting for the raft bed to be hooked up before I do more lettuce and spinach and other leafy greens.  That will be their home.

 

I'd like to do peas or beans, but I'm honestly afraid to do anything else with a vine, since that ONE cucumber plant tried to take over my whole city.  :-)

[TCLynx]

broccoli, kale, and all sorts of greens are great for cooler weather.  Lettuces, chard, beets, spinach, turnips, radish, snow peas, carrots, kohlrabi, cauliflower, veronica, cabbage.  Those are some of the things I'm looking forward to getting to plant now that fall is coming.