tomatoes

September garden update

September 25, 2023September 24, 2023Posted in GardenTagged beets, carrots, community garden, denver, Denver urban gardens, Garden, garden digest 2023, peppers, squash, tomatoes, vegetables, zucchini1 Comment

Things are winding down even more this month, but a few things are still going. I’m mostly waiting on winter squash, leeks, remaining beets and carrots, Lima beans, and parsnips! The parsnips are getting big but I’ve read that they get better after the first frost, so I’m not touching them.

Carrots

Carrot haul from the last few weeks of september

I’ve pulled up some carrots in the last month. These are a rainbow mix I direct sowed May 1. By coincidence mostly yellow ones are ready to be picked. So far they’re been mostly big and straight. I noticed a lot of ants around them, and a lot of little gray bugs around the tops that look like some kind of aphids. Regardless of the bug population they seem healthy root to leaf.

Tomatoes are still going strong! Slowing down a bit because temps are getting cooler at night, but I still get a few every time I visit the garden. Still having trouble with fruit splitting, but less since it has rained less and I’ve gone to water less often.

I tried drying tomatoes. It took at least 24 hours in the oven and they ended up bitter. Maybe I need to cut out the stem / core before I dry them. We’ll try again. At least the house smelled like roasted tomatoes for a few days.

Squash and cucumbers

Zuchini took a big nose dive and didn’t really recover from high heat and powdery mildew. Recently got some weird shaped romanesco squash. Gonna go ahead and say zuchini season is probably over.

Winter squash (butternut and honeynut) are still doing ok I don’t expect a large yield this year. I have hopes of getting one of each. Next year I need to start them earlier.

Etc

Other stuff

August in the garden

September 4, 2023September 4, 2023Posted in GardenTagged beans, community garden, denver, Denver urban gardens, Garden, garden digest 2023, peppers, squash, tomatoes, vegetables, zucchini1 Comment

Another update for the month of August.

Continue reading →

Mid-season garden update 2023

August 13, 2023August 13, 2023Posted in GardenTagged beets, brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, community garden, cucumbers, denver, Denver urban gardens, Garden, hobbies, peppers, squash, tomatoes, vegetables, zucchini1 Comment

I waited too long and this turned into a pretty long update. Weekly updates are much more manageable! This covers July and the beginning of August. I was gone for the first two weeks of July and a lot happened! I was so lucky to have watering help at the community garden, and rigged up a water timer for my yard garden.

Plant updates:

Tomatoes

They got a slow start but they’re doing great right now. The pink ping pong (ppp) variety I tried this year is really vigorous and productive so far, and the tomates really are slightly pink and ping pong ball sized! The San marzano romas are another new addition this year and they look pretty good. The ones in my yard are doing much better than the ones in the plot. Just one issue with bacterial spot, new to me. Haven’t done much to tackle it.

First Pink ping pong (ppp) tomato of the season

Zucchini- black beauty and costata romanesco

I came back from Ireland to find a zucchini monster in the form of the costata romanesco (cr) squash plant. It has grown massively and produces a ton of squash. I even got a double squash!! The smaller black beauty zucchini plant isn’t producing much fruit. I grew it up inside a tomato cage as an experiment to help it grow vertically rather than rambling on the ground. I think as a result the flowers are too close together and packed in with the leaves making it harder for pollinator to do their jobs? I’ve seen a lot of female blossoms that haven’t matured to fruit. Good to know. Also have powdery mildew again. I treated with Biofungicide. Should have pre-treated sooner.

Winter squash/ gourds

I started these too early last year. I started them too late this year. I may get one or two fully developed squash this year. three of the four at least seem fairly healthy. The luffa is a weird dwarf plant for some reason and will definitely not produce useful gourds before season’s end.

Silver slicer cucumbers

Started out strong. Now getting weird pear shaped pale cucumbers and leaves are yellowing. Not a great cucumber year.

Peppers

I have lots of poblanos on deck. Not sure when they’re going to be ready, they’re still pretty wrinkly, but at the same time I have one turning red. First year growing these, we’ll see how it goes.

Shallots, leeks

First year growing both. Pulled about half of the shallots, various sizes. They’re drying and curing. Leeks are just going slow and steady. Wondering if I should pile up soil around them as they continue to grow since when transplanting burying them deep was important for development.

Lettuce, chard, arugula, spinach

Not a great success for me. Chard is the only survivor at this point and seems to be happy in the low tunnel.

Carrots, parsnips, and beets

So far so good. Mixed beet sizes, all delicious. First time growing parsnip, looks ok so far? Will have to investigate when to harvest soon.

Brussels sprouts and cabbage

First year for both of these, and they both really thrived. In fact Brussels plant would be about 3 ft in diameter if left unchecked. Still waiting on the little sprouts to keep growing. Harvested my one perfect head of cabbage and made a big batch of charred cabbage soup!

Plot:

Yard:

Fence garden and sophisticated auto watering system

Garden Digest: end of June

June 27, 2023June 27, 2023Posted in GardenTagged beets, carrots, community garden, cucumbers, denver, Denver urban gardens, Garden, greenstalk, nasturtium, organic gardening, peppers, radishes, seed starting, squash, tomatoes, vegetables, vertical gardening, yard, zucchini1 Comment

Well, I harvested some radishes early this month and things escalated from there! A quick summary of what’s going on these days.

Preseason prep

The seed starting grow house is officially closed for the season!

This year I had no damping off issues like last year, I think in part because I treated all of my potting soil with an organic biofungicide (Bionide Revitalize Biofungicide). I bought it to treat powdery mildew on my squashy plants, but it works to pretreat soil for other fungus too. I also ran a fan regularly to keep air moving.

I grew the following from seeds started indoors or winter sown this year:

Basil (tulsi, Thai basil), rosemary, parsley, mint
Green onions, shallots, leeks
Nasturtiums, marigolds, zinnias (all mostly died mysteriously after transplanting), coreopsis, calendula, chamomile
Luffa, Honeynut, butternut
Cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts
Peppers (poblano, biquinho)
Tomatoes (currant, cherry, pink ping pong, San marzano Roma)
Echinacea, poppies (winter sown)

Plot progress

In just the last 20 days a lot has happened in the plot!

The tunnel went nuts! Radishes, arugula, and spinach are all basically done (gone to seed). Arugula got flea beetles. They’re staying in as trap crops/ ground cover to keep some shade and moisture in for the remaining parsnips, beets, and carrots. Cabbage and broccoli are heavily competing for space. I had to give broccoli a trim to back off. Obviously planted them too closely.
Direct sown seeds – snap peas, Lima beans, string beans, zucchini, squash, luffa, and cucumbers all woke up eventually. I think this year I started the winter squash too late! Last year was too early. Next year, just right!
OH HAIL NO! We got a bad hail storm as late as last week (June 20th)! Luckily the plot suffered minimal damage but it could have been a blood bath.
Surprises – some volunteer flowers that I thought were going to be cosmos are rocket larkspur (striking purple flowers that the bees like). My inherited rhubarb went downhill and is very sad, and inherited asparagus got a few spears. Dill. Is. Everywhere.
Transplants are doing ok – two experimental sweet potato plants (started from slips) look quite sad, transplanted winter squash (from seed) looks pretty sad, probably got waterlogged, cabbage and broccoli (from seed) are crushing, poblano and biquinho peppers (from seed) look fine, nasturtiums (from seed) got some blossoms, tomatoes (from seed) look happy too. Last year nasturtiums didn’t do well for me.

Yard gard

I have a decent yard garden going on this year, somewhat in part because I started too many darn plants and even after giving away about half, still had some left. I’ve planted up my greenstalk vertical planter full this year and nasturtiums are absolutely taking over and thriving.