vegetables – Page 10

Did my garden miss me?

August 6, 2022August 6, 2022Posted in GardenTagged colorado, community garden, cucumbers, denver, Denver urban gardens, squash, tomatoes, vacation, vegetables, yard, zucchini2 Comments

I went out of town for two weeks, which is a long time in the life of a garden in the middle of summer! I returned to a few surprises.

Yard garden

I left my yard garden un-tended as many plants were going to seed or seemed to be struggling. I left the few plants I believed in within range of my automatic sprinklers (controlled by the building), and said a prayer. I returned to find some things ready (ish) to harvest despite my absence!

In general the yard is really greening up. I’m letting it go wild a bit this year to discover what it naturally wants to do before I make any modifications.

Harvest? Zuchini appears rotten at the end but the slugs enjoyed it.

Garden plots

A small village of people looked after my plots’ watering needs while I was gone, and I was pleasantly surprised to find all of my flowers doing better than when I left, squash development, healthy Swiss chard, and some baby peppers!

In short- no, my garden did not miss me.

Garden tour: carrots

August 20, 2021August 20, 2021Posted in GardenTagged Alaska, carrots, container gardening, Garden, vegetablesLeave a comment

I started carrots as an afterthought after radishes proved to be so exciting. I started them late, so I don’t think I’ll see them reach their full potential. So far they’ve gotten very leafy and I’ve pulled a few that are starting to look like carrots.

As everyone on the internet tells you, starting seedlings then transplanting them does in fact result in crooked carrots, but I don’t carrot too much (heh). I was more concerned with making sure the seedling were viable under grow lights before putting them outside because the weather can be so fickle here.

Not too much to report on carrots except to say I’d try them again, and their leaves smell like parsley. Could be interesting to use in recipes.

Growing up

Seedlings (left). Radishes are on the right.

Garden Tour: Zuchini!

August 20, 2021August 20, 2021Posted in GardenTagged Alaska, Garden, plants, squash, vegetables, zucchini1 Comment

I gave growing from seeds a try for the first time this year, in Alaska. I started in April under grow lights. Here’s how one crop went.

My favorite crop this season was BY FAR zucchini (don’t tell the radishes). They quickly and easily progressed from a single large seed (that I could see without a microscope – I’m looking at you mint) to an adolescent plant with big happy green leaves relatively quickly! This was a great confidence boost as a beginner gardener. I watched with excitement as each leaf popped out, and eventually the first blossom buds started to form.

Where do squash babies come from?

Once I got blossoms, I was informed that if I was growing them inside (yes, it was not warm enough yet for them to move outside) I would need to pollenate them. Turns out there are male and female squash blossoms, and without pollenators the gardener must don a bumble bee costume and do the dirty work herself (edit – turns out the bumble bee costume is not a requirement, the squash cannot tell the difference), transferring pollen from male blossoms to female blossoms. If the blossoms are not pollenated, the fruit will grow a little bit, then stop and fall off before maturing.

One lesson learned from this is that timing is tricky. Often there were too many ladies and no men around (am I right ladies?), or vice versa. Blossoms are only open and viable for about a day, so not having hetero pairs became a problem. As a result, I’d say having multiple plants is key to increase likelihood of available partners.

Growing up

Just watch these babies grow.

Harvest

Behold the bounty:

The big kahuna

… and finally, behold my biggest most beautiful zucchini child:

I harvested this big boy this week, and as I’m moving out of town next week, zucchini season is officially over! it’s just as well since the weather has decided it is autumn, and I think growth is slowing down all around the garden at this point.