First Tomato! Figs! More Beans.

I couldn't help but pick the little Brown Berry tomato that's all rusty brown and perfect looking. He can ripen for a day or so in the safety of my kitchen. More beans were also ready and one of the fig trees has some ripe figs on it. They're a sweet green variety that seems to ripen in early summer and I usually miss it. Not this year! Hopefully some more will be ready to bring to the Bay for July 4th.

Two of the 8' tall sunflowers are blooming. I would have documented it but my camera was at home.

It's Too Hot

Melted Mao Mao

Browning Brown Berry

End of June, Beginning of Summer

Earlier in the week the garden was beginning to resemble a jungle. I pulled carrots, picked beans (and then sacrificed bean plants in the interest of space), and tried to wrangle the sunflowers together behind the trellis. This is a "before" picture of what it looked like when I got there on Monday morning.

Everything has a bit more breathing room now that even more carrots have been pulled, bean plants composted, and lettuce picked for one final home grown salad. My concentration has shifted to fruiting plants: tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, and eggplant.

Monday's harvest included a few more baby beets, beet greens, lettuce, beans, and some funny looking carrots.

Today's harvest yielded an impressive stack of beans, some fat carrots, my first hot pepper, and the rest of the lettuce (not shown).

A couple Mortgage Lifters are enjoying the sun and heat. It's my largest plant at the moment and has me dreaming of big tomato slices with salt, pepper, and olive oil.

In other news, one of the little stray kittens in the garden was enjoying a bird this morning when I walked in. I also spotted several gigantic scarab type beetles flying around after first hearing that dreaded low pitched buzz that they make. I've started wearing a hat while gardening mostly to avoid the horrifying possibility of one getting stuck in my hair.

Oh You Pretty Things

My first hot pepper is growing fast. I checked back in the posts and found that this guy is a variety of Poblano. The plant seems happy: it's growing in a compact manner and putting out many flowers. Another baby pepper has started to grow. At home we're still wondering if we'll be able to handle the spicy bounty.

The eggplant has its first lovely lavender flower. There are some other eggplants in the garden and I'm wondering if they're open pollinators. Will this one become my first homegrown eggplant or will I need to wait for flower #2?

Beans, carrots, lettuce, beets, and beet greens are on the menu for tonight. Although the lettuce is on its way out, the beans, carrots, and beets are coming into high season. I pulled these baby beets to make some more room for a few cucumber, summer and winter squash plants that are slooooooowly growing under the trellis. I also made the difficult decision to pull three bush bean plants to allow more sun to reach the squash. It was hard to do (especially with so many blossoms on the bean plants) but it will be worth it in the end if I can manage to grow even one squash! The pulled plants went right into the compost so at least all was not lost.

A vacant lot on 6th street between Coles and Monmouth made my day. Someone planted wildflowers and they are absolutely thriving. The red, pink, and white poppies are a beautiful and happy sight to see on my walk to the garden. A+ for this guerrilla gardening effort.

I stopped again on my way home to admire the festive display. The flowers seem to cancel out all the urban waste that surrounds them. I can't get over how pretty this is!

Hot Pepper, I see you!

My first hot pepper appeared yesterday. I can't locate the tag so I'm not sure what variety it is. Josh and I have been building up our tolerance at home with an extra spicy jalapeno salsa that we've been eating. Yes, we're a little wimpy with the spicy stuff.

Two Crookneck Squashes are growing and even making tiny blossoms. The plants need more sun and I might remove some bush beans in a week or two if it doesn't get any bigger. The leaves should be about 8 inches across, not 3.

Our lettuce supply is dwindling and just in time for the summer heat. We'll move to farmer's market leafy greens by July. Although I planted less this year, it turned out to be just the right amount. I shared some during the height of the season and now we're down to the last few heads just as it's starting to toughen.

As usual, there are about 15 marigolds too many in this picture. In addition to the row at the bottom, several stragglers popped up between the beets, in the center of the plot, and even under some of the bush beans. Last week I ruthlessly removed volunteer tomato plants. Next week I'll find a home for marigolds.

Namesake Kitty

Fat n Fuzzy

What?

Super Amazing Action Shot

Beans! Peas and Lettuce

The garden has been suffering through the hot and dry days we have been having and isn't looking so pretty at the moment. Everything will be fine but the beet greens have been a little droopy and the pea plants are on their last days. I ripped out the peas on the right side of the trellis to make room for some cucumber plants that are flowering on that side. Plenty of marigolds are in bloom, the snapdragons are growing larger, and the sunflowers are developing buds. The Mortgage Lifter tomato is very happy, triple the size it was when planted, and putting out big yellow blossoms. I may have planted too many beans this year. They're blooming like mad and taking up most of the plot. Will beans be my bumper crop?

Harvest

The first true harvest of baby beets, english peas, and two decently sized carrots took place today.

It's Tall Purple Flower season in the garden right now.

Hurry Up Peas!

I visited the garden today after getting most of my housework out of the way. They were predicting temperatures in the 90's and I managed to be there at the apex of today's highs without my trusty water bottle. Sweating and slightly overwhelmed by the sun, I tended to the patch at my own peril.



Everything is enjoying our little heat wave. The Mortgage Lifter plant has its first flowers, the beet greens are now closer to braising greens than salad greens, and that lovely curly green leaf lettuce is living up to expectations by thriving in this heat. I corralled most of the sunflowers to the fig side of the trellis and tried to encourage the peas to climb that instead of everything else in the garden.

Besides muscling their way up my other plants, the peas are also really slow in producing this year. I don't know if it's the variety I chose, the unpredictable weather, or if I planted them too close to the beets and sunflowers. They aren't growing up as much as they are growing out and the space I had allocated for them is definitely vertical. Yes, there are flowers and pods. Yes, they are tasty. No, I probably won't have enough of a crop to have peas as a side dish for dinner this year. Alas, I will have to get my pea fix at one of the farmer's markets around here.

I promise to take some pictures of my apartment side pepper and herb pots soon. So far, cayenne is a very effective squirrel deterrent.

Big, Green, and Bushy

Peonies

Pretty Yellow Things

Garden Jungle

Lettuce, Beans, Bolted Spinach

After a week away from the garden, I was pretty surprised at the transformation. The lettuce is gigantic and I did some major harvesting. Most of the spinach has bolted so that was pulled (and eaten). The beans are flowering. The peas, although short and preferring to spread laterally, are making plenty of flowers and pods. The beets are twice as big as they were this time last year and ditto for the carrots. Some of the radishes were large enough to eat. Two cucumber and three squash plants are beginning to look promising. The cherry tomato already has bundles of flowers and the other two are doing fine but requesting more sun and hot weather. The eggplant and hot peppers would like the same.

I missed the dramatic orange peony but the pink and white bushes were still looking lovely on Friday. There are quite a few things flowering right now and almost everything has doubled in size since last week including the little peaches on the tree. I tried to thin them out to the recommended 1 peach per 8 inches but I would need a big ladder to get any further with that project.

In regards to the squirrel problem outside my apartment, the cayenne seems to be working. I've even added a fourth pot with thyme, rosemary, and lavender.

Squirrel Control

I have some pots out by my stoop that are planted with marigolds and hot peppers. It's a nice sunny spot and as long as I'm diligent with the watering, things should be fine. However, the pots are under attack by some nosey squirrels that just can't seem to resist digging in the dirt. I've lost at least two marigolds and I'm worried a pepper plant could go next. This morning I sprinkled cayenne pepper on the exposed dirt to see if that will deter them. Anyone else tried this or another method of squirrel proofing? The plants are too large for screen at this point.

This afternoon should reveal whether or not my spicy methods are effective.