Wintersown.org Seeds

I am excited about the seeds we received from Wintersown.org this past weekend. I guess as a thanks for sending them some seeds I had collected from my tomato plants, they fulfilled my request with my 6 choices and my 4 alternates. And then for good measure included an ornamental pepper and Basil 'Napolitano Bolloso' seeds. Here is a list of what I received in my self addressed, stamped envelope.


Tiny Tim ~ Abundant, yum red cherries on dwarf plants, nice for containers and planters, DET, 58+ DTM

MoneyMaker ~ Good cropper for hot and humid regions, has quite tasty red fruits, most about 4 ounces, IND, 75+ DTM

Great White ~ Large creamy-white heirloom beefsteak, beautiful and delicious, large plants, IND, 85 DTM

Gartenperle ~ Dwarf plants crop loades small red cherries, novelty for containers and baskets, DET, 75+ DTM

Golden Cherokee ~ Delicious bicolor version of Cherokee Purple, nice fruit set, can weigh over 8 ounces, IND, about 80 DTM

Cuore di Bue ~ Italian oxhearts can weigh eight ounces, excellent flavor, yum for slicing or sauce, IND, about 80 DTM

Alternates:

Bradley ~ Makes loads of 10 ounce red fruits, fine for fresh eating and nice canning type too, Semi-DET, about 80 DTM

Indiana Baltimore ~ 1930s farm variety produces loads of oblate scarlet-red fruits, reliable and yum cropper, IND, 75+ DTM

Islea ~ Venezualan variety crops loads of ruffled, oblate, dark pink-to-red fruits, juicy and yum, IND, 75 DTM

Azoychka ~ Lemon-yellow beefsteaks can weigh about a half-pound each, crops early and has great flavor, IND, 70+ DTM

Last Harvest Before Frost

We are expecting our first frost tonight, with it dropping into the upper 20's by Saturday night. So this evening Antonio, Julia Belén and I went outside to harvest all the remaining tomatoes. We brought in 162.4 ounces.

While we were in the garden Antonio recognized the carrot tops protruding from the soil, so he pulled out two that looked ready. And Julia Belén was very excited to bring them into the house.

Tonight's Dinner

Tonight's dinner wasn't anything special, but I did like that more than half the contents were home grown.

A bed of lettuce with cilantro, radishes and lemon basil topped by taquitos and sour cream with minced dried cayenne peppers (from last years garden), rice and a beer. We are not home-brewing our own beer yet, but that is a dream of mine, some day. So if you couldn't guess the non home grown ingredients: taquitos, sour cream rice and beer. But we have talked about making our own taquitos, I think that is very feasible. The next time we make some homemade tortillas we just need to save a few to wrap and then fry as taquitos (although this leans heavily on Julia's expertise, mine tends to run more for the outdoors).

Pikey Lot

Today I walked the dogs over to the Pikey lot to take a look at where I had sowed some watermelon, winter squash and pumpkin seeds. I wasn't really expecting much, but to my surprise 8 little seedlings have sprouted up. I am excited to see what they are, as I can't remember which I planted exactly where.

Raised Bed Vertical Support

Two weeks ago, Antonio and I went out to the Pikey lot, and sowed some watermelon, pumpkin and winter squash seeds. Hopefully they come up, but we shall see, since this is going to by a primarily unmanned garden that we may check once in a while.

Last weekend Antonio and I bought ourselves a few plants for our garden. Some of the plants we bought were a Strawberry plant, that had two strawberries ready for picking already on it, Lemon Thyme, and Stevia. Julia and I decided to give Stevia a try (although we grew it once years before, we didn't do anything with it then). We plan on possibly using it instead of sugar when possible. It can be done with either the green leaves, or by drying and then grinding the leaves into a powder (if we have enough, we may plan on doing both). Approximately 6 large leaves chopped finely is a substitute for 1/2 cup of sugar for baking or in cooked recipes. 1 teaspoon of ground stevia is equal to 1 cup of sugar; 2 drops of liquid essence is equal to 1 teaspoon sugar. Antonio and I also picked up a Citronella Scented Geranium, we'll see if it works in keeping the mosquito population away from our patio some. Here is a picture of one of our two blueberry bushes at the end of April.

This past weekend I transplanted the majority of my tomatoes into the garden, most going into the raised bed. And on Sunday night I put together the vertical frame for the raised bed, which the tomatoes and cucumbers will climb up. Antonio is very excited about the progress of the radishes in the raised bed, which he is currently confusing with a tomato (probably due to its color).

Easter Garden

Our garden has slowly been coming around as warmer temperatures of spring have finally arrived. Here are pictures around the garden from Easter weekend. Our blueberry bushes have tons of blooms on them, hopefully that means we'll have a decent yield of blueberries this year.

Garden Reduction

My garden this year is going to have to be reduced in size by slightly more than a half of the size that it was at its largest last summer. First, the portion of the garden that was growing on the berm behind our yard, I am not going to use, as it drew too much of the eye of our HOA, and I would rather remain below their radar if possible. It also turns out that my neighbor that didn't use her yard, and allowed my to use the space last year, does not want me to use it this year, as her father (who watches her kids for her) wants to do something. My first reaction was to be upset, but in all honesty, I can't be upset, the space is technically behind her house, so if she doesn't want me to use it, she has every right to. I will just have to be patient and wait until we move to a house with a real yard to really start growing the amounts and varieties of plants that I would love to grow. Below is a picture of my neighbor's garden space I was using from last summer (that is her door that is barricaded by a couch in the middle of the picture.

And below is a picture of the watermelon and summer squash I had growing on the berm last summer.

On a side note, I took over some freshly harvested broccoli to her, as some of it came from the space behind her yard, as well as a good portion coming from my yard. She took it from me, and and asked what it was, and then thanked me and gave it back, saying that she doesn't know how to cook it. Weird. . .  But oh well, I was trying to share, and be nice.