Filed under: Gardening, Green Living | Tags: amaryllis, bush tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, Cilantro, compost, grape tomatoes, tomato plant
I’m very sure I am ready for Fall! We had a “teaser” cool front a couple of weeks ago, and another is promised next week. But the heat returned and cut my enthusiasm for gardening quite a bit. While it was cool, I did spend some time trimming dead limbs off my tomato plants and I think they will be good until we have a freeze.
Free tomato plant
This is my tomato plant I found in my Amaryllis a couple of months ago. It is producing grape tomatoes now. Since I never grew this variety before, I will have to assume the seeds came from my compost.
Free 2 Tomato Plant
This is the free plant that appeared in my Cilantro. I think it’s another cherry tomato variety. For those who have followed my blog for a while, I promised I would raise no tomatoes this fall. But I have trouble with that when the plants are just there anyway! And I have some of the bush varieties that started putting out new growth and blooms!
Bush tomato plant
There is a chance we could have a bumper crop of those nice bush tomatoes this fall!
I’ll update herbs next time. I even have some to share. Find out which ones are doing well in my garden in the next post!
Filed under: Gardening, Green Living | Tags: Better Bush Tomatoes, bush tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, Early Girl Bush, grade your garden, Onions, perfect for containers, pill bugs, Pinto Beans, south exposure, Straight 8 Cucumbers, Sweet Millions, trellis
Cucumbers on Trellis
This morning I gave my garden a Mid-Term exam. The Straight 8 Cucumbers are finding the trellis very well, I think, and there are a couple of cucumbers developing under all that foliage. My challenge here is having the south exposure in summer is going to cause a lot of heat radiating off the patio. The plant had a couple of afternoon melt-downs this last week with mid-80 temperatures.
Sweet Millions
I don’t think I’ve ever seen quite so many cherry tomatoes on one stem. I was counting 17 this morning! Sweet Millions is not a variety that should be in a pot, but here it is anyway!
Pinto Beans
We had a small serving of pinto beans a few days ago, and they were delicious and very tender. I picked quite a few this morning, and with another day or two, we can have enough to eat again. They won’t last much longer, so I’m glad I started them a month ago! I haven’t seen green, young pinto beans for sale in a long, long time.
Better Bush Tomatoes
This Better Bush plant has the strongest, stoutest stems I have ever seen on a tomato. This makes it absolutely perfect for containers. Look how dense the foliage is. I see a few tomatoes in there, but I have no idea how this variety tastes yet. The plant gets an A+!
Early Girl Bush
The Early Girl Bush variety sets blooms at cooler temperatures so it is understandable that it would be loaded with fruit already. The stems are strong, and they are holding up a lot of fruit already. I’ve never tasted these either.
Onions
I’m afraid the Onions get a D-! Two days ago, there were some red onions and white onions growing in this pot, but today I noticed an army of pill bugs have finished off most of the tops! I’m going to see if I can get rid of the army and see if the green tops will return. They may have eaten the bulb below the soil, but I didn’t check.
How would you grade your garden at this point?
Filed under: Gardening, Green Living | Tags: Better Bush Tomatoes, bush tomatoes, bush varieties, Collard Greens, Early Girl Bush, healthy fast-food, Mustard Greens, organic greens
Mustard Greens
We are enjoying fresh Mustard Greens at least once a week. When the leaves are picked before they become the size of a dinner plate, they are so tender and full of flavor. It’s about 15 minutes from this picture to the dinner table. Talk about healthy fast-food!
Collard Greens
Collard Greens are also very tender when picked leaf by leaf at an early stage. They need to cook just a few more minutes, and the flavor is so much better than even the organic greens at the supermarket. I have experienced no bugs and both kinds of greens have more than paid for themselves already!
Better Bush Tomatoes
Someone finally told me there is no way to control a six-foot tomato plant in a pot! You are supposed to grow “bush” varieties in pots. So here we go with Better Bush Tomatoes! They do have stocky stems and the foliage is more compact. I planted four of these, and I’ll let you know how the fruit tastes.
Early Girl Bush
Early Girl Bush is the other variety of bush-tomatoes I’m growing. They don’t seem so stocky, but they have already started showing signs of blooming. They are early!
More veggies are planted and will be mentioned in the next post. Get your garden started, Houston!
Gail of Green Living 