In other Vegetable News...

Wait, you mean there are other vegetables? From reading this blog, you would probably think there was nothing but tomatoes...

But, no, we do have other vegetables. Lettuce is going strong at the moment, but a few are showing signs of bolting. This is one set of lettuce. Also a few late broccoli (which I think are ready to flower even though they are barely an inch in diameter) and some soramame (big beans?) which are being attacked by aphids (I have a close up photo of the aphid problems I will post soon, isn't it nice to have something to look forward to?) Our compost bin is on the left and the small mini tomato patch from yesterday's post behind.

These are other other lettuces and behind them, baby okra. And my husband is thinning! No really! Stop presses! It is a rare event indeed. I was watch a Desperate Housewives episode where Lynette and Tom go to a marriage counselor and she is upset that he is always good cop, forcing her to be bad cop. Well, that's what I sometimes feel like in the garden. When infanticide is called for, I'm the one who has to do the deed. Anyway, here he is, I made him thin his okra and cucumbers himself. These were okra seedlings from the garden store. Salad okra, green and red. I also have some seedlings I started, but haven't planted out yet.
Zucchini is going strong. I planted Black Beauty and Lebanese varieties, and so far the BB seems to be growing faster than the L.

These are the pumpkin seedlings my students planted. Jack o'Lantern on the left and Howden on the right.

Kabocha on the left, then Jack be Little, and Cinderella pumpkins. A few artichokes at the top and bottom. I planted two artichokes near the big tomatoes yesterday, and big pumpkins at the bottom of the embankment this morning. Jack Be Little mini-pumpkins are going to be on a trellis in front of my classroom.

And here are mystery pumpkins which were growing out of the mini-tomato plot. They are the most healthy of all our pumpkins, but we have no idea what kind they are. Last year we had Howden, Cinderella, standard kabocha, and a oval shaped gourd that didn't look or taste very good, but was strong enough to beat back weeds on the embankment. If these are any of the first three, we want to keep them, but if they are the steam roller gourd, we don't. Hmmmm....

Here are baby corn at the bottom of the embankment. We are going to try three sisters this year with corn, vine beans, and pumpkin.We had lovely spinach, but Mr. Must-sow-all-the-seeds-in-the-packs planted them all at the same time and despite my most valiant efforts (spinach for every meal, including breakfast) most of it ended up going to seed.
Cucumbers... Mr-I-won't-kill-a-baby-seedling has an undisclosed number of these hoarded up in curious places around the garden. Oh well, when they are at their peak, we won't be here. If he wants to give himself the cucumber crud again, it is is his choice.
Carrots. He planted them in rows at least this time, but see what I mean about the thinning? I think I will have to give in and be designated murderer again.
Beans...

Onions, peas and potatoes. Just a few potatoes, because M hates potatoes and L is allergic. Well, I said, "Just a few potatoes, okay, honey?" See how he listens to me... I love potatoes, but cooking anything with potatoes means cooking an alternative for the girls. I don't love cooking. But I see a lot of potato cooking in my future. Maybe we should consider a third child. Pregnancy gives me major potato cravings.

The girls check out the potatoes. Do you think Daddy is going try to make us eat all of these??? You're lucky, you're allergic!

"harvest" June 3

This was our first full size zucchini harvested on May 31 but the photos were on another camera.
The girls now do a zucchini dance to celebrate each zucchini we pick. Let's see how long that lasts. It's only day 4 and I'm starting to wonder how many zucchini we can eat.
The girls pick their own "tv time snack" every afternoon. The yellow ones are really good, and so is the reddish purple one. A pleasant surprise because it looks very simple to the icky purple ones. Unfortunately, I don't know what kind any of them are, because I would like to try the good ones again sometime.
L has her tv snack in hand and is waiting....
This morning's harvest. One regular zucchini. One zucchini with identity issues that thinks it might actually be a butternut squash. One very small strawberry that will have to be cut in half and shared. And one loquat fallen from the neighbor's tree into our yard. Of course, we will have tons of lettuce and cucumbers, too.

carrots and tomatoes June 1

The girls love to pull up the multicolored carrots. They eat them every afternoon for snack, even though they don't taste so good. The yellow ones are quite tasty actually, but the purple ones are dreadful.

Here are the tomatoes that weren't ready for my last tomato photo shoot. Big Rainbow.
Black Krim
Brandywine
Evergreen

odds and ends

I thought it would be fun for the girls to grow these multi-colored carrots. It is fun to pull them up and see the different colors. Unfortunately, they taste dreadful! Especially the purple ones. The white ones are kind of bitter. The purple ones are extremely bitter and fibrous. But, the power of gardening! The girls ate them! I couldn't believe it...I wouldn't eat them myself!
This pink ground cover flower has started to bloom. The blossoms are much bigger than I expected. I think I will try to find some more, as my other flowers in this area are not doing so well.
I planted campanula mixed seeds a year and half ago. I was worried that I only would have purple ones (though they are my favorite, it is nice to have some variety). But a white one started blooming this mornng! It also gives me an excuse to post another photo of my mystery blue flower...Anyone know what it is???
I finally broke down and allowed my husband to plant 3 eggplants this year. But only three. And only because I have a weakness for purple flowers. My father-in-law grows bushels of eggplant, and really, there are limits to how much eggplant one can be expected to cook (and eat!) Luckily, Japanese eggplant are smaller and tastier than American eggplant. I recommend trying them if those of you in the US have not yet.
Green beans are starting to flower.
Yesterday we had male and female zucchini blossoms on the same day again! This means there is hope for two zucchinis bigger than my thumb. Today only male flowers. I shouldn't have planted so close to the okra. I thought it would be taller by the time the zucchini got this big, but it (the okra) was fighting off aphids and got a slow start.
One of the pumpkin vines, our only surviving Cinderella pumpkin, has started to show vine-like tendancies. It gets spared the worst of the evil orange beetles because they go after the cucumber...
After an interrupted orange beetle attack on a cucumber leaf.
The zap and stomp pest control method. Not terribly efficient or pleasant, but the only way I have found short of poison. And I always thought I was a pacifist...

veggies

Okra, the aphids love it!















Howden and Cinderella pumpkins.















zucchini




















tomatoes. I have to plant these soon, but it is SO WINDY today. It will have to wait until the holidays.














Big Rainbow 20cm.




















Pump J. Seeds from the better tasting kabocha we ate over the winter. Sprouting. Also one Pump L, a hardy kabocha from my husband's friend, Lさん.













Sweet Orange II cherry tomato















lettuce. The red salad bowl doesn't like the heat. I have lost 2 already and the remaining 2 don't look very happy. Our sunny lettuce (not in this photo) is starting to bolt.


















cucumbers




















carrots

I planted nasturtiums by the daffodils yesterday. I am hoping they grow quickly to disguise the daffodil leaves.














Last year our irises bloomed one color at a time. This year they seem to be coming together, which is nice.














white too















baby carrots are starting to get real leaves
















mystery vine, cucumber? zucchini? pumpkin? sprouted from one of our patches dh made ready for lettuce

March 30 2009 mostly vegetables

New seeds planted today: green beans (つるなしいんげん), zucchini (black beauty Botanical Interests), french marigolds (サカタのタネgreen packet), campanula, forget-me-nots, cornflowers (maybe, or maybe not, I don't know what they are called in Japanese or English). Dh's acorns on the right. Baby broccoli (planted March 2) on the front left.











Baby carrot mix (planted March 1). Bountiful Gardens.















strawberries















negi (green onions) are starting to flower and need to come out. Spinach (center) is kind of yellow, maybe planted too late (Feb). Broccoli (bought, not from seed) on right.












Peas: hopefully snap peas. The package says スナック753。 Last year we planted green peas by mistake. I was so disappointed, I love snap peas.















My husband's baby cucumbers (planted March 2)














Salad Bowl Blend lettuce (planted March 2) and Clemson Spineless Okra (planted March 2), both seeds from Botanical Interests.













My babies! Tomatoes (planted March 2). I've had to bring them in every night this past week since it's been chilly. Only one tiny money maker has come up, but 2 or three each of Brandywine, Cherokee purple, Big Rainbow, Evergreen, Black Krim, and Marmande Super. Bountiful Gardens Tomato mix.











Cherry tomatoes (planted March 2). Two or three of Black Plum, Gold Currant, Riesentraube, one Chadwick's chery, and one Sweet Orange II. Bountiful Gardens Cherry Tomato mix.