Garden Update – Happy Growth

Happy Summer Solstice! Hope you are enjoying the first day of summer. Summer is my favorite time of year!

garden overview

Well, we’ve had more hot days, which means great growing environment for my plants, even though it might be uncomfortable for me (however, I’m in a large air conditioned office building M-F).  I’ve spent time watering, aerating soil, and feeding the plants with compost when necessary.  They are looking great!

First, tomatoes.

june tomato collage

I’m growing 7 tomato plants total.  From the top left image, clockwise:

Amish Paste, Pruden’s Purple, Yellow Pear, Amish Paste, detail of Silver Fir, Silver Fir, mystery volunteer, Pruden’s Purple flower.

Both the small paste tomato and the Yellow Pear looked just awful Saturday afternoon – droopy and flaccid, and just not in good shape.  I sturdied up their dirt, added compost, and plenty of water.  On Sunday they looked great!  I think they are on the mend.

I’m particularly impressed with the Pruden’s Purple flower – it doesn’t look like any tomato flower I’ve ever seen, and it’s a gorgeous shape.  I’m looking forward to seeing it in bloom.

Cucumbers – my lemon cucumber isn’t fruiting yet, and I found a volunteer cucumber plant across the yard!  That was a very fun discovery.

june cucumber collage

The lemon cucumber is in the top left corner photo, and the rest are of the volunteer.  Looks like the volunteer will produce a more classic shaped cucumber.  I’m happy with this discovery and can’t wait to see what happens with it.

Ground cherries and tomatillos continue to increase in size, and I’ve even seen one or two flowers.

ground cherry

vibrant tomatillos

I’m going to have to stake the tomatillos, or perhaps get a tomato cage for them.  Tomatillos are very sprawling plants and need support early on.  I’ve inserted a bamboo post for right now, which is helping  with support.  I can’t wait for tomatillos!  I plan to make lots of salsa verde.

There’s plenty of wild stuff in the garden, too.

wild june

Although they are a bit of a pest, these morning glories sure are pretty.  I’ve seen a number of ladybugs in the garden, which makes me happy.  Saw a bunch of yellowjackets, too, and honey bees!

Thyme is slow growing but steady, and tatsoi is steady and fast growing! It makes for a delicious salad, simply dressed in lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, and salt and pepper. I like it a lot – it’s like a gentle arugula as far as the peppery taste goes.  It’s delicious.

thyme update

abundant tatsoi

I spent time weeding on Saturday and there were far less weeds than a couple weeks ago.  This is a good sign.  Hoping that my weeding efforts here in June will make for a mostly weed-less summer.

Happy for all this growth!

Garden Update – My, How You’ve Grown!

Thanks to all this recent heat, my garden is coming along – the tomatoes especially are enjoying the hot weather  they are sporting nice healthy greenery and thicker stems.   I was able to get out early on Sunday and do some weeding, which makes a world of difference!

garden long shot

My tomatoes have started to take off!  From top to bottom – Amish Paste, Prudens Purple, Silver Fir.

Tomato Collage

I found two tomato volunteers while weeding!  One is bigger and healthier than the other, but I hope some daily TLC will help the straggler along.

volunteer tomato

volunteer tomato 2

I’m really looking forward to seeing how these little guys will grow up.

My cucumbers have flowers!!

cucumber flowers

These four plants are coming along.

4 lemon cukes

I got to plant something new this weekend, too – a beautiful little spicy basil plant, compliments of my friend Harlan.

spicy basil in the ground

My containers are doing well, too.  Clockwise from top left: lavender flower, more spicy basil, thyme sprouts, tastoi.

container collage

Because of the hot weather, my arugula sent up flowers for about a week; if I had let it continue, it would have gone to seed.  I harvested the remaining leaves and turned under the roots and stems (thanks to fellow gardener Jen for the inspiration).  I’ll plant lettuce or braising mix in its place this weekend.

arugula on its way out

Finally, there is a very cool decrepit outbuilding on the property – I love how the ivy is growing up it.

ivy

Garden Update

My garden now exists fully in two spaces – upstairs on the deck outside the dining room, and downstairs in the yard, in a corner plot.  Being able to plant in the ground is a huge deal here in NYC, so I am really grateful to have this space.  For now, though, I’ll focus on what is growing up on the deck.

My arugula is growing like crazy!

arugula

It seems to like the soil it’s in and its placement on the deck.  It’s constantly sprouting new growth, so I expect to have baby arugula all summer.  I like to eat it with a simple vinaigrette made with olive oil, fresh squeezed orange juice, salt and pepper.  For vinaigrettes containing citrus, I find it imperative to use freshly pressed/squeezed juice – it tastes fantastic, for one, and you bypass the whole pasteurization thing present in ready-made juice at the supermarket.

As an aside, have you heard about pasteurized eggs?  So strange.  I can’t imagine wanting to eat them.

There are two herbs growing in my planter that I did not plant myself.  One is cilantro – I found it growing one day and have cared for it ever since.  I love love love cilantro, so I’m especially happy about this.

cilantro

The other is lavender, which I originally thought was tarragon.

lavendar

It smells amazing – not sure what I’ll do with it, apart from simply enjoying it with my eyes and nose.  Perhaps honey lavender ice cream is in store for us this summer, or some sort of cocktail.  I’ll have to look into it.

I started a couple of things from seed this past week, and they are in the initial sprouting stage.  First, I planted thyme in a small pot – I did this so that I can transport it into the house when it gets cold in the fall.  Thyme is my favorite herb to pair with winter squash, so it will be nice to have some fresh thyme when the time (ha ha!) comes to start roasting squash again.

thyme sprouts

I also planted tatsoi next to the cilantro.  Tatsoi is a very tasty asian green, similar to bok choi, and is very high in calcium.   I love growing greens because they sprout so quickly!  I’m looking forward to eating the tatsoi, perhaps even mixed with baby arugula for a nice fresh salad.

new tatsoi sprouts

And finally, the fruit trees are full of abundant green leaves!  The apricot tree isn’t going to fruit this year, but I have spied a few plums.  Here’s one of the trees from today:

trees

I just love all this greenery these days!  Soon, I’ll write about what’s growing in the ground.