Next years garden

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-10-2003
Next years garden
6
Mon, 08-30-2004 - 7:29pm
I begin to think maybe next year I really need to cut down on my garden!! Think maybe i got a little carried away this year because last year i didnt even have the energy to plant a few pots!! I confess I have more pots in the driveway than I ever had before, my summer squash may have gotten too soggy lately....BUT i still cant believe what i got today!!


My big tomatoes arent turning red yet, but hadnt picked any cherry or grape tomatoes since about Thursday or maybe it was friday. Picked what was ripe today and I ended up with about 30 ground cherries(they look a wee bit like a tomatillo with a husk but its a real soft husk and they taste almost like a cross between a tomato and a cherry. Many no bigger than a pea.

BUT those little cherry and grape tomatoes decided to get ripe at the same time so i have picked SIXTY FIVE of them tonite, along with two tiny jingle bell peppers(teeny sweet peppers) and one green tomato that fell off the vine in the hopes that it might ripen.

IF ALL the big tomatoes ripen at the same time I could be in trouble!! I know the big beef someone snuck in my shopping cart has 10 tomatoes on it. There are probably at least another 6 full sized plants and the Waysider(think thats the name and im still not sure if its fullsized or not.

I do need to get out there and do some weeding and organizing of the plants a little better......BUT i cannot believe how many i got tonite, dang I should have taken a picture before i picked them all!

Avatar for cl_d_minnick
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Tue, 08-31-2004 - 3:27am

Yay for you on having those tomatoes rippen! Your so very lucky with having so many great things in your garden, which in my opinion no matter how much work it takes you always benefit from all the work you put in by what you receive out of it. If I could have a garden I would be so thrilled since I really do prefer home grown vegetables and fruits. Nothing like enjoying a great tasting vegetable that is grown by you, which makes it taste that much better at least to me.


It sounds like you will have lots of great tomatoes to use up in salads or what ever you can come up with to use them in. If you have to many you can always share them with your friends and family since I know they would just love that. All the work you put into your garden is good for you so you just keep doing the great job you have been doing.


Maybe the next batch that rippens you can take a great picture of for us to all see. I would so love to see what you have grown in your garden for sure. Take care and do have a super terrific day!

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Avatar for cl_maryfrances40
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Thu, 09-02-2004 - 2:49am

Is it possible that you could grow some green beans? They are almost a free food for diabetics and fresh ones taste better than the store bought ones. I am growing zucchini's, egg plant ( haven't had a single one on the plant!), green beans, and three kinds of tomatoes. Have had wonderful success with the tomatoes and mediocore success with the green beans this year. I am on my second batch of chard as the birds ate the first batch when it was an inch tall. Hubby really likes chard but it really isn't doing wonderful. I also planted some strawberries. The burds got the first berries and I have had nothing since. So much for ever bearring plants! I have to be careful what I grow because of the cool weather. But I can grow lettuce most of the winter which you can't do. I di remember Wisc winters as I grauated from high School in Madison, Wisc.


It is really fun having a graden even if it costs so much to grow things that you could get cheaper in the store! But then they wouldn't be organic!


Congrats on your green thumb!

Mary Frances


cl-maryfrances40

Co-CL Diabetes Board


iVillage Member
Registered: 03-28-2003
Thu, 09-02-2004 - 10:46am
Hi Mary Frances! I had strawberries last year and were told that the first year, you're to pick the first blossoms and that they won't grow more berries the first year. They save up their energy for the following years. Guess the birds did that for you! We were hopeful for so many fresh strawberries this year, but my husband killed them when he fertilized the yard this spring just as they were starting to spread. The spreader threw fertilizer on the berry patch
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-10-2003
Fri, 09-03-2004 - 3:01am
probably safer to do green beans here than in Wausau area where i used to live. sisters girl doxie(actually my twinkies daughter) is a serious green bean thief. merion finally had to give in and plant a small garden with green beans for her, so she would leave sisters beans alone.

i think id probalby be ok if i got the bush kind and probably put a tomato cage around it or something. i might try those this next year.

by the way, the one big green tomato that fell off the plant is turning and its one of the golden girl ones...real obvious its not gonna be orangy. but i also discovered today about 4-5 small sized large tomatoes out there!! along with another 25 cherry tomatoes. think we are gonna make some tomato and mozarella salad with them.

auntydoxzz

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-10-2003
Fri, 09-03-2004 - 3:17am
i had fun with strawberries for about 3 years here, until sadly last year when i really didnt get anything planted. for the 2 previous winters before that one i had brought the 2 strawberry plants into the enclosed back porch. its windows on the south and west and not heated. the silly plants started getting blossoms early. the one year we had such an early winter i literally had strawberries on the back porch in early APRIL and this was IN Wisconsin. then in early spring 2003 i didnt water the plants like i should have so they never came in last summer.

this year i was too involved with the tomatoes to find some plants again. i think i will try again next year.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-28-2003
Fri, 09-03-2004 - 9:57am
I'm in IL, and wintered my berries in the ground, but put a thick layer of mulch on them. They were coming up wonderfully this spring until they were hit with the lawn fertilizer. Strawberries in April could be well worth it for us to bring some plants inside to winter! I want to try strawberries again, maybe next year.