Late Spring

Late Spring has brought with it hot temperatures and an explosion of growth in our little garden.  As I write this, today's heat index is 100 degrees... and the chilies love it.  Hopefully, here is a preview of what is to come from our little 8x8 foot garden.  This year I planted 4 tomato plants (yellow grape, black cherry, sun gold, beauty heirloom), 4 chilies (serrano, jalapeno, chile de arbol, coloro cascabella) and some herbs.  Based on the yellow grape tomato flowers (above) we'll be getting a nice bounty this year.  The black cherry tomato (below) plant is winning the race on fruit production and I hope to get some tomatoes in the next couple of weeks.  I can't wait!

Garden Time #3

The tangled mess that are our tomato plants have finally decided that they want to give up their bounty. If you're a backyard vegetable gardener like myself you no doubt know that the tomato season is upon us. There are plenty of green tomatoes still waiting for the extra plant sugars and sunlight to brighten them into their various shades of red, purple, or orange, but at the rate that they ripen it won't take long!

Here's a prodigious bowl of produce from our garden. The red tomatoes are a variety popular in Europe called Carmello, the brownish looking ones are Black Pear, and the small, orange grape sized tomatoes are called Sun Gold. The Sun Gold are my favorite. They have the highest brix level of all the tomatoes that our particular nursery carried. The red chilies are Chile de Arbol: a nice fiery chile related to the cayenne. A little salt, pepper, and perhaps some fresh mozzarella if you're in the mood, and you've got a great salad.

Garden Time #2

See if you can find the three tiny zucchini!

Japanese Eggplant flower

It's amazing what a month of growing can do. Looking back at pictures from the first garden post I'm quite amazed (and pleased) with the amount of growth taking place in our little garden. Much of that can be attributed to our substantial rainfall over the past month combined with the warm Spring temperatures.

The Italian zucchini, for one, is growing very fast... It already has 3 tiny zucchini eagerly awaiting their pollination time. The Japanese eggplant has put out one large gorgeous purple flower and has well over a dozen more getting ready to pop. The tomato plants are really on the move about now with the most ambitious Sun Gold plant reaching nearly 4 feet in height with several clusters of yellow flowers. Even the pepper plants which prefer the hot heat of summer are getting in on the action sending out a few tall, tender branches. Enjoy the pictures!

Garden after one month