First week of August. It looks a little greener than it did in June!
Today I ate my third sungold cherry tomato. It was heavenly. The basil is just about big enough to start harvesting a little bit at a time. I have a big bag of basil in my kitchen right now though that was left over from a CSA distribution. Until I turn it into pesto, no more basil for me.
To my surprise, one of the heirloom tomatoes (Green Zebra, one of my favorite varieties) withered away and died this week. I was surprised because this was one of the plants from our plant sale, and not one I propagated myself or dug up in the fields. In retrospect however, I was taking the plants that nobody wanted to buy, and this plant was probably weak from the start. In the tomato plant's place, I moved over a partly shaded White Russian Kale to fill the void and give the kale plant the space it needs. A beginning from an end.
Poor green zebra tomato plant. I harvested the green tomatoes when I pulled up the plant, but accidentally threw them in the compost yesterday! Ho hum. Does anyone know what could have caused the wilt? The bok choy that you see to the right of the tomato plant was harvested a few days ago, and was incredibly tender and tasty!
All is not lost. There are still tomatoes. :)
After fertilizing the plants with alfalfa meal three weeks ago, they "popped" and started doing their thing (even the ones that had been stunted from being root-bound for so long before planting). A week earlier, I had been tempted to rip out the two lemon cucumber plants that (pre-fertilizer) had been standing up straight in all their stunted, yellow-leaved legginess. Every time I looked at them I was reminded of the fact that they were too root-bound when I planted them and that I should have planted them deeper in the soil. Since giving them the extra nutrient boost, they've exploded in size. I've eaten two delightfully sweet cucumbers and look forward to many more.
Lemon cucumber plant. The fruits grow to be softball-sized yellow cucumbers with a crunchy skin and sweet flesh.
Ants are walking all over my okra like it's the Appalachian Trail. What are they doing? Who knows. I thought at first they were eating the flower buds, but recently I've noticed some teeny tiny pests (like a smaller, duller looking flea beetle) that are covering the buds, and the ants seem very interested in this. I read that ants are attracted to okra because of the plant's high oil content. This past weekend I sprayed the plants with a garlic solution (homemade, and who knows if it was even garlicky enough) but no one (ant or beetle) seemed to mind. Regardless, today was a Very Special Day for okra, because I harvested three pods!
This photograph was shot looking down on the okra plant, so you can see the new leaves, buds, and ANTS. Despite their presence on the plants, only a couple of buds on the most infested plants seem like they've been harmed.
Okra plant, standing tall. In the middle of the photograph, towards the left, you can see a flower just about to open. Okra flowers are stunning, much like another member of its botanical family: hibiscus. Okra flowers are creamy white and purple. Members of the mallow family (malvaceae) also include marshmallow, cotton, durian, and kenaf.
Today's okra harvest -- first pick of the season! I cooked these cuties up with some sweet corn, sweet onion, garlic, olive oil, and salt. It was the first ear of corn I've eaten for the season, too. Not home-grown, but still local and delicious.
Even in a ten by ten garden plot, there's plant drama.
My plan for the weekend: Weed, weed, weed. Give everyone a little helping of alfalfa meal. Stake that last tomato plant I've been neglecting. (I should have done this weeks ago!) Put up another trellis on the rest of the tomato plants to contain the new growth. (I'm using a pliant tape-like material to tie the plants to the stake; it supposedly has a little give to it as the plants grow.) Figure out how to contain the husk cherries, which are starting to get bigger and will sooner or later take over half the garden if I don't give them a trellis of some sort. Eat some more sorrel leaves, which are currently my favorite snack as I stand next the garden, dreamily staring into space.
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