270 replies to this topic

[annecros]

Early Girls are usually pretty mid-sized, about half the size of a tennis ball. But this year there is one, hiding behind the normally sized others, that will rival the beefsteaks when its ripe. And dadnabit, its going to ripen for the housesitter. Lucky gal!

The tomatoes are turning orangey red, the basil is finally growing. July 4th might be allowed to happen after all!

If it is showing any color at all, pull it and take it with you. Any windowsill will ripen it out.

Forget the housesitter. You will appreciate it more than she will, and gosh darn it, you grew the thing.

[VenerableBede]

so, am in san francisco (inner sunset if you are familiar) and ground is very sandy. moved in last year, a tree in the backyard, thought nothing of it since it didn't do anything last year and the backyard had been neglected for who knows how long. cleared the back yard, and this spring the tree blossomed with what looked like cherry blossoms (used to live in d.c., so that's my only reference).

for the garden, tried several starts and planted them, only things to have taken in the backyard are onions, squash, thyme and cilantro. replaced everything else, and tried again. this time the 4 tomato plants are taking off (cherry, roma, early girl and something else), but the peppers (red bells and anaheim) are having a tough time of it.

back to the tree. . .after 2 months or so, we notice green fruits starting to show on the tree, all over the place. couldn't figure out what it was. . apricots? plums?? something else??? over the past 2-3 weeks, the fruits changed color to reveal themselves as plums. they are much smaller than plums i'm used to, and are beginning to fall off the tree. so, i'm shooting to start picking this week.

[Kouign Aman]

A gift plum tree - what a treat! Plum jam/jelly is lovely stuff.

The housesitters got the first two tomatoes (including the giant) but we picked one last night to have with our burgers. It was delicious. Classic Early Girl - excellent flavor and body texture, with the skin being a bit more resilient and thick than optimal.
We're gonna overwater those babies the next two days and try to stretch the skin tight before we pick a small pile for the first B&Ts of the summer. Fortunately, the bacon texture overrides the skin texture. For burgers, we can always blanche and peel before slicing.

[Toliver]

The fruit from the Whopper tomato plant my mom planted is wonderful. The tomatoes are meaty (hardly any "goop" inside) and full of flavor. While they aren't "Whoppers" in regards to their size, they are in flavor.
Homegrown tomatoes rock.
My brother is a mail carrier and saw that one of his customers was growing rather large tomatoes in his garden. My brother asked the customer what his secret was to get such large tomatoes. The man replied "What are tomatoes mostly made up of?" "Water" my brother replied. That was the guy's secret...to water them every day instead of every other day like my brother had been doing. My brother changed his watering pattern and since then, he says his tomatoes are quite a bit larger than they had been. Go figure.

[Kouign Aman]

The week-long visit to the bees worked. That plant has a couple dozen tomatoes, all the same size and stage. Mr Stripey has only 4, but they are starting to ripen. MortgageLifter has a whopping two medium sized fruits. I'll look me up some 'Whopper' plants next year.

The munchkin is asking for tomatoes for a snack, and wolfing them down. :happy dance:
Bacon/Tomato sandwiches are back in the rotation - summer is really here!

And there are 3 budstalks on the over-wintering tuberrose!

[Toliver]

The munchkin is asking for tomatoes for a snack, and wolfing them down. :happy dance:
Bacon/Tomato sandwiches are back in the rotation - summer is really here!

And there are 3 budstalks on the over-wintering tuberrose!

That's great to hear that another generation likes tomatoes, too. Don't let on that they're eating fruit or that may spoil the deal.

May your tuberrose grow fast and bloom long! I was surprised they bloom so late in the year. My brother practically hovers like a doting mother hen over his plants.
If I'm lucky, my local Costco will have some cut tuberrose in their fresh flowers section.

[savvysearch]

I've been searching everywhere for french thyme. I went to home depot, orchards, Trader joes (which had it, but in a pot with 3 other herbs and 3 times the cost), and longs drugs.

All of them had an abundance of lemon thyme. Very frustrated! Anyone in OC know where to go?

[Toliver]

I've been searching everywhere for french thyme. I went to home depot, orchards, Trader joes (which had it, but in a pot with 3 other herbs and 3 times the cost), and longs drugs.

All of them had an abundance of lemon thyme. Very frustrated! Anyone in OC know where to go?

To borrow the old ad slogan, "Let your fingers do the walking".
"A guide to nursery hopping in Orange County"
This is an Orange County Register article listing different nurseries in your area, with phone numbers. Save some gas and give them a call. Good luck on your search!

[Rebel Rose]

I went with loads of cherry and pear tomatoes this year--my family loves them. Last year I was SURE racoons were eating all my cherry tomatoes. Every one had been carefully picked off as soon as they were ripe. I was steamed. So I sprayed my plants with pepper spray to keep them off. When I mentioned it to my SO and sons I caught them exchanging furtive, sheepish glances.

We also have green and purple tomatillos this year, which are now taking over the earth. Last year I found an orphaned tomatillo growing in the orchard; it hadn't been watered once during the summer but was thriving. I'm not sure what I'll do with all these tomatillos, but they are really pretty plants.

[mukki]

I've been searching everywhere for french thyme. I went to home depot, orchards, Trader joes (which had it, but in a pot with 3 other herbs and 3 times the cost), and longs drugs.

All of them had an abundance of lemon thyme. Very frustrated! Anyone in OC know where to go?

Roger's Gardens in Corona del Mar usually has several varieties of thyme at any given time.

[Kouign Aman]

The basil is finally large enough. We gorged on Caprese this weekend. :)My husband's boss loves tomatoes. We've been currying favor with the extras. Its so hard to declare a tomato 'extra'!

Now for the sage to grow... that stuff is slooooow and I'm craving brown butter and sage on pasta.

Someone sent us a gift of Duke's mayo. Tangier than our standbyes for Bacon/Tomato sarnies. (I like BestFoods, he likes MiracleWhip). We tried Duke's last night, and for this application, we have a Winnah! The salt of the bacon, and extra tang from Duke's seriously underscored the sweetness of the Early Girls.

Next up = a nearly ripe Mr Stripey, and one from Mortgage Buster. I'm looking forward to the taste comparision.

The BigBeefs are flowering. I hope they have time to ripen fruit.

[Toliver]

The basil is finally large enough. We gorged on Caprese this weekend. :)My husband's boss loves tomatoes. We've been currying favor with the extras. Its so hard to declare a tomato 'extra'!

Now for the sage to grow... that stuff is slooooow and I'm craving brown butter and sage on pasta.

Someone sent us a gift of Duke's mayo. Tangier than our standbyes for Bacon/Tomato sarnies. (I like BestFoods, he likes MiracleWhip). We tried Duke's last night, and for this application, we have a Winnah! The salt of the bacon, and extra tang from Duke's seriously underscored the sweetness of the Early Girls.

Next up = a nearly ripe Mr Stripey, and one from Mortgage Buster. I'm looking forward to the taste comparision.

The BigBeefs are flowering. I hope they have time to ripen fruit.

Tomatoes rock! I am so envious of your bountiful harvest.
Regarding your last comment, the marine layer seems to be messing with my mom's tomatoes plants. She's not sure if some of the fruit on the plants will even turn. By the time the marine layer burns off, some of her plants only get about an hour of sun before the shadow cast from her house covers them.
Of course, she could have unknowingly planted a green variety of tomatoes that'll never turn red (which is exactly the sort of thing my mom would do ). She'll be waiting til Christmas for red tomatoes that'll never come.

[Kouign Aman]

Tomatoes rock!    I am so envious of your bountiful harvest.
....
Of course, she could have unknowingly planted a green variety of tomatoes that'll never turn red (which is exactly the sort of thing my mom would do ). She'll be waiting til Christmas for red tomatoes that'll never come.

PM next time you're in town and if we still have abundance, we'll share.
The bushes are ripening in waves, so its abundance today and dearth tomorrow.

Waiting to ripen - thats funny! Ah well, green tomatoes would look nice at Christmas! (Im a bit worrit about that with the striped ones. Im going by touch. Fingers crossed).

[Toliver]

PM next time you're in town and if we still have abundance, we'll share.
The bushes are ripening in waves, so its abundance today and dearth tomorrow.

That is a generous offer! Thankfully, my mom has been sending her excess harvest with me after my vists. Her tomato plants are in different stages of production due to staggered planting so she has a steady flow of fruit sitting on her kitchen windowsill. She's practically doing a happy dance now that her cherry tomato plant is bearing fruit.
The volunteer that was growing like weeds did turn out to be a currant tomato plant which my mom wasn't too happy to see (she doesn't think the harvest is worth the effort). So it has been "given" to the neighbors and their grandkids to harvest what they will. And what they don't take, she'll leave for the critters who come in the night.

[VenerableBede]

two of the 4 tomato plants (1 early girl and one roma) have overtaken over 1/2 of the garden space, and are beginning to climb up the wall behind it. that have also overwhelmed the rosemary and sage that we had planted close to it. all four tomato plants, including the cherry that was ravaged early on by some insect, will bear alot of fruit. in front of the stunted cherry plant is a cilantro. . .bush. it's like 3 feet tall with lots of flowers. . .i suppose i should cut that back. . .

on the other side of the yard, the butternut squash vine has extended beyond the garden wall and is well over a foot into the yard. . .and it's trying to extend backwards towards the property wall. have 1 green bean pod hanging from what i had hoped would be a resurgent green bean vine. . .not yet at least.

also have one nearly full sized bell pepper on the pepper plants. . .the other 6 all have buds and i hope to have quite a few anaheims and bells.

the meyer lemon tree. . . . . i think we messed up in our original location, and have since moved it to another part of the yard. . .there's one lemon that is beginning to grow. . .

the plum tree has exhausted its supply. . .it was a wonderful surprise to have.

so far, it does not appear to be too bad of a first try at growing in san francisco. . .

[Kouign Aman]

Its sounds wonderful!

Toliver, if you get a chance, would you please have your mom set aside one of those currant tomatoes for me (all shriveled and dry is fine.) I'd like to plant it next year, for the same reason your mom's neighbor likes it. Thanks.

<edited to fix spelling. Those little toms may be excellent, but they are not electric (current))>

Edited by Kouign Aman, 25 July 2007 - 01:27 PM.

[Raoul Duke]

Let the cilantro plant go to seed and collect the corriander seeds.

two of the 4 tomato plants (1 early girl and one roma) have overtaken over 1/2 of the garden space, and are beginning to climb up the wall behind it.  that have also overwhelmed the rosemary and sage that we had planted close to it.  all four tomato plants, including the cherry that was ravaged early on by some insect, will bear alot of fruit.  in front of the stunted cherry plant is a cilantro. . .bush.  it's like 3 feet tall with lots of flowers. . .i suppose i should cut that back.  . .

on the other side of the yard, the butternut squash vine has extended beyond the garden wall and is well over a foot into the yard. . .and it's trying to extend backwards towards the property wall.  have 1 green bean pod hanging from what i had hoped would be a resurgent green bean vine. . .not yet at least. 

also have one nearly full sized bell pepper on the pepper plants. . .the other 6 all have buds and i hope to have quite a few anaheims and bells.

the meyer lemon tree. . . . . i think we messed up in our original location, and have since moved it to another part of the yard. . .there's one lemon that is beginning to grow. . .

the plum tree has exhausted its supply. . .it was a wonderful surprise to have. 

so far, it does not appear to be too bad of a first try at growing in san francisco. . .

[mizducky]

For the first time in ages and ages, I have outdoor space plus the time and inclination to try and grow stuff. This is major, because up to now in my life I have manifested the Black Thumb--all plants seem to die under my "care". But I'm of a mind to give it a go one more time, especially since I have this nice little space just outside my bedroom that's perfect for container-gardening--in fact, there are five plants out there right now (a ficus, a shifflera, a couple different types of begonias--I think--a palmetto--again I think--and an aloe).

This little mini-courtyard is on the south side of the condo, so it gets pretty good sun, even though it's bounded on all sides by a solid privacy fence. Checking what veggies can grow in the late summer/fall season here in San Diego, I've decided I want to try growing sugar snap peas. Any advice to the novice vegetable gardener? I know I need to put up a trellis of some sort for the pea plants to climb ... the web also suggests using some sort of plant food that will supply nitrogen so the peas can do their nitrogen-fixing legume thing ... but I have no idea what brand to get. Is there a "gardening for dummies" website I should consult?

[Kouign Aman]

Cant help ya there, MizDucky, but I have a rooted lemongrass plant you can have, and put into dirt/container, if you like. The ones I planted are growing tall and with big drapey strappy leaves. Quite pretty.

Why fix nitrogen into potted plant soil? Are you rotating the crop? Curious.

Andiesenji is a world of info on gardening.

[mizducky]

Cant help ya there, MizDucky, but I have a rooted lemongrass plant you can have, and put into dirt/container, if you like. The ones I planted are growing tall and with big drapey strappy leaves. Quite pretty.

Why fix nitrogen into potted plant soil? Are you rotating the crop? Curious.

Andiesenji is a world of info on gardening.

Oh, I'd love to have the lemongrass, thank you! I'll PM you ...

About the nitrogen--hey, I dunno, I'm the one looking for the "gardening for dummies" website, y'know? All I know is that one of the gardening websites I did stumble upon so far suggested that legumes need their soil beefed up that way. But maybe pre-packaged container-planting soil has got that enrichment already? (Or maybe the site I was looking at had a vested interest in selling plant food? )

[Kouign Aman]

My understanding is that legumes bring atmospheric nitrogen into the soil, via symbiotic bacteria that hang about on their root nodules. So they dont need special soil. What they are good for is refreshing soil tired out by other crops.

You should be ok with any well-draining potting soil. Someone did mention that they check the soil is intended for vegetable gardening and not for houseplants etc. I dont know if it matters, but it cant hurt.

I have a packet of long-bean seeds that I havent started 'cause I cant figure out where to put the trellis. You brought them back into mind with your post re peas, and I think I just figured out (as I typed) where they can go.... hmmmmmmmm. Maybe....

Meantime, here's the producing part of the veg garden. I trimmed the deadstuff off the plants shortly after the picture was taken. The lemongrass is out of the shot to the left, as are the pots of purple potato plants. We get a kick out of lavender-colored mashed potatoes and dark-purple new potatoes.


Here's yesterday's harvest. There will be as many today. Then it will slow down a bit. We ate 7 of the harvest for dinner yesterday as many of them are not large.

[Toliver]

Is there a "gardening for dummies" website I should consult?

Funny, but there is:
Gardening For Dummies

[Toliver]

Looks like full summer has finally arrived in San Diego. I spoke with my mom this weekend and she said the marine layer is finally gone. Her tomato plants had a lot of fruit that just wasn't ripening due to the marine layer sticking around so long each day. But within the last week or so they've been turning like mad.
She said the yellow Cherry tomatoes (she thought they were going to be golden pears) are as sweet as can be. She's been reluctant to leave ripe fruit on the vine lest the night critters get them so her kitchen window sill is overflowing with tomatoes. May you all be cursed with such bounty!

[Kouign Aman]

Lucky mom!

We ate the last of the first wave of tomatoes yesterday, as bruschetta (sp?). It will be several weeks before we get more than one small one at at time, but I see a heavy load of green tomatos on the 7 or so new plants, so I'm optimistic.

The lemongrass is happily propagating, tho I dont want to pull a stem yet. It seems to want less sun, which is good, because I want to move it to a place with less sun! It has a slightly sawtoothed edge, like pampas grass but less so. It smells wonderful.

I've got 3 weedy little sages going, and a variagated sage. I'm hoping to get enough leaves this week(end) to use in a sage/brown_butter topping. Plus the weedy guys should benefit from being pinched back.

Neither the lime nor the quince set fruit this year.

[Kouign Aman]

The bell peppers are starting to shape, the orange peppers are insanely productive, and the cilantro is self-seeding right now.
It smells like summer when I water the rosemary, basil and cilantro.

And the sage FINALLY got big enough to pinch off leaves for brown butter and sage. Ah. That was a delicious dinner.

[Igorot Warrior]

Man...after reading all the posts on what people have been growing...I'm bummed I don't have a yard. If I did, I would probably plant a few things that I grew up eating:

Kalamansi (http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Calamondin)
Cherry tomatoes
Watercress
Collard Greens
Squash
Green Onions
Taro
Thai bird chile

[ludja]

Man...after reading all the posts on what people have been growing...I'm bummed I don't have a yard. If I did, I would probably plant a few things that I grew up eating:

Kalamansi (http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Calamondin)
Cherry tomatoes
Watercress
Collard Greens
Squash
Green Onions
Taro
Thai bird chile

Maybe you can join a community garden like this one in Irvine: click My sister joined one in Boston this year and it has been working very well--flowers for cutting and vegetables and herbs.

[SiseFromm]

Kalamansi . . . interesting. They're small like kumquats? I'm already thinking of a delicious, muddled cocktail. Bring it on.

[Igorot Warrior]

You can sometimes use it in place of lemon...especially in marinades. It's the secret to my dad's bbq. It's also a staple in Filipino cuisine...especially with noodle dishes.

If he has a good harvest I'll try and bring you some.

It's citrus heaven.

Kalamansi . . . interesting.  They're small like kumquats?  I'm already thinking of a delicious, muddled cocktail.  Bring it on.

[Igorot Warrior]

Thank you for the suggestion!

Man...after reading all the posts on what people have been growing...I'm bummed I don't have a yard. If I did, I would probably plant a few things that I grew up eating:

Kalamansi (http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Calamondin)
Cherry tomatoes
Watercress
Collard Greens
Squash
Green Onions
Taro
Thai bird chile

Maybe you can join a community garden like this one in Irvine: click My sister joined one in Boston this year and it has been working very well--flowers for cutting and vegetables and herbs.