As I wandered through my veggie garden yesterday, doing a little weeding here and some pruning there, I thought you might be interested to see how it's coming along. Remember that you can click on any of the photos to view an enlarged version.
One of the most exciting things I saw (well, it doesn't take much to excite me, I guess) was my first "Trombetta di Albenga" zucchini! That's in the foreground of the above photo and it's only a few inches long but will eventually grow about 15" long and will look somewhat like a trombone. How cool is that? I got the seeds from Renee's Garden.
While we're on the subject of squash, look how crazy my winter squash and pumpkin bed is looking! Yup, that's it to the left of the corn patch, which is already developing ears of corn.
Anyway, the smaller photo to the left isn't great because of all of the vines and leaves in the way but you are looking at a young 'Candystick Delicata' squash. Those seeds came from Fertile Valley Seeds and they are an heirloom variety.
And this next squash photo (to the right) shows a larger variety of winter squash (it's either 'Blue Ballet' Hubbard or Sweet Meat - Oregon Homestead', can't tell yet) are already growing. I can't believe how early the veggies are developing this summer! I even pruned back a few canes that were wandering a bit too far from the raised bed... something I don't ordinarily have to do until August.
Here's a photo of the paste tomato patch (to the left). They're doing really well and have lots of tomatoes growing on the vines although they're still quite green. The varieties are 'Italian Pompeii' (from Renee's) and 'Amish Paste - Kapuler' from Fertile Valley. The latter is also an heirloom that is supposed to have much larger fruits than what the regular 'Amish Paste' variety tends to develop.
The photo to the right shows some 'Amish Paste - Kapuler' tomatoes and they're already looking quite stocky to me. Will keep you posted on that.
Last but not least, since our pea patch is done, I loosened the soil in that bed and planted a cover crop (see photo below), which I'll turn into the soil later to increase the soil's fertility. Boy did those seeds germinate quickly in this heat!
And this next squash photo (to the right) shows a larger variety of winter squash (it's either 'Blue Ballet' Hubbard or Sweet Meat - Oregon Homestead', can't tell yet) are already growing. I can't believe how early the veggies are developing this summer! I even pruned back a few canes that were wandering a bit too far from the raised bed... something I don't ordinarily have to do until August.
Here's a photo of the paste tomato patch (to the left). They're doing really well and have lots of tomatoes growing on the vines although they're still quite green. The varieties are 'Italian Pompeii' (from Renee's) and 'Amish Paste - Kapuler' from Fertile Valley. The latter is also an heirloom that is supposed to have much larger fruits than what the regular 'Amish Paste' variety tends to develop.