2011 Garden is Growing!

Our 2011 garden is planted and growing like crazy! We installed a new irrigation system that gives our plants regular and even watering. I've decided this is a make or break deal for a garden in Texas. There is no way to hand water a garden and ensure even watering every day. Fruiting plants (especially tomatoes) need regular, even watering to ensure good production. Here's a shot of the garden so far:



Matt built the trellises from cedar fence boards. He ripped them into different widths with the table saw and then stained them. They look pretty amazing, and match our snazzy fence he built last year. They also support the tomatoes pretty well. Form AND function!



This year we are growing LOTS of tomatoes. Even more than last year. Why I have no idea, other than the fact that there are so many varieties and it's really hard to stop buying them once you start. So, we have two 18' beds of tomatoes, one 12' bed of eggplants, and the other 12' bed we are trying out a thing called 'three sisters'. There are eight mounds, four on each side. Every other mound has squash seeds planted, and the opposite mounds have corn seeds planted in them. Once the corn gets 4-5" tall you then plant green bean seeds. The beans will sprout and start growing up the corn. Meanwhile the squash's broad leaves help keep the ground moist by providing shade cover low to the ground. Corn doesn't typically grow well in Austin, but we're giving it a shot. We've also ordered some traps to hopefully keep the evil squash vine borers at bay.

I've noticed that every year for about 2-3 weeks after we plant everything seems to be in stasis for a while. Matt's theory is that everything is taking root, which seems valid to me. But then, right before our eyes there is an explosion of growth and every morning when we walk out our front door it's unbelievable how much everything has grown. The last 2 weeks have been like that, and almost overnight we have seen fruit popping up everywhere.

Black Krim tomatoes (Large heirloom tomatoes that ripen to a reddish black color. Very flavorful.)


Ichiban Eggplant (Long, skinny Japanese eggplant, great in Asian dishes.)


Juliet tomatoes (Red grape type tomato...ours have historically gotten pretty big.)


Flamme tomatoes - our favorite (These are large cherries that ripen to an orange yellow color. AMAZING flavor.)


This year we learned to add a tomato food called Tomato-Tone (or a similar food) to the tomatoes when planting them to help ensure that the tomato blossoms actually set into fruit. And another good thing to note: peppers and eggplants are also in the tomato family, so you can use it on them as well (this also means you should not plant tomatoes, peppers and eggplants near each other to prevent competition for soil nutrients).

The biggest surprise of all is the mini forest of tomato and basil plants that have been sprouting up throughout the garden, remnants from last year's garden that went to seed. It's been really fun to see all the different varieties of basil popping up. We have no idea what the tomato plants are. We're letting most of them grow and will see how they do and what they hopefully produce.

2010 Garden Close Out

Uh, yeah. I never closed out the 2010 garden, mostly because the squash vine borers crushed my gardening soul. What is a squash vine borer, you ask? It's a little colorful moth that flies around and deposits it's eggs on the vines and leaves of squash plants. Those eggs then grow into these things:

As they grow they eat their way down the squash vine until the plant is dead and rotten. Like this:

Last year we performed surgery on several of our squash plants in an effort to save them. We managed to give some of them a few more weeks of life, but in the end the borers won the war. That combined with the fact that the ants and aphids seemed like they would ONCE AGAIN defeat my pepper plants and I just couldn't fight anymore. Until fall came. Whoa...fall came and the plants were like "ZOMG! It's not 140 degrees outside! And all the pests went away! Let's get busy!" And then we had so many tomatoes and peppers we didn't know what to do with them all. I tried making salsa and soup and salads, but it was literally impossible to eat them all. 

I'm glad our 2010 garden ended on a good note. It was a much needed victory during a very challenging time in 2010. This is why I garden. It's full of ups and downs, but every harvest no matter how big or small feels like a victory. It's the victories in life that help carry us through.