The two varieties are a cherry tomato, and a larger 8 oz. variety. We're keeping our fingers crossed!Looking for tomatoes!
Our 95 cent tomato plants are looking awesome. There are tons of blossoms, but so far, no tomatoes. We went out the other day, and closely inspected, looking for little green orbs that would be the tell-tale sign of yummy things to come.
The two varieties are a cherry tomato, and a larger 8 oz. variety. We're keeping our fingers crossed!
The two varieties are a cherry tomato, and a larger 8 oz. variety. We're keeping our fingers crossed!
Cowpeas are up!
After a recommendation from our friends Cole and Stephanie, we decided to plant one of the front beds with pink-eye-purple-hull cowpeas. They make for nitrogen rich compost, and are quite yummy. They're basically black-eyed peas with a lighter pinkish-purple eye. The hulls they come in are dark purple to black. We planted them a few days ago, and now they're up!
We're looking forward to some yummy pork and beans over rice.
Whoa, Cherry Belle!
Last fall when we planted radishes, it took about three months to grow some about the size of a grape. We added them to salads, and they were delish. We decided to plant some in our front beds a couple weeks ago, and they've simply exploded!
After just a couple of weeks, we could see their little red heads poking up through the soil, and their leaves were just huge!
They were bright red, and perfectly round. Only a couple of them had split, like the ones we had planted out back.
After just a couple of weeks, we could see their little red heads poking up through the soil, and their leaves were just huge!We yanked a couple up, and they were about the size of tangerines. We decided it was time to pick em.
They were bright red, and perfectly round. Only a couple of them had split, like the ones we had planted out back.
I don't know if it's the sunlight or the compost, but our front bed is showing tons of promise!
New Vegetable Basket
We've finally gotten to the point where we're regularly harvesting things from our beloved veggie garden. Carrying in bunches of collards and radishes can be oh-so-cumbersome. My Oma has kindly donated this wonderful woven basket for the purpose of carrying our harvest! I love it, and think it's absolutely adorable. It'll be wonderful to have around the garden--- to haul out our hand shovels, bottles of water, lettuces, or whatever we might not have room to carry in our arms. Call me silly, but I love it!
Spending the day in Sanibel!
Sorry guys, no post today! We spent the day in Sanibel on an Ornithology field trip. We saw bunches of cool birds, and a couple of alligators, and the weather was gorgeous.
Hope it doesn't eat us!
Tour of Jessica's
Just down the street, there's an awesome organic farm called Jessica's Stand. We visit on Saturdays when we can to pick up some wonderful, tasty, local produce. They also carry a bunch of organic produce that they purchase from elsewhere, and the prices are generally pretty reasonable.
The weather was kind of uggy (rainy, cold, and windy), but totally worth it. We got to walk the fields full of lettuces, onions, and beets, and Brad told us everything he knew about Jessica's Farm.
They grow all kinds of stuff, including lettuces, herbs, beans, greens, beets, onions, etc. Whatever they don't grow, they order in from some world-wide organic association. Whatever doesn't get sold on Friday and Saturday, a buyer from Miami hauls down to a Farmer's Market, so there's really no fear of over-growing or underselling.
People that work at Jessica's get to take home tons of produce, which is perhaps one of the greatest perks of the job. Perhaps one of the better things we learned? They water at least every day, which supposedly really helps things grow this far south. They also use cover crops (cowpeas), and really work on rotating fields. They have a huge problem with nettles, which someone grew there for tea that got out of hand. Jessica's is a cool place. We'll do a post about the farm stand there sometime (it's closed during the week).
Taylor met someone at work that is married to a guy named Brad, who works part time at the farm. He offered to give us a tour of the place, which we gladly took. We scheduled and rescheduled a few times, but we finally made it there!
The weather was kind of uggy (rainy, cold, and windy), but totally worth it. We got to walk the fields full of lettuces, onions, and beets, and Brad told us everything he knew about Jessica's Farm.
They grow all kinds of stuff, including lettuces, herbs, beans, greens, beets, onions, etc. Whatever they don't grow, they order in from some world-wide organic association. Whatever doesn't get sold on Friday and Saturday, a buyer from Miami hauls down to a Farmer's Market, so there's really no fear of over-growing or underselling.
It was unbelievable to see just how many seeds this place grows! They start dozens of 72 or 144 slot flats a day. They don't really follow a calendar from year to year, but instead grow whatever they think they need when they need it.
They do use some organic fertilizers on their crops. In the seedling greenhouse, they use fish emulsion in the hose-lines. The weeds growing around the tables were amazingly huge from the washed-off emulsion. Their seedlings looked strong and healthy though.
People that work at Jessica's get to take home tons of produce, which is perhaps one of the greatest perks of the job. Perhaps one of the better things we learned? They water at least every day, which supposedly really helps things grow this far south. They also use cover crops (cowpeas), and really work on rotating fields. They have a huge problem with nettles, which someone grew there for tea that got out of hand. Jessica's is a cool place. We'll do a post about the farm stand there sometime (it's closed during the week).
Flowers
The tomatoes we've planted are doing great! They've only been in the ground a few days, but we're already seeing the little yellow flowers that are the tell-tale sign of fruits to come!
When I was younger, we had a cherry tomato plant on the patio that just pumped tomatoes out like crazy. I think the six plants we have will be more than enough to keep our salads full of little red tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes are probably my absolute favorite variety.