Garden Journal 2019 | September

in #gardenjournal20195 years ago

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My garden has seen better months than this one but it was also not the worst month either for it. Surprisingly I did not have any issues with whiteflies, caterpillars, black widows or even ants. I even dodged a major one from Mother Nature itself called Hurricane Dorian. Sadly I came down with the flu so the garden suffered from my inability to water it for a while.

Jeff The Tomato

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Hurricane Dorian was expected to be a major issue for my area from the early tracks around the start of the month. As a result, this caused me to relocate all the plants since they were in potters to protect them from all the rain and wind. That ended up not needing to be done since Dorian stayed out at sea but we still did got some flash flooding and winds.

The tomato, in particular, was difficult to relocate since it was over eight feet at the time and quite wide. He was already in the tallest part of the enclosed area. I ended up putting him on a dolly and moved at a steep angle just to give him enough clearance room.

During transportation, I lost 3 tomatoes in total at least I did not lose anymore. There was also no more room in the garage where the rest of the smaller plants where moved so he was still outside when the weaker of the winds came through.

Just this week the top part that has no support folded over since it has around five tomatoes up there. While that makes it a bit shorter it was also out of the room so that was really the only route things could go.

In total, I had around a dozen tomatoes for the month. I was quite supersized by the turnout and have been enjoying them each time one was ready. They are still not as big as I would have liked. At this point I know it did not get watered enough as for almost I week I was unable to do much.

Herbs

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The oregano and parsley spent over a week in the garage without any sunlight. After that, they then were not watered much for over a week. They are at least still holding on and producing more than I could use. Hopefully, a few good weeks of getting watered daily and sunlight will restore them back into good shape. The oregano, in particular, does not look so great.

I was going to trim them back during September and try my hand at dehydrating them so I could have some over the wintertime. That, however, did not happen since I became rather ill. I still have not fully recovered and I just don’t want risk contaminating something I plan to store over the long term. Perhaps next month I’ll finally get around to doing so.

The good news at least no spider webs covering the parsley. All the spiders seem to have gone missing after Hurricane Dorian. Now if only the invasion of love bugs would hurry up and do their thing. At least they remain on the outside of the screen and have only managed to get a couple inside into my waiting arms with a fly zapper.

Tabasco And Jalapeno Peppers

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These two stayed outdoors with the Tomato during the hurricane. I did not want to put them in the garage with how much scent they put off. Not to mention if they started dropping peppers some people in the house don’t deal to well with spicy and I did not want cause any troubles.

These two are also my top producers for the month. Not only did I get a few more Ziploc bags of Tabasco peppers. I had over a dozen Jalapeno peppers as well. They at least work great in trading for other goods in the local area. Since I myself cannot consume as much as they produce.

While I did take some photos of the Jalapeno since it only has one leaf remaining and no peppers it looked quite depressing. I felt I’d give it some privacy and hopefully I did not kill this one with the lack of watering. It seemed rather happy with how much it was producing. Perhaps this one was a one and done plant. Sometimes you just have that kind of luck.

Red And Green Peppers

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These two spent time in the garage with the rest of the plants and seemed to have suffered the most. Since they had an ant issue a couple of months back I was worried this was going happen. It also did not help I did not water them for around a week. While it did rain a few times that did not seem to do the trick.

The red pepper sadly appears dead. I’m going to leave it in there for another week to see if any growth comes back. Since it has been dwindling for months now I don’t have much hope. I think it’s gone for good this time.

The green pepper, while it’s still green, has only grown a little bit. No peppers or any growth that I could tell on that front. It seems to just be surviving. I don’t have much hope for this one remaining over the mild winter months. If it producing anything at all I’ll consider that a win.

Salsa

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The plan for this year was to grow most of what I needed to make this Salsa I really love. With a couple of failures I had, it did not come as close as I would have liked. While I could have tried to grow in our second growing season more of what I’m missing I just don’t have it in me to try again this year.

As a result, I took what I had and I made up a batch. I had some tonight on my burritos and it was amazing.

The tomatoes, tabasco, and jalapeno that I put into it were from my garden.

What I was hoping to grow the following they either failed or got eaten by other creatures so a failure this year: cilantro, scallion, and red peppers.

Then there was the stuff I did not attempt to grow at all that makes up the rest: garlic, onion, lime, and mango. Along with a heavy dash of salt, pepper, and some red wine vinegar to finish it off.

Hopefully next year I can get most of it from growing it myself. It has proven to be quite a challenge with all the ingredients in it. It does look fantastic and tastes amazing as well.

Looking forward to seeing how everyone’s garden is doing this month for Garden Journal .

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Photos were taken and content was written by @Enjar.

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Sorry to hear you are not feeling well, I hope you recover soon. One thing I don't like about the school year as it seems one or the other grand kids is always sick with something and you never quite know what it is. My kids also hate it that I make them sit in the backseat if they are going somewhere with me and they are sick. They should just be thankful I stopped carrying around those purse size disinfectant sprays which I'd spray at them if they coughed. I really hate getting sick but I guess everyone does.

My grandson's tomato plants did surprisingly well this year....though they produced some of the weirdest shaped tomatoes I ever saw...

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That green one I said to my son just look at that big beautiful jalapeno pepper. He said I didn't know you planted any...I said I didn't it's a tomato, lol. The green peppers we got a couple small ones but that was about it. The spinach died instantly, can't really say what went wrong with that since it was my first try at it. We had some wonderful cherry oval shaped tomatoes that were so sweet and tasty. I've been making salads out of them for the last month. The odd shaped tomatoes were the big producer though this year and I just wrote a blog about what I was doing with those tomatoes..
https://steemit.com/gardening/@sunlit7/a-quick-solution-to-those-ten-fifteen-extra-tomatoes. My grandson's corn stalks never really took off either...I'll have to think of something creative for him to do with those tiny stalks so his efforts doesn't seem in vain.

I wouldn't worry to much about your oregano though as that old lady friend of mine (she passed away at the end of last year) I was telling you about (at least I think it was you) told me once you plant oregano it's hard to kill and it grows like a weed. So I am encouraged that it will come back for you. I got a kick out of you calling the lone tomato Jeff. On the brighter side of things this year though that tomato plant didn't take over your entire residence, that was one amazing size tomato plant.

Those are some strange tomatoes. No idea how that even happen.

The tomato plant still has time to try and take everything over!

lol, and people thought they need be concerned about climate change....they'd better keep an eye on that tomato plant!

If I hear about all the pests and hurricanes and other stuff in areas with more sun, I'm suddenly happy living in northern Germany even with much less sun ;)

Here the active gardening season nears its end: last tomatoes are getting red (or black, resp.), some cabbages getting their final growth - and the guinea pigs are moving from their outside habitat to their indoor mansion :)

Mostly herbs are left and some of these - like basilicum - are on their last legs, too.

Aww I hate it when a garden gets down to the last for the season. Kind of sad you spend all spring and summer growing something and then it just ends in such way.

I'm lucky to have more time still. Depending how many hard freezes we get during our mild summer some of this stuff might be able to make it. Granted some of it I want replant new stuff next year just to keep it from going to seed.

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A beautiful post! I'm wondering though, how come only Jeff the tomato gets a name?

Last year the tomato plant I grew only had one tiny little tomato and was not very big.

This year the one I grew got so big I gave it a name! I’ve been sharing photos of it elsewhere. So it just became easier to give it a name at some point. People now ask by name how Jeff the Tomato is doing.

I'm also just glad something other then spicy peppers produce a lot. Last year I had so many Jalapenos I ended up giving many of them away.

Glad you didn't feel the full force of Dorian but sorry to hear about the illness. Hope you get back to full fitness soon and in to the gardening again 💪

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Thanks, I'm like 75-80% back to normal. Some days I still feel a little something more than others. This one seems like it's going be lingering around with me for a bit. I've never been big on sleeping but I did when I could to try and combat it.

Hope you are feeling better. My tomatoes took a beating with Dorian but I took a lot of the green ones off beforehand and they ripened in the house. I still have a few.

Jalapeños always seem to grow well here but I only had a few plants of them and sweet peppers.

A lot of the time I let mine ripen in the house. Some days we will just get so much rain I don’t want forget about them and come out to find them rotting away!

That's great to be able to make salsa from what you've grown. I grow tomatos, green peppers, strawberries and blueberries mostly, and I use them all in various salads. It's a more enjoyable meal when you've grown it yourself.

It tastes so much better than store-bought as well! I’ve done a taste test comparison in the past between what I’ve grown and bought in the store. Store bought had a more muted flavor and it was surprising just how much better home grown was.

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Thanks for joining, @enjar.
I experienced first-hand how the flu can be a killer for your garden. Mine looks terrible after only a week.

Oh, how I love those spicy pepper plants. We don't eat them - I don't like spicy food -, but I might grow one or more next year, because they look so awesome... :0)

I hope you are feeling much better. I'm still dealing with it a bit in the morning.

I enjoy medium heat which I don't seem to be able grow even the Tabasco kicked my butt this year. I do remove the seeds and other stuff out the Jalapenos which make them rather enjoyable for me.

I do agree I wish I had more colorful stuff in my garden. The Tabasco has been a wonderful addition this year breaking up and adding in some color. If I was not growing out of containers I would find more stuff that was not just green!

Thanks for hosting this monthly gardening journal. I enjoy them.

At least you got to enjoy some of your harvest @enjar hope you feeling a whole lot better.

I am amazed at how tall your tomato grows ours reach about two to three foot off the ground.

I am shocked as well how tall the tomato has grown. I’m thankful it's not getting much taller otherwise I’d need a ladder to pick the tomatoes!

Seeing your garden reminds me so much of mine when I had a garden.
Now that I stay in an apartment, it's even hard to grow pandan plant which is the easiest to grow.

You able to grow herbs or something like that indoors?

Glad you escaped Dorian. Hope you're feeling better.

Oh, and I'm sure your oregano will recover - mine has from looking worse than that!

Apparently oregano is one tough herb. If that is the case I’ll have to grow more next year.

I just need to find more areas of my cooking to include it in. As it’s not something I’ve used a lot in my life before. I really enjoy just going out and cutting some off whenever I feel like adding some.

It is. Mine's just been decimated again with the drilling of our borehole but I am confident it will survive. Oregano is regularly used in Italian and Greek cooking. It's the herb that is traditionally sprinkled over a Marguerita pizza. It's best added to the dish at the end to retain flavour. I have used it in salads and it makes a pretty garnish - leaves and flowers

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I understand what you went through, getting sick makes us very late, last month the same thing happened to me and I almost lost my peppermint plants, I love your jalapeño plant, they are my favorites! This tomato has given good fruits, a pity that doubled in the end, sure was by the weight of the tomatoes, luck for this next month, I'm sure we will have good news!

Thanks. I hope your peppermint plant is doing much better now. Always a shame when it’s just a lack of some water that takes them out.

I'm hoping with the somewhat cooler temps the tomato plant is going have a great month!

@enjar - sorry that you were sick during that week and didn't get to water the plants as you normally would have done. Happy that Dorian missed you for the most part though! That 8' tomato plant is huge - I don't see many that tall around here. Congrats on the rally upvote selection!

Thanks. I am just as shocked at how tall the tomato plant has grown. Last year's was no where even close!

Hope your recovery continues my friend and I am sure that your plants will recover when you are able to attend to them again.
Blessings!

Thanks, I'm around 75% back to feeling normal. Sometimes these illness seem to want to linger around.

That is the thing lately my friend. A friend struggled for 6 months to get rid of what they said was a flu virus. Not normal anymore.

@enjar,

Well, had Dorian made landfall, the damage would have been far worse than a few pekid looking plants. We dodged the bullet.

Hurricane, hurricane, go away,
And don't come back on another day.

Quill

I indeed luck out. Even more so with a the few that followed. Right after it I was debating if I should even bring the plants back out since we where suppose to get another hurricane. Thankfully they have all been steering clear!

Well done!!! Especially not feeling well and Dorian. Dorian sure spanked everyone, even when he didn't touch them, the excitement he caused was enough to ruin everyone's day!

Jeff looks great and even though you had to subsidize your garden to make a good salsa, sometimes I have to say that I cheat and do the shortcut. I hate being lazy like that, but, I run out of time!!!

But, tomatoes!!!Oh,yeah!!! I love my own!

Feel better, @Enjar~!!

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One of these years I'll 100% it!

I still got enough of some stuff to make another batch once more tomatoes ripen. Which is sadly the downside to having to buy stuff you end up getting more than you usually use.

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Good luck nursing your garden back to health, and it’s good to know you are in the mend yourself! The s also looks fabulous!

Thanks, have a great weekend!

It's difficult to care for a garden, at least for me. The lack of water can damage and ruin the work of many months ...
I'm glad you were able to get through these attempts and everything seems to be fine.

It is always something it seems when growing. It's nice at least when you make it to harvesting and enjoy what you have grown. Makes it even more amazing after all the struggles and wondering if it will even work out.

Yes, I know this pleasant feeling.

I'm so sorry to hear you got the flu! I am glad your garden has done well in spite of it though.

I didn't touch gardening this year. I shamefully, didn't even clean out my flower pots from last year. lol

We've had out hands full with other projects, maybe I can get back to it next year.

Sometimes it's just to get involved in other things in life. Perhaps next year indeed!

There are Tabasco peppers? I never actually knew that as I thought it was just a brand of popular hot sauce.

I am going to have to look into those for my hot pepper industry!

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Yep, more than just a brand of hot sauce!

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