Garden update- End of October

i guess we have had what is called an Indian summer.  80 degrees at the beginning of October.  We've had a couple light frosts, but no hard killing frost yet, even though the average killing frost usually comes much earlier. 

So i haven't pulled my garden yet.  i'm still getting tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers and squash.  The peppers are suppose to be red, yellow and orange. They spent the first part of the summer stunted and then really took off when the weather began to cool off at night. Now the plants are loaded with big green peppers. They do this every year, i'm not sure why.

i love the variety of tomatoes i am still getting. Some from the greenhouse, and some from the garden.

This is my first time growing lemon squash, but it's a new favorite. It's very prolific and appears to be disease/insect resistant. The light frost damaged the upper leaves, but it's still producing these lemon shaped summer squash. Lemon squash is named for the shape, not the flavor. It can be used just like zucchini or yellow straight neck/ crooked neck squash. 

i've been eagerly waiting for my Striped Roman to ripen. Unfortunately before they had the chance they all started getting spots. i believe this is bacterial spot or speck. i think the tomatoes will still be edible once they ripen i'll just have to remove the skin. i don't know if the spots go deeper or are just surface. A bit of a bummer though, as these are really cool looking tomatoes. 

The tomatoes in mygreenhouse have been doing amazing. They are 10 feet tall and still loaded with tomatoes. However, i've started to notice brown mold on the backs of some of the leaves. This is tomato leaf mold, and it's primarily a greenhouse problem. i've been trying to remove the infected leaves, thin out my tomato plants to improve the circulation and running  fan. That's about all i can do right now. Hoping i'm able to sterilize the greenhouse at the end of the season, so it's not a problem next year.

i have a bunch of fall crops; lettuce, chard and kale started inthe greenhouse. i've been waiting for rain so i can plant it outside, but am starting to think i may keep it in the green house all winter to see how it does.  The greenhouse has been an experiment this year, and it has really gone well except for tomato mold and powdery mildew problems which are caused by the high humidity. i'm hoping next year i can figure out better ways to regulate the humidity.  i do have a humidity gauge set up, and i use the vents and fan when the humidity gets too high.  It's still a bit of a struggle though.

Still really pleased with the amount of food i was able grow in it this year, and am already planning out way to improve the gardens next year. i'm excited to get a head start with my seeds this spring. i can actually start them in February, and have the space to start everything which i've never been able to do before. i'm hoping to continue some cold crop gardening all winter long. My greenhouse is not heated though, so we'll see how it goes. i'm feeling really good about this years harvest though. My pantry is stocked full of home canned foods, sweet potatoes, potatoes and root veggies.

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Garden update- August 16

A few photos from August. 

TYpically my gardens peek around the second week of July, but this year i planted a bit late and things really didn't get going until the first week of August.   My first planting of beans is done, but i have a second planting coming in strong.  Squash and peppers are producing well and more of my heirloom tomatoes are finally beginning to ripen. Some take longer than others, i still have several varieties that are green.

Some of the varieties in this photo are Hillbilly, Cherokee Purple, Violet Jasper, Black Cherry, Pink Brandywine, Yoder's German Yellow and Boxcar Willy.

My squash peeked out around the second week of August. We got quite a bit of rain around the end of July/begining of August and my plants statrted producing like crazy and then wilting and dying. i'm still getting plenty of squash although i had to pull most of my plants due to vine borers and mosaic virus. 

My hens have been on a bit of a break. Many of my girls have been broody all summer, and others were molting so i haven't been getting very many eggs. Just recently, they have begun to lay again.  So excited to be getting the maran eggs again. 

This week i've been super busy canning tomatoes, freezing beans and cooking up lots squash!  i'm trying to get my gardens cleaned up so i can put in some fall crops. The tomatoes in my greenhouse are still doing amazing! Next year i may not even bother with garden tomatoes and just grow them in the greenhouse.   

How is e everyone else's garden doing? Did you try any new varieties this year?

Tomato Obsession

i love fresh tomatoes. i don't mean the pink/orange flavorless and pasty ones you find at the local grocery store. i mean organic, homegrown, ripe on the vine, still warm from the sun, tomatoes.


These tomatoes probably don't look like the perfect round orange/pink tomatoes you find at the store. They are all heirloom varieties. i like to grow a variety of colors, shapes and sizes. i like the full rainbow.

So you can only imagine the devastation i'm feel having been hit with late blight. Not only does late blight attack the plant killing it rapidly, but it also affects the fruits. As the disease progresses, brown lesion will appear on the fruit. These lesion spread incredible fast, and make the fruit inedible.


i was really expecting to lose all of my tomatoes to the blight. Once i realized i had it, i began spraying my plants with Bonide Copper fungicide. i picked and ate as many green tomatoes as i could, and then started harvesting a few as they were beginning to ripen. i suddenly found myself with a lot of ripe tomatoes.

As beautiful as these tomatoes are... everything i have read online says you shouldn’t can or freeze tomatoes from blighted plants. The fruits have a lower pH and increases the risk of botulism developing after processing. So although i totally understand not water bath canning them, i would think that pressure canning them would kill any possible botulism spores. i also can't imagine that they could develop botulism in a freezer. ???

Anyhow, because i have an abnormal fear of botulism i contacted our local extension office, hoping that they could reassure me that the tomatoes were safe to freeze/pressure can. Instead they told me they had to contact the state specialist before they could confirm their answer. :(



It's hard to imagine this beautiful pink Brandywine tomato may not be safe to preserve. i've been eating them fresh, and although late blight tomatoes turn red, they never sweeten. The flavor isn't bad, it's just not what it should be. It almost taste like those tasteless tomatoes they sell at the store. :(

i am still picking lots of green and 'just starting to ripen' tomatoes. If allowed to ripen on the vine, they will develop brown lesions on the fruit. i'm still waiting to hear back from the extension agent, but plan to freeze them anyway. i would hate for them to just rot and then find out too late that i actually could have preserved them.



i am incredibly grateful for all the tomatoes i've been able to harvest, because sadly, this is what most of my tomatoes look like this year. i have had to pull most of my plants, and i've thrown out way more tomatoes than i've harvested. :(

As devastating as it all is, i am still obsessed with heirloom tomatoes. i'm already seed shopping and planning my tomatoes for next year. However, i think next years garden will include a variety of blight resist heirlooms, just to be safe. :)

Late Blight

Blight is one of those words that make all organic vegetable gardeners cringe. We are not strangers to early blight here. It is a disease common in our area, and once you get it in your soil you never really get rid of it. Early blight is somewhat manageable. You have to continuous prune off the affected leaves, and you can spray with compost tea, milk wash or an organic fungicide like Greencure. Early blight can be quite destructive during humid wet conditions, but most years i am still able to harvest a good amount of tomatoes before the plants die back.


Early blight is easy to identify. It usually begins on the lower leaves, and starts as irregular brown spots surrounded by yellow halos. As the disease progresses, you'll start to see brown spots on the stems as well.

This year i got hit with Late Blight. Late blight is one of the most devastating diseases of potato and tomato worldwide. It was responsible for the devastating Irish potato famine of the 1840's and can result in complete destruction of potato or tomato crops.


When i first noticed the brown spots on the leaves, i didn't really think much of it. We get early blight every year, and although the spots were lacking the yellow halo i still assumed it was just early blight.

i have been extremely excited about my tomatoes this year. i planted 40+ tomato plants all heirlooms , many started from seed. All summer i have been dreaming of canning pasta sauce and salsa, of eating fresh tomato sandwiches with big fat slices of Cherokee purples.

i have been watching my tomatoes obsessively. Picking off the early blight, adding fresh compost around the bases, spraying with Epson salts when they showed early signs of magnesium deficiency. i brewed Comfry tea and manure tea to give them extra nutrients to create strong healthy plants. They were looking incredible. My plants were huge, dark green and loaded with huge fat green tomatoes. i was already envisioning my best tomato year ever.

Then the rain started.



It rained, and rained and rained. The evening temps became strangely cool for July, brown water soaked spots began to appear on a few of my tomatoes, and then three of my beautiful heirloom plants, shriveled and died almost overnight.

i really had no idea what could have happened, but i pulled and burned the plants and continued to monitor the others. Then i received an email that made my heart sink. The email subject was Late blight Alert in Floyd County. i immediately began to research late blight.


Late blight typically appears during periods of wet cool weather. It first appears as water soaked brown spots, with fuzzy white on the backsides.
i knew immediately that is what had killed my plants so quickly. Late blight can kill an entire tomato crops within a week if the conditions are right. It spreads quickly, and is resistant to most organic pesticides and treatment. The most effective organic protectant is copper. This should be applied to your plants before you notice signs of late blight.

Once you see the spots, there is very little that can be done. i purchased bionide copper fungicide and immedatly began spraying all of my tomatoes (i have three separate gardens with tomatoes planted). The first plants died around July 21. By July 24 i had found late blight just beginning in a second garden. By July 26th, all of my tomatoes had the spots.



Less than a week ago this was a beautiful, healthy, lush plant and in just a few days almost all of the foliage is gone. The plant will be dead by the end of the week.


Besides the damage to the actual plants, the tomatoes themselves are affected by late blight. The green tomatoes often develop brown lesions which can affect the entire tomato. If allowed to ripen on the vine, the tomatoes will just rot. From what i have read, if picked green and allowed to ripen the tomatoes may turn red, but will not sweeten and the flavor will not be great.

Also tomatoes affected by late blight are not suitable for canning.

This is by far the most devastating disease i have ever experienced. i have 100+ lbs of beautiful green tomatoes that will never ripen. :( i really can't even begin to express how heart sick i am over the loss of all these tomatoes. Because i can not bring myself to throw them out, i've started compiling a pinboard of recipes that use green tomatoes.

Although this years tomato crop will not fill my cupboards with jars of sauce and salsa for the winter, it is not completely wasted.

In trying to stay optimistic about the situation, the one positive thing is that Late blight does not over winter in the soil. The pathogens should be killed off during the winter, and it really requires specific weather conditions to appear and spread. So the likely hood of getting it again next year is not a guarentee. Also, because i now know what to look for, it is were to appear again i can remove the plants immediately and begin treating the others before it becomes a total loss. i've been gardening for 12 years, and this is a first. It is devastating, but also a learning experience.


Despite the gardener's best intentions, Nature will improvise. ~Michael P. Garafalo

What's Growing- July

i can't believe it is already July! In just the last two weeks my garden has doubled in size, and my vegetables have started really producing.



The first week of July, and we are still harvesting lots of greens. Kale, Swiss chard and some lettuce. The arugula, spinach and Buttercrunch have all bolted and gone to see. i'm still getting a lot of the Majesty (red) and the green leaf lettuce. Surprisingly, despite the heat is has not bolted or gotten bitter yet.
i harvest my first purple cabbage (and made sauerkraut), and have two more to pick. This was my first year growing cabbage, as my family won't eat it. The purple cabbage is a beautiful plant to grow. The flavor of the cabbage is quite sweet, and delicious raw. i've been searching a few recipes that i can make with it. i've really been enjoying it just added to my regular salads, it adds crunch and a pleasant sweet taste.

i am still getting some peas, although the plants are starting to yellow and die back. i'm also harvesting strawberries now! Seems a bit late, but i didn't get that many this spring, so i'm happy to have them!

i'm getting a surprising amount of broccoli still. The main heads were harvested several weeks ago, but the plants will continue to produce florets or mini-heads. i think i've harvested more broccoli from the mini-heads than i did in the original harvest. Every couple days i can go out and pick more than enough for dinner.

The blueberries have been really abundant this year as well. i've been picking 4-5 cups everything couple of days. 1 have about 12 quarts frozen so far, and we've been eating them fresh freely. We've been enjoying blueberry pancakes with blueberry syrup on the weekends, greek yogurt with fresh blueberries, frozen blueberry-yogurt pops, blueberries with fresh cream and blueberries by the handful!



This year i planted Blue Podded Blauwschokkers, Dwarf grey and sugar snap peas. The blossoms and pods on the blue podded shelling peas were absolutely gorgeous, however i was not all that impressed with the peas. i shelled some fresh, and cooked them up. They were bland, tasteless and ugly. They cooked to a slightly greenish grey, and were not overcooked. They are intended to be a dry soup pea, so maybe that is why they weren't very good fresh.
The Dwarf grey i planted for the first time last year. Again i was won over by the beautiful purple blossoms. Dwarf grey are intended to be a snow pea, so you can pick and eat the pods when they are young. They do better in cold weather and although they continue to be prolific in the heat the pods become tough and fibrous.
Lastly i grew sugar snaps. These are by far the most delicious tender and perfect pea for eating fresh. They are my kids absolute favorite, and i'm pretty disappointed that i wasted so much space on the other peas.
i left the rest of the Blauwschokkers and Dwarf grey to dry in their pods for seed. i planted the two varieties next to each other, so i'm curious to see if they cross pollinated. i may plant a few next year as ornamentals, but i won't waste my garden space on these tasteless peas again. This fall i will be sticking with the sugar snaps.


Most of my tomatoes are green still, but i have one pathetic looking potted tomato that is completely loaded with tomatoes! i have already picked two beautiful red ripe tomatoes, and have a third that should be ripe in the next few days.


My beans are producing like crazy. i've already started blanching/freezing them, and plan to finally pull out my pressure canner and get some canned this year. These are the Royalty Purple bush beans. We love them. They are delicious and tender, and turn green when you cook them. My kids love them raw.


My pepper plants are not looking very impressive. They are small, and haven't grown that much since they wre planted...but several of them have giant peppers on them.



It seems like my zucchini plants doubled in size literally overnight. A few days ago i was just beginning to see blooms and a few baby fruit, and now my plants are loaded with zucchinis. Most are about 3-4" inches long, but in another day or two i'll be harvesting them.

My potatoes have just started to die back, and we've already dug some that were in the kids garden. i also planted corn, okra, cucumbers, pattypan squash, pumpkins, winter squash, beans, beans and more beans. :) i have purple beans, green beans, pole beans, yardlong beans, Scarlet runners and soy beans. As soon as the peas are pulled i will be planting more.

This next month will be crazy with harvest and canning. i can't quite decide whether i'm looking forward to it, or dreading it. Without a/c the house gets really warm with the canner running all day. It is all worth it though, when winter comes round and we can reach into the cupboard and pull out our home grown fruit, vegetables and sauces.

How is your garden growing?

Growing Heirloom Tomatoes

Most of my garden is sown directly into the soil. i've never had a good place to start seeds inside, my cats always manage to knock them over or eat the seedlings. The only plants i don't directly sow are tomaotes and peppers. i usually purchase 4 packs from our local garden center, they do a really good job of having a large selection of heirloom plants.

However, a few months ago, my folks gifted me with a small inside greenhouse, so i was really excited to get to try growing my own tomato and pepper plants this year. i may have gone a little overboard purchasing seeds. :)


Last year was my first attempt at growing tomatoes from seed, and it was a complete failure. i didn't have the green house, and i put the seedlings outside so the cats wouldn't get them..and accidentally froze them all.
This year, i decided to try again and my tomato starts are doing really well! To start the seeds i just used recycled containers and our own homemade compost. You could also use potting soil and seed trays. This is what they look like when they are first start coming up.



Once they start leafing out and are about 3" tall i transfer them into individual larger containers.


Once they around this size, i start bringing them outside for a few hours each day to help them harden off.



Eventually i transfer them into larger pots, and am able to leave them outside. They can remain out all the time, i only bring them in if there is a threat of frost.



Starting tomato seeds inside this year has really allowed me to get an earlier start. My last frost date is this week, so i can actually start planting them into the ground now. i already have several blooming!

This years Heirloom tomato variety includes Cherokee Purple, Purple Calabash, Black Krim, Black Brandywine, Yellow Brandywine, Mr. Stripy, Big Rainbow, Hillbilly, Amish Paste, Black Cherry and Silvery Fir Tree. i'm sure i'll be adding a few more varieties, as i can not resist purchasing a few heirloom 4 packs from the local greenhouse. i tend to come home with new plants each time i pass by it. :)

What kind of tomatoes are you doing this year? What varieties are your favorites?

Purple Garden Progress.

Last month i posted about planning a purple garden this year. We rotated our gardens, so that the potatoes are planted in the new garden space. My cold crops have been moved to the old potato bed, so my front garden which has been primarily cold crops has now been turned into a 'Purple garden'.

Many of my purple vegetables haven't been planted yet, or haven't sprouted yet. It is still too early to plant the purple beans, tomatoes and other things.



Majesty lettuce is just beginning to come in. This is my first time growing it, and i'm really impressed with it's deep burgundy color. It is just gorgeous!!


Purple Asparagus. :) We already have an established asparagus bed, and have harvested enough for two meals already. We lost quite a few shoots with the last frost, but have tons of new shoots emerging, so i think we are going to have a pretty good harvest this year. i thought this purple shoot was pretty.

This is the Redbor kale starting to come in. If the weather stays cool it should turn a deep purple. We absolutely love kale.

Purple cabbage. My family isn't a big fan of cabbage, but i couldn't resist planting it because of the deep color, and even the foliage is tinted in purple. Even if i'm only one to eat it, i think it was worth planting for it's colors alone. :)


These are the Blue podded peas , which will produce lovely purple flowers, and blue/purple podded peas.

Also planted, but not pictured (or coming yet) is Cosmic purple carrots, Violet Sicilian cauliflower, and red velvet lettuce.
Once the danger of frost has passed, i'll be planting the purple bush beans, purple basil, Cherokee purple tomatoes, purple peppers and more!

My husband and son recently went on field trip to Monticello with the 4th grade class, and brought me back some heirloom Purple Calabash Tomato seeds that were actually harvested from the gardens of Monticello. Thomas Jefferson first documented planting these in his garden in 1809. i thought that was pretty neat. :) Although not technically, purple... i will have those in this garden as well. :)

Gearing up for Garden Season.

Spring is definitely in the air! You may have noticed my lack of blog posts recently, and it's because the gorgeous weather has been luring me outside every possible chance i can get. We are gearing up for garden season, which means cleaning out the garden beds, supplementing our soil with composted horse manure, and turning it all up.


We have a local hook up for free unlimited horse manure that has composted for several years. We added some to the garden in the fall, and added another load this spring. The benefit of adding composted horse manure is that it builds good soil structure and texture, increasing the amount of air that can infiltrate and the amount of water it can hold. We have heavy clay soils, so adding compost really helps to loosen the packed soil. In composted Horse manure, nitrogen has been converted to a much more stable form and will be slowly released, allowing plants to use it over a longer period of time. It releases nutrients slowly when plants are small and at greater rates as soil temperatures warm up and the major growth period begins. It also supports essential soil bacteria; feeds earthworms and allows them to multiply; and gradually changes soil pH levels that are either too low (acidic) or too high (alkaline).

The downside of adding the horse manure, is that it tends to be full of weed seeds. So before we till it in, we let the chickens loose in the garden to scratch up and eat as many of the seeds as they can. They will also pluck up the fresh green weed sprouts as they begin to grow. They don't completely prevent weeds, but do help to keep it from becoming completely unmanageable.


We also have a hook up for free pine mulch. So the husband has gotten several loads of it, to mulch the kids play area. We also use it on our blueberry bushes and acid loving shrubs.

Garden season means garden planning, and seed organizing and ordering. i have never been an organized person, but i try! One of the ways i organize my seeds is with a trading card album. The pages contain 9 pockets, and it's in a 3 ring binder and is very inexpensive. When i plant a new flower i keep the seed package and place it in one of the pockets ( cut it down to fit). Then at the end of the season, when i collect the seeds i place them in small bags that are dated. Then i can store them in the pocket with the picture and growing info. i've been using this system for several years to organize my flower seeds, and it works quite well for me.


This year, i ordered the majority of my seeds from Seeds of change, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange and Seed savers exchange. i've been really focusing on growing mainly heirloom and non-GMO seeds. Although i do have a few hybrids...like that fabulous Redbor kale!! You can find a list of safe seed companies here.


i received this awesome little indoor greenhouse from my folks, and am super excited that i can actually start my seeds inside this year. In the past i have tried starting sees inside, but we have very limited space, and very curious kitties....that always find a way to dump over all of my seed trays. So far, so good. Although my cats like to nose around the greenhouse (there is a catnip plant in there) They haven't managed to dump it over yet. So i'm feeling pretty optimistic. :)
So far i have broccoli, cauliflower, kale, lettuce and a couple of tomatoes started along with a few herbs.



Another handy little tool i recently came across is SproutRobot.com. You plug in your zipcode and it creates a personalized planting calender that tells you what seeds you can start inside, or plant in your garden week by week. You can even sign up for the free email notifications of what can planted each week. Pretty cool eh? This is great for people like me...who don't know what month it is most of the time..lol.

Have you started planning/planting your garden yet?

Planning a Purple Garden :)

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Just for fun this year, i decided to turn my front garden into a purple garden this year! Typically my front garden is used mainly for cold crops. i usually plant spinach, kale, lettuce, broccoli and peas in this bed. This year we are really moving things around, trying a few new things and having a bit of fun with the gardens.
We are moving many of our cold crops to the old potato bed. Potatoes will be planted in the new garden that we made in the cleared area. That leaves the front garden open for whatever.

While ordering seeds this year, i started to notice how many purple varieties are out there and i got the idea to plant a purple garden. :)


i created a board on pinterest, to pin all my favorite purple veggies! i probably will not be growing all the varieties i pinned on my board, but i have bought seeds for quite a few and am still on the look out for more. Here are a few of my favorites!

These are called Blue podded peas....but come on, that is purple!! :) This will be my first year trying these, so i don't have an opinion yet. From what i have read, they make a good dry soup pea, but can also be harvest young and eaten fresh like snow peas.

Redbor kale is another variety i'm pretty excited about. Isn't it beautiful!! We eat ton of kale here. Most years i grow the Dwarf Blue Curled., but last year i also planted Rainbow Lacinato Kale and was really impressed with the color variations. When i saw purple kale for the first time, i knew i had to grow some!!

i've never been huge fan of cauliflower, but isn't this beautiful!?! i already have my seeds started for this, and am pretty excited to see how it does. This is Sicilian Violet Cauliflower. i picked up my seeds on ebay from this seller, Ohioheirloomseeds, and am very happy with them. i ordered quite a few different seeds from them and like the flat rate $1.69 shipping no matter how many seeds you order. The seeds are packaged and labeled well, and they have a wonderful variety of heirloom varieties.

This will be my first time growing these, Cosmic Purple carrots. :) These are also available from Ohioheirloomseeds, although their photo wasn't quite as impressive.

A few other purple vegetables that i'll be growing are purple podded pole beans, Royalty Bush beans, Purple passion asparagus, Cherokee Purple tomatoes (even though they don't look that purple), purple basil and several varieties of red/purple lettuce. i also plan to accent the garden with a variety of purple flowers and herbs.

i'm still on the lookout for differnt purple veggies we can incorporate into our purple garden, and love the convenience of the pinterest boards to 'pin' any potential vegetables i come across. Feel free to follow along on my Purple Garden Pinterest board for more purple garden ideas!

i look forward to sharing photos of our purple garden this summer, once things are growing.

Wordless Wednesday- Garden rainbows

Have you eaten a rainbow today?