Wednesday, September 14, 2011

The Vegetable Garden in September


I took a short 4-day vacation last week and it was amazing to see the changes in my garden after I returned. The weather continued its 2-week hot spell through Sunday. Really, the hot weather was just what my vegetable garden needed. It has allowed everything to catch up and really start to mature.


I have 3 "Marinia di chioggia" squash that have set on the vine and are almost ready to cut. They are such a cool squash. BIG! The catalogue description says 10 pounds but I think at least two of them are already larger than that. They have turned a lovely shade of blue/grey and are getting quite warty. I am already beginning to wonder how I will cut them open and cook them......hmmm.


I also have one "Marinia di chioggia" vine that has grown the whole length of the garden and is now climbing up the deer fence inside. It has set 3 young squash but I am afraid there is just not enough warm weather ahead to allow them to reach maturity.


The "Delicata" winter squash are also doing really well. You have to lift up the leaves to even find them at this point. I am lucky that they are such fast maturing squash since the 2 plants that I have were planted pretty late. I think that I should have a fairly good harvest after all.


The "Prince" onions are ready to harvest any time. Most of the tops have fallen over.


The "Red Bull" onions are also ready to be pulled and put into storage. I just need to find the time!


The big change in the last week has been the ripening of the various tomatoes. Finally! Here is a "Black Krim" just about ready to be picked.


The "Azoychka" are turning a lovely shade of yellow. I have have harvested more of this Russian variety so far than any other variety in my garden. It definitely wins the award for earliest tomato of the year.


These lovely red globes are "Peron Sprayless OG".


Here are two low hanging "Black Prince" ready to pick.


And how cute is this truss of "Black Plum"?!


I am finally getting some color on my first "Santa Clara Canner".


And the "Super Sweet 100" are all starting to turn red. It will be a cherry tomato glut!


The "Heavenly Blue" morning glory continues to wow me everyday. I will never tire of its electric blue color. The last few days have been overcast until very late in the afternoon. This seems to confuse the morning glory plants a bit. Instead of closing up by 2 PM or so they are still wide open and fresh when I get home from work.

3 comments:

Barbara said...

Lexa, Your garden looks great! The tomatoes are all so different and interesting. I think your part time garden staff deserves a hand.

Lady Farmer said...

What a lovely squash! And love all the variety of tomatoes! Mine are still green.:~{ And today it has started raining so don't expect many to ripen. Great garden!

Anonymous said...

I love your Marina de Chioggia! Two years ago I grew some of those and got a couple of 25 pounders as well. The seem capable of very large size. They are also quite tasty!