New additions to heal our grieving hearts

Almost forgot – since the loss of the zucchini freed up some space, we decided to see if there was anything decent left out there for purchase.  Lowe’s came through (thanks Bing for the tip) – we picked up a bell pepper plant, a cucumber plant, and some more basil.  The pepper plant is in the zucchini spot (with room for friends if we find some) and I put the cuke and basil in containers.

Speaking of basil, I’ve got a post brewing to gripe about the lifecycle of my herb garden this year.

Other post-vacation garden updates

Other news from around the garden:

• Shaggy (the Cherokee Purple tomato) had a bad accident while we were gone too – one of his main vines either got too heavy or got whipped around in the wind, and snapped completely. When I went to cut it off with my knife, I think I snagged the stem and dug into it. Hopefully poor Shags doesn’t mind a few nicks and scratches.

• The lettuce pest I mentioned the other day turned out to be a cabbage looper (as identified via e-mail by my wonderfully helpful local university extension office). They recommend I use a BT-based pesticide to help remove them. I picked up some Thuricide at the local garden center and sprayed it on the lettuces. This seemed to help for a bit but I noticed a few more eggs and caterpillars in the garden yesterday, so I guess it’s an ongoing process.

• We also returned to find a minor aphid infestation (also identified by the extension’s master gardeners) on the Black Cherry tomato plant…

I sprayed some homemade insecticidal soap on them (lighter formula this time) and that seemed to take care of them.

Full garden photo round-up (couple days old) after the jump.

Fruits are coming in!

At long last, the fruits are starting to come in!

The zucchini have been coming in for a week or so now – like I said, they’re jungle plants, and grow like crazy.

I’m pretty glad we got rid of those other 3 plants.  I think I started picking zucchini last week, and I’ve probably picked 7 or 8 already.  If it keeps up at that pace, we’re going to have to train the cats to eat vegetables.  The good news is, they do taste pretty good; we sauteed some for dinner last night and Amanda said they were the best she’d ever had (full disclosure: she’d been drinking for over an hour by that point).  We’ve also got some blossoms we’re saving for frying, which will be a new treat for us.

The tomatoes, however, have been the worst teases in the garden.  I’ve been staring at blossoms for what seems like weeks now, waiting for something to show up, to no avail.  But finally, last night, we got itty bitty fruits on the Black Cherry and Green Zebra plants.

I’m pretty sure the Prue and German Johnson will be catching up shortly.  Shaggy’s going to need some more time; he got a late start.

Finally, Rosey the Red Pepper has also joined the party and is fruiting nicely.

Hopefully she’ll shame the jalapeño plants into getting their act together.

Out with the old, in with the new (pepper)

Turns out, 2 of our 4 jalapeño plants lost the will to live. When we got them, they had partially broken stem but tried to soldier on despite their disabilities. Alas, it was not to be, and today I finally threw them in Olathe’s compost pile.

The good news is, this freed up some space for a new veg. Now filling the void is a sweet (red) pepper, capsicum annum, “Red Beauty”. We’ll be calling her Rosey. I’ve transplanted her to the old jalapeño container and she’s currently waiting in the garage for the sun to go down to ease her transition to her new life.

Pics of Rosey in her new home: