What Happened In My Garden This Week? – Week 36

Aubergine

The aubergine stopped growing and so I had to harvest it. The plant itself had an amazing root system, but something had been feeding on it until it started to decompose above soil. I had to take it out of the soil so it didn’t spread anything to the rest of the plants, just in case. It took a lot out of me to get it out. The root system was so extensive that I wish I could’ve kept it in. But at this point in the season, you have to prioritise what will have the best chance of producing something more in the garden before the season is through. And the aubergine plant wouldn’t.

Brassica

The slugs cleared another Napa cabbage in the garden, to my great disappointment. From one day to another, there were just a skeleton-like leaves left. It didn’t look like a cabbage anymore. The ones that I placed at a height, on a shelving system, are doing a little bit better. At this point I am not sure if I’ll get to harvest any Napa cabbage, but if I’m lucky, I may get to harvest black kale, regular kale and one or two Pixie cabbage. We’ll see.

Corn

The plants are doing well, and I am looking into if you can eat or make something with the stalks. I know the corn hair can be used in healing teas, but I’m not too sure about the stalks. I’ll have to do some research and see what I can find out.

Cucumber

One cucumber harvested in the garden, and more are growing on the vines. I would need about a dozen more, minimum, to be able to make a good amount of pickles this year. I would also like to make cucumber kimchi with a few of them. So tomorrow I better give that container a bit extra fertiliser. Make sure no pests are feeding off it.

Herbs

I injured my shoulder this week and wasn’t able to harvest the remaining herbs, so it has been postponed until next week. With the nice weather we’ve been having, that has proven to be a good thing. The plants are positively thriving.

Root vegetables

I rearranged the beet plants somewhat, to give them more room individually and to put them a bit further down into the soil. Some were almost laying down on top of the soil, likely a result of one of the rain showers we had a few weeks ago. They are doing much better now. The seedlings are beginning to emerge as well. The beet plants as well. I’m still waiting for the carrots and the parsnips.

Tomatillos

One more tomatillo harvested. I fertilised the plant and did what I could to stake them. The plants had gotten large enough that they started to lean at an angle where the main part could have broken off. There are over a hundred tomatillos growing on just that one plant, and I have one more in the greenhouse. It looks like I’ll get a lot of salsa this year.

Tomatoes

At this point in the season, I am able to harvest few small tomatoes every day. I bring them in when they turn yellow, since that is when the slugs and other pests prefer to eat them. I am having a bit of a hard time trying to help some of the tomatoes to ripen. The sun won’t reach them where they grow, so I try to just check them daily and let them stay on the plant as long as possible. I pruned the tomato plants to help them along, and added more soil to one of the grow bags since the tomato plants had grown large enough that the roots were showing.

I still have a lot to learn about growing tomatoes, but I get a little bit better at it every year. I think having a better system for staking them will help a lot, as well as having a bit more room for them individually. They’re all doing well, but I think there are always ways we can improve. I want to be able to get as many tomatoes out of each plant as I can.

Peppers

I wish I had better news on the peppers. I have one really good Korean red pepper, and it should be ready to harvest soon. But right now it is still green. As for the rest of the Korean pepper plants… let’s just say they didn’t approve of the vertical system. I think they would all have liked to have their very own large grow bag to spread out in. I’ll keep that in mind for next year. Once some of the other plants in the garden have died back, I’ll try to move some of the pepper plants there, see if there is enough time left in the season to get them to produce.

The difference between the pepper plants in grow bags and the ones in the vertical system is massive. And so I have decided to use the vertical system for flowers and herbs only.

All is not lost though. The season is not over and there are still many pepper plants that are beginning to flower. So as long as the frost keeps its distance, they should manage to produce some peppers for me.

Potatoes

The potato grow bags are watered a few times a week, and I think I may give them some fertiliser next week. They do have some greens, but they’re not ready to be harvested yet.

The potato berries that I took inside are finally ready. I should be able to extract and ferment the seeds next week, and after that I can dry them out.

Spinach

No sign of the spinach varieties I planted last week. Not yet anyway. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the slugs didn’t eat them.

Sunflowers

The sunflowers are doing so well. Every time you think they can’t grow bigger, they do. Both the plants and the flowers. I have 3-4 plants about to bloom. Two varieties are blooming and one of them has a second and third flower blooming right now. I have a few smaller plants that will likely bloom in a few weeks, maybe sooner.

Next week I’ll get to harvest more leaves, and later this fall, I’ll have plenty of sunflowers to harvest. The stalks are so thick and heavy, so I hope they each weigh quite a bit individually. Since I’ll be preserving all of them, I’d like to get as much as possible for my pantry.

The cores of the stalks will be turned into flour. The stalks themselves will be peeled, chopped and used as celery. I will continue to blanch the leaves, dip them in ice water and freeze them into portions. The petals will become sunflower tea and the sunflowers will be used as seed for next year’s garden, and as sunflower seeds in my pantry. Some of the sunflowers may be grilled/panfried and eaten as you would corn.

Squash & Pumpkin

One plant has pumpkins, but I can’t yet tell how many or what variety it is. I have harvested a few courgettes this season, and more are growing. I just have to protect them against the slugs. One plant is doing really well against all odds. The vine is growing on the outside of the grow bag and down onto the ground, and it is quite large. There are a lot of flowers, and I hope they’ll turn into pumpkins. Based on the leaves, it may be the Hokkaido pumpkin plant that I planted.

Next week I’ll get to harvest a lot of leaves.

Perennials

Berries

No more berries this season. I’ll let the blackberry plant stay in the greenhouse during winter and hopefully it’ll do better next year.

Fruit

I thought I’d get elder berries from the elder tree, but I am not sure. What I thought were berries are still green.

I need to adjust the angle on one of the pruned branches, and add larger spreaders to help each tree get the right shape. The branches that I pruned have produced leaves since, so they appear to be doing well.

Vegetables

The rhubarb has produced some more, but I am not sure if I will harvest it. I don’t want to stress them out too much, so I think I’ll harvest anything that’s left when I repot them at the end of the season.

The sunchokes have produced a good amount of leaves this week, so next week I’ll get to harvest a bunch. Since the cucumber plants are using the sunchokes as a trellis, I won’t harvest them until the cucumbers are also done growing. Besides, the sunchokes haven’t bloomed yet.

Fertiliser

This week I settled for urine water, and next week I’ll mix bokashi tea, urine and water again. Perhaps some epsom salt as well, for the tomatoes.

Propagation

Berry bushes

All of the propagated berry plants are doing well. They like their placement in the green house and none of them show signs of rot or anything like that.

Fruit trees

The propagated fruit trees have dropped their leaves, after they turned yellow, but other than that, they seem to be doing well. As are the ones I planted this spring.

Fruit trees from seed

The apricot plant is doing really well, and after gently raising the soil level around the pear plant, it is doing really well.

Conclusion:

It was a good week and the garden is doing well. There are so many tomatillos, tomatoes and root radishes that are just about ready to be harvested, and more to be planted. It looks like I’ll be eating really well for many months to come.

To do’s for week xx:

• Harvest more

• Preserve more of the harvest

• Fertilise a bit extra

• Start planting out the seedlings

• Possibly re-pot the peppers

See you next week!