The Suburban Herbivore

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we carved out a little space in the one sunny part of our yard for a garden. This is our second summer in this house, and I really missed not being able to grow my own vegetables. It is only a 4×4 plot, but it’s better than not having anything!

Just after planting, April 22, 2009.

Here is how it looked immediately after planting. There are two empty spots in the front that are reserved for cucumbers. In the back row is a Cherokee Purple and a Brandywine plant, and in the middle row are (l to r) bell pepper, Roma, basil, and bell pepper. The four corners are planted with marigolds, which are said to keep away rabbits. This worked pretty well for us in previous gardening experiences, even when growing lettuce.

The view from our deck, July 7, 2009.

Two and a half months later, we have a beautiful tangled mess of green that is getting not nearly enough attention. The tomatoes could seriously use some pruning – something I’ve never been very good at. You’ll notice the two Topsy Turvy planters to the side. I was intrigued enough to give this a try. The plants certainly grew well, but the planters are not nearly far enough off the ground, and it’s difficult to keep them watered sufficiently.

Two jalapenos, one banana pepper, and one habanero on the back deck. July 7, 2009.

Jalapeno, ripe for the picking. July 7, 2009.

We also started two jalapeno plants, one banana pepper plant, and one habanero plant in pots on the back deck. They are all pushed to the corner that gets the most sun.

I do hope that they are far enough away from the bell peppers to prevent cross-pollination. This happened to us the very first time that we grew peppers, and we ended up with these weird long slightly hot bell peppers – not really hot enough to use in place of jalapenos, but a bit too strong to use in recipes that just called for bell peppers.

Anyway, unsurprisingly, the jalapenos were the first to be ready.

First harvest: July 9, 2009

Full share from July 8, 2009.

So, this is the point last year where I quit, though I didn’t know it for a while. I continued to take photos of our share each week and I saved the newsletters. And after a while of being out of the habit, it was too overwhelming to try to catch up. Fortunately, I have most of the photos, so what I’ve decided to do is present this week’s share in conjunction with the corresponding week’s share from 2008.

Full share from July 9, 2008.

This year, we got: four pounds of Big Beef tomatoes, three pounds of potatoes, one pint of Sungold tomatoes, one pound of cucumbers, four green bell peppers, one jalapeno pepper, and three onions: two white (Candy) and one red (Candy Apple). Last year, we got: four pounds of Big Beef and Pink Girl tomatoes, three pounds of Rose Gold potatoes, one pint of Sungold tomatoes, two pounds of Japanese eggplant, four yellow squash, two zucchini, and one cantaloupe. The differences are pretty apparent, but it will be more interesting to see what trends develop.