Here's what it looked like the other day:
There's a chance that I planted a few too many things in my 4x8-foot box. For starters, zucchini. My father-in-law told me not to plant zucchini. He said it would take over everything. The man is a master gardener. Why didn't I listen to him?
So the other day, I uprooted the three zucchini plants and brought them home to the backyard. I'm not sure if they'll survive the transfer or not. I already had one good size zucchini and several smaller. Can you use the little zucchini? Or will it be bitter or tough or something else yucky?
My broccoli, sadly, had mostly gone to flower. I didn't know that could happen. That's the downside of having your garden somewhere other than your back yard. It's harder to keep an eye on it. We've had so much rain that I haven't stopped by as often as I should because I knew the garden was well watered. I was able to save about a head and a half of it.And then I pulled those plants, too. I'll re-plant more broccoli in the fall.
The cilantro has also flowered. So I'm thinking that's not any good either. I may be able to salvage and dry out some of the leaves at the base of the plant. And some of my tomato plants have these weird spiky things on them:
I have no idea what those are.
I need to stake up the tomato plants and add some structure so the snow peas can climb. I'm hoping that the extra room in the garden will encourage the tomatoes and peppers to grow more. The basil is doing well and the sweet marjoram smells good, even though I have no idea what to do with it.
Next year, I'm going to be smarter about how I plant the garden. I'll plant fewer plants and plant them in waves so that there's always something ripe and ready. I'm getting a little impatient waiting for the tomatoes and peppers.Although, I have a feeling that once they come in, I'll have more than I know what to do with.
In the meantime, I need to do something with that zucchini.
6 comments:
I actually just said, "Eek!" out loud.
If it makes you feel better, I could share my gardening flubs too...
Here's one, in Feb I started tomato plants from seed. From a Crayola kit! They grew, and I planted the biggest ones outside in a container. At Lowe's last week, Brad said, "How about we buy a tomato plant that will actually bear fruit before September?" I may have to winter this little thing, and we can celebrate Thanksgiving with a tomato harvest...
I did the same thing to a flower garden once -- it was to be an iris garden... Planted some bulbs for early spring flowering -- good idea. Planted some black-eyed Susans for summer flowering -- bad idea -- they took over, and the iris didn't have a prayer! *sigh*
I'd say, cut up one of the zucchini and taste it! I think they are more likely to be bitter if they are old and big, right?
And if you let the cilantro bolt, just harvest the seeds -- that's coriander :)
Those might be adventitious roots. Was that portion near the ground?
Invest in a stack of paper grocery bags so that you'll have some handy to load your tsunami of zucchini and tomatoes into. Then you can sneak around and leave them on people's front steps, stealing away before they can catch you and say, "OH NO YOU DON'T! I PLANTED TOO MANY TOMATO AND ZUCCHINI PLANTS TOO!"
I know nothing about gardening. May have to learn some day. It would be nice to have fresh produce available.
The little zucchini should taste fine, especially if you grate it up and put it in a chocolate zucchini cake!
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