Saturday, June 9, 2012

A BIT OF GARDENING UPDATE

 OMG, I can't describe how hot it is outside today.  Sigh.  But I did get a bit of stuff done and wanted to share some pictures of how things are growing so far. 
Muscadine Grape
Above is the "Muscadine" grapevine I got last year.  It's not in the ground yet, I've got it in a large pot so I can take care of it until it's in the ground.  On my short list of projects is a grape trellis.  This will be the star plant.  I have two of them, but this one is doing the best (two different varieties) and here is one of several actual grapes on it.  It's funny, in my head, I was picturing clusters, like you might see on other grapevines.  So I did some checking and these grapes just produce fruits all over.  They grow close to each other and sort of look like a grape cluster, but they are individual fruits.  Looking forward to tasting it when it's ripe.  Next season will be focused on fruit production.  Still, it's fun to see!

Asian Eggplant





Here is my heirloom variety Asian/Japanese eggplant at the raised bed in the city.  It's got two huge eggplants on there (now harvested) and there are numerous flowers and small eggplants on it and the one next to it.  This vegetable is SO easy to grow down here, that it will definitely be a staple at the farm garden.





Tomato plant



Here is the heirloom tomato, also in town in the raised bed and it's doing fine as well.  There are numerous yellow flowers on it so I'm hoping we have some tomatoes here in a few more weeks.  It's taken a bit of time to get to this size, not sure why it's so slow, but maybe that's normal. The eggplant was planted at the same time and I was hoping they'd be ready together.  Of course, I'm sure the eggplants will still be producing when these are ripe and ready.  At least I HOPE they are. 


Arbequina Olives
And here is one of the large olives on the olive tree that is ripening.  I'm going to need to research them to find out when to harvest, etc.  But this is one (actually two I guess) of about 3 dozen little olives on the tree.  I want to transplant it into the ground but I'm afraid I'll do that and the transplant shock would cause it drop all of it's olives.  Plus it's a bit hot right now for transplanting, so we'll see how it goes.  Until then it's exciting to almost have ripe olives at the ready.  I'm thinking of finding some more of these trees and lining them down the driveway.  Might be kind of fun.

12 comments:

  1. Do you know the name of your heirloom tomato? they tend to be mostly mid-season or late varieties so produce later than hybrid tomatoes like big boy etc.

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    1. You know, I'm embarassed to say, I don't remember! I kept the little tag but then I put it somewhere I'd remember it, and I don't remember where it is, LOL. I want to say Brandywine...

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  2. Olives!? Oh how I wish we could grow olives!

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    1. It's so funny how we all can grow our own wonderful things but then we see others in other parts of the country growing different stuff and we want that as well, ha. I'd love to have your cherries, but those don't grow down here, ha. Hey, maybe someday, if we have several of these trees growing and are getting lots of olives, I'll send you an olive care package!! :-)

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  3. Nice pics! I wish I could grow olives too...

    I have 18 tomatoes out and my gardens are going gangbusters...it's gonna be good year!!

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    1. EIGHTEEN? WOW! You're a brave woman. I bet you will up to your elbows in tomatoes in a few months. But there could be worse things huh? Keep us posted!!

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  4. i'm with Bee Girl and Akannie - i am jealous of those olives!!! if the olive tree seems to be doing ok in the pot, i wouldn't transplant him until i harvested him. everything is looking great, 1st Man!

    your friend,
    kymber

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    1. Yep, I think I might have to start a 'share the olives' list (when we get more trees of course, I'm sure y'all don't want 3 olives each, lol). Yeah, I'm wanting to learn the whole process of harvesting them so I'll save the transplanting until Fall. Of course, if I can find some trees before then, I'll get them along the driveway. Thanks for stopping by!

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  5. Love the idea of lining the drive with olive trees.
    I agree that it might be best to just leave this one in it's pot at this point. I'm so excited to see your ripened olives......you have any special recipes/plans for them?

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    1. I'm seriously thinking that would be pretty neat. I think of other things, like some random fruit trees lining the driveway as well Still, the better choice is probably something similar and unusual, like the olive trees. Plus if they are all the same type of tree, it's easier to care for them. And who knows, maybe enough olive trees for our own olive oil SOMEDAY, ha.

      No recipes yet, or plans, still figuring out how/when to harvest them. :-)

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  6. NOW you tell me! I just transplanted two blueberry bushes loaded with berries. The next morning all the little berries were GONE. We blamed the Peacocks without a fair trial. I feel so bad. Sort of

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    1. Oh no! I'm not sure if that's what happened to your berries. Of course, birds and berries aren't a good mix either, ha. Maybe it was a little of both, lol. Sorry you lost the berries. I had a couple of blueberry bushes, in pots, and they had berries on them, I was so excited to have some, came home from work one day and they were gone, picked clean. Dang birds! (though I'm pretty sure it wasn't peacocks, being in downtown Houston, LOL!).

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