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Grow.  Eat.  Live.
Grow. Eat. Live.

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Monday, September 22, 2014

THE DEMISE

 
"The First Tomato Plant That Bolted Just Before The Summer Was Over"
 
 
No longer a thriving tomato plant


This summer 2014 we've planted about 10 tomato plants (san marzano, beefsteak, supersonic, sun sugar tomato "yellow cherry", and yellow tomato.  The san marzano, beefsteak, supersonic, and yellow cherry were starter plants from the store. 

Garden Raised Bed
"Side Frontal View"
Beefsteak Tomatoes, Supersonic Tomatoes, Marigolds, Lavender
Collard Greens, Scallions, Parsley, Sweet Peppers, and Cucumbers

*The tomato plant (inside of the cage) that is behind the collard greens (front) was the first plant to meet its demised yesterday - harvested the last two tomatoes on the plant.  Unfortunately, this plant only put out less than seven tomatoes I think.

Yesterday morning I checked about every plant to see what was ready and what didn't look good.

These tomatoes were no good to eat even though it looks nice and juicy -  saw a hole of tiny worms and blossom end rot... 


Not edible due to pests, blossom end rot, and yellowing of leaves

As you can see some collard greens had met its demised by yellow leaves.

The yellow tomato I grew from seed- remember those seeds I've planted back in late March?  Well, some seedlings survived.  I have transferred the seedlings in the elevated raised bed. 

Garden Elevated Raised Bed
Marigolds, Sweet Red Pepper, Sweet Peppers, Eggplant, Yellow Tomato, Parsley,
Purple Basil, Collard Greens, Lemon Balm, Mustard Green, Rainbow Swiss Chard,
Yellow Cherry Tomato, Kale, Broccoli, and Beets























A nice big eggplant met its demised...

Eggplant demise of baby spider infestation

Two more big eggplants were removed to avoid further spider damage.  Unfortunately they are still hard and taking its time to ripe because the leaves were so big it covered the eggplants.  I have those in the windowsill.  The eggplants were heavy so I had to put up stakes to keep them off the dirt and hold the stem up.  I saw a huge spider hanging out on the leaves - Thank God I had on gloves! 


Eggplant Harvest
September 22, 2014

The insects and developmental stages of how the fruit or vegetable grows are some of the problems you will have when you are growing outside and in the ground.  Weird bugs love to feed on edible things and cause havoc on the plants.  It's always good to inspect every edible food or plant before you eat and bring it home.  Even though you've grown it and didn't spray pesticides, it still needs to be thoroughly wash.  You never know what lurks underneath or within.

Another plant that meant its demised was my friend Tarsha's zucchini plant.  All it did was put out nice big flowers but did not produce.  It started out thriving like this...

Friend Tarsha zucchini plant she planted in a planter box
 
Unfortunately, yesterday it met its demised.


What seedlings survived?




one string bean seed thrived into a string bean plant - not as big as I thought it would go and only produce one string bean so far

String Bean
September 23, 2014

three broccoli seeds are thriving strong - hasn't formed florets but the stalks are thick.  The sprouts struggled a bit with being eaten by bugs of the unknown.


Broccoli
June 27, 2014
Broccoli
July 20, 2014

Broccoli
September 23, 2014
Broccoli
September 23, 2014


one mustard green seed- started out nicely with baby leaves but not sure what's happening- forming small flowers and seed pods



Mustard Green
June 27, 2014

Mustard Green
(weird long stem with pods)
September 23, 2014



two or three yellow tomato seeds - developed into strong stems and leaves but don't think it will be mature enough before the cold winter kicks in to form flowers and tomatoes.  Too late in the game.

Yellow Tomato Plant
September 23, 2014
 
one kale seed - sprouting leaves

Kale Plant
September 23, 2014

a few rainbow swiss chard seeds - sprouting leaves

Rainbow Swiss Chard
September 23, 2014


one sweet red pepper seed - at first I couldn't tell what was growing on that mini plant.  The shape of the fruit was weird curled up and the color started out green and then purple and now red.  Unfortunately, only one pepper is growing.

Sweet Red Pepper
September 23, 2014


one beet seed - sprouted somewhere in the raised bed.  The garden elevated raised bed is jam packed.
 
We really didn't have a hot summer and everything was/is growing slowly.



 

4 comments:

  1. Finally! A garden blogger who admits when everything isn't perfect. It's so intimidating to read garden blogs some times. I admire you for writing about the hard stuff as well as the successes.

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  2. Yeah I inspect it all before eating. I know what could be lurking there. Especially when you don't use pesticides. Spiders are my least favorite of the passengers. They give me the heebie jeebies.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, spiders are creepy and I hate when they leave their webs all over. I must have sprayed water millions of times to remove the webs off the plants.

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