Garden's Bounty

Black Truffle tomatoes,
fresh off the vine!

The tomatoes are finally in, after a fashion, and last night's supper was a yummy Black Truffle tomato and Vidalia onion vinaigrette sandwich.  My tomato experiment has met with moderate success this year.  The only tomatoes which have set fruit reliably have been the Golden Currant tomatoes and the Black Truffles.

The Golden Currant tomatoes have become my go-to snack.  They're kind of like vegetable "Gushers" because they are so juicy and the flavor just explodes into your mouth.

For some reason, the Red Currant tomatoes have not set fruit well.  None of the other varieties has been as reliable as the Black Truffles.  I think I'll give them another few weeks before I pull up the non-producers.

The pepperoncini and serrano peppers have been quite prolific.  The Chinese giant and Tennessee cheese peppers have been small, although nicely flavored.  The poblanos have been smallish but yummy, and the jalapenos are just now producing.  The cayennes are tiny but numerous, and the tobascos are nearly ripe.  We're finishing summer on a "hot" note.

Carrot seedlings

While the summer garden is winding down, I've started my winter container "garden" which will live on the porch.  One pot contains Scarlet Nantes carrots which should be ready to harvest just around the time of our first frost date in mid- to late-October.

Tiny dinosaur kale!

Another pot contains an Italian heirloom kale variety called 'Lacinato.'  Sometimes called 'dinosaur' kale because of its curly leaves, it should stand the cool autumn nights to come.  I cannot wait to add it to Italian wedding soup on a cold winter's evening!

Small Sugar pumpkins

A third pot has been outfitted with a wire column for pumpkins (var. 'Small Sugar').  These are not for jack-o-lanterns; they're pie pumpkins.  With a growing season of 90 days, they'll have to be sheltered if I want freshly made pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving.

I have plans for a fourth pot for spinach.

Watering the newly transplanted
oaks from the water
barrel on the back of the truck.

Since the weather has been so cool this weekend, we also transplanted several oak trees (red oaks and willow oaks) salvaged from my husband's parents' flowerbeds and fencerows into our front yard.  We built our house on a former hay field and have spent the years since planting trees to shade us from the afternoon sun:  buckeye, maple, pear, willow, tulip poplar, and several native varieties of oak.  The tallest is six feet tall, but, in a few years, we'll begin to feel the effect of our efforts.

The time the Resident Dragon and I spent outside yesterday has given us the opportunity to discuss some major changes in the garden layout for next season.

They're still really iffy, but I'll share them when we've firmed them up!

So, what's coming up in your garden?

Nancy