Growing zucchini vertically

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vertical zucchini 071013We all love zucchini. If we let it, it would become a huge plant that takes up a lot of space. Though this is a vine variety(black beauty)I train my up to grow vertically. I’ve been doing this for years and the greatest part is that it takes up only 1 square foot. Last I counted, I’ve got 3 black beauty plants growing-one right next to a different kind of squash. I might have made a mistake on that one, we’ll have to wait and see. We’ve been able to harvest about half a dozen zucchini’s so far and it’s just now starting to really produce. I think they taste better when they are smaller so I pull mine when they are about 8 inches long. If you look close enough you’ll be able to see a zucchini sticking straight up in the air. This particular plant is growing up on a green t-post, but other squashes and zucchini are growing up on all kinds of things-from electrical conduit to PVC. It all works…

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Zucchini time

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golden egg2I was able to pull my first 2 zucchini’s off the stem yesterday along with one of these-a “golden egg” zucchini. It’s similar to 8-ball which I’ve grown before, but it’s sold as having a better taste, and I couldn’t agree more. It was so good! It’s more of a bush variety but you can see it’s attached to a 1/2″ piece of electrical conduit. It only produces fruit for about 8 weeks, by which time I don’t think it will reach the height of the support. I’ve got 3 or 4 of this variety growing, along with a very prolific patty pan scalloped zucchini. Can’t wait until it all starts coming up. I’ve also got my first small butternut and banana squashes that have come up, all with no squash bugs-so far.

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June carrots-delicious

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june carrotsPulled a head of black seeded simpson lettuce and chard tonight along with some new carrots.  I grow 4 varieties of carrots-one that’s a smaller-sized carrot for early in the season, another that’s the size of these carrots shown in the picture, and then two that are larger, storage type of carrots.  For the early crop this year I grew minicor-which were really good.  They came up in about 55 days.  The picture shows Napoli-and they are really good.  In other places I’ve got Mokum and Scarlet Nantes-both excellent tasting varieties that will be ready in the fall.  There’s something about carrots right out of the ground-it almost ruins buying carrots at the store-at any time of the year.  One square will give you 16 carrots….unless, of course, you know the ninja secret for them….

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Dinner tonight

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twe evening dinner salanova, butter chard, carrots 061813Everything is coming up like mad right now with our 90+ degree weather. I went out and pulled some carrots(minicor), some butter chard, and some lettuce. And the lettuce didn’t cost me $3.00 a head at the fancy stores. You can grow this for pennies and you’ll never, ever beat the taste of freshly harvested lettuce. I rinsed, cleaned and dried it, then made us a tasty Caesars salad. I usually have a batch of Caesars salad dressing made up in the refrigerator. For those who love Caesars but end up being disappointed by the store-bought dressings, you ought to buy my ebook. Although the book is about square foot gardening, it’s got a great recipe in there for Caesars salad dressing. It’s a shortcut version-one that you’re not slaving over when guests arrive. It’s made ahead of time, and it’s very good. You can add as much anchovy paste as you want, or you don’t have to add any. You won’t go anywhere that you’re not asked for the recipe. Oh yes-the things that the lettuce, carrots, and chard are resting on? Whelatgrass. I hate the stuff, but I grow it for a few people who love it. I’m telling you, square foot gardening is the easiest way to go.

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Salanova

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salanova 061013A brand new item from Johnny’s-this is Salanova. It’s been sold as a great tasting new “mix” that’s available. Given the results from our gardens, I agree. This stuff tastes excellent! Look at that, 4 perfect heads of lettuce-no room for weeds, no pests, just delicious lettuce. It’s made to be mixed in with other salad greens more than as a stand-alone lettuce, but I’ve used it as a stand alone for the most part. It’s a bit pricey, but I’ll be ordering a lot more. Just like everything else, the more you order the cheaper it gets. I think I paid 7 or 8 dollars for 25 seeds. It was so good I ordered the 100 seed packet. Give it a shot.

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