I grow fava beans for my winter garden. I soak seeds overnight in water and plant where I had the summer tomatoes. I suppose my hope is that this will help replenish the soil as fava beans are known to contribute to nitrogen fixation.
Family: Fabaceae; Vicia faba
The black chia seeds, organic, came from Costco. I throw a tablespoon or two into plain Greek yogurt to create a nice chia pudding.
This summer, I threw a handful of seeds in a corner of my garden. I did get one plant to grow over the summer, amazing considering the limitations from our horrible drought. One is enough. I was surprised it flowers so late in the year.
Cilantro looking healthy and happy in the cooler weather. I planted these in October. The seeds seem to germinate better when they are seeded close to each other. I cover very lightly with soil. Family: Apiaceae, Genus: Coriandrum sativum.
My first attempt at growing tomatillos from seed resulted in only one plant. I planted the one, and it did spectacularly well: tall with flowers galore. It overtook its allotted spot, spreading into the neighbor's side. But, strangely, there was no fruit. I checked the seed package; it made no mention of needing two plants to get fruit.
I turned to the Google, and, whoa, it turns out tomatillos need another tomatillo plant near by in order to produce fruit because they don't self-pollinate in the same way as tomatoes. This left me somewhat annoyed because I really wish this little piece of information had been on the seed package instructions and because it is getting late in the season. I hurriedly bought and planted another seedling. Several weeks later, while I don't have an abundance of fruit, it looks as though some cross-fertilization happened. I have some baby tomatillos on its way. Relief. Moral of this story: it takes two [tomatillos] to tango.
These were grown from seed. The first of the green zebras of the year are coming in. Given our predatory squirrel population as they have figured out to wait for the tomatoes to turn red, I wanted to try growing green tomatoes. Maybe I'll have some tomatoes to harvest because they stay green when ripe. Hah.
My tomatoes grew into one very large mound. They were planted around 1.5 feet apart. Obviously, this was not far enough apart. Because of the horrific drought we are experiencing here in California, I water judiciously, usually once per week of deep watering. The tomato plants still grew very well. I may cut back the watering even more once I see more fruits developing. We'll see. For comparison, here is a photo I took earlier this month.
The very first tomato of the 2015 season, not surprisingly, is a Black Krim. They are very nice tomatoes, especially for our coastal region, a bit smoky and salty in flavor. Mine do not get very large but that is okay because these are perfect for salads. Black Krim, at least in my garden, start early and end late. I'm very happy with these and save seeds every year.
First Brandywine developing. I have a shot of the plant in this photo, right side. I generally have noticed the Brandywines in my garden in past years do not produce many tomatoes. However, the fruit that develops tend to be quite large. Due to the predatory squirrel issue, I'm thinking this year I will harvest any tomtatoes earlier than I would like. This is not my preference but if I don't do otherwise, I will not be able to enjoy any tomatoes.
I am trying watermelon this year. The seeds were planted into a 15 gallon bucket. I cover the soil with one layer of newspaper to reduce evaporation. I realize this is a bit late to plant watermelons but we'll see. We usually get our extremely warm weather towards the end of summer which I hope we'll get. Right now, we still have morning fog, a bit chilly for most plants, due to our coastal climate.
No flowers yet but they are rapidly climbing up the poles. Late start this year. Here is what they looked like about a week ago.
The tomato seedlings have flourished this year. I am happy with their growth. Black Krim is in the back to the left. On the right is the Brandywine. On the front left is the Paul Robeson. There are a few developing tomatoes but they are hidden in this photo. I did plant them around 1.5 feet apart, but this does not appear to be enough room. The Black Krim and Paul Robeson are cooler climate tomatoes, perfect for our coastal region with morning fog in the summer time. I don't have much space so I have only planted one of each so far. They are all from seeds I have harvested in past years.
Late with planting these this year but they have emerged happily and quickly.
The balcony garden produced the first tomatoes of the year: sungold tomatoes.
Only one plant made it; this one is at the edge of my plot and greets anyone on the pathway. In the mornings, the flowers are luminous.
This tomatillo plant was planted from seed this year and transplanted to my garden a few weeks ago. It resembles a tomato plant somewhat. Somewhat, but as you see here, the flowers are a bit different.
Family: Solanaceae (same as the tomato and potato); Genus & species: Physalis philadelphica
Odd that the species is named after Philadelphia. According to Wikipedia:
Tomatillos were domesticated in Mexico before the coming of Europeans, and played an important part in the culture of the Maya and the Aztecs, more important than the tomato
Maybe these would throw the predatory squirrels for a loop.
Late start this year to the tomatoes. Today I spied this one hidden in the leaves! We are having the morning fog but the evening temps rarely drop below 60 which makes it fine for tomatoes.
Inspired by Mark over at Mark's Veg Plot, I decided to expand my chile horizons for this year. Last year, I had one chile negro pepper plant, and my one plant was quite successful. This year, I decided to focus on two different varieties: early Jalapeno and banana pepper. As I don't have much space in my community garden plot, I will likely plant only one of each.
I am treating the seeds as I do my tomato seeds. I soak them over night in a bit of water. Next, I plant at home where they are in the window sill where there is plenty of light and warmth.
In the interest of space and time and everything else, I will likely pull my Sungold tomato plant soon. While they are still setting fruit and still blooming, I need space for the winter garden, which is actually quite late in the planting.
The chile negro peppers were roasted in the oven at a low heat for several hours and then stored in a container. I am now researching mole recipes so that I can actually make use of them. I suppose I could use them in any recipe calling for a mild chili. Here's what they looked like before.
In the drought-tolerant portion of my garden, I rarely water which works well enough for Southern California native plants in my garden. Today I found the yarrow emerging, a reminder our native Southern California flora finds winter as one of the most active growing seasons.
In the drought tolerant portion of my garden (that is, the no-watering zone), the California poppies have self-seeded as I have noted in the past. Today, I admired their delicate fronds.
I harvested these tasty treats from one pot. Not much, for sure, but just enough to accompany a small meal.
After a cold start, the fava beans appear to be thriving. The plan is to plant more in the next week in the spots where the tomatoes grew, my version of crop rotation when space is limited. I alternate Solanaceae family (tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes) with Fabaceae members (snow peas, fava, green beans).
Today in the gardens, I was excited to hear the extremely high pitched whistle of a Costa's hummingbird, normally a desert resident, in our beachside gardens. Then he flew by and flashed me, the thing that hummers do with their plumage. Male, of course. He was too speedy for me, alas, so no photo. Calypte costae
It has been cold for southern California, with overnight lows in the low 40s F. I finally picked this today, New Year's day, to ripen at home. This has been the last Black Krim. I still have some Sungold (no photos) but the quality of the fruit drops when it gets chilly. I'll probably pull that one soon as well.
To all, wishing plenty of happy new year thoughts and all the best for a good gardening year!
