How does your garden grow?

[FinalNyc]

A lot in our garden is home-built or recycled.

Our recycled water storage (made from an old oil drum). Rain water is collected from the roof.

Potatoes growing in old tyres:

The raised bed with tomatoes (front) and lettuce (back).

I like that idea, it does not only conserve water but also minimize population.

 

[sister herb]

Marjoram is flowering - the garden is full of fragrance of this herb:

 

[sister herb]

The first corn poppy has opened:

Flowers, herbs and lettuces:

 

[sister herb]

Baby carrots from the garden:

English marigold:

Runner beans start to flower:

As well other beans too:

 

[Simple_Person]

@sister herb , SUB'HAN'ALLAH...today i harvested 1 tomato. It was orange, so i thought maybe it is the variety..so i harvested it but i think i have to give a bit more time to ripen as it may be red variety after all. Anyhow, when i tasted it..a lot of those memories suddenly came to my mind..the memories that i was at those gardens of those people having all kind of vegetables and fruits growing. Such warm day but tasting that tomato in that garden..it was EXACTLY the same taste..

Now i am asking myself what have i been eating all those years ..the tomatoes that i bought at the store? It is a COMPLETELY different taste as if i have been eating some different type of vegetable. I have bought and eaten small cherry tomatoes but still ABSOLUTELY different taste. In now way one could say it is even the SLIGHTEST similarity.

What is going on? Why is the taste so completely different? The one i harvested was a cherry tomato, but no cherry tomato i have had had such a NATURAL tomato taste like this one.

btw, harvested 2 bags of potatoes. I have about 4 kilo's of potatoes..all from small cuttings..not even whole seed potatoes or even a small whole potato. Just all from cuttings. Alhamdulillah!! I think if i had watered it better and if i had less wind (a lot of branches broke because of hard gusts of wind) i would have gotten more. But i will in'sha'Allah in the future always have 1 bag of potatoes as you will almost always get a harvest small or big..but a harvest guaranteed..which is always a satisfying feeling.

Also, the Konsa cucumber has given me 2 cucumbers. I harvested them when they were around 20 cm. Taste was more natural ..(less taste maybe because of lack of sunlight recently), but it was more crunchy compared to what i buy at the store. It also had those thorn like things on the cucumber fruit. Alhamdulillah what a pleasing experience i have had these recent months with the vegetables balcony.

 

[MuslimInshallah]

Assalaamu alaikum Simple_Person,


(smile) You are right, the tomatoes are not the same. What grows and ripens in healthy soil is vastly different that what grows in a damaged soil boosted with chemicals, is harvested when unripe, and is transported thousands of miles over about 3 weeks before you get to eat it.

(smile) You might enjoy the lectures by Joel Salatin on Youtube (he also has written some marvellous books). He's an eloquent, intelligent, unconventional and highly successful (in the many senses of the word) farmer in the US... he also has an amazing sense of humour, so his videos are very easy to listen to.


May Allah, the One, Help us to remember that He Created this earth with Order.

 

[sister herb]

Congratulations for your the first tomato! Yep, taste is very far from those you buy from the grocery stores. Your tomato tasted what tomatoes naturally should taste but nowadays majority of tomatoes are grown in unnatural environments like in huge greenhouses, where they get a lot of different chemicals and fertilizers. They also have to be enough hard by their skin that they will survive all their long way to the stores and still look good. All this has took away their original taste.

My parents, both at their 80´s, say that my tomatoes taste like those they got when they were children - at the time before industrial-style vegetable production started.

I too have got the first tomatoes - this is grape tomato variety (it´s called as "100s&1000s"):

It makes "hundreds and thousands" tiny sweet tomatoes:

Very suitable for the pots and to the balcony gardens.

 

[Simple_Person]

Congratulations for your the first tomato! Yep, taste is very far from those you buy from the grocery stores. Your tomato tasted what tomatoes naturally should taste but nowadays majority of tomatoes are grown in unnatural environments like in huge greenhouses, where they get a lot of different chemicals and fertilizers. They also have to be enough hard by their skin that they will survive all their long way to the stores and still look good. All this has took away their original taste.

My parents, both at their 80´s, say that my tomatoes taste like those they got when they were children - at the time before industrial-style vegetable production started.

I too have got the first tomatoes - this is grape tomato variety (it´s called as "100s&1000s"):

It makes "hundreds and thousands" tiny sweet tomatoes:

Very suitable for the pots and to the balcony gardens.

I have experimented too much with both the money maker as well as the super sweet 100 cherry variety. Not only are they in 10 liter buckets (which is just way to small), but also irregular watering (still a bit inexperienced when to water). However 10 gallon (40 liter) bags which would get the exact amount of growth i would like to see. The 5 gallon (20 liter) bucket i used for my tomato-mix variety it looks strong, healthy, a lot of tomatoes, while the other tomato plants are about 5-6 tomatoes on each of the plants. The super sweet 100 also has lost a lot of flowers somehow and with a lot of purple leaves.

So in'sha'Allah next season i will have 40 liter bags for each tomato plant (gonna try with 4 different tomato plants in'sha'Allah).

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Rou...g-Aeration-Pot-Container-H06/32815082973.html

 

[Simple_Person]

[MENTION=9623]sister herb[/MENTION], some tomato branches suddenly started to dry out, while a green tomato still attached. I harvest one and i thought it would ripen, but it already somehow gotten to the top of the tomato fruit and thus it started to rot instead of ripen. Now a side branch the fruit branch that the tomato was with also started to dry out. I harvest 3 still little money makers and put them in a little plastic bag to make them ripen that way.

You know what may be the reason of it drying out?

 

[sister herb]

Here are several possible diseases but without seeing your tomato plants it difficult to say what´s wrong. Try these:

https://www.thespruce.com/tomato-leaf-diseases-1403409

http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/DiagnosticKeys/TomWlt/TomWiltKey.html

 

[sister herb]

I harvested a little - these go to the vegetable soup tomorrow:

 

[Simple_Person]

I harvested a little - these go to the vegetable soup tomorrow:

I am amazed that people by majority do not like to try to grow their own be vegetables. I mean sub'han'Allah on one side i have a Muslim couple with two children their bought vegetables/fruits plants have all dried up or the leaves have no more green leaves..but they at least are attracted by hacing such plants. Other people when i even offered them a tomato plant even they said na thanks too much hard work (my western neighbors on the othe side). I thought what is so important that you have to do which cannot be combined with gardening?

People have become so lazy and though even knowing that growing their own greens gives them a far different kind of taste and much healthier ..they simply don't care. Yet they do not believe in life after death and STILL don't want to live healthier and thus prolonging their life by preventing certain disease.

I have the idea that they want to have to want to do least amount of work with the max amount of harvest and without failure. So far a lot of my vegetables have rather been held back when it comes to growth because of less sun light. But I already IF the fruits keep being green can harvest them and let them ripe slowly and the other thing is that I have learned A LOT this year alone about growing certain plants and how to do it. I am already making preperations for next year...which one of the most important things I noticed is to have a extra long season by already preparing them way before moving them on the balcony for ultimate root growth.

 

[Simple_Person]

[MENTION=9623]sister herb[/MENTION], btw, have you ever grown bell peppers? (California wonder)-variety. On the package i only see green and red peppers, but not yellow.

Because this year i also started growing bell peppers and each of the two plants have fruits. One has a large bell pepper on it and the other has two small ones on it. They were green and i expected them to become yellow first, however just recently they became "brown" i thought it was because of sun-burn or something, then suddenly they were becoming red..and leave the phase of yellow just behind. What's going on??

 

[sister herb]

Few years back I started to grow chilies but I haven´t tried bell peppers yet. Growing those veggies which are from much warmer climate zones isn´t easy here in cold north. But of course I always try new plants.

This one, sweet chili, is bigger today, picture is from July:

- - - Updated - - -

Because this year i also started growing bell peppers and each of the two plants have fruits. One has a large bell pepper on it and the other has two small ones on it. They were green and i expected them to become yellow first, however just recently they became "brown" i thought it was because of sun-burn or something, then suddenly they were becoming red..and leave the phase of yellow just behind. What's going on??

Almost all bell pepper varieties become red if you let them to grow enough time. It only means your bell pepper is now full ripe when it turned red. Those green and yellow (and sometimes orange) bell peppers are not full ripe yet. Their taste is different and that´s why people harvest them "too early".

 

[Simple_Person]

Few years back I started to grow chilies but I haven´t tried bell peppers yet. Growing those veggies which are from much warmer climate zones isn´t easy here in cold north. But of course I always try new plants.

This one, sweet chili, is bigger today, picture is from July:

- - - Updated - - -



Almost all bell pepper varieties become red if you let them to grow enough time. It only means your bell pepper is now full ripe when it turned red. Those green and yellow (and sometimes orange) bell peppers are not full ripe yet. Their taste is different and that´s why people harvest them "too early".

Indeed peppers need a more warm climate to grow. That is why i have not put them in large pots on the balcony, instead in flower pots, so i can move them inside. I am planing to graft 2 other types of peppers (a hot pepper and a sweet pepper) on those bell pepper plants, so i can harvest like 3 type of peppers on 2 plants. Gonna keep them inside as i have read/seen/heard from other people on youtube that pepper plants can survive many years. Saw a video of a guy who said his pepper plant was like 7 years old.

I thought the bell pepper always started out green (unripe), then became yellow (medium ripe) and after that became red (fully ripe). However the California wonder just went from green to red, instead of becoming yellow first. It's not that i am complaining as i like my peppers to be red and sweet. Or is "bell pepper" just a common name for a type of pepper that the California wonder also is part of?(because of shape for example?)

 

[sister herb]

It seems that you have that kind of variety which hasn´t yellow stage at all. What I read, there are many different color varieties.

Maybe I too need to try some bell peppers at the next year. Thanks for the idea.

 

[sister herb]

Common soapwort:

Flowers of dahlia are now full open:

Garden today:

Almost all lettuces are eated (but I still have the second frame full), anise hyssop is full of bees, beans are soon ready for harvest and tomatoes in yellow pots beside the wall have quite much tiny red fruits.


Runner beans, a lot of flowers:

At the left tomatoes.


Tomatoes are still green:

Zucchinis are ready to harvest - and to eat:

I made yesterday zucchini lasagna.


One giant pumpkin is growing:

Yellow zucchinis are ready to harvest too:

I have also one round pumpkin. I think it´s soon the time of pumpkin soup:

 

[Simple_Person]

Some of my tomatoes also are turning red. The moneymaker that I harvested while green and put them in a plastic bag to ripe are also ripening.

The bell peppers ma'sha'Allah have almost ripen fully. One bell pepper while trying to repot one of the two plants broke off the branch. But even broken off of it it started to ripen just like tomatoes. Did not know that. Very curious how their taste gonna be compared to bell peppers from the store.

After reporting my konsa cucumber plant to 40 liter bag..one cucumber started to grow. It has ma'sha'Allah started to grow to already like 30 cm. Soon it will I guess also start to get fat. I must say that eaten your own cucumbers has a total different experience and taste. It has less taste but I think this is because of rather cold and rainy summer but they are very crunchy.which looks as if it is a total different vegetable that I have eaten.

The potatoes that I also already have harvested. I have eaten some...MA'SHA'ALLAH What a delicious taste compared to the original taste of the same potatoes that I had bought in the store.

I start to understand more and more about people who grow their own vegetables and fruits. It is not only about health but it almost looks like every little vegetable they grow on their own has besides the satisfaction of growing but also COMPLETELY different taste. If some vegetables just had the same taste but was more expensive and less yield I could imagine not many would want to grow. However even having 1 fruit with such taste you could say it was well worth it. Alhamdulillah for such experience and understanding.

Btw [MENTION=9623]sister herb[/MENTION] in the recent months when I cut old leaves while still green I threw them underneath one of the plants. I noticed that when it started to dry out it became part of the soil..is this how composting works?

So you need dirt/soil to compost leaves and such.. (also put potatoe skins and banana skins for it to become part of it..)

 

[sister herb]

Yes, basicly it is like simple composting. Adding green leaves or grass under the plants is good for them as they get some nutritions plus it helps to keep soil moist and then you don´t have to water your plants so much. I have compost box behind the house to where I put all leaves and grass during the summer plus some soil and fertilizers. Potato and banana skins goes well to there too. At the next spring I can take from there half-made soil for pumpkin beds (which too are as composts) and after the summer this compost has changed a new, fresh soil. At the autumn I spread this new soil to the garden.

 

[Simple_Person]

Yes, basicly it is like simple composting. Adding green leaves or grass under the plants is good for them as they get some nutritions plus it helps to keep soil moist and then you don´t have to water your plants so much. I have compost box behind the house to where I put all leaves and grass during the summer plus some soil and fertilizers. Potato and banana skins goes well to there too. At the next spring I can take from there half-made soil for pumpkin beds (which too are as composts) and after the summer this compost has changed a new, fresh soil. At the autumn I spread this new soil to the garden.

If you mix dirt/soil with the leaves that are still fresh, will they become part of the soil faster? Because now i have just put them on top en slowly the layer of leaves and skins that touches the soil is getting broken down.