Saturday, 28 June 2025
9:05 a.m.
A few eggs are on the farm table.
(The basil plants in the greenhouse are growing but still too small to leave home. Basil tends to sit there seemingly doing nothing for quite a while before sending out much top growth.) I will put them out when ready and post here.
My Sunshine Gardenhouse greenhouse is about 30 years old and is in need of some maintenance, especially since I’ve used it so heavily the past few years.
I need to empty it out, clean the glazing, repair and refurbish the redwood frame, pour in a fresh gravel floor, clean all the light fixtures and reset the shelves so that they are not putting stress on the greenhouse structure.
Also, I’ve been using a lot of extension cords, so my husband Scott will help me by putting in more outlets. Scott has already helped A LOT by designing, building and installing automatic vent openers — much better than the chunks of 2x4 that I was using to keep the vents opened that depended on me being there.
All that is going to take me a while, so I don’t know yet if I will be producing any fall/winter gardening plants.
I hope you all are enjoying your plants this year so far, and I wish you a bountiful harvest!
Sherry
Here’s a curiosity. A tomato ‘Pomodoro Squisito’ planted on 8 March that never developed true leaves. The seed leaves just kept getting longer, and it recently developed a green sort of knob where the seed leaves would have formed. The stem is quite healthy, sturdy and bristling with hairs. It’s in a 3.5 inch pot. Friend Nancy has named it “Rapunzel”!
The pet tomato with only seed leaves (about 2 inches tall) is having an outing in the sun today. I have coddled it in the greenhouse until now. Here it is in front of a tomato planted at the same time which is now 4 feet tall.
Rapunzel’s very healthy stem and green knob where true leaves normally form. I may plant her out in the garden next to a big tomato and see what happens.
Lacinato kale is filling in after I harvested the broccoli. The naturtiums seeded themselves last year.
Most of the basil plants (the last remaining in the greenhouse) have formed their first set of true leaves. They need to grow a little more before I put them out on the farm table.
Please note: These plants are offered straight out of the greenhouse. They are not hardened off. You can harden them off by gradually exposing them to outdoor conditions for a week OR (as I do) plant them in the garden right away and give them a little protection for a week.
My donation box will be out. Your help with the cost of seeds and supplies is most appreciated!
Thriving in the garden now are (front to back) mini cabbage ‘Alcosa’, Chinese cabbage ‘Red Trumpet’, and mini butterhead lettuce ‘Tom Thumb’.
Tomatoes protected by makeshift little greenhouses in the garden. I close up the tops at night. You can also use this method with peppers and eggplants.
Mini cabbage ‘Katarina’ looks like this when ready to harvest. They are delicious!
Tomato ‘Polaris’ has large flowers for a tomato as well as large potato type leaves.
Rabbit in the yard next door. - WILLS FARM
Rabbits also like vegetables!
Remember to protect your vegetable plants from rabbits. They really enjoy fresh greens.
Kohlrabi stems are beginning to swell.
Did you know that very young pepper plants assume a sleeping position at night? They raise up their leaves which are in a horizontal position during the day. Also, different varieties of pepper go to sleep at different times.
Newly planted vegetable starts covered.
Tips to ensure success when planting.
Birds like vegetables, too! (But not as much as rabbits..)
If you see this zig zag pattern of cuts on the edge of leaves, that is from birds. Notably (last year) they seemed to avoid the red lettuces entirely.
My harvest of broccoli ‘Gemini’ and ‘Purple Magic’.
A unique way of handling tomato plants when the sunniest spot is the driveway.
Track your harvest using this form! In 2023, I produced 9495 individual vegetables, according to Quintin who figured out the total from my blog. (Thank you, Quintin!) That included individual pea pods and cherry tomatoes and was recorded on scraps of paper. Last year I did not produce a reliable harvest record. I resolve that this year will be different, using this new form which you can download.
(Check your printer settings just before printing. You may need to adjust the scale percentage to fit the page.)
Cabbage ‘Alcosa’.