August 20, 2011 - The August Garden, Part 3

The West, Shed and Patio Gardens

I let the Four O' Clocks volunteer around the patio this spring. I like them, and they certainly are low care and will self-seed for flowers each year. The old thyme plant was trimmed drastically this spring, but it survived. It's getting really woody, so probably will need to be replaced in the next year or so. Sweet alyssum is also a volunteer. Volunteer is good, as long as they aren't weeds.

This is one tomato plant. Not only does this Matt's Wild Cherry span across 10' of the patio and grow right up into the roof, it has been trimmed back multiple times! It was trying to come right into the house through the patio door. It is all vine, with few tomatoes. It does, however provide shade and privacy! It looks like two different plants, but if you enlarge the picture, you can see it grows up the center of the left patio opening, then I've fastened clothesline and wound the vines horizontally across the middle of the right opening where it has gone completely wild.

Another view of the MWC. It's growing from that bucket on the left. The plant on the right corner is Sunsugar. It's proving to be tasty and sweet, but I don't think quite as sweet as Sungold, but close enough that either is preferable to none at all. I eat all of them myself, they are that good. Maybe someday I'll be nice and share, but not yet. The Sunsugar is also very tall, so I have begun to train it around the corner and along the patio railing. Otherwise I'd have to use a ladder to pick the tomatoes.

The shed garden is becoming a jungle, but a good jungle. This is where the two Bloody Butcher tomato plants grow. I gave them tall stakes, not realizing they are quite a short variety. Next year they will be planted down my tomato alley, AKA the servant's entrance. Joining the BBs, are the remaining Coastal Pride Orange, another Matt's Wild Cherry and the Sungold. That Sungold was the tiniest of the seedlings, the last one planted, and the one I didn't think would survive. It is now the one that has grown up to the roof of the shed, and is bearing delicious little morsels for me to hoard. Bloody Butcher, besides being my earliest tomato, has become quite a tasty tomato too. Flavor has improve greatly from the earliest fruits, and they were pretty darned good then, too. Mr. Granny really likes the flavor of Coastal Pride Orange, even though it looks exactly like a peach when it's peeled. Basils (cinnamon, lemon and purple) are still loving this area of the garden, and growing great in pots. Same with the oregano and Leona the Meyer Lemon tree. I'm so happy I filled this corner with zinnias. Besides being nice to look at, and great as cut flowers for the house, I actually saw a hummingbird visiting them yesterday. I think that's about the first hummingbird I've seen around here.


The herbs, after a recent haircut, still growing healthy and full.


"Leona the Meyer Lemon " is fruiting again. She never has carried a fruit to full term, but this one looks very promising. I've never had a lemon grow this large before.


Leona's second child may not make it though. It's about half the size of its sibling.

Here we are in tomato alley, AKA the servant's entrance. There are actually only three tomatoes and a jalapeno, all in buckets, along this side of the patio. The plants are doing very well here, however, so I may utilize this spot for even more plants next year. They all have to be hand watered here, but they seem to like that just fine, and I have a lot of time to do it. The plant in the foreground is a Heatwave. I picked the first two tomatoes from it yesterday, and ate one for lunch today. It was really good, and exceptionally good for a "first" tomato....juicy and not a bit mealy. The plant is healthy, determinate, so not terribly large, and one I would consider growing again. It's a hybrid, but the trouble I've had with the heirlooms this year, maybe I should plant a few hybrids just in case. In the past I always grew Celebrity, and it grew disease free. The cherry tomato way down on the far corner is one of our favorites, Una Heartstock. I have bagged some blossoms for seed saving, and will grow it again next year.

The four Cherokee Purple tomato plants in the West Garden are healthy and producing, but fruit ripening has been very slow so far. This is where the new (this year) rhubarb plant lives. It has given me two harvests so far, so I think I'd better let it grow undisturbed for the rest of the season. Strawberries have actually grown quite well in this bed, and the berries are larger than the main bed in the North Garden.

Cherokee Purple

Sunflowers down (click photo to enlarge, and follow the red arrows) . We must have had a good gust of wind this morning, as two of the big sunflowers broke their tethers and fell. The one on the left wasn't broken, so I pulled it back up and tied it to the fence with clothesline. Its top is slightly wilted, but I'm hoping it will survive. The other one (right) was completely broken off and will have to be removed.


That ends the saga of the garden in August.