Jeanne's garden update

Here is a "Jeanne's Garden" update just one month after the first feature, published at the New Year.  Everything I've grown was started from seed and lovingly nutured.  Lots of credit and thanks go to Doug for digging up my garden beds for me.  Due to my knee injury in May, I am pretty dependent on him, and without his help this year's garden would not have happened!

 A ripe and luscious heirloom tomato, a Brandywine.  I have always wanted to grow this variety, but never did before this.  The growing season in Michigan was too short.  Here in Auckland, the long warm summers are ideal!    You can see clearly that I have, if not a Green Thumb, the Brown Fingers of a true gardener.

 Here is that Brandywine just before picking.  I believe this variety is the most delicious I have ever tasted.  It is susceptible to a variety of tomato diseases (note the browning leaves) but still well worth the effort of growing them.  I may not get a lengthy harvest, like the Romas give me, but the fruit I do get is huge.

 These  are Roma tomatoes; much smaller and not really choice for fresh eating.  They are dry and mealy and ideal for tomato sauce.  I'll be harvesting a huge crop of these from the six plants I have.

 These are cherry tomatoes, little enough to be grown in pots.  Not really that delicious, a bit too acidic for my taste. The blackbirds, at least, think they are delicious, so I had to cover them with netting.

 Green scallions, or spring onions.  Also called Welsh onions. These were started in pots from seed I saved from last summer's crop.  I must have 500 plants!  They will stay slender and green through the winter.  Those little weeds are shamrocks, which are annoying weeds.  Each shamrock sprouts from a tiny bulblet, and the only way to eliminate them is to dig up the bulblet and crush it to death.  Between rocks.  Gardeners have to be ruthless!

 Herbs and peppers in the bed around the deck.  The basil is in full bloom and attracting the interest of many bees.  The peppers are Spanish Padron, quite hot.  When I water the garden, the aroma of the basil fills the air.

More peppers and basil; this is an Italian pepper with milder heat (I hope).

 First planting of yellow beans, still producing well.  The green beans I planted with them are done blossoming, although if I keep watering them, I will get a second flush of blossoms and more beans.

 The second planting of beans, these are green fillet.  Come on, bees! Start pollinating these flowers, now that the basil has brought you in.

 A volunteer crown pumpkin, which will mature into a lovely blue-gray.  This is a volunteer plant growing in the compost heap.

An Italian parsley plant, a rock and some flowering coriander.  Just  thought it looked pretty.

 Another crown pumpkin, what we Americans would call a buttercup squash.  It is almost mature, as you can see the color is becoming blue-gray.

The second planting of cucumbers.  I just put them in yesterday; started them from seed about three weeks ago.  All the cucurbits suffer from a mildew decline and die prematurely.  I think the hot humid climate facilitates mold and mildew diseases.  It hurts the zucchini the most.  I got six nice zucchini's this year and then the plant's leaves were covered in gray mildew and died. - JF