Welcome To The Jungle!

Clouds and rain are announcing summer is coming to an end. I'm longing for the sun already, but my garden looks quite happy. Let me show you around the greenhouse.

Above Expectations

I haven't posted that much about the garden this year. And I haven't even shown you my greenhouse. Now it feels like the end of summer is getting closer fast - the weather forecast tells me there is no sun in sight for at least another week - I should take this opportunity to do so.

If you've been following up, you might remember things didn't look so good at the start of the season. Some of my young seedlings got affected by a mean disease, which hasn't been identified up until today. It's still here - I can see the signs all around. And with every rain drop that falls, I see the infestation spread faster. It's obvious that the grape vine is going to be the first victim.... Fortunately, the grapes are almost ripe (just picked a bunch). I already noticed some infected leaves on the Chayote plants too, which is way worse, because there isn't any sign of fruits yet on those two.

However, so far, my garden has been doing pretty good. Far better than I had expected.

In spite of the fact that harvest has been pretty limited - that's what you get for experimenting with out-of-the-ordinary veggies: you never know what you're going to get - most of my plants look pretty happy. The sunflowers have all bloomed by now - some of them are more than 3 meters high - and contribute to that overall happy look.

Welcome To The The Greenhouse

I skipped the greenhouse in my latest post, so I thought I'd start with it this time.

What a luxury it is, to have such amount of space to grow the veggies that prefer warmer temperatures or less rain. It's quite a jungle in there - vines are growing everywhere, and some of the plants have grown bigger than I had expected them to, and barely fit in anymore.

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I'm growing a variety of fruits and veggies in that greenhouse, together with the herbs and edible flowers that are good companion plants to keep pests away. Think Nasturtiums, Marigolds, Calendula, basil, mint verbena, lemon balm, chives and other delicacies.

The major discovery this year were tobacco plants. I never thought of growing it before, mainly because seeds and seedlings are pretty hard to come by here in Belgium. It was just my luck that I bumped into a lady who was selling a truckload of seeds at a flea market, some time in March.

I didn't know a lot about growing tobacco, but they turned out to be excellent indicator- and trap plants. On top of that, they're really beautiful. Right now, most of them have the cutest, little pink flowers at the top. One thing that I didn't foresee, was their size... The biggest one is crammed against the top of the greenhouse.

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Tomatoes

Although I'm not a big fan of store-bought tomatoes, I love to experiment with them in the garden. Up until last year, I wasn't aware of the fact that there are hundreds of different tomato-varieties. I have seeds of at least 30 of those. Last year, I tried out 8. As a result, I ended up with enough tomatoes to feed an entire village. This year, I limited it to 4 and we're a bit short at the moment. I need to pay more attention to the specifics of the different varieties next year.

I should go downstairs to the garden and take a look, because I can't remember the name of two out of 4 varieties. I thought one was Gardener's delight, but when I compare the pictures I can find online with my own, I see little resemblance. It wouldn't surprise me if I would have labeled it wrong.

Whatever its name, it's a beautiful productive plant. I had the chance to pick two ripe tomatoes already, and there are more to come.

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The plant on the opposite side of the greenhouse is even more productive. The tomatoes are smaller, and dark red/brown and very delicious. I thought they were Chocolate Pears, but although the color is right, the shape is all wrong.

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Fortunately, it's very clear what the other two varieties are.... It's kind of funny to see the contrast between both. On the left, you can see the cute dwarf variety 'Red Robin', which grows a bunch of small cherry tomatoes on a plant that's no more than 40 cm in height. On the right, a huge 'Coeur De Boeuf'-tomato, almost twice the size of my fist. It's a bit of a shame: it looks as if this is the only tomato the plant is going to grow. But then again... looking at the size, that single tomato is probably going to feed both of us for a couple of days in a row, lol. I do hope it will have time enough to ripe, considering there won't be a lot of sun during the upcoming weeks..

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Sweet Peppers

Personally, I don't think sweet peppers are as exciting to grow as tomatoes. I mainly grow them because we eat them regularly, and they are a good companion plant for tomatoes.

I try to grow different varieties every year, but they are of less importance of me than my tomatoes. This year, I have a white variety and a green variety growing. I don't even know the names. Last year's experiment with the Chocolate Bell peppers was a success, but for some reason I couldn't get any of the seeds to sprout this year. So I went with what I could get. Nothing spectacular, but functional...

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Melons

Melons are a must-have in the green house. We already harvested a Sugar Baby watermelon - which was huge, compared to the two tiny ones we had last year - and now I'm anxiously waiting to see if another one will make it. There are a couple of small ones growing, but I've seen a lot of those die earlier this season. So, fingers crossed.

In another raised bed, I have two more melon plants. I thought they were both Pineapple Melons - a variety that has the aroma of pineapples - but there seems to be a difference when I take a closer look at the leaves. They've only just started to grow fruits, so I guess I'm in for a surprise...

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Sweet Potatoes

I love sweet potatoes. Mashed, fried, baked,... it doesn't matter. They're delicious! And since you can store them for months after you've harvested them, I thought I'd go a little crazy this year. Three different varieties are growing in potato bags.

And it's not only their taste... the plants look so incredibly beautiful. To my big surprise, one of them is growing flowers. I had never seen that before, so I did some research, and apparently, it's pretty rare in our country.

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It's going to be a while before I can start harvesting and I can't wait, to be honest...

The Specials

Last, but definitely not least, my greenhouse gives shelter to a couple of my less ordinary veggies.

Among those, two of my absolute favorites. Both were an experiment three years ago, and they've earned a permanent spot in the garden. Every year, I'm waiting impatiently until it is time to harvest, because neither can be bought in stores here.

First up: Yacon. This beautiful plant is related to the Sunflower and the Jerusalem Artichoke and has the most delicious, edible tubers that taste like apples. The plant has big, arrow-shaped leaves and at the end of the season, a tiny sunflower appears at the top.

Because one can never have enough Yacon tubers (they store well), I have two plants this year. One is growing in the greenhouse, the other one is growing outside.

On the right, a newly born melon pear, also known as Sweet Pepino. The fruits have juicy flesh and taste like a mix of honeydew melon and cucumber. Soooo good!!!

This years plant isn't as strong as the ones I had before, and I hope the small branches won't break under the weight of the fruits. Also, it's showing signs of infestation. It would be a disaster if the plant would die before the fruits have ripened. I mean... if the tomato plants don't survive, it wouldn't be fun, but I can go out and buy a tomato on every street corner. My only chance to eat melon pears is when I grow them myself. I would be devastated if something would happen...

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The last one of today is one of the only experiments this year.

I'm probably not going to manage to keep it alive long enough for it to grow fruits. Just like my Carambola and Cherimoya plants that died this year, the Black Sapote (or Chocolate Pudding Fruit) is not meant to be grown in out climate. Still, if you don't try, you'll fail for sure, right?!

I have never seen a Black Sapote fruit in real life, let alone tasted it, but it's one of those tropical fruits that triggered my interest from the moment I heard about it. Cherimoyas turned out to be the most delicious fruit I have ever tasted. (Found them in a store. My own plant didn't survive the first year, lol.)
Maybe the Black Sapote can top this, I don't know....

I started a seed in February, and so far, so good. It needs a bigger container before I take it inside to make sure it survives winter. We'll see how it does.

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More

That was it for the main greenhouse tour. Maybe I should show you this one too. This Italian basil is really a joy to look at, and the taste is amazing. Since it has started to grow flowers, it's high time to harvest and make a delicious pesto with it.

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Of course there's a lot more growing outside in the garden. I'll try to get a post up to show you around later this week. See you then!!

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