So the three tomato plants are now producing fruit. Â We have not been watering them regularly. Its been hot and dry for the most part. Â The tomatoes taste so good. Â A garden grown tomato cannot be matched. Â This is great, since we have been too busy to dote over the garden, and yet it is doing very well this year.
Our cucumber patch consists of one plant. Â Does anybody want a cucumber? For us its cucumber salad with a few slices of tomato with a little olive oil, pepper and balsamic vinegar. Â And for lunch its Rye bread with a bit of olive oil, cucumber slices and some freshly ground pepper. Â Anymore said will put us at risk of becoming a foodie blog at this point. We are not gardeners or foodies, but we feel strongly feel that if you can grow your own food when you can or if you can, go for it and to not miss this important part of living on this earth.
Of course, most of the property is devoted to native sun loving wildflowers. Someday more vegetables may be grown, as we build up the raised beds and continue to improve the place.
A kind friend of ours gave us root segments of the native Wild Bergomat and the Tall Coneflower a few years ago, which have taken off and have created a beautiful setting for our vegetable garden.
This is our green bean patch. For some reason, most of the bean seeds we planted did not grow. Â However, the 5 plants that did grow have provided us with a massive amount of beans! Â We have been chopping them up with onions and garlic and sauteeing them. Also just eating them right off the plant on site is very enjoyable.
The bricks that line these raised beds come with a heavy heart.  They were at one time the building blocks of once majestic  buildings in the neighborhood that we would rather have standing today. However the economic situation in the city of Philadelphia in the past 50 years has blighted sections of the neighborhood  and has led to the demolition of some once grand Victorian-era homes.
We are happy to have the garden on our street. Keep up the green work!!
Joyce,glad to hear that! When it was a vacant lot, it was always full of trash, and was overgrown with weeds, and I dreamed of someday owning it so I could improve it, being that it is one of the first properties one sees when turning onto Viola Street. so one day it went up for sheriffs sale and i went for it. now the abandoned house next door has been purchased and renovated.
Your tomatoes look lovely! I have two tomato plants in pots on my patio and they are flourishing. I think I have pulled 20 tomatoes from them since they came to live with us. I was inspired by the previous post about The Sanguine Root vegetable garden to plant some dill from seed and it has begun to grow quite nicely in addition to the other herbs I have cultivated.
Your cucumber plant is amazing – since mine is in a pot my cucumbers may not get very big, but I am letting them be for now – no harvest yet!
You should plant a pumpkin!
What are the wildflowers in the garden? Is it only the bergomat and Coneflower?
Is there a recipe for this amazing spaghetti sauce?
Hint from my grandfather–who was a gardener of legendary stature. Three or four days before you plant your beans, put the seeds in a container with wet earth from the bed where you intend to plant them. Keep the earth quite moist–almost mud. When you plant, poke a hole where you want each seed–a broom handle does a good job and you can poke the holes without having to bend over. Feel around in the muddy earth for the bean seeds, take one for each hole… each in its own clump of wet earth. Cover and gently pat down. Should greatly increase the germination rate.
Don’t climb the bean stalk. The giant love company… but not in a good way.
Great hint! Your Grandfathers method will live on in our garden. Thanks for sharing as always Jacob!
Soon you will be able to make a cherry tomato sauce for your spaghetti! I remember that sauce from your Viola Street kitchen, surely it doesn’t qualify as a foodie reminiscence, but it was one of the best spaghetti sauces ever.
It was indeed a true delight. And would be even more delicious made out of our home grown cherry tomatoes.