Cheryl's Garden Goodies

Daphne over at Daphne’s Dandelions is hosting Harvest Monday.  She invites you to link up at her blog and show off your harvest (big or small).  I’m glad she threw in the small because that’s what I’m getting these days…small amounts of veggies that I gave up on weighing.  I’ll go back and count how many items I picked.  33 cherry tomatoes sure sounds like a lot more than 10.8 ounces of cherry tomatoes. 

So, here’s the harvest over the last few days:

6 cherry tomatoes, 1 squash, 3 lemon cucumbers

17 cherry tomatoes, 3 cucumbers (I got a little hungry)

25 cherry tomatoes, 2 lemom cucumbers, 1 Aztec tomato, and 1 (the first) ear of corn

I had to taste test the corn and it’s nice and sweet.  This is from my micro-mini “corn field”……a whopping 6 square feet.  I assisted Mother Nature with the pollination of the corn, and maybe it paid off.

Corn Pollination 101:  The tassel provides the pollen representing the male part of the plant.  The silks need to be fertilized with the pollen.  Each silk represents a kernel of corn.  The pollen spores float through the air (that’s why block planting is preferable to row planting) from the tassels onto the silks which complete the fertilization process.  For us humans to assist in pollination, we can shake the plant tassels when the silks start emerging so that the pollen can get onto the silks or we can remove a portion of the tassel and rub in onto the silks (which is what I did specifically for the one ear I’ve picked so far.)

The only problem with the corn is that only one ear has shown up per stalk and the stalks in the back are too skinny.  If I do corn next year, I’ll buy seeds (non-genetically modified, non-hybird) and I’ll plant closer to the front of the box so that all the plants get sunshine.

And it’s hard to tell, but on the last face produce picture, the nose is not a cherry tomato.  It’s from the Aztec tomato plant I got from my Master Gardener friend, Gregory, from his trip to Growing Power.  The plant label said the plants were started in JANUARY.  That means this plant is eight months old and just now giving up its first ripe tomato.    It’s an heirloom tomato and I’ve decided to let one of them bush as opposed to growing it to a single stem.  So far, it’s set more tomatoes than the one beefsteak that I planted, but the tomatoes themselves are smaller.  Once it’s fully ripened and I taste it, hopefully I’ll see what all the fuss is about heirloom varieties.

Happy Gardening!!!