the tomatoes are still green

The tomatoes are still green. We haven't harvested any yet. I am hoping that patience will reward us with our first home-grown tomatoes soon.

 


There are still plenty of bright yellow tomato flowers too. I'm hoping this means we'll have a long season of harvesting ripe tomatoes throughout the next month.

Baby corn

    I just cut thinned the corn a little since the stalks were quite crowded. The thinnings went to the compost heap, but not before the little ears of baby corn were saved. The smallest of these are tasty raw - even the inside of the cob is edible. The larger ones, though, are being packed away for tomorrow's lunch.

Carrots sprouts are still growing.

The little carrot sprouts are still valiantly seeking the sun. For now, the sprouts are mostly in the shade of the tomato plants. The new leaves on the carrots are of quite a different shape from the first leaves. At this stage, the family resemblance to parsley (a relative of the carrot) is clear.

Figs becoming more ripe.

The figs are getting ready. I picked one yesterday for sampling, but it was still white and green inside and not very sweet at all. I'm hoping they'll be purple and sweet in a week or so.

first harvest of the bush beans

Tonight we had our first picking of the bush beans. We had a friend over for dinner, so we were able to share our little harvest. I didn't realize that I should have pulled off the little fibrous strings before cooking them, but they were still delicious.

banana peppers and bush beans

So far the little raised-bed garden has been doing well.

We've been harvesting a few of the banana peppers over the past week. We grilled a few with dinner and they're also great raw. There is something almost exotic about the taste of a pepper right from the bush.

The bush beans have been growing well too. A few of the leaves have been eaten by something, but the beans are growing in nicely. Maybe they'll be ready for dinner tomorrow evening.

Releasing ladybugs

So, last year the pomegranate tree had a huge infestation of aphids and this year the Valencia orange tree is starting to host its own little colony of aphids and ants.  Apparently the ants take care of the aphids and the aphids secrete a sweet substance called "honeydew" that the eats eat. This works out well for the ants, but the aphids weaken the trees by feasting on sap from the leaves. Today I bought two small cartons of ladybugs and released them into the trees. The ladybugs didn't rush to eat the aphids, but I did see a few ladybugs eat an aphid.

This leaf has ants crawling around the aphids. The aphids look like tiny green ovals.

 

Aphids on an orange leaf. The aphids are clumped together on the underside of the leaf. (The leaf is flipped over for the photo.) Note that there are also signs of leafminer tracks on the leaf.

 

This leaf has aphids, but also has the lacy serpentine tracks of a leafiminer. You can see the tiny leafminer larva on the lower right of the tracks.

This ladybug seems to be moving towards some aphids.

 

I hope this ladybug is about to munch a few of the aphids.If you look carefully, you can seen the little green aphids have tiny legs.