We're not having very good luck this summer with our garden.
Our tomatoes never really grew or took off and I lost interest very quickly when my expected results weren’t happening.
Even the zucchini isn't showing the love. Or maybe it’s me.
Perhaps it started when we realized the yellow squash was mislabeled and were really gourds. Of course we found this out at dinner one night. What does one do with a gourd anyway besides letting it dry and making a birdhouse out of it?
I've been wanting to make Buddy the Cake Boss's Zucchini and Yellow Squash Casserole so I stopped by the farmer's market in the parking lot by the Laguna Hills mall on Friday to supplement.
It's my shame—actually having to buy zucchini this summer—and truth be told it was painful on my gardening ego but it’ll be on the dinner table tonight for a small gathering that will surely understand my gardening woes. If I can't grow my own I can at least enjoy someone else's success of the season.
Here's a link to find Certified Farmer's Markets throughout OC which are open Tuesday through Sunday in various locations. What's a Certified Farmer's Market, you ask? From its website it is definded as:
"California certified farmers' markets are the real thing—places where genuine farmers sell fruits, nuts and vegetables directly to the public. Every farmer who sells at a certified market is inspected by the county agricultural commissioner to make sure he/she actually grows the commodity being sold."
Give us your gardening scoop. What wonderful bounty have you produced this summer? What have you had particularly good luck with this season or what have been your gardening disappointments? Let us learn through you!
You never know where those rouge tomato seedlings will show up. It sounds they were very happy in the compost pile. One year I noticed I had a cherry tomato plant growing among my flowers and I just noticed I have a two foot plant near my kitchen window. With them springing up on their own you'd think they'd be hardier plants. Got to have water though. Tomato worms are the worst! Some years I have them and some I don't but I don't like to use pesticide. Good luck with your inside gardening. :)
In the same boat in my garden that is, nothing like the bounty I had with tomatoes, peppers, squash & melon of a few yrs ago. Blaming the soil...spent way too much time on it already! Judith
Welcome to what is becoming "Tomato Tales". :) I can't blame it on the soil over here. Hubby, who has a horticultural degree always amends the soil so I figure he knows what he is doing but.... sometimes.... mother nature just does her thing and there is no figuring it out. I do have to say the plants we have growing in our raised planters are doing very well...if we water them. When I see those awful orange spiders that grow bigger each day I have a tendency to stay away from anything I see their webs attached to so I guess I'll see you at the farmer's market in the bug-free tomato section. ;)
You are indeed lucky but I wouldn't discount your good gardening skills that lead you to such success. I'd love to see your basket of tomatoes. :)
We also planted Early Girl & Roma, both have done great. I use Dr. Earth brand, Bone & Blood Meal, as well as the Organic, something #5, that I got from the Laguna Nursery. I'm going to make a tomato casserole to use my tomatoes so they don't go bad. I'll take some pics too & upload them here.
Wow! I'd love to see photos of that tree and I haven't heard of a loquat tree in years. I can't imagine the branches being long enough to wind up through a tree especially fruit baring branches at that. This is the first year we haven't planted Romas and I miss them.
That reminds me of the school project I think every child had begun and at some point abandoned - the avocado pit straddling a jar suspended by toothpicks. Interesting process to watch. Relative in size compared to an avocado seed, a tree from that small loquat seed is quite impressive indeed. Does your green thumb know no boundaries? :)
Thank you for sharing your photos. Loved the wildness of the tomatoes in the tree. I have never seen them growing that way. We are actually now on the verge of tomato success. Who knew corn, tomatoes and jicama love sharing the same raised planter. :)
I just wanted to point out a correction to your wonderful article. The link you created for a listing of Certified Farmers' Markets in Orange County was a link to only those operated by the Orange County Farm Bureau. There are many other operators of Certified Farmers' Markets in the County, including the non-profit I manage (we run 2 CFMs in Orange County - Newport Beach on Sundays & SoCo (Costa Mesa) on Saturdays). A more comprehensive link to markets is either the website you found the definition of Certified Farmers' Markets (www.cafarmersmarkets.com) or the LA Times has a real good interactive map (http://projects.latimes.com/farmers-markets/). Thanks for your support of local Certfied Farmers' Markets!!! Regards, Mark
Thank you so much for the added information. I really appreciate you giving us more information, links and local choices. Yep, I LOVE our local markets. Since you are involved first hand, what are your picks for the top produce right now?
This is such a peak time for so many farm fresh goodies it is tough to choose. We are so lucky to being living in such close proximity to so many great growing climates within the State. Tomatoes, the inspiration of your article, are really hitting their peak time and therefore so are my purchases of buffalo mozzarella to accompany them! My sweet tooth can't seem to stay away from the amazing stone fruit out there right now....my current fav being the pluot! :)
Ha! The pluot is "the " fruit of the summer isn't it? Son2 is involved in research with the UC system this summer and part of their job one afternoon was to blind taste test many pulot samples. I know. Tough work. :) He routinely brings some home so we have been fortunate to benefit. For those who are new to the pluot they are a cross between a plum and an apricot but it looks like a plum. Mark, in the farmer's markets you're involved with have you come across hand made mozzarella? Nothing better to accompany those sweet tomatoes. :)
Lucky you with the pluot coming direct to your doorstep! I have not come across hand made mozzarella....but that sounds like a perfect artisan product for farmers' markets. Especially if someone out there could source local milk! Send them my way if you ever do. :)