Fresh Vegetable Gardens for Everyone

October Garden

quickgardens — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 18:58:53 +0000

There’s nothing like having your own home grown food in your backyard.

Here’s what’s growing in my garden this fall.

Parsley, Peppermint, Spearmint, Sweet potato leaves, Hot peppers, Papayas, Green beans and Snap peas. I have just harvested the watermelons.

Rosa Bianca Eggplant

quickgardens — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 18:23:00 +0000

Rosa Bianca Eggplant is the best eggplant I have ever grown. It grows well in Florida. I didn’t know eggplant could taste so good. I was expecting the opposite. It preserves well also when I peel, slice and store it in the refrigerator. It last up to several weeks. I found myself eating the slices uncooked and really enjoying it. Eggplants go well with tomato sauce and cheese, on top of pizza or just baked with a little olive oil and herbs. Their are two types of eggplants in the picture. The long one is a thai eggplant. The round ones are the Rosa Bianca Eggplants. The funny looking ones may be a crossbreed between the two.

San Marzano Tomato

quickgardens — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 17:01:00 +0000

San Marzano tomatoes are a determinate paste variety. I don’t find them to be very prolific in Florida. A mild taste. I’ll probably go with something else in the fall. They are smaller than they look in the picture.

Papaya Plants

quickgardens — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 17:01:00 +0000

Look at all these papaya plants that I have not been able to even give away. It feels sad to loose all the potential papayas these will grow. Sniff. O well. I’m sure this happens to plant nursery and farmers all the time. Good news is I have seven of them growing in my front and backyard.

Thai five star cucumber

quickgardens — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 17:01:00 +0000

Thai Five Star Cucumbers come from Thailand. They are good tasting and crisp, though not as crisp and prolific as the Chinese yellow cucumber. The leaves cucumber early to mold. One plant yielded 12 cucumbers. I will not give it a five star rating for Florida, but it will probably do well in hot less humid conditions.

Chinese Yellow Cucumber

quickgardens — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 17:00:01 +0000

Chinese yellow cucumbers are now my friends and family favorite cucumber. I’m not a cucumber fan. These cucumbers are different because of their crispness like that of an apple. It is sweet all the way through. It is also the most prolific and disease free cucumber I have ever grown in florida. Three plants gave us over 70 cucumbers. Amazing. We will definitely grow these next summer.

Basil in a bowl

quickgardens — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:03:24 +0000

Basil from the vegetable garden is kept fresh on the top of the kitchen counter using a simple bowl half filled with water. It smell wonderful and tastes even better on sandwiches, for cooking and eventually a pesto sauce which I have yet to do. The addition of fresh herbs is changing the way we cook and eat at our house. What do you do with Basil?

Basil in a bowel

Tomato colors

quickgardens — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 15:54:17 +0000

Tomatoes can be so colorful in their different stages of development. I have been harvesting the tomatoes early before cracking and molds set in. Florida humidity can cause a range of bad tomato issues. We had a dry spring but humidity has jumped off the charts. They taste great and make for good salsa.

Pink Ponderosa tomato

quickgardens — Sat, 29 May 2010 14:33:21 +0000

Tomatoes either grow well in Florida or don’t grow at all. Some crack, some rot, some produce. I received a pack of pink ponderosa tomato seed as a freebie from Baker Creek Seeds. It so far is the best producing tomato plant I have grown other than the Robeson tomato. I am amazed how big the tomato is. No cracking problems and does well in the Florida heat. It is over 6 ft tall and still going. This tomato is bigger than my hand.

Paul Robeson tomato

quickgardens — Fri, 28 May 2010 14:31:45 +0000

Tomatoes are fun to grow. Here is a unique tomato originally from Siberia so it’s amazing how well it grows here in Florida. You can learn more by clicking here at tomatofest.com