This time of year is always fun at my farm because there’s so much to harvest in the vegetable garden.
It's important to check the garden every other day - one never knows what will be ready for picking. Yesterday, we picked okra, eggplants, cucumbers, artichokes, corn and trays and trays of delicious, juicy tomatoes. I always look forward to having farm-grown produce to use in my summer cooking and in salads.
Enjoy these photos.
At long last, our tomatoes are ready! We grow about 100 tomato every year. Most tomato plant varieties need between 50 and 90 days to mature. My head gardener, Ryan McCallister, harvested many, many wonderful tomatoes over the last few days.
And the time goes quickly. Here are the tomato plants in early July when they were barely knee-high.
They grew several more inches by mid-July. This is when the plants were staked with tall bamboo poles to give the growing vines more support.
In early August, gorgeous green fruits began to grow.
Everything was well-supported by the bamboo and strong netting I saved from the old deer fencing that once surrounded the farm. I save everything I feel can be reused, and because these structures are outdoors, it is important that they are strong and secure, so they could hold the weight of the plants and fruits, and any strong winds we may get during the growing season. This netting works perfectly. Another key to keeping a rich vegetable garden is to rotate the tomato bed between a few spots in the garden every year to diminish the risk of soil-borne diseases such as bacterial spot and early blight.
The vining branches are also secured to the net and bamboo stakes using jute twine.
So many of the tomatoes are now ripe for the picking. Tomatoes are heat loving plants, so all the hot weather we’ve had has really helped our crops – the tomato vines are laden with fruit. These are ‘Pink Ponderosa’ tomatoes –
an indeterminate heirloom variety, rich, thick, and meaty. These are delicious sliced or canned.
Tomatoes are an excellent source of beta-carotene, vitamins C and K, calcium, potassium, folate, and of course – lycopene. This variety is called ‘Moskvich’ which fruits early and ripens o a deep red. Rich in flavor, these are also good sized at about four to six ounces per tomato.
‘Polbig’ has red, meaty, six to eight ounce globe shaped fruit. These will be ready in a couple more days. It’s always a good idea to grow a range of varieties, including at least one or two disease-resistant types, since, of all veggies, tomatoes tend to be the most susceptible to disease. And be sure to grow the right types for your area.
And these are ‘Big Beef.’ These tomatoes are perfect for slicing and adding to sandwiches. So many gorgeous tomatoes – all of them still suspended on the vine and looking perfect.
Planting can also be staggered to produce early, mid, and late-season tomato harvests. These are called ‘Wisconsin 55’ – refreshing, scarlet-red, round, mid-size slicing tomatoes.
These tomatoes start off dark purple and ripen to a dull purple-brown. The inside will be a pretty red-orange. Another clue is that the bottom of the fruit, which often remains green, since sunlight doesn’t reach it, will turn red. And, like other tomatoes, these fruits will soften a bit when ready to pick.
We’ll be harvesting tomatoes for a couple of weeks – a little bit every couple of days.
Ryan also harvested several eggplants. I prefer to pick them when they are smaller – this one is perfect. And look at its color – an almost gray variety.
Pick eggplants when they are young and tender. Picking a little early will encourage the plant to grow more, and will help to extend the growing season.
I love okra, but for some, okra is too slimy when cooked. Okra is very healthy, however – it’s high in fiber, vitamin-C and full of antioxidants, so give it try!
Okra or Okro, Abelmoschus esculentus, known in many English-speaking countries as ladies’ fingers or ochro, is a flowering plant in the mallow family. Okra flowers begin to appear 50 to 60 days after planting.
Harvest okra when they are still small, about three-inches long. A common mistake is harvesting the pods when they are six to eight inches long, when most will have a woody taste.
Corn is ready for harvest about 20 days after the silk first appears. At harvest time, the silk turns brown, but the husks are still green. Each stalk should have at least one ear near the top. And make sure it is in the “milk stage.” Puncture a kernel and look for milky liquid inside. If it’s clear, the kernels aren’t quite ready. If there is no liquid, you’ve waited too long. Ryan harvested a bucket of corn on the cob – these look excellent.
Here’s a tray of tomatoes and a few artichokes. The globe artichoke, Cynara scolymus, is popular in both Europe and the United States. Artichokes are actually flower buds, which are eaten when they are tender.
We also harvested an entire bucket of cucumbers. Cucumbers require a long growing season, and most are ready for harvest in 50 to 70 days from planting. The fruits ripen at different times on the vine, but it is essential to pick them when they are ready. If they are left on the vine too long, they tend to taste bitter.
Many of the tomatoes are eaten fresh and used for sandwiches and salads. Every summer, I also save lots of tomatoes to make homemade juice and sauce. Not only are they delicious and nutritious, but they can be stored in containers in the freezer for any time the craving hits.
Everything is brought into my Winter House kitchen and placed neatly on the counter. What a gorgeous bounty of beautiful produce. What shall I eat first?
There's always something beautiful blooming at my farm - this time of year, it's the big, white hydrangeas.
I love hydrangeas and have been growing them for a long time. Hydrangeas are popular ornamental plants, grown for their large flower heads, which are excellent in cut arrangements and for drying. I have lots of hydrangeas growing in a border located across from my vegetable garden and chicken coops. I also have hydrangeas blooming on one side of my tennis court - the flowers are so big, they can be seen from the carriage road. Nearby, I also have a variety of lush plants and trees that are also looking so spectacular this year - the Styrax japonicus, the Osage orange, the hostas, and the crepe myrtles.
Enjoy these photos.
It’s hard to pass by these stunning white flower heads and not stop to admire their beauty. Hydrangea is a genus of at least 70-species of flowering plants native to southern and eastern Asia and the Americas. The Hydrangea “flower” is really a cluster of flowers called a corymb.
From a distance, one can see all the stunning white hydrangeas growing behind my tennis court. I started planting hydrangea shrubs many years ago and they’ve always bloomed so profusely from year to year.
The name hydrangea originates from two Greek words – “hydro” meaning “water” and “angeion” meaning “vessel” or “container.” Together, the rough translation is “water vessel” which refers to their exceptional thirst for water.
Most hydrangeas are shrubs, but some are small trees. They can be either deciduous or evergreen, though the widely cultivated temperate species are all deciduous.
Hydrangeas are long-lived, and extremely vigorous specimens that offer lavish and varied blooms.
In general, mophead and lacecap leaves are relatively thick and crisp, shiny, and often heart-shaped. They range in size from four to six inches long by three to five inches wide.
Here is a hydrangea that blooms with lovely lacecaps. The lacecap is very similar to the mophead, but instead of growing round clusters of showy blossoms, this hydrangea grows flowers that resemble flat caps with frilly edges.
Panicle hydrangeas are known for their cone shaped flower heads. These large blooms typically start white and may turn a slight pink. All the paniculatas are very cold hardy.
Other plants growing in this area include the crepe myrtle. Lagerstroemia, commonly known as crape myrtle, is a genus of around 50 species of deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs native to the Indian subcontinent, southeast Asia, northern Australia, and other parts of Oceania.
Here’s a white crepe myrtle. Crepe myrtles range in size from dwarf, growing less than three feet tall, to several that reach upwards of 30 feet. They also come in many different colors, including white, lilac, and purple, many shades of pink and different shades of red.
Here is a medium pink variety. Crapes love the sun and are extremely heat tolerant. They should be planted in an area with at least six hours of sunlight per day. Some partial shade during the day is fine, but may result in fewer blooms – more sun, more blooms. They aren’t picky about their soil, but also prefer good drainage.
You probably recognize this – it’s pachysandra. Also known as Japanese spurge, this easy-to-grow plant reaches less than a foot tall and spreads quickly via underground roots. Pachysandra flowers with tiny white blooms every spring, but the plant’s evergreen, dark leaves that grow in whorls around their stems make it very popular in gardens.
Flanking both sides of the narrow road to the tennis court are these Styrax japonicus ‘Marley’s Pink Parasol’ Japanese Snowbells. These bloom in early summer with lustrous pink flowers and sweet, cotton candy fragrance.
White bell-shaped flowers cover the tight form from early spring through summer. The deciduous dark green leaves turn gold in the fall before dropping off. This tree is low maintenance and pest and disease resistant. It grows in full sun to part shade and enjoys moist, well-drained soil.
Behind the Styrax japonicus ‘Marley’s Pink Parasol’ Japanese Snowbells on both sides are Styrax japonicus ‘Evening Light’ – purple trees with fragrant, white, bell-shaped flowers.
The leaves are alternate, simple, broad-elliptic to elliptic oblong, and about three inches long.
Nearby is a row of Osage orange trees. These trees have grown so much over the years. The Osage orange, Macular pomifera, is more commonly known as a hedge apple, bow wood, or bodark.
And just in front of the tennis court is one of the many apple trees growing here at the farm. This one is a crew favorite with its juicy, tart green apples.
Hosta plants flower in summer, offering spikes of blossoms that look like lilies, in shades of lavender or white. The bell-shaped blooms can be showy and exceptionally fragrant, attracting hummingbirds and bees. Hundreds of hosta plants are growing in a bed just down the road from the tennis court.
Hostas love shade, so these are planted under a grove of dawn redwoods, Metasequoia. This variety is called ‘Francee’ with dark green, heart-shaped leaves and narrow, white margins. A vigorous grower, this hosta blooms in mid to late summer.
In all, about 700 hostas in a variety of cultivars including ‘Wide Brim,’ ‘Francee,’ ‘Regal Splendor,’ ‘Elegans,’ and ‘Blue Angel’ are growing here in this bed. Everything is looking so green this season. What plants are looking lush in your gardens? Share your comments with me below.
One thing I love is the intoxicating scent of a garden rose - especially an English rose.
Earlier this year, I designed a new garden behind my main greenhouse not far from my raspberry bushes. This space had previously been used for planting dahlias, but I decided it would be an excellent area for planting a variety of David Austin roses. Every gardener and rose expert is familiar with the rose hybridizer, David Austin, who started as a hobby breeder when he was a teen and went on to breed a collection of roses renowned around the world. His specimens have exquisite blooms and the most alluring fragrances. My new rose garden was first planted in late May - you may have seen glimpses of it on my show, "Martha Gets Down and Dirty" on Discovery+. And this week, so many of the roses are blooming.
Enjoy these photos.
Last May, we prepared a large bed for my new rose garden. The area was cleared of old plant roots and weeds, rototilled, and then fertilized. Finally, all the holes were dug for our new rose plants.
The David Austin roses came bare root meaning just that – loose with nothing around their roots. They were all placed in trug buckets filled with water. When working with bare roots it’s important to soak the whole plant – roots and shoots – for several hours or even overnight before planting. Never let the roots dry out.
Within the next couple of days, all the roses were planted in neat, tidy rows.
Around the entire perimeter of the garden, we planted foxglove. Foxglove, Digitalis purpurea, thrives in full sun to partial shade to full shade, depending on the summer heat. They will thrive in this space.
At the front of the garden bed, I decided to plant two large boxwood shrubs gifted to me by my friend, George Bridge, who first introduced me to boxwood more than 15 years ago. Please go to his web site to learn more about his farm, his amazing collection of plants, trees, and boxwood, and his wonderful landscape design business.
And here is the rose garden now. The plants are still small, but every one of them has at least one beautiful blooming rose.
This is ‘Carding Mill.’ The full blooms are a blend of pink, apricot, and yellow, giving the overall impression of orange. They also have a wonderful fragrance close to myrrh.
‘Vanessa Bell’ opens to medium-sized cups of pale yellow, lightening to white at the edges. At the center, each bloom has a rich yellow eye. The fragrance is similar to green tea with hints of lemon and honey.
This rose is called ‘Tottering-By-Gently.’ This variety has simple single flowers in soft yellow with golden stamens. Paling prettily over time, they have a light musky scent, with notes of orange peel. ‘Tottering-By-Gently’ flowers freely, repeating regularly throughout the summer.
This David Austin rose is just beginning to open. Called ‘Lichfield Angel,’ this flower’s pale peachy pink buds gradually open to form neatly cupped, cream rosettes. Each bloom has a perfect ring of waxy petals enclosing numerous smaller petals. Eventually the petals turn back to form a large, domed flower.
‘Jubilee Celebration’ is bold with large, domed, coral-pink flowers held elegantly above the foliage on graceful, arching stems. This cultivar has a strong, delicious fruity fragrance with hints of fresh lemon and raspberry.
‘Queen of Sweden’ has exquisite little buds open to half-enclosed cups, eventually becoming wide, shallow, upward-facing blooms of soft-apricot pink, gradually changing to pure soft pink over time.
And look at the foxglove. This plant forms a tight rosette of simple, coarse leaves with prominent veins. The ovate to lanceolate leaves with barely noticeable rounded teeth on the margins grow on a winged petiole. The alternate leaves, up to a foot in length, are covered with gray-white hairs.
A couple of the foxglove plants are also blooming. Each plant usually has a one-sided raceme with 20 to 80 flowers.
The downward-facing blooms are tapered and tubular with four lobes. Each 1½ to 2½ inch long pink, purple or white corolla has long hairs inside and is heavily spotted with dark purple edged in white on the lower lip, which serves as a landing platform for pollinators. The flowers are visited by bees – primarily bumblebees – which climb deep into the flower tube to get the nectar inside.
Another beautiful David Austin rose is ‘The Poet’s Wife,’ which bears rich yellow flowers that pale over time. The form has an outer ring of petals enclosing more petals. There is a strong, wonderfully rich fragrance with a hint of lemon, which becomes sweeter and stronger with age.
‘Eglantyne’ is a David Austin favorite. It has perfectly formed, soft pink blooms with a charming, sweet Old Rose fragrance.
This is ‘Princess Alexandra of Kent’ with its unusually large, bright pink flowers that are full-petalled and deeply cupped. It features a strong fresh tea fragrance, which changes to lemon, eventually taking on hints of blackcurrants.
And here is ‘The Alnwick Rose’ – with broad, full-petalled shallow cups of soft to rich pink.
‘Brother Cadfael’ bears large, globular, clear pink flowers, reminiscent of peonies. They have a particularly strong and rich Old Rose fragrance.
‘Lady of Shalott’ shows chalice-shaped blooms with loosely arranged, orange petals. The surrounding outer petals are salmon-pink with beautifully contrasting golden-yellow undersides. It gives off a pleasant, warm tea fragrance, with hints of spiced apple and cloves.
And a perfect white rose named ‘Tranquillity.’ This one has beautifully rounded flowers, with neatly placed petals making up the rosettes. The buds are lightly tinged with yellow but as the flowers open they become pure white. I hope you have at least one David Austin rose in your garden. If not, I encourage you to get one, or two, or even three – they’re exquisite.
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