Super Early Tulip - in New England?

Tulip Bulbs 2/1/13

I had some Tulip bulbs that I intended to plant in the fall but  never got to it. They were stored from November through December in a dark cold place. I was very surprised when taking out the bags to see that they were growing! No roots on any of them but the stems were half an inch at least. Any suggestions as to what I do with these? Maybe I can try and force them in a glass jar.

Newest Obsession: Macarons

Since there is nothing left to do in the garden, I decided to spend some time refining my cooking skills. My newest obsession is macarons. Unlike macaroons these little delicacies are crunchy and melt in your mouth. The first three tries were total flops and the macarons were messy and clung to the baking sheet. The fourth try was by far the best! I used cinnamon in the macaron shell and butter cream in the center.

End to the Season

We have not been going to the garden as regular as before and I apologize for not posting as much.  The lot has been run-over by weeds and is really a mess. My alpine strawberries have continued to fruit and flower. The raspberries taste divine. The second batch of carrots it just about ready and today we planted tulips for the spring. Below are some pictures I have been holding on to.

Daffodil Bulbs Planted 10/6/12

Tulip Bulbs Planted 10/6/12

Carrots almost ready for harvest - 9/16/12

Yellow Pear Tomatoes - 9/16/12

Candy Stripe Cosmos - Still blooming

The lot 9/16/12 Overgrown by weeds

Yellow Russian Oxheart Tomato

We harvested these green tomatoes and let them ripen at home.

Tomato Experiment

Early in the season I had noticed that the tomatoes which I had grown from seed had very wobbly / unstable stems. I figured this was due to having started the tomatoes indoors with little air movement. So, in July I started a second batch of tomatoes from seed outside. I was not expecting much from these and planted the seeds in little soil. Right now, 6 weeks later, I have four good plants that have come out of this with seven green hanging fruit. We are excited to try these late season yellow pear tomatoes.

Yellow Pear Tomatoes 9/1/12

Yellow Pear Tomatoes 9/1/12

Yellow Pear Tomato Seeds

 On another note, this week I was very surprised to see that my bonsai raspberry plant had started producing raspberries for the very first time ever!!!! This will also be a late harvest but boy are they delicious.

Bonsai Raspberry Plant 9/1/12

Almost Empty Garden

Most of the bounty has been collected and the garden is near empty for the year. Here is one of the last harvests of the year ... not much to look at.

8/28 Cucumbers & Green / Yellow tomatos

Wilting Cucumber Plants

My one tomato that grew from seed

Woah ... Huge Cucumber

I have thought about writting a lot but have not had the chance to do so. However, for now, here are some picture updates of what is going on in the garden.

Harvest 8/11/12

Huge cucumber found on 8/11/12
Too bad that someone has already
been snacking on this 14incher 

8/11/12 - Green Ox heart tomato

Harvest from 7/28/12

Alpine strawberries harvest

We have had a lot of alpine strawberries this year. Last years bushes that we started have been giving about a handful of a week. However I noticed that the taste of the early summer berry is was much more poignant  then the late summer ones.

Biggest Harvest Yet

We had quite a big harvest today with carrots, lettuce, some green tomatoes and a handful of cucumbers. We decided to pick the tomatoes while they were greenish/yellow to prevent someone else from stealing them. We were very sad to find that someone had broken in to our garden last week and while they did not steal anything (that we could notice) the perpetrator did break half of our fence.

Odd Shaped Cucumbers and Big Green Tomato

Strawberry's flowering for the Second Harvest

Over-ripe Peas

Green Ox-heart tomato (bizzare looking)

Lettuce, carrots, green tomatoes

Small Strawberry Harvest

I have not done much work (aka weeding) in the garden due to the current heat wave. However, from the hour that I did spend there this week, I noted that my fence is doing well in keeping away the bunnies and we were able to harvest some strawberries. Also, on my patio garden, I have plenty of peas hanging and more strawberries. The strawberries are very small and not very sweet.



Small Strawberry Harvest



First Cucumbers