By Jimmy Deaton

This season has been quite an adventure thanks to the weather. All of the excess rain

has done wonders for some parts of the garden and others have hated it. All the plants

have done exceptionally well with the exception of the tomatoes. We did lose a tomato

plant to early blight, one sweet pepper to unknown reasons and one of our basil plants

to ants who decided it would be fun to build their nest right where the basil roots were

located……grrr!

But the bright side is we always have back up plants ready by taking cuttings of the

parent plants that are growing. We replaced plants that were not doing too great with

new ones and have started part of this years bean production. We have one bed of

beans started where the squash/zucchini was and have tucked beans and/or radishes

into nooks and crannies where we have enough available space and light. Taking

advantage of every inch available makes walking through the produce section of the

grocery store that much easier in the winter months.

We will start the fall/winter plants soon with the likes of salad greens, kale and collards.

We have also added a few new “ever-bearing” strawberries and a dwarf grape to the

fruit stable this year.

To give you a little perspective with what is going on in the garden now, here is photo of

part of our chili plant section. The plant shown is a new cross between a Fatalli and

Tabasco chili’s. We haven’t tried one yet to see how they taste but the overall health

and vigor of the plant is outstanding. The plants are “humongous” with a very prolific

output of chili pods.

This photo shows a portion of our grape olive tomato harvest. These are great sliced in

half and used as appetizers with basil and fresh mozzarella cheese. Add a little

balsamic vinegar reduction for a nice “Caprese” salad. 

The sunflowers have really shot up – they are now peeking over the fence. Estimate

heights are from 12 feet to a tad over 13 feet tall. Photo of sunflowers

I haven’t touched on this subject in previous columns but another thing we grow are

microgreens and baby salad greens. These are packed full of flavor and nutrition. The

nutritional value is @ 40 times that of a mature salad green and the taste is

phenomenal.

In fact, we have started our own business growing these and have them available for

sale to both restaurants and other businesses as well as to private individuals. All stock

is cut to order within 60 minutes of delivery ensuring the ultimate in freshness. If you are

interested please email me (address below) and be sure to put Urban Garden as the

subject or feel free to check out our Facebook page – Lynnhaven Greens. We hope

everyone will like our page and sample what we have to offer.

We also plan on having seeds as well as vegetable and flower starts available for the

2016 season and will have an online ordering system available with free delivery to your

door as long as you reside within our delivery zones.

If you would like to comment or have a garden question for Jimmy, please email him at

office@oldtowncrier.com. Be sure that you have “Urban Garden” in the subject line.