Assorted Update

Lots of things have happened in the last couple days. Here's the breakdown.

Tomato Bed:
The Hawaiian Currant made the transition back into dirt well and is beginning to put on some height. Given how miserable it looked when I picked it up, broken and wilted, off the ground a few weeks ago, I am shocked that it made such a recovery.

Hawaiian Currant looking good!

Green Zebra is still looking a little sad. I hacked it pretty good to remove a bunch of wilting leaves. The good news is that the brown wilt seems to be gone. The bad news is that there is only one growing tip left (until it grows a few suckers) and its leaves are somewhat curled, as if to protect itself or reserve water. I think it will be fine eventually, but it's not recovering easily.

Green Zebra...not looking good

The other tomatoes all have yellow flowers, and several are working on making tomatoes. Black Plum and Sun Gold both have lots of little green fruits. I'm curious to see who ripens first. Considering how well Black Plum did last year on neglect, and how well it's doing again this year, I suspect it will cement its position as favorite tomato.

Sun Gold tomatoes


Black Plum tomatoes

I put about 1 lb of E.B. Stone’s All-Purpose Fertilizer into the tomato bed. I also sprayed the bed with Neem Oil and sprinkled some Sluggo in the area. The tomato plants don’t seem too bug infested, but my poor pepper plants are just getting munched (except the Dulcettas, which somehow seem immune), I suspect by slugs & snails.

I bought a replacement Cayenne pepper to replace the one that got munched. It came in a 4-pack, so the others will probably go in pots. I also bought an Anaheim pepper. The one in the garden got so munched that I’m not sure it’ll make it, so I thought it best to have a plant on reserve just in case.

Anaheim Pepper might recover if the slugs stay away


Dulcetta Pepper looking awesome


Shallots (and one shallot that is probably not a shallot)


Garlic (Borage in upper left corner)

Legumes:
The pea plants look great. It’s going to break my heart when I have to pull them out in a couple more weeks. I’ve harvested about a dozen peas and there’s at least that many left on the vine for a salad or stir fry this week.

Very tall Pea plants


Peas

The fava beans are also doing well. There are several pods growing, and lots of flowers that should lead to bean pods soon.

Fava plants


Fava Beans

Leafy Greens:
Chard has taken over the garden. I really need to eat more chard. Lettuce looks fantastic. I think I’ll try to nurse it to the end of June for a BBQ on the 26^th, and then I’ll pull it out to give more room to the melon and strawberry plants. The Asian greens have also outgrown their welcome. I think they will become Chinese Chicken Salad this week. Mmmmm.

Red Chard


Asian Greens

Fruit:
A few of the melons have finally taken hold and appear to be growing. The ones closer to the back get much less sun, so they will take longer to get going, but I’m not sure having a delay between the plants will be a bad thing later this summer.

Charentais Melon

I finally got the 4 Chandler strawberry plants in the ground. Two of them already have strawberries trying to grow. Hopefully the others will get going soon.

Chandler Strawberry

Squash:
The zucchini plants are GIANT. I will have to hack it back a bit to get the corn in, but I doubt the plants would even notice. There are a couple zukes on it that will have to get eaten soon before they get huge. The other squash plants are doing well too. There are acorn squashes forming on one plant and the other squashes seem to have finally sunk their roots in and started growing.

Zuchinni growing


Acorn Squash

Other:
Radish seeds have sprouted out in the garden. Hopefully they’ll also be ready for salad for my BBQ in 3 weeks.

Radish sprout

The sunflowers have also grown quickly. I don't think I've mentioned them much in earlier posts, but the tallest is now taller than me.

Sunflower corner

My corn seeds have sprouted (all but one) in their little newspaper pots. When they reach ~6 inches tall, I’ll move them out to the garden.

Corn sprouts

Melons Planted

Yesterday I got my melon seedlings in the ground. They are taking the place of the many strawberry plants that never decided to grow. Hopefully today I'll get the rest of my squash plants in. The four squash plants that I put in a couple weeks ago are HUGE compared to the ones that are still in their pots. It's interesting to see such a difference when they were all about the same size not too long ago.

I also managed to get all of my herbs into pots and baskets (finally) along with the remaining pepper seedlings (an ancho/poblano that looks good and a dulcetta that I don't think is going to make it), an artichoke, and moving the two boysenberry plants into a larger pot. I put a japanese cucumber plant (bought from Home Depot a few days ago) into a basket on the side yard. I'm not sure how well it will do there, but if it thrives I think it will be an interesting addition to my little container garden.

It's a hot day, and summer is certainly on its way. Jobs for today (or tomorrow): Get the squash plants in and start some corn seedlings.

Show Me the Green

My first strawberry leaves have started to pop up along with the first sweet pea, and many of the fava beans are breaking ground as well!

Strawberry Start (Sequoia?)

Fava Bean and Sweet Pea Shoots

I spent the afternoon double digging the vegetable bed. I got halfway done, so hopefully I'll finish that up tomorrow. It won't be a minute too soon either. I put peas in wet paper towels on Monday and they're already trying to sprout. The sooner I can get those off my kitchen counter and into the ground, the better!

Squash/Melon Flat

Pepper Seedlings

My seedlings are coming along. Many of the herbs died, but the squash, melons, and peppers are all putting up their first true leaves.

Dead Herbs (except one Cilantro)

I reseeded a few pots in my squash/melon seedling flat today. The first seeds sprouted promptly and then wilted. I was afraid I'd lose the whole flat that way, but they seem fine.
Hopefully these seeds catch up soon.

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Squash and Melon Seedlings!

Success!




Apparently it was the sun baking the seeds that contributed to the epic fail of my first flat of squash/melon seeds. I have been much more successful with this second round as at least one seed of every type has now popped up!



Many of the squashes are starting to work on their first true leaves while the last of the melons are working their way out of the soil.

Fail

So I think I cooked my seeds in the sun because almost none of my melon or squash seeds sprouted and of the couple that started to break though they very quickly dried up and died. Hopefully it was my mistake and not that the seeds are dead. With this hope in mind, I've replanted the whole flat and I've got inside, sitting on top of our fish tank where it stays nice and warm (instead of outside baking in the sun).

The second flat (which I kept inside and seeded a couple days ago) has started sprouting. The cucumbers were the first to sprout, followed by the basils.

A fresh start

Clearly, I am terrible at keeping a journal of any sort. I haven't posted in months and my garden has been almost as neglected. So, with Spring just around the corner, a new batch of seeds flats, and an iPhone to hopefully make it easier to post...I'm beginning again.



I've got melons, squash, peppers, eggplant, cucumber, and a variety of herb seeds in seed starter mix.



A couple courageous melons have started to creep upwards and I look forward to seeing their more timid flat mates soon. Boysenberry starts from my Aunt Steph are also waking up for Spring.




This morning I sprayed Round-up on the weeds that infiltrated my beds over the winter and I look forward to their slow death that will ensue. By the time my little seed children are ready to go out and play, hopefully I'll have the beds weed free and dug to fluffiness. Beet, carrot, radish, chard, and pea seeds are at the ready and will hopefully make their way into the garden in the next week.

It's good to be back with my hands in the dirt!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Seeds Sprouting...slowly

Two scallions have sprouted and a third is just popping through. The Acorn squash has sprouted and both it and the Delicata are working on their first true leaves. Only one sweet basil seed has sprouted so I'll be adding a few more of those seeds this weekend. I think I'll replant some scallion seeds too. The marigolds seem to just be a total nonstarter. I probably didn't treat the seeds well enough when collecting or something.

When I went to water the flat this morning it looked like the 9-pack of melons and eggplant was only wet to the first 1/8 inch or so. I watered a little more aggressively and what I think is a Charentais seed popped up looking like the day I'd put it in the seedling mix. I made sure to water those few carefully and thoroughly, so hopefully they'll get started germinating soon.