Pepino

Ripe for the picking...

I went out early this morning to try with the squash again but it was overcast and sunny in short intervals so the flowers weren't open again. I looked around the bottom after giving up on stigma rubbing and noticed that the crookneck plants are taking over the patty-pan space and some of the space in the cantaloupe bed. We do have some nice medium crooknecks growing so some cross-pollination is taking place between the crookneck flowers but the patty-pan has not only been invaded but hasn't grown anymore fruit, at all. 

After checking on the squash I went over to Container Drive to check on the watermelon, cucumbers, eggplant, strawberries, and peppers. I looked into the cucumber container and saw a medium size cuc was ready for the picking. For some reason I shuffled the leaves and an enormous cucumber popped into vision. I was amazed. The container is half the size recommended for growing cucumbers but keeps producing and produced a cucumber more like the store sized ones. I picked it, it was ready and took them inside. After that I went back pick a strawberry and took a few pictures of the progressing melon and eggplant. 

Since it's been sunny and extremely hot the last two days I decided to water everything with sea magic and spray the foliage. I made a gallon of sea magic mix in a pitcher for the spray bottle and made 6 gallons of sea magic in the water can (at separate times). I watered and sprayed everything then went inside to shower. After my shower I took out the ripening tomatoes I picked yesterday and snap a flick of the last two days hull. Our harvests are looking better and better. We would have had more tomatoes today if I was scared to pick them because of the hornworm. I even had a nightmare about it. Ugh! 

2 days worth of harvest. 

Our first eggplant has grown almost an inch each day for the last 3 days. 

Largest cucumber, yet, peeled and chopped. 

Watermelon 5 inches wide and 4 long. It's starting to really weigh down the branch. It probably weighs 2.5lbs. 

Picture Update July 13 2013

Picking fruit...

I've done little gardening these last few days because of the rain. We had one of the worst and longest storms we've had in almost ever, the other previous night. I did get out with enough time to pick the ripe tomatoes in the container, some berries, and another cucumber. I'm so glad that the 8G container was slow. It's slowness allows us to have some dries because the other containers are not really producing any longer, least of all the Topsy. What a waste. 

Cantaloupe melons.

Strawberries in 8G container.

Super chili hot peppers 

Bush Sugar Baby turning black. 

Tomatoes picked from container. 

Thriving in Excess

Success in Excess... rain

Larger cantaloupe in the container. The skin of the cantaloupe is changing to resemble a full size melon. It has wrinkle and line in beige, all over.

Smaller container melon has started to change but its skin is changing in patches rather than producing lines all over. I don't know if the skin changing means they will stop growing. That may be the case. 

Cantaloupe plants in raised bed. Have climbed the 4 foot trellis to the top and spread out over 4 feet wide and 2 feet deep. Blossoms and small melons starting to grow. Planted weeks after the container. 

Pearl onion from PS and the biggest berry I've gotten overall and only berry I've gotten in over a week. Plucked from the 5G container. The Topsy turvy is basically dead. I wish I hadn't wasted so many plants on it.

I'll post a video update of everything thriving and not so thriving tomorrow. The excess rain has affected the garden, my hopes not so high anymore. 

How does your Garden Grow

In the HEAT!

The plants have absolutely boomed. I was 1000% right. The heat has changed the garden completely over the last 4 days, for the better. 

Tomato Plants...

The tomato-berry plant that didn't grow one inch taller for two months has grown about a foot in height and has put on about 4 more blossoms. Mr S. pointed it out to me and I was shocked. It's completely shot up. 

The first tomato in the far right and front plot has doubled in size and all of the tomato plants are breaking out of there tepee stakes. I had no idea they would get so big and be so strong. The tomato plant in the back, on the right, has completely cured itself. It use to had rust and now its a beautiful vibrant green and large plant. The tomato that was taken down by my wooden "Charlie brown" box trellis has overcome its shock and grown about 4 inches in width along with all the rest. It's amazing, truly. 

Plants are so big there breaking the tepees. 

Carrots...

The Danver126 carrot plants have shot up in part I'm sure to the thinning and most of all because of the heat. They are at least 3 inches taller and much fuller. The red core Chantenay's are doing the same. They haven't grown as tall as the Danvers but they are filling out and looking lush. I think the red cores needed the warmth but don't have the same properties a the Danvers. I specifically chose Danver126 carrots because they are one of the few varieties that likes the warm/hot weather opposed to the usual  cool/warm weather carrots enjoy. So it makes sense that the Danvers are thriving just a little more. 

Seascape Strawberries...

The 5G strawberry bucket, the container I thought was a dud, is doing better than the rest. Te plants are at least a foot tall, the berries are bigger and closer to being ripe enough to pick, and there are at least another 20 flower buds ready to bloom on top of the 30 strawberries already growing. It's unbelievable because it was the slowest to start but has changed so quickly and surpasses the rest. 

The 8G bucket is just doing okay. It has a few strawberries but the plants are much shorter and the berries much slower. They'll definitely produce a few tasty morsels but I don't think I'll be getting a pint from each of the 4 plants in that container. I may be wrong like I was with the 5G container but its doubtful. They should have rooted and strengthened and started to grow, in height at least, by now. 

On the other hand, the Topsy Turvy is doing very well. It has at least 20 berries growing at the moment and another handful of buds in the waiting. The plants are about 10-12 inches tall and the berries are big. Not quite as big as the 5G bucket just yet but big enough. The Topsy Turvy has finally found a stable spot. The hook is holding and the plants seem to thrive from that and the heat. 

I wouldn't be surprised if I was eating my first berry by Weds. of next week. 

Biggest berry in the 5G bucket.

Bush Sugar Baby...

I planted the watermelon plants in the recycling bin container a few weeks ago and like the tomato-berry plant the little seedling hasn't grown almost at all since the transfer. I was worried that I had shocked them or that the day of chilly weather had stunted them permanently. That wasn't the case though they needed that long hot day heat just like Smart Gardener said they would. The watermelon plants have absolutely tripled in size. They have four huge leaves that were not there Sunday. The heat has awakened them and they are ready to work. It's great. That's really all I can say. I've been looking forward to eating two main items from my garden; watermelon and strawberries. So I'm excited to see that they are finally moving. 

Original size at transplant and for the few weeks after.

Size after 4 hot long days. Still looked like the above on Sunday. 

Cucurbits...

The patty-pan and crookneck squash plants are doing pretty well they aren't in the best spot for there needs. The raised bed tends to become completely shaded after about high noon. So they haven't gotten to enjoy the hot days as much a the other plants but they are still thriving. The patty-pan plant has 4 new squash blossoms. The left-back crookneck has 2 yellow baby squash on it that have grown about a quarter of an inch and the front-right crookneck has new blossoms and one baby squash growing. So they are doing well but would be doing better had they been able to enjoy the direct sun more. 

The cantaloupe in the container had grow significantly in width and height and has 3 new blossoms on it. The cantaloupe still in the Bonnie store containers need to be planted, desperately need it. They have blossomed and grown and I'm sure there running out of room but the bed they were supposed to be in has an enormous amount of grass growing in it. Way more than that of the problematic squash bed. That's why we haven't transferred but need to.

Left-back crookneck plant.

Cucumber flowers. 

Everything Else...

Everything else is growing well and has loved the heat. Even the lettuce and spinach have remained crisp and are standing tall. The sweet potato plants in Potagar are doing amazingly but the ones I planted in Patch yesterday don't seem to be doing that hot. They were all wilted and dead looking when I went to water them today which is weird because sweet potato plants absolutely love the heat. They were the plant that required the latest transfer date. So I don't know if it was the slips or the overbearing heat right at transfer but they aren't looking too hot. I hope they make it.

The lemon balm has doubled in width and is a beautiful shade a green with a beautiful fragrance. The basil is taller than ever and the green beans finally have beans forming. 

Ladies Present

Runners... 

There hasn't been much to do in the garden not even watering because we've been getting light rain and sun. The one thing I did do was pull off a few runners from the most beautiful strawberry plants ever. I pulled off about 6 runners. The rest of the plants didn't have any yet. I'm sure they will be growing some soon. A runner is a strawberry stem that grows horizontally to the soil and "runs" across. The part of the stem closest to the crown is usually reddish in color but does not have to be. 

Ladybugs...

I finally saw a few lace wings and ladybugs. The one ladybug I noticed first was happily ass deep in a tomato plant eating up all the aphids it could get. I am so glad that we finally have some ladybugs in the garden. The tomato plants were becoming aphid infested. The dark spots on the branches in the picture. Are clumps but the ladies and laces have been doing there job well because the whole plant used to be a dark spot. Yay!! We might need to buy some ladybugs but I'm not sure yet. The Predalure doesn't seem to have work as expected. We do have some lacewings and ladybugs but I don't know that there are more then usual. It actually seem Ike there may be less ladybugs. So a Predalure may be a waste of money, I'll keep you posted.

First tomato in Potagar. A mortgage lifter.

Patty-pan squash blossom, edible. 

Crookneck squash blossom, open then closed. Attached to a 2 inch squash. Ready to harvest at 6 inches.

Largest strawberry on Topsy Turvy.

Danver126, carrot greens, largest and tallest yet. 

Major Change

Rain Day...1

The weather for the week has luckily changed from all rain everyday but today to no rain except on Thursday when we'll have thunder showers. I'm so glad... My plants need the sun. We've had the rainiest month of May in a long time. I hope July isn't going to be like this too. When we get a rain spring season we usually get a July filled with thunder storms bad enough to take out trees. For now its sunny days ahead, unless it changes again.

Patch Market...

I went straight into PM today and had a look at everything. I wasn't going to water because I thought we were still going to get rain all week, at this point. So I just looked. I noticed that the second rotation of radishes have germinated. They look a little different then the last bunch, darker leaf color, but strong. It may be due to the warmer soil temp or the fact that I plant there before. I should have amended the soil with some compost but didn't. Anyway, I moved over to have a look at the strawberry buckets and noticed that a few of the blooms have berries starting. Not berries like the first one but ones already double the size of the ones produced by the small initial flowers. These will definitely be berries, well hopefully. Then I noticed that most of the blooms and berries on both the buckets and the topsy turvy each had the little dark striped crunchy bugs. There tiny but when you kill them they make a Big Crunch noise. I have no idea what they are but have seen them inside the house all my life and smashed them all my life. I've never once seen them outside. To keep my strawberries safe I went in to get the Cpt. Jack's spray. I sprayed the strawberries then checked the weather. I wanted to make sure the weather still called for rain because it was/is hot and dry. It didn't so I watered everything in Patch, carefully. I didn't want to wash of all the Cpt. Jack's I'd just sprayed. Then I moved into Potagar Schoultz.

First sizable start of a strawberry. Few more but this is the biggest. 

Same bloom in 5G bucket a few days apart. 

Second round of radishes. 

Potagar Watering...

Everything in PS needed to be watered so I hooked up the new hose and hose gun. It was amazing. I watered the entire garden in a matter of a minute. I filled the watering can with the "bucket filler" setting on the hose gun and watered all the potted plants and plants waiting to be planted. Then I grabbed the EcoSmart and sprayed the grass in the far beds, again. I don't recommend EcoSmart for grass it works way too slowly. The party pan and crookneck squash are dying to be transferred they have squash blooms and baby squash starting. The party pan plant bloom basically overnight. They are ready. So I tore the grass up with a large wooden board and mixed it in. We need to get the Corn Gluten preemptive weed killer before it starts growing back and we need to add some compost to the bed to stifle the turned grass and get it to start breaking down. 

It was so hot I came inside but I still have more to do like spray epsom mix and weed. I'll cool off go back out and write a second entry for the one I didn't write yesterday. 

Pea Trellis, Peanut?

Early Morning...

I woke up very early this morning, around 7am, to spray the grass in the far beds. I realized that the beds get the best sun from when it comes up around 8am to about 12pm so to burn the grass properly I needed to spray before the sun. I grabbed the EcoSmart and sprayed all the grass and for good measure I spray again with the vinegar/detergent mixture I had left in a spray bottle. Then I went back inside. 

Early Afternoon...

I had plans to go to the salon with my Mom today so I wanted to get the watering done before I had to leave at 2pm. I filled the watering can, grabbed a peanut plant, the shovel, and headed over to Patch Market first. I wasn't sure I'd have time for everything before I left but I wanted to get the Peanut plant into my bed before the sun moved. I planted the Peanut, watered everything, and pulled out the jalapeño sign. 

I ran out of time rushed inside to change and left. 

Peanut plant.

Strawberry blooms overnight.

Late Afternoon...

When I got home I changed and went out to do some more watering and planting. I wanted to plant the pepper plants and put the green bean trellises up. Before I did that I went I to Patch Market to show Mike my strawberry flowers. I'd noticed that they'd all bloomed overnight and wanted to show them off. After he left I noticed that there was clover on the left side of my bed. All of the sudden it made sense that I had those red velvet mites that like clover. I didn't know why they'd shown up without the proper food, maybe radishes were a type of clover leaf was one thought, but no there was actual clover. So I went I side to grab the vinegar mix and sprayed the clover until it was soaked. I'm hoping the little red nasties will move on now. The radishes are gone and now the clovers smell bad and will die. 

When I was done spraying I grabbed the pepper plants and looked on the back of there labels to try to figure out the spacing. I couldn't figure out my plan for that box without the Potagar Schoultz diagram from Smart Gardener. I went inside pulled up the diagram/plan and went back out. We'd have one extra pepper plant. I planted the golden bell & jalapeño pepper to the left of the green beans and the red beauty peppers in the 2x2 plot left. I watered the peppers and sprayed them with epsom salt. Now that those were placed and the bed was full I was able to insert the trellises without worrying about the space the legs were taking up in the surrounding spaces. I made a tepee trellis by leaning 2 square wooden trellises against each other for support and aesthetics. 

I was going to plant the remaining pepper plant in a 12x12inch container but the Mosquitos were eating me alive and I'm allergic. I forgot about those pests during my craze and fear over the others. They are actually the bugs in least afraid of but they affect me the most. If I get more than 3-4 bites I get a fever. So I ran inside. 

Once inside I grabbed the nail polish remover and the jalapeño marker I'd brought in and removed the nail polish. I grabbed black and brownish polish and painted the word "peanuts" and pictures of 3 peanuts in there she'll on the tile. I blew on it to dry it and quickly ran back out to switch out the paper marker, that read Have you ever seen a peanut grow?, for the tile one in the bed. 

I ran back in to avoid any bites and I put everything away then of to shower.

Pepper plants; Golden bell (L), Jalapeno (M), Red Beauty (Front R).

Trellises over peas.

Monsoon Patch

Rain and Hail...

Today was a hell of a weather day. It was sunny and beautiful out all morning and early afternoon then all of a sudden around 3pm a monsoon hit us. We had rain pellets the size of dimes coming down along with hail the size of gum balls. It seemed like the rain was going to last forever... I stood at the sun room door watching and by the time I got downstairs I saw the sun shining like crazy but it was still raining. Fifteen minutes after that the rain had stopped. 

Sadly, I didn't get to enjoy the beautiful part of the day because I had a pounding headache. I've never had such a bad headache in my life, it truly felt as if my head was palpitating. Between the monsoon weather and the headache I got absolutely no gardening done because after the headache and rain had stopped and I headed out it started raining again. I was lucky to get the pictures I did. The rain has done the garden well. I think it's the type of rain we've gotten. It'll be sunny for hours then pour in the afternoon. Natures done all the work for me the last few days and well. Everything has really started to shoot up, especially the spinach. 

Burpee...

Finally the sweet potato slips were delivered. They never sent me an Email that they were coming, like with the strawberries, so I wasn't checking for deliveries. Mike came down with a package and said "hey you got something but its all soggy and wet." I knew instantly what it was and that it'd been sitting out in the rain for awhile. I opened the strange box that said "live plants" on the side and inside were roots wrapped in damp paper, I'm not sure if they came that way or if that was from the rain, and a rubber band. They look funny, it's hard to explain so I've included a picture below. All I can say is that they don't look anything like the slips I'm growing on my sweet potato in the glass. If I'd know those would work out so well I would never have ordered these. Not because they look bad or dead, they do look weird, but because I would have like to save the money and I'd rather use what I started from scratch. Since Potagar calls for 7 sweet plants we would have needed them anyway but I'll only be using the ones I've grown from a potato in Patch. If you can grow plants from a seed or scraps due so... You know they won't infect your garden. You know how they've been treated and you feel a much greater sense of accomplishment. I can't wait to pull the growing slips off the sweet potato, put them in water, and watch them grow roots. Once, that happens I'll be able to plant them. It'll be a little later than recommended but according to the upcoming weather reports the temperature is going to get down below freezing, at night, for a couple of nights. After that, we should be all warm weather sun and blue skies for awhile. That is the type of weather sweet potatoes need to grow big tubers. 

Planting Georgia Jets...

In the direction pamphlet that came with the Georgia Jet sweet potatoes it says to wait until the evening to plant the slips and that it shouldn't be windy or rainy. Since it is both of those things currently, I won't be planting tonight. In part, I can't plant tonight because I didn't know they were coming and I need to add compost and hill the plots that will hold the tubers. At the moment the plots meant for the GJ's is shallow and will not produce a good size potato. So tomorrow during the day I'll amend both the Potagar and Patch plots meant for sweet potatoes. I'll be amending Patch not because it is a shallow bed but because it was recommended on Smart Gardener. It said that I should amend the top 8 inches with compost. I also want to make the bed even deeper than it is so I give the tubers even more space to grow. Rather than completely mixing in a few scoops of compost I'll add 8 inches and then mix a bit so the plants are planted in hills. Since I can't plant them in Potagar until tomorrow night I've but them in a cup of water with the moss they came wrapped in... it said in the pamphlet that this would keep them for a few days.

Green beans that I've thinned and kept in a cup with water. They've actually grown.

Cucumber plants in a container. Planted on May 7, 2013.

My prized radishes. These are the tallest in Patch so far. You can see the fuller root at the soil line, that's the radish.

First real flower in the 5G bucket. Surprisingly it is on the "grindylow," the plant that isn't supposed to make it.

Georgia Jet's delivered like this. Looking pretty dead but it said that should be the case and they were still healthy.

Sweet potato roots covered in the moss they were shipped in... I'm fairly concerned that there aren't more roots.

Captain Jack's

DeadBug Garden Dust...

It was a really cloudy and dark day so for most of the morning I thought it was raining, I didn't think to actually check because I was being lazy but around 2pm I went out and it was dry but dark. I went out to check on everything and when I got to Patch I noticed that the radishes had more holes. A lot more. So I went inside to grab the powder, organic pesticide that Mr. S. had gotten along with the Diatom-Earth. It's called Captain Jack's. At first I thought you mixed the powder with water and sprayed it on because the label had liquid conversions on it. For what reason I still don't know, but you don't mix it with water you just dust the plants with it. Makes sense, considering its called Garden Dust. Once I figured that out I went back outside with the dust and started applying it to the radishes. It was difficult because a bunch was pouring out of the salt shaker-like holes and all I needed to do was dust the foliage, bottom and top, but I was dusting the leaves and the soil and myself. So I closed the shaker top and started squeezing. That worked really well. The powder still came out in thin burst with the cap completely closed. I used my fingers to get all the extra powder all over the radish leaves then used the squeeze method to lightly dust the lettuce and the strawberry leaves. It stated very specifically that it was safe for berries and since the bugs eating the radish leaves wouldn't be able to anymore I figured they'd try moving over to my prized berries. While I was dusting the berry leaves I noticed that the 5G bucket plants had shot up about 4 inches but they still don't have any berries growing. They are by far the largest and greenest of the plants but no berries. It's really weird. They don't have any runners yet so that shouldn't be the issue but they just aren't producing berries. I think I may have over planted the container. Online it said that you could fill the bucket and at Home Depot they have tiny containers with 4-5 plants that have berries but I don't know that's the only reason I can think of to explain the lack of berries. Anyway, I'll try some fertilizer (more) and see what happens. Otherwise I might just let the bucket produce runners and new plants for next year. After dusting Patch I dusted the lettuce in Potagar and the green beans. I saw some large pests today, for the first time. I very large bunny and I realized that they always bolt up the hill so I deduced that there must be a hole in the fence by the neighbors house. They aren't getting in through any other fence because we've kept them closed and check everywhere but back there. It's a little creepy dark and overgrown back there. I'll have to check tomorrow. 

After I dusted the green beans I decided to thin them out a little more. I don't want everything to be slow so I am really trying to thin everything down. Now there is about 11 plants in each plot, 2 more and we'll be good. I've been putting all the bean plants I thin in a plastic cup with a little water and the ones i thinned days ago are still green and strong. I might try planting them in a container. I also thinned the spinach. After that I filled a container with plans to plant the thinned beans but I decided to plant a cucumber plant instead. The cucumbers are the only plant that we didn't have an assigned plot for so I figured even if they don't grown fruit it'll be a nice experiment and the foliage will look great. 

Finally, I brought the greenhouse inside and watered the plants in there and the lemon balm. The rain was sure to come and it did just a few minutes after bringing the house in...

Dusted lettuce. It's finally gaining some height and is almost ready to harvest the first leaves. I'm going to go with the continuous harvest method for these and the spinach. Beautiful, I love that green color!

5G strawberry bucket. They've grown about 4 inches taller, but no berries. Dusted.

Dusted 5G bucket from the top.

Lemon Balm seeds on a paper towel. I hadn't looked at this test in awhile and did today and noticed that the lemon balm seeds germinated extremely well on the paper towel. It took them about 3 weeks to get to this stage with "grown up" leaves. 

Dusted radishes. You can see that I didn't know what I was doing here compared to the berries and lettuce. The bugs immediately moved so it works and its organic. The rain doesn't wash it right off but do use the squeeze method. It lightly dusts the entire plant, top and bottom, and looks much nicer. Saves too.

One a Penny

Baking soda...

I went out today and made sure that everything was still moist and didn't water. I've been trying to control myself when it comes to watering. Part of the reason my strawberry plant died last year was that I over watered it, burned it with garlic water "insecticide", and lacked drainage. So I am trying to control my impulse to water more and more. 

I went into Patch after checking on everything in Potagar and noticing that a bundle of weeds have grown in the empty bed. I checked on everything in Patch and then noticed that there were little holes in the radish leaves. Not all of them but some of them. Something tiny, like an insect, is eating my radish leaves. I don't know that, that means that my radishes are unhealthy but that will definitely make them unhealthy if they aren't already. All of the references have said that healthy plants mean less bugs but I don't see any unhealthy signs except for the holes caused by the bugs. So I went inside and made one of the sprays I read about. I mixed half a tsp of detergent and 3/4 a tablespoon of baking soda with a gallon of water. I mixed it up and then put it into a spray bottle. Since the radishes were getting eaten before I could test I diluted the spray with a little extra water and sprayed all over the radishes. I'm hoping that a diluted version will rid the radishes of the few bugs there are now and won't burn my plants. 

Pennies and Vinegar...

After I finished doing that I went inside and mixed up a batch of 1 tablespoon of vinegar and 1 tablespoon of detergent with a gallon of water. I grabbed the bag of pennies and mosaic glue. I put the mixture into another spray bottle and took all of the things I'd grabbed outside. I sprayed the weeds in the empty bed with the vinegar spray. I spray them liberally, hoping, that would take care of them for awhile. Then I went into Patch sat down opened the bag of pennies and glue and started gluing pennies to the side of the 8G container. I was putting glue on the back of each penny, at first, but that was taking too long so I spread the glue out in a straight line around the entire bucket and started sticking the pennies on. Before I did any of that I sanded the bucket a bit so they would stick on better. When I was done it looked festive and it'll keep the slugs/snails off my strawberries. I've read, in several places, that copper and snail/slug slime cause an electric shock for the bug, so they avoid it. I initially looked for copper tape but the hardware store and Home Depot didn't carry it, in stores or online. I looked online to buy some but I couldn't find it. I'll have to look again and more thoroughly for the Potagar beds but for my buckets pennies were just fine, better than fine, they go with my low cost theme. I moved on and completed the 5G bucket. I was going to glue a couple around the base of the Shephard hook holding the Topsy but I thought again. I'm going to wait until I find the tap for that. I don't want to add even a gram of weight to that thing. 

I gathered everything up and went inside. 

Gluing pennies on to the 8G bucket. 

Completed 8G bucket. The glue will dry clear.

Both buckets finished. I think they look decorative.

Beanstalk of an Update

Rain, rain, and more rain...

It has been raining all day. It's just totally soggy outside but I did promise a picture update of everything. I am so happy that today is the today I chose and promised to post because the beans have gone crazy, FINALLY!

Green Arrow beans planted April 6th are now about 3 inches tall. The rain has been really good for everything and especially the beans which have boomed.

Bloomsdale, thinned down to three. Growing 4th set of leaves.

Texas Sweet Onions, planted April 18th, have grown about 6".

Iceberg type lettuce planted April 12ish. Hasn't grown taller but is double the size in bushiness.

Cherry Belle radishes thinned to 3" apart and have grown about an inch since.

Topsy strawberries have gotten bushier and have about 4 flowers so far.

Sweet potatoes, grown about 6 slips in 8 weeks.

First strawberry started, April 28, in the 8G bucket.