Ripen Up

Red, Red, & Red...

It was dark and cloudy out today because of the tropical storm that was coming our way. It seems that it took a detour a little later but either way the sky was dark and not great for gardening. Even so I went out to check on everything to make sure that if the storm did hit hard that all of the stakes and trellises were deeply held and that the containers were on steady ground. When I finally got around to checking on Patch I instantly noticed the brightest most perfect strawberry I had ever seen. It was the perfect strawberry red with a wax shine. It looked like the apples the big companies wax before shipping but of course it wasn't waxed it was just perfect. After taking a look I looked over all of the other strawberry containers. No e of the strawberries,except for the one in the 5G container, were ready for picking but they were a nice shade of pink turning red, a few not all. I ran to grab my phone, clippers, and harvest basket and harvested my first berry. I went to lunch with my Mom shortly after and brought the berry with me to show her but she thought I was giving it to her. I didn't have the heart to tell her I wasn't so she tried the first PM strawberry. She said it was sweet but probably needed another sunny day of ripening or two not so sunny days, like today. I had planned to wash it, cut it in half, and share the first taste with Mike but I'll do that with the second berry.

Harvested berry.

Pinkish red berries ripening in 5G.

Ripening berry on the Topsy.

Green Arrows...

On my way back in from lunch I went over to look at the green beans because they were a little droopy. I noticed that our first beans are finally coming in. It's amazing. There so cute and small but look just like what the mature beans will look like minus the fuzz. Exciting! I need to tie them off with string because they won't hold, at all, once the beans get any bigger.

Each flower becomes a bean.

Bigger beans on another plant.

Tomato in Patch...

I noticed my first growing in the container in PM today. It's very small but I'm glad to see that the container seems to be sufficient. 

Rain Infinity

Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain & More Rain...

Apparently, its going to rain for the next 5 days straight. If my garden doesn't die I'll be shocked. Today was one of the mild rain days predicted and it was dark and drizzling and humid and gross. Even though it was drizzling I went out to plant radish seeds. Sea Magic was scheduled to be applied today but with all the rain watering with it would have been extremely dumb and spray it on the plants foliage would have been as good as not doing it at all because the rain would have washed it all off. 

So I planted the left over seed tape an seeds right from the package. I ended up using the large plot that I was thinking of using for the other peanut plant, for radishes, because my Mom loved the first harvest so much. The small plots only grew 9 radishes between the 3 so I figured why not and if I thin them out early they should be done by mid-June and then I an use the bigger plot for something else or just plant more if we find a place for the second peanut plant. 

On another not I watched some videos of green beans on YouTube and it turns out the type we are growing don't need trellises. They aren't going to get that tall. So when I rain stops, if it ever does, I'll be moving the trellis out and sticking some kabob sticks in to tie the beans off a bit. That's all the green arrow variety really requires. It sucks because the teepee looks so nice but now I have the trellises to make a tepee I the squash or melon bed, instead of between them. I'll probably teepee the cantaloupes since they only need 1x1 sq foot of space if grown vertically. 

I probably won't be doing much gardening for the next few days and the rain will squelch any picture taking but I will try to run out and check on everything quickly to keep you updated on, hopefully, good or bad progress. 

First strawberry flowers I've seen that are placed on one stem divided into 2 shoots with a flower on each end. Just for your viewing pleasure, not relevant to today. 

Strawberries Galore!

Or beans...

I went out this morning to water everything. It was a beautiful sunny May day and I had read some tips from Burpee about how to water the tomatoes. I thought I'd tackle that today. Since we don't have a great hose at the moment I fill up a plastic juice jug that holds 3/4 of a gallon of water and then pour that into the water can that holds 2 gallons. It's nice because it's marked from 1/2g to 2g. I filled the juice jug 4 times and poured then started on the first tomato plant. I was able to eyeball when the watering can was about half way full then I'd move on to the next. Since the can only holds 2 gallons and we have 6 plants that need 1 gallon each once a week I had to refill it three times but I think it will be worth the trouble. The Burpee tip, along with other references, said that watering the tomatoes deeply but infrequently was the trick to getting a "bumper" crop. Since Smart Gardener suggested this method of watering as well I went with it. I finally finished watering the tomatoes and moved on to watering everything else. It seems the rain did our garden wonders and I know it seems like "wow one gallon plus all the rain" but that isn't the case. The rain we got lasted 2 days but only have us about .5 inches of water. So I water the beans which are going crazy. We have about 18 plants now and more were popping up. I thinned a couple of the new seedlings because I knew that I'd have to thin them later and didn't see the point of letting them grow any longer. After the beans I checked on the spinach and noticed that the plants are growing there second set of leaves already. They went much quicker than my spinach. I thinned a few plants out the other day and a few more today. I am no longer scared to thin. I officially KNOW that the reason my thumb was a slow was, was because it was actually a slow one. I was waiting way too long to thin and the plants weren't getting there nutrients. I watered the lettuce and the mesclun mix, which also has its grown up leaves coming in, and moved on to the onions, basil and lemon balm. The lemon balm has about 50 bright green and new leaves, the basil is looking fresher every day, and the onions are another inch taller. So things are good in Potagar Schoultz. Once I watered everything there I refilled the can and moved over to Patch. 

Patch Progress...

I watered everything in the raised bed and noticed that my lettuce is not only bushier but taller and more of the carrots have real leaves on them now. Then I moved on to my prized strawberry buckets. The 5G bucket has finally filled all the way in you can't see any of the soil unless you move the leaves over and the 8G bucket has 2 strawberries coming in... SUPRISE SUPRISE!! The container doing the best is the Topsy Turvy it all of the sudden has big beautiful leaves and flowers on it. I couldn't believe it when I saw it. I don't know if moving the container up higher so it got more sun had anything to do with it but it's thriving. I had my major reservations about choosing the Topsy Turvy because of the issues I had in the beginning but I'm glad to be proven wrong on this one. It's pretty amazing to know that those beautiful little white flowers will soon be juicy red berries. I can't wait! 

Finally, I watered all the strawberry containers and all the stuff in the greenhouse and went inside. I wanted to get some weeding, spraying, and research done today but I had a haircut at 2pm and it didn't go well so I put all that off for tomorrow. I spent the day inside trying to fix the disaster I call my hair at the moment but tomorrow I'll set out copper to deter the slugs and snails. I'll pick an insecticide and organic weed killer. And I'll hopefully get the sea magic and "predalure", I mentioned, and spray and put that out.  

Yarn trellis for the beans.

Strawberry flower on the Topsy. Amazing and Gorgeous!

Another Topsy flower just opening up!

The 5G (Right) and 8G (Left) buckets. 

Grown up carrot leaves!

Patch, raised bed. Bushy taller lettuce, carrots, onions on the climb and radishes that have just  hit there growth spurt. 

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.