Yellow Cherry

Its been raining here so I haven't really been able to tend to the garden the way I've wanted to but I did get to spray everything with Sea Magic yesterday and do some thinning.  

Here is a quick overview of things by plant type;

Strawberry Plants-
1) I finished planting the strawberries in the recycled bed. I'd said earlier that I didn't know what to do because the berries that were present were touching the soil and would rot. That's why I held off on planting them all. Well I figured it out. I cut a black plastic trash bag, making it into a sheet, and laid it over the soil. It was difficult to cut the bag in the exact right spot for the strawberry plants that had already been planted but I figured it out. Then I cut X's, appropriately spaced into the black sheeting and planted the rest. It was actually very fortuitous that I'd chosen that bed for those plants because the bricks hold the sheeting in place, firmly. Very firmly! Rain is a bit of an issue but after it rains I just make sure to pinch at the sheeting so that the extra water slides into the holes watering the berries. The sheet warms the soil immensely and keeps the berries from touching it. The plants, except the one Loran (rest are Ozark), have shot up about an inch each, have grown flowers or started berrying out. All I need to do now is keep the birds away. They've already started pecking at the green berries.

2) The Loran strawberries I planted around the edge of a round container have not grown, almost, at all. Sadly, I don't think they're going to make it. When I say 'make it' I mean produce fruit. The plants may grow and be green but I don't know that they'll do what their supposed to.

3) The two Eversweets planted in the taller 4x4 bed haven't seemed to have grown at all. I don't know about those 2 varieties. The Lorans came in a six-pack for a pittance compared to each of the Ozarks and the Eversweet plants looked red funny when I picked them out but they advertised the easiest growth and sweetest fruit so I thought, why not?  I only grabbed 2. Anyway, let's hope we get something out of 1 of the 3 varieties, that don't go to the birds.

4) My darling survivor! The single strawberry plant, in the 5 gallon bucket, that made it over the winter has a gorgeous white flower on it. Its thriving. I will not be surprised, at all, to see a couple of berries from that little guy. It's amazing how both that plant and the lemon balm made it through the winter without any care, at all, and are doing better than some of the freshly bought/planted seedlings.

5) Finally, the extra. One of the Ozark Beauty containers had a little extra plant attached to it that I removed, on the day I purchased it, and replanted in a terracotta pot. It is thriving as well. It has 3 berries of varying sizes and has shot up a few inches, at least. I only put a few inches of soil in the pot because I'd planned on replanting it but now I'm worried that if I do move it again, Ill lose it. The amount of soil in the pot is double the Bonnie size and triple in width but I don't think it'll be enough. I wish I'd thought ahead and planted it as if that was going to be its perma-location when I did. It may have to do.

Lettuce-
1) The Romaine seedlings I bought from home depot are green, firm, and growing. They were wilted and looking like they were on their last legs for a few days there after I transferred them but the rain has done them well. I'm hoping I'll start to see some twisting and turning. That'll indicate that they are going to "head up."

2) The Romaine seeds I planted have poked their little heads out and then some but are grouped together so tightly its been hard to thin without pulling out too many. Lettuce seeds are so small it was hard to plant them without grouping them tightly, especially since I primed them in warm water prior to transplantation. Each seed had a single, fairly long, root when I finally put them in the soil. I don't know that we'll get even a single lettuce leaf from those because the roots aren't holding tight and they do not have the space they need if they go un-thinned.

3) Not lettuce but spinach is used as such so I'll add it in this category. It is ready for picking. Something has been nibbling on it and I've had to pull off and toss a few leaves but the plants look like they should; dark green and crinkly. Nothing like last years. Can't wait to give my Mom some.

Tomatoes-
1) The Yellow Cherry variety, planted next to 2 cucumbers, is doing the best. It has a few little yellow flowers and 2 tiny green rounds. I was so excited to see those today. I didn't know if we'd get anything from this years garden because of the late start and the depleted soil. Seeing those two tiny green rounds gave me an enormous amount of hope.

2) The other plants seem to have gotten their color back and have a flower or two but they haven't shot up in height like the ones last year did shortly after transplantation. I'm hoping its just a delay but if we only get Yellow Cherries that will be OK with me; as long as we get something.

Cucumbers-
1) I planted 2 cucumbers in the far left bed with the Yellow Cherry tomato plant and installed the trellises right away. Those two don't seem to have grown much but I'm not worried about it because at planting-time they were looking like they were an inch from death. Now, they look like lively, small, seedlings. They needed time to heal. I'm sure now that their color and strength is back they'll start to shoot up like weeds?

2) The round container cucumbers have shot up about an inch each. It was a single seedling pot with a double plant. They are doing just great! Its the same container that grew last years beauties so I'm not worried about them, at all! Well I'm not worried about their growth. I am worried about the container placement. I've seen some funny soil movement that I don't like. I think an animal has been digging into them. I may have to move them behind the fence, which would be fine because the backyard is so beautifully clean. I could use the patio for containers this year. Keep the animals at bay.

3) The recycling bin cucumber hasn't grown much but it was  in the same condition as cucumbers #1. Now the plant is green, straight, and firm. I may have to move it to the patio as well. Im just waiting for the mama bird and her chicks to get a little older and move on. I wouldn't doubt that she'd attack my plants if I put them on the patio right now. She goes nuts when we even get close because her nest is right there.

Herbs-
1) I planted the parsley and basil in the back far left bed with the spinach and lettuce seeds. The parsley hasn't grown much but it looks really nice, green, supple, and fresh. I'm sure it'll make its way up.

2) Last years Lemon Balm. My baby! It's enormous. It made it through the winter without any tending. I ripped off all the old brown leaves and twigs in March and it has blossomed. Its twice the size it was and has grown at least 4 inches taller. It is amazing!!!! I cannot get over how the plant that claimed it needed the warmest weather made it through the winter and is thriving more than any other! Its crazy. I love it!

3) The new lemon balm plan went in the bed with the Parsley. Its grown a bit, looks fresh. That's all there is to say about that.

4) The basil was yellow when I put it in. Now its green and has grown. We can start using it on pizza or whatever else we'd like. It smells amazing and looks wonderful. HUGE! Last years Basil didn't do too well. I think this years is doing better because I bought the larger size. It was more established to begin with.

Radishes-
1) The French radishes are thriving. It took them one day to sprout up out of the ground. It looks like every seed made it and they have already grown their second set. Ive been thinning like crazy because I primed them and wet seeds are hard to separate. So they grew in tight groups like the lettuce seeds. Luckily these have strong roots and are easier to thin, it takes time but it's worth it. We'll have the best French radishes this side of Wilson Blvd. Haha!

I forgot to bring my phone out with me so I don't have any updated pictures to include with this post but I'll add some when I take them first thing tomorrow.

Leafy Greens Galore

Harvesting the Leafy...

I went out this afternoon and checked on everything but didn't water because I knew rain was coming. It was overcast and humid so it was definitely coming. The next 5 days are going to be a game changer. The weather is supposed to be in the low 90's and sunny. All of the crops are warm/hot crops except for the lettuce and spinach. Even the carrots I planted are specifically attune to warm/hot weather so the next 5 days should make everything really blossom, not flower blossom, well maybe some but grow quickly. 

After I checked on everything I noticed that some of the spring mix leaves had bolted, gone to seed, flowered. So I decided to harvest. I harvested 2 full baskets between all four heads and the mix green leaves. Even after the two full baskets I yanked there is still at least 4 more baskets for mixed greens and another unknown high number of lettuce leaves since I'm using the continuous method. 

Basket one.

Basket two. 

After harvesting I went back into Patch and noticed that the cantaloupe container had a new flower and that there was a much larger strawberry than the one I deemed "largest yet" hiding in the 5G bucket. I thinned some carrots and radishes while I was there because I remembered what happened with the last batch of radishes. When I thinned the carrots even though they were orange or large I could tell the small roots were starting to form carrots. It was nice to see that they were "working." 

New! Largest berry.

Thinned carrots. If you zoom in you an see the roots starting to take carrot shape. 

Cantaloupe flower.

Slips...

I forgot to write about how I pulled my slips off of the sweet potato yesterday and stuck them in a glass of water to take root. I did. I did so because the leaves had lost there vibrant green and purple color and turned yellowish but I didn't feel they were tall enough. They haven't started to root yet and I'm not sure that they will but I do hope. 

I took pictures of the changes in the patty-pan and crookneck squashes. They'd grown and lost blossoms. 

Blossom wilted and fruit growing. 

Cherry Bellby

Patch Cherry Belle...

I went into Patch for an hour today, about the only hour of sun we received. I looked at everything and checked for pest damage and then had a good look at the radishes. I went online last night and googled "cherry belle radishes" so that I could get some idea of what they were supposed to look like at harvest time. I was relieved to see that the harvested and size able radishes pictured were not much bigger than my biggest plants are now. So when I was making sure all the radishes were about 3" apart today I thinned one out next to my biggest plant. I wanted to make sure that it had enough space. It was a little plant and shaded by the others from the sun. I pulled it out and found a tiny baby cherry belle at the end. I wished I hadn't thinned it at first but it actually gave me confidence in the bigger plants. They are definitely growing a root veggie. 

Five Gallons...

After inspecting and pulling that one radish I took a good look at the 5G bucket. It's caused me some major concern because it was growing the strongest plants but with absolutely no flower buds and no signs of buds to come. On closer inspection today I saw signs of flower buds to come, finally. I have a feeling that even though they were the slowest to flower, that they will produce the most and best fruits. They really took there time to set up good roots, I'm guessing, and a good plant base so why wouldn't they set up good fruit. Confidence in Patch has returned! 

On an unrelated but interesting note the green beans I thinned and put in water have grown in the cup. I'll be planting them in a small container as an experiment tomorrow. 

Twine Wall

...Trellis...

Last night when I was looking through the Pinterest gardening section I came upon a pin about a twine ball trellis. It looked amazing and decorative but also sounded like it would really work. What you had to do was build a tall frame out of bamboo shoots or wood and wrap twine from the top to the bottom and back until you got to the other side of the frame. Then you put the tip of each bean plant in the loops made out of wrapping the twine and they would, eventually, grow up the twine in fancy little lines. Mike's dad had just advised me that the bean poles were too short so I took a screenshot and saved the directions. 

This Afternoon...

I started building the frame, it was about 5 feet tall and then I leaned the frame against the wall and started wrapping the twine around it. When I got half way done the frame started warping. I held it between my toes on each foot to try to keep it straight and it worked but the second I let go it would lean heavily to one side or the other. Finally, I decided it was because the frame wasn't evenly put together. I started pushing and pulling, trying to get it even but that didn't work. I finally got so frustrated I ripped the whole thing apart and took the twine off. I sat down and started wrapping the twine back into a ball so that I could try again with a shorter frame. I used 4 bamboo shoots and made a new 3 foot frame. I wrapped the twine around and it was good. It leaned a little but not as much as the first. I took it outside, in the constant drizzle, and tried it out. It was too small. I knew it would be so I grabbed one of the worthless tepee trellises and brought that inside. I dried it off and started taking all of the poles off except for the 4 I needed for the frame. I untied each piece of twine and set it aside. As I was working through this I suddenly see an EARWIG. I abhor earwigs. They are so disgusting and they have pincers and they're extremely bad for veggie gardens. I didn't know what to do I didn't have anything on hand to smash it, not even a shoe. So I grabbed the closest book and SLAM. I smashed it. UGH! Then I put plastic kitchen gloves on. I was too scared to touch the trellis without them. I figured it had been hiding in the twine or in one of the holes in the shoot. So I continued and finally was down to 4 poles about 5 feet tall and 3 feet wide. I wrapped the twine, lifted it up, and it didn't lean. I had done it. It looked good too. I took it out and put it in place. It really adds something and I think that the beans will look all that much better when there growing individually up there piece of twine. It'll look decorative and we'll be able to see there progress easily. 

Patch...

After that I went to check on Patch. The constant light drizzle has done everything really well and so has my thinning. I didn't realize how important thinning was until today. My radishes are like 3 times the size they were before, the carrots are sprouting real leaves like crazy, and the spinach is an inch taller. The inch doesn't seem like much but believe me it is... they've only grown 5 inches in more than a month so one inch in a few days is major. On a not so nice note the 7 strawberry plants in the 5G bucket don't have any flowers, not one. They are bushy and growing like crazy but they aren't blooming. I don't know if I need to thin them out a bit or if they are just going slower or what but the Topsy Turvy has flowers and the 8G bucket has a strawberry starting and several flowers. The 5G bucket doesn't even have the promise of a flower. All the new growth close to the crown looks like leaf growth, no buds. I hope they bloom soon because I would be disappointed if they just turned out to be greens and nothing more. 

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Come again another day...

When I went outside to finish all of my renovations to Patch it was raining. It wasn't supposed to rain today. It was supposed to be cloudy and rain for the next 3 days. So naturally I was disgruntled and frustrated. I'd spent yesterday working outside and getting things settled or planning on it because I knew it was supposed to rain all week. When that went all wrong I swore that today I would get things into order and then my plants could absorb all the nice rain for the next 3 days and end in a climate revision. Usually the rain brings cold, breaks the heat, but around this time in NOVA it brings the heat. So I was hoping that would happen. I didn't even have to water today because of the rain. All I did was pout and take a look at the Topsy Turvy, raised beds in Patch and Potagar, and brought the greenhouse in out of the rain. Luckily, I headed up and out right when the rain started to hit so it wasn't soaked, water logged. 

Green but Slow...

I remember writing about my green but slow thumb and wondering what was causing the plants to slow grow, to the point that they were taking almost double the time. Well I figured it out. It was thinning they needed. They needed it badly. I finally sucked it up and thinned out the radishes (3" apart) and the spinach (down to 3) and the radishes, a much faster crop, has boomed. It looks like they grew an inch overnight. I even thinned the tiny carrot germs. and now they have REAL carrot leaves. Not just the seed leaves. I am so excited. I was being so careful with the thinning just in case plants died that I didn't realize I was stunting their growth. Now all I have to worry about is what I assume are carrot flies. When the carrots popped out so did the flies and thats why I assume thats what they are... I of course can't be sure because all of the pictures online are close-ups so that I can't compare but I think I'll need to invest in some row covers, otherwise, I'll be left with larvae filled carrots and completely disappointed. 

I only viewed these things very quickly so I didn't get to take the pictures I promised but I will go out and get them, rain or shine, tomorrow. If your growing carrots and the bed isn't higher than two feet get row covers because the carrot flies will appear, even if you've never seen them in the area in your life and you've lived there for 20+ years. Trust me they don't just bug the carrots. They are all over the place and to be honest I don't know that they haven't already killed most of them and that's why I only have a few of the real leaves in what 3 weeks. I may actually replant if I hit 1/3 of the way to my second rotation and not much has happened. The second carrot rotation should be around mid-June, so if nothing much happens to the carrot plants after I thin, more, and cover them. They are OUT and new ones are going in with immediate covers. 

I still need to steady my topsy but it seemed to be out and it was rainy and windy out so I guess I shouldn't have been so upset after all.

Test and Harvest Plant Update

Harvest Plants

The spinach germinating in this container were planted March 19, 2013. They started germinating after 15 days. They were the first thing I planted and were not primed or pre-germinated. That seems to be why they took twice as long to germinate and continue growing at a slow rate. I thinned them into rows on April 8 2013. 

Test Plants

These spinach plants were grown from a seed in a glass bottle on a wet paper towel. Once the fuzzy roots came in, in the bottle I transplanted them into this cup. They took 1/4 of the time to grow to the same height as the control group above. These plants were squashed and poured out to the side (only a little) on April 6th causing the germinating seeds to bore deeper into the soil when replaced upright. I thought that permanent damage had been done because they were transplants and sensitive to begin with but they have continued to grow at a rapid and healthy rate. 

These spinach plants were primed or soaked overnight in tepid water and planted. They took about 7 days to germinate and since have grown taller than both the pre-germination and control groups above. They may be taller than the pre-germ group because they were planted in shallow dish under little soil. These plants were uprooted on April 6th by the wind. The soil cracked and the plants were replanted in there cups a few hours after the fall. I thought that it would cause permanent to deadly damage but they have continued to grow and at a rate that supersedes the control/harvest group.

These radish seeds were primed and planted. They have grown at a rapid rate and are now showing a second set of leaves after 5 days. They are on there 9th day of growth overall. These fell out of there cup on April 6th and were replanted immediately after falling. I thought that they would die from the uprooting but have continued to show growth with the aforementioned leaves. The growth may have come a little slower than it was supposed to because of the fall but the fall was not terminal to the plants. 

The 3 germinating spinach plants are  in the ground in what I have called the "Faerie Garden." The soil was not amended or watered except for when planted. The rain we've received since there sowing on March 19 2013 is the only water they've received. The seeds were not primed, scarified, or pre-germinated. They took an extremely long time to germinate, about 20 days and are smaller than any of the other plants but they did germinate. According to everything I read they should not have been able. The test was successful, I was able to germinate seeds in shaded, rocky, muddy, sandy, and clumpy soil*.

* Even though the test was to find out if I could get the control group seeds to germinate in unknown poor soil with little care and I've gotten the results for that test I'll continue the plants growth to further test the theory of resilience in spinach plants.