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Showing posts with label tomato. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tomato. Show all posts

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Harvesting

The sweet potatoes are finally flowering. They produce beautiful purple flowers that fall off when the potatoes are ready. They open in the morning and close at night. 

Medium cantaloupe hanging on the trellis about 3.5 feet off the ground. The skin is changing slowly, not like the container melons that changed overnight.

Large cantaloupe hanging about one foot off the ground. Skin changing. 

Eggplants of all different shapes and sizes. 

Our first red bell pepper. It has, obviously, yet to turn red but its very exciting to get even one considering that the tomatoes overthrew that box. 

Ready for harvest chili pepper (transferred to PM bed from container). The transfer has done them well we have at least 4 other peppers turning red. 

My full harvest for today; lemon boys, jalapeƱos, cucumber, tomato-berries, super sweet 100's, and chili pepper.

Friday, July 26, 2013

Melon Bites

Cooking with Gardens...

Mikes parents made the eggplant I picked into eggplant parmesan. I didn't get to taste it but it looked really good. My mom mixed yellow and red cherry tomatoes to make a tri-colored spinach tomato salad. I have yet to use heat with anything but the pickings are good. 

Eggplant Parmesan

Melons have doubled in size over the last two days, even though its been unseasonably cool.

Large flat melon doubled and rounded out.

Today's tomato harvest, my portion, Mikes dad picked a few other earlier.

Small strawberry harvest from 8G bucket. Slowly coming back now that the rain has let up a bit.

Baby watermelons from the raised bed with bite taken out of them. When I saw these I picked them off so that the energy  the plant was putting into trying to grow them would go to growing new ones. I also double enforced what I thought to be the weak spot in the fence allowing animals in to bite them. I hope I'm right because I looked all over for other weak spots and saw nothing so at this point getting full raised bed melons counts on the spot I enforced being it. 

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

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. 

Monday, July 15, 2013

Hornworm Ho!

Yuck...

I went early this morning to try and catch the squash flowers at a time when they were open and check on everything else. The squash has been teetering on the edge of just being nice foliage, unluckily, because the insects aren't cross pollinating between gender and gender enough so I wanted to pull some make flowers and rub there stigma into the female stigmas but, again unluckily, only one male flower was open and all of the rest were closed. They're supposed to open during the day but aren't which leads me to believe that the insects would pollinate enough if the flowers would open up. Anyway, I moved on to check on everything else and was about to start pulling the suckers off of the tomato plants when I saw it, a disgusting long, fat, branch colored caterpillar. YUCK! It scared me to death, almost. I went inside and told Mrs. S about the horned worm sitting on the branch. Eventually, she offered to get rid of it for me. I handed her a gallon size ziplock, a pair of gloves, and scissors. She cut away all the blocking foliage put the bag over the branch with the caterpillar on it and cut the branch into the bug. Then she asked if we should move it or kill it. I figured if we moved it would just find its way back so she put the bag with the branch in it on the ground and smashed it with her foot. The whole thing was very courageous of her. I would never have been able to do that. The caterpillar exploded, disgustingly inside, and we trashed the whole thing. Afterwards I googled "green caterpillar with red horn" and found out that are disgusting little friend was a tomato hornworm. They feed on and destroy tomato plants. I'll be working on finding out how to keep them away for the rest of the day. There gross scary and dangerous. They'll kill the entire bed if given the chance and deter me from reaching in and picking tomatoes. So either way we won't get any fruit. 

Can you find the hornworm? It blends in so disgustingly well. 

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Salad Lunch

Tomato Salad Lunch...

This afternoon was overcast due to the expected rain but I went out to check on everything anyway. There was a cucumber that promised to be ready soon and I wanted to check on the ripening tomatoes. It seems like the only tomatoes that have shown any color, minus the ones in the container in Patch, are the ones touching the ground in some way and those have been getting ripped open, eaten in parts, or rotted from touching the ground. So I wanted to make sure I got any ripe ones out of there before that happened. It turns out I was too late for all except one. It was perfectly red and ripe with not a rip or bite to be seen. I grabbed it and two more that weren't ripe enough yet but would get torn to shreds if I didn't pick them and I grabbed to onions that were poking out of the ground. They were the perfect pearls. Then I went over to the cucumber container to find two beautiful cucumbers. One was still a little spiked so I left it to grow for another day or two. The other was the longest cucumber we've had yet and ready to eat. I took my soon to be salad inside and washed everything off. Then I grabbed a cutting board and started chopping. I took pictures along the way... When I was done with my salad I was so psyched. I had such a sense of accomplishment. With all the disappointment from the rainy summer I never thought I would get to make lunch from the veggies I'd worked so hard to grow and picked a few minutes before. The salad was amazing and even mo amazing was the way I felt about it. I really am proud of what I've done. I hope they'll be more salads in my future but if there aren't this ONE was worth it all. 

Veggies and fruits before there swift chopping. All the ingredients I used in the salad minus spices.

Cross section of the tomato and pearl onion. 

Ingredients chopped and ready to mix in a bowl with olive oil and red wine vinegar. 

After lunch...

I not back out and took a few pictures of the other goodies growing steadily...

First sizable watermelon in the container. It's almost doubled in size since I first noticed it a few days ago. 

Large ripe strawberry in the 8G container. I'll pick it tomorrow. 

Red super hot peppers starting to get bigger in container. Still light enough to grow straight up. No color on any yet. 

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Cucumbies

Cucs ready for eating...

I've been busy the last couple of days so I haven't been able to sit down and write an entry but I did get in quite a bit of gardening and harvesting. I harvested 2 delicious cucumbers in the last 2 days, a handful of tomatoes, and a couple squash. All of which have either been delicious or I've been told were delicious. I went out to lunch with my Mom yesterday and then gave her a tour of the garden. She was absolutely shocked by the transformation, by how big and successful everything was. I picked a few beans and a squash for her. 

Later that day I put up the rest of the fencing because I noticed a ripe cherry tomato in the low tomato/onion bed with a bite taken out. I found the entrance or probable entrance and blocked it off. I hope it keeps either the squirrels or the chipmunks away. I want more than 1 or 2 or a handful here and there. 

Our largest watermelon to date. About the size of a cherry tomato.

The first ripe and delicious cucumber. I ate the whole thing with a sprinkle of salt. It was truly amazing! Pick Friday. 

The interior of the first cuc.

The yellow squash I picked for my Mom during her tour. She hasn't eaten it yet but Mike's mom said hers was delicious.

Cherry tomato and cucumber salad made with the 2nd ripe cucumber and handful of cherry tomatoes picked today. This time I added salt, pepper, olive oil, and red wine vinegar to make a salad. It was one of the best tomato cucumber salads I've ever had, it could only have been made better by a little red onion. 

So glad to be eating my freshly grown fruits and veggies! 

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Doubling Trouble!!!

Growth Galore...

After being in Atlantic City for 5 days I came back to a giant garden. Everything had basically doubled in size. Here are a few pictures to give you an idea.

When I left the green arrow beans were maybe an inch long. Today 40-50 were ready for picking. I picked 21. 

The branches on all 4 of these tomato plants have grown at least 6 inches in every direction. We have about 40 tomatoes in all different shapes and sizes, at all different stages. 

All three of the crookneck plants have grown about 4 inches higher and 3-4 wider. The patty pan (front left) has grown about 2 inches each way. 

The only plant without at least 2 baby squashes to offer is the patty-pan, it has none so far. 

The carrot greens have gotten so thick you can't see any soil. They'll probably be ready for harvest in 10 days.

First radish from my second sowing. This one is twice the size of any of the first sowing but most of them probably won't produce because the roots became long and exposed. I'm not sure why. 

Container cantaloupe in Patch. Almost to the 3rd rung on the trellis. It was barely at the 2nd when I left and only covered the very center now its covering almost the entire trellis in width. 

Tomato-berry plant. This is the plant that wouldn't grow past 4 inches for weeks then shot up 12 and stopped. It's shot up another 3 inches, at least, and out another 4-5. Amazing! 

**More to come in another entry, it won't load properly with too many pics**

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

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. 

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Potagar Patch- Video Update

Written...

I went out this morning to check on everything after the wind and cold and things were pretty good but not great. The wooden tomato cage I built was blown over and took the tomato with it. The cantaloupe plants that were in the greenhouse were completely wilted from the chill and the one planted was too. As the sun warmed up things got better and Mr. S. rebuilt the wooden cage so that it was sturdier and not, as he called it, so Charlie Brown. Other than that I didn't do much gardening because I wanted the sun to just warm everything back up. It rained last night so no watering was necessary and even if it hadn't rained I wouldn't have watered because that would have slowed the soil warming process. I thought the strawberries would be affected but they weren't, they are looking so amazing. I have at least 6 sizable berries and 25 small berries that look like they'll become sizable. I have about 50 flowers that should become berries. It's amazing! I took video of it all for you to see.



Video Update...

The video upload button isn't working so you'll have to click the link below to watch on YouTube...UGH!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLT46uNoBYY

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Rain Break for Pictures

No Rain...

So the took a few hours break today and I was able to spray sea magic on everything, build a trellis, and take a few pictures. My neck hurts too much to type. I'm not sure why but it does so this is mostly a picture update entry.

Tiny squash with tiny blossom on crookneck yellow squash plants. 

Bamboo trellis for cantaloupe plant that has double since planting on Thursday. 

Carrots are finally booming, the lettuce seems to grow more if harvested and the onions are about 3 inches taller since last week.

The 5G bucket is fuller, the 8G bucket is fuller and the tomato has doubled in the last 4 days. See comparison below;


Thursday, May 16, 2013

Tomato Patch?

Maintaining...

It was supposed to rain today and it did look cloudy and dark but then it would get sunny. So I waited awhile not going out to work in the garden because of the weather and because I didn't want to over water. Finally, I went out and watered everything in Patch. I thinned the spinach in P.S. and 2 bean plants. Now the plots hold exactly what they should. After I thinned those out I went back into Patch, cleaned up and swept the path. 

I grabbed the EcoSmart from inside when I was done cleaning because I noticed that the grass hasn't died and everything else I'd sprayed had only have died. The spray only kills what it directly touches. Somehow the rest of the plant, even if its half burned off, survives. The grass didn't even half burn down it only slightly toasted. I re-sprayed everything from the grass in the beds to the sidewalk cracks. 

I finished spraying the weeds in the cracks in patch Market last then took a closer look at the strawberry buckets and noticed that the 5G bucket had a few new and large flowers and the Topsy Turvy had flowers to match. I was hoping that would happen and it did. 

I took a break then when back out. 

Larger, more likely to become a berry, flower on Topsy.


Cantaloupe Tomato...

When it didn't rain after another hour of being inside I went back out, on my way out the door I noticed another spinach plant had gone to seed. This time i just snipped the flower off. I water everything in Potagar and then decided to fill one of the containers I bought at Dollar Tree and plant something in it. I wasn't sure what I wanted to plant so I went with the extra cantaloupe plant. I poked holes in the bottom of the container, filled it with compost, added Perlite, and organic Vigoro soil. I mixed all of the components together and carried the bin and the plant over to Patch. I only decided to put it there because the container didn't fit on the table and the next best sun was next to the strawberry containers in Patch Market. I took off half of the cardboard pot after soaking it, and planted the cantaloupe plant. Then, I went inside grabbed the seaweed concentrate and mixed half a cup with 2 gallons of water. I watered the container thoroughly and made sure it drained properly. It helps that I placed it on an old tree stump with a hollow in it. I decided to use of the triangle trellises to maximize the space. It looked great. I took pictures and went inside after using the rest of the seaweed water on a few of the plants still in the greenhouse. 

When I got inside I started thinking about it and couldn't help but wanting to have a tomato in that container. I kept thinking, it'll look so nice growing up the trellis and the Atkinson is growing so well and Patch needs a tomato plant. So I went back outside uprooted the cantaloupe, planted it in a smaller container, watered it, and set it on a tile in Patch for the same reasons I'd set the larger container there. Finally, I grabbed the tomato, epsom salt, shovel and watering can to plant the tomato. I as deep as possible into the container added a handful of epsom salt and planted. I watered the tomato thoroughly because the sun had already dried the soil somewhat and took pictures. 

Blue Tomato container with wooden trellis and strawberry containers in Patch Market.

Cantaloupe plant moved into small red container. Lettuce after yesterdays harvest. Still looks big.


Radishes and Spinach...

I was heading for to my Mom's to drop something off so a few hours after planting the tomato I harvested the rest of the radishes and some spinach. I'll plant something new in place of the radishes tomorrow. Maybe more radishes in the thin plots and a peanut plant in the 10x12 plot. I'm not sure yet. After harvesting some spinach I planted a few leftover primed seeds in the container to start some fresh growth. 

My Mom ate the spinach and radishes at dinner an loved them. She said the spinach was exceptionally fresh and delicious and that some of the radishes were peppery and some were just sweet and crisp. She loved them either way. 

All of the radishes harvested, all period.

Spinach harvested.