It's a new year and a new thread. I actually posted on the old thread this morning before I thought about it.
I did get out to water today and it drizzled while I was doing that. I haven't been out in the garden for a couple of days and some things have changed.
The green onions are blooming because it is cold. It was 62 degrees this morning and now it is 78 degrees. And that will be today's peak. It is already starting to cool down.
More of the seeds are sprouting. I broadcast the seeds of of the cole crops so at this point only the cotyledons are up. The carrots have also started to sprout and I think I see a few of the cilantro starting to poke through. The peas were nothing two days ago and they have about 4-6 leaves now and are a couple of inches tall.
Many of the plants actually are not needing to be watered because they are drying out so slowly, so watering goes faster as I only have to water some things lightly or skip them completely. Now that the carrots have come up, I am going to maybe not water them everyday either. I am trying a new strategy. The soil in the carrot pot is 50% perlite and 50% peat, but I have rarely had good carrots and it takes more than 100 days for the roots to be big enough. By then, they don't taste that great. I am thinking carrots like sandy soil and sandy soil does not really hold on to water well. I should actually start cutting back on the water once the seeds finish sprouting and try to keep the pots drier. Well, I can't control the rain, but I can control the watering. I am thinking if the carrots are not watered everyday, like they usually are, and I give them more K-mag, it will develop bigger roots to seek the moisture. It is an experiment worth trying. I just have to remember to follow the plan.
The tomatoes are flowering and one of the Valentines has formed fruit. It was looking a little stringy, but it got better after fertilizer. I guess I have to put fertilizer on a calendar for a lot of things.
I ordered Sedge Hammer from amazon and a spreader sticker. The sedge hammer will come in a few days. I do have RU40 and I can use that until the spreader sticker comes. In the meantime I will have to work on moving things around where I need to spray the weeds.
The cucumbers responded well to the fertilizer, but they aren't putting out any more flowers and I fertilized one of them too late so the fruit is club shaped. It may be time to take those out as well. The eggplant started to flower after I fed it. I have to probably feed the containers on a schedule instead of waiting till they look distressed.
It does look like mites are going after the kaffir lime leaves, so I do have to spray them, but it is too windy now.
I grow cucumbers year round. I did not expect these to decline so soon, so I don't have the other pot ready yet. I still have to figure out the fertilizer to reduce the amount of phosphorus that remains in the container.
This time of the year I can grow most things except the sweet potatoes ( they will grow but they aren't very productive), okra, shiso, dill, corn, hot peppers, and roselle. These like warmer, drier conditions and more daylight.
Now, is the best time for all the greens, kale (year round but tastes sweeter in cooler weather), komatsuna, semposai, chard, broccoli, perpetual spinach, bok choy, pak choy, gai lan, gai choy, haricot vert beans, peas (temperatures below 80 degrees), cilantro, lettuce, bush beans, bell peppers, tomatoes ( non heat resistant), cucumber, zucchini. If I had the space, it would be a good time to grow chayote, and gourds. I just have to select varieties with good disease tolerance.
I can't plant everything and I can't plant some things every year because of the space they take up. I rather plant bok choy instead of won bok , pak choy, or gai lon because I have more uses for it. 3 broccoli plants would take up a 8 sq ft of my main garden because it is so big and it takes so long to mature. I put most of the bigger plants in pots because they can be spread around or moved apart, but broccoli did not do well in a pot. Most of the herbs are in containers because they last a long time and don't need a large container. The citrus are in containers to keep them small. Most of the long lived and invasive plants, eggplant, hot peppers, taro, sweet potatoes are kept in large pots.
I just harvested the araimo which was a volunteer from reused soil. It is in a 22 inch pot and it was as big as Samoan taro. I usually grow 5 in 3 gallon pots, they got a lot bigger in the bigger container, but the smaller container is easier to harvest and the araimo are are a lot smaller too. The Bun Long taro is in a 5 gallon pot. It probably needs a bigger pot too.
The two towers are good for smaller plants like lettuce, bush beans, herbs. It is fine for shallow rooted plants that don't get big and are harvested small. Bekana, Chard, kale, italian parsley all got too big and one plant would fill the root space of the whole tier. Strawberries did well, but it is hard to protect them from the beetles and birds.
This is an El Nino year so the temperatures have been warmer than usual with less rain than usual. January is typically the coldest month of the year. but the night temperatures are in the low 60's and not in the 50's. The highs now 77-80 degrees. So it would be more like your Spring or Early fall temps. I get a little less than 11 hours of sunlight, but the sun intensity is also less. In summer, The longest day will be just shy of 14 hours. So, I don't have a lot of variation in light or temperature, but most temperate crops cannot handle temps above 85 degrees and that is what it is like most of the year.
I considered planting Mirai until I read about its' cold tolerance. That translates to not going to do well in the tropics. The seeds I get are a tropical corn. It does not do that well in a temperate climate but only requires 12 hours of sun. There are a few varieties of temperate corn I can grow like Silver Queen, Golden Bantam, and Peaches and Cream. But they need to have resistance to maize mosaic virus and pretty much be a southern bred corn. I can only grow the temperate corn in the peak of summer. So they won't work as a succession crop. It is also why it is possible to get 2-3 plantings of tropical corn if I start on time.
By May, the temperatures will be above 85 degrees and only heat tolerant plants will grow. Pest pressure is also high. June-August, temperatures will be close to 90 every day. That is why summer is usually mainly harvest and solarizing months. Things are getting harvested and taken out, but very little gets planted except things like some hot peppers that need the heat to germinate. Heat tolerant lettuce will be bitter, and past June, even the komatsuna and semposai start to bolt. Corn, okra, and the tropical beans are about the only things that will grow in the longer hotter days. So, it is mainly watering the container plants and dealing with pests. I usually have only one eggplant because it is more than I need and it is so easy to get it in summer.
I plant different varieties of cucumbers. I like Soarer the most but it is not the most heat tolerant. The most heat tolerant , like Suyo, Beit Alpha, Southern Delight don't drop fruit in summer. Tomatoes that are not heat tolerant will stop producing until the weather cools. Hot peppers can handle the heat better than sweet peppers. Bull horn peppers do better than bells anytime.
Carrot should be a 70 day crop but they are more like 100 days for me. Danvers grows better but Nantes taste better. I don't always plant carrots, it does not really warrant the space for the trouble. I have free seeds of Amarillo Carrots and I am just using it up. I usually plant Kuroda, but I liked Nelson the best. Nelson is hard to find and the substitute for it is YaYa. I plant garlic off and on. I don't get a good crop, but planting garlic under some other plants can help with pest control.
Right now I have the citrus trees all putting out new leaves and the lemons have ripe fruit. herbs: lavender, rosemary, thyme, spearmint, peppermint, lemon thyme, chives, green onions, leeks, garlic chives, bay leaves, hot peppers, Thai basil, Rama basil, Ajaka basil, Pesaro basil, strawberries. Sweet potato, Bun Long taro, araimo, cubanelle, eggplant, dragon fruit, galangal, tomatoes, bitter melon ( wild), Pak Lan, asparagus, pandan, Mexican tarragon, Jamaican oregano. I even have lettuce growing in my lawn, nasturtiums. I planted lacinato kale, semposai, komatsuna, bok choy, kai choy, cilantro, Amarillo carrots, Oregon Giant peas. Tumeric and ginger are dormant. I still have to harvest the galangal ( It has had problems with soil mealybugs. I may have to find another root) I need to take out the cucumbers and plant new ones. I have a lot of different things but except for the green onions and leeks which I have multiple varieties of, most things I only have one or a few plants of.
This time of the year I can grow most things except the sweet potatoes ( they will grow but they aren't very productive), okra, shiso, dill, corn, hot peppers, and roselle. These like warmer, drier conditions and more daylight.
Now, is the best time for all the greens, kale (year round but tastes sweeter in cooler weather), komatsuna, semposai, chard, broccoli, perpetual spinach, bok choy, pak choy, gai lan, gai choy, haricot vert beans, peas (temperatures below 80 degrees), cilantro, lettuce, bush beans, bell peppers, tomatoes ( non heat resistant), cucumber, zucchini. If I had the space, it would be a good time to grow chayote, and gourds. I just have to select varieties with good disease tolerance.
I can't plant everything and I can't plant some things every year because of the space they take up. I rather plant bok choy instead of won bok , pak choy, or gai lon because I have more uses for it. 3 broccoli plants would take up a 8 sq ft of my main garden because it is so big and it takes so long to mature. I put most of the bigger plants in pots because they can be spread around or moved apart, but broccoli did not do well in a pot. Most of the herbs are in containers because they last a long time and don't need a large container. The citrus are in containers to keep them small. Most of the long lived and invasive plants, eggplant, hot peppers, taro, sweet potatoes are kept in large pots.
I just harvested the araimo which was a volunteer from reused soil. It is in a 22 inch pot and it was as big as Samoan taro. I usually grow 5 in 3 gallon pots, they got a lot bigger in the bigger container, but the smaller container is easier to harvest and the araimo are are a lot smaller too. The Bun Long taro is in a 5 gallon pot. It probably needs a bigger pot too.
The two towers are good for smaller plants like lettuce, bush beans, herbs. It is fine for shallow rooted plants that don't get big and are harvested small. Bekana, Chard, kale, italian parsley all got too big and one plant would fill the root space of the whole tier. Strawberries did well, but it is hard to protect them from the beetles and birds.
This is an El Nino year so the temperatures have been warmer than usual with less rain than usual. January is typically the coldest month of the year. but the night temperatures are in the low 60's and not in the 50's. The highs now 77-80 degrees. So it would be more like your Spring or Early fall temps. I get a little less than 11 hours of sunlight, but the sun intensity is also less. In summer, The longest day will be just shy of 14 hours. So, I don't have a lot of variation in light or temperature, but most temperate crops cannot handle temps above 85 degrees and that is what it is like most of the year.
I considered planting Mirai until I read about its' cold tolerance. That translates to not going to do well in the tropics. The seeds I get are a tropical corn. It does not do that well in a temperate climate but only requires 12 hours of sun. There are a few varieties of temperate corn I can grow like Silver Queen, Golden Bantam, and Peaches and Cream. But they need to have resistance to maize mosaic virus and pretty much be a southern bred corn. I can only grow the temperate corn in the peak of summer. So they won't work as a succession crop. It is also why it is possible to get 2-3 plantings of tropical corn if I start on time.
By May, the temperatures will be above 85 degrees and only heat tolerant plants will grow. Pest pressure is also high. June-August, temperatures will be close to 90 every day. That is why summer is usually mainly harvest and solarizing months. Things are getting harvested and taken out, but very little gets planted except things like some hot peppers that need the heat to germinate. Heat tolerant lettuce will be bitter, and past June, even the komatsuna and semposai start to bolt. Corn, okra, and the tropical beans are about the only things that will grow in the longer hotter days. So, it is mainly watering the container plants and dealing with pests. I usually have only one eggplant because it is more than I need and it is so easy to get it in summer.
I plant different varieties of cucumbers. I like Soarer the most but it is not the most heat tolerant. The most heat tolerant , like Suyo, Beit Alpha, Southern Delight don't drop fruit in summer. Tomatoes that are not heat tolerant will stop producing until the weather cools. Hot peppers can handle the heat better than sweet peppers. Bull horn peppers do better than bells anytime.
Carrot should be a 70 day crop but they are more like 100 days for me. Danvers grows better but Nantes taste better. I don't always plant carrots, it does not really warrant the space for the trouble. I have free seeds of Amarillo Carrots and I am just using it up. I usually plant Kuroda, but I liked Nelson the best. Nelson is hard to find and the substitute for it is YaYa. I plant garlic off and on. I don't get a good crop, but planting garlic under some other plants can help with pest control.
Right now I have the citrus trees all putting out new leaves and the lemons have ripe fruit. herbs: lavender, rosemary, thyme, spearmint, peppermint, lemon thyme, chives, green onions, leeks, garlic chives, bay leaves, hot peppers, Thai basil, Rama basil, Ajaka basil, Pesaro basil, strawberries. Sweet potato, Bun Long taro, araimo, cubanelle, eggplant, dragon fruit, galangal, tomatoes, bitter melon ( wild), Pak Lan, asparagus, pandan, Mexican tarragon, Jamaican oregano. I even have lettuce growing in my lawn, nasturtiums. I planted lacinato kale, semposai, komatsuna, bok choy, kai choy, cilantro, Amarillo carrots, Oregon Giant peas. Tumeric and ginger are dormant. I still have to harvest the galangal ( It has had problems with soil mealybugs. I may have to find another root) I need to take out the cucumbers and plant new ones. I have a lot of different things but except for the green onions and leeks which I have multiple varieties of, most things I only have one or a few plants of.
The bush beans have sprouted. I forgot I planted them. They are probably Contender or Jade beans. I can't read the labels unless I go inside the netting. At least the birds can't raid the seeds and seedlings. More of the cilantro, peas and carrots are coming up now.
Sedge hammer came today. I still don't feel that well. My cold kept me up. I got up at 2 a.m. and I have been up all day since then, my knee feels better but it isn't back to normal yet.
I planted all of the seeds on December 28 and I am really surprised how fast they germinated. It is probably because of the warmer than usual temperatures.
Sedge hammer came today. I still don't feel that well. My cold kept me up. I got up at 2 a.m. and I have been up all day since then, my knee feels better but it isn't back to normal yet.
I planted all of the seeds on December 28 and I am really surprised how fast they germinated. It is probably because of the warmer than usual temperatures.
The wild tomato is flowering. It is the most healthy plant out 4 plants. The others are in pots. One looks good. All are flowering and one of the two has fruit, but they don't look as happy. The wild tomato lives on rain and residual fertilizer from other plants.
Pulled the wild bitter melon. The worms have a lot of taro and daikon to eat, so it went in the green bin. Washed some pots.
I went to my grafting hui meeting today. We are planning out what we want to do for the next couple of months. Plant sale and grafting demo in February.
Pulled the wild bitter melon. The worms have a lot of taro and daikon to eat, so it went in the green bin. Washed some pots.
I went to my grafting hui meeting today. We are planning out what we want to do for the next couple of months. Plant sale and grafting demo in February.
It was mostly sunny yesterday and today, but today it was very windy. I watered the yard. The cucumbers I thought were goners have come back after being fertilized with new growth and flowers. and some new fruit. It looks like snails have been grazing the cilantro seedlings. but I still have a lot left. I can overseed.
It started to rain this afternoon and it may rain off and on overnight before this front lifts up. Most of the rain is actually falling on the ocean and only the tail of it is dropping rain.
It should clear up for the weekend before the next front comes around next week. it is bringing cooler conditions breezy conditions. The wind is coming from every direction except the usual NE trades.
I did get around to repotting the spearmint. I put some division in 3 inch pots. I am planning to take them to the plant share on Saturday.
It started to rain this afternoon and it may rain off and on overnight before this front lifts up. Most of the rain is actually falling on the ocean and only the tail of it is dropping rain.
It should clear up for the weekend before the next front comes around next week. it is bringing cooler conditions breezy conditions. The wind is coming from every direction except the usual NE trades.
I did get around to repotting the spearmint. I put some division in 3 inch pots. I am planning to take them to the plant share on Saturday.
I've been getting out too late to see the slugs and snails, but I do see that they have been busy chomping down on the cilantro and cabbage seedlings. I put out slug bait around the garden today and reseeded the cilantro. I weeded the main garden while I was at it.
I found a couple of cucumbers that should be ready to pick. The baby bok can probably be picked too. The lettuce is starting to flower.
I went to the plant share yesterday. I brought 3 pots of kale, 1 tomato, 4 pots of spearmint, 5 pots of peppermint, and I divided my parrot beak heliconia into 4 parts and brought that, and some turmeric rhizomes. I got a 6 pack of succulents, some loose succulents, romaine seeds, celosia seeds, and some small cactus, a couple of globe amaranths ( bozo), and a red dragon fruit cutting. It was the first time I have gone out in about a week.
So far most of the cutting on the bench are doing well. I did lose all of the lavender cuttings I had in the cutting box. I will make more.
There is a lot of succulents, aloe, bromeliads at the plant share. They even had the native hibiscus which is also an endangered species. But I already have all of those. They had some water plants, seeds, passion fruit, and many plant cuttings from dracenas, song of India, coffee, gardenia, moringa, ferns, basil, and some things I did not recognize as well.
I found a couple of cucumbers that should be ready to pick. The baby bok can probably be picked too. The lettuce is starting to flower.
I went to the plant share yesterday. I brought 3 pots of kale, 1 tomato, 4 pots of spearmint, 5 pots of peppermint, and I divided my parrot beak heliconia into 4 parts and brought that, and some turmeric rhizomes. I got a 6 pack of succulents, some loose succulents, romaine seeds, celosia seeds, and some small cactus, a couple of globe amaranths ( bozo), and a red dragon fruit cutting. It was the first time I have gone out in about a week.
So far most of the cutting on the bench are doing well. I did lose all of the lavender cuttings I had in the cutting box. I will make more.
There is a lot of succulents, aloe, bromeliads at the plant share. They even had the native hibiscus which is also an endangered species. But I already have all of those. They had some water plants, seeds, passion fruit, and many plant cuttings from dracenas, song of India, coffee, gardenia, moringa, ferns, basil, and some things I did not recognize as well.
I finally got around to spraying the weeds in the pathways yesterday. It will take a week for Round Up to work. I still have to weed the front yard. I was too tired to get to it. I have to use image for that. I am almost out of Round Up and I can't find the concentrated regular Round Up At least amazon is still sending it to Hawaii. I ordered 2.5 gallons of Ranger Pro. It is a stronger version of Round UP it is 41% glyphosate, so I will use it half strength. It was actually cheaper than what I paid for a 32 oz bottle of Round Up last time at home depot. It should last a while.
So far, it looks like I haven't lost any more seedlings since I put out the slug bait.
So far, it looks like I haven't lost any more seedlings since I put out the slug bait.
The weeds are starting to die. I will probably have to spray again before next week's rain because it looks like I missed a few spots. It should be sunny for the next few days. I will see how far I get pulling some of the weeds out. I did get some lavender cuttings today so I put those in the cutting box.
It is 72 degrees now at 7:30 p.m. The weather cleared for the weekend and the temperatures are a bit warmer.
I finally got out today and weed whacked the front yard. There were a few nice heads of lettuce in the grass but they can't be eaten because the front yard is treated with systemics.
The weeds are starting to die, but I may have to make a second round of glyphosate because there are some weeds that are still green. I have some herbicide damage on the wild tomato from drift, but I will pull it out eventually.
Some of the weeds will not be killed by glyphosate, so I will have to dig them out or use another method.
Ranger Pro is late. I have to wait a few more days, but it looks like it is moving by the tracker.
I still have a couple of cucumber to pick. They aren't growing as fast in the cold weather so they can stay on the vine longer.
I am seeing broad mite damage on the citrus and aphids on gardenia, and citrus. I see a few white flies flying, but I haven't seen any real colonies. I have seen hover flies.
I planted more lavender cuttings. The older cuttings so far look good. More of the orchids are starting to bud up. I staked some of them. The bougainvillea is starting to leaf out but some branches are still bare. I will have to wait and see if they recover. I have fed the bougie but some of the soil washed out with the rain so I will have to replace it. The shade benches also got shaken loose and I will have to put them back together. I can probably move out some of the honohono orchids since the sun is not very strong . that will reduce the crowding on the fence.
The cilantro seeds I planted have still not come up, but at least no more seedlings have gone missing. I will probably have to put out more slug bait after the next rain
One of the Valentine tomato containers has some ripe tomatoes to harvest. The older thyme container is dying. I have a harder time keeping thyme and sage going. More of the green onions are blooming because of the cold.
I finally got out today and weed whacked the front yard. There were a few nice heads of lettuce in the grass but they can't be eaten because the front yard is treated with systemics.
The weeds are starting to die, but I may have to make a second round of glyphosate because there are some weeds that are still green. I have some herbicide damage on the wild tomato from drift, but I will pull it out eventually.
Some of the weeds will not be killed by glyphosate, so I will have to dig them out or use another method.
Ranger Pro is late. I have to wait a few more days, but it looks like it is moving by the tracker.
I still have a couple of cucumber to pick. They aren't growing as fast in the cold weather so they can stay on the vine longer.
I am seeing broad mite damage on the citrus and aphids on gardenia, and citrus. I see a few white flies flying, but I haven't seen any real colonies. I have seen hover flies.
I planted more lavender cuttings. The older cuttings so far look good. More of the orchids are starting to bud up. I staked some of them. The bougainvillea is starting to leaf out but some branches are still bare. I will have to wait and see if they recover. I have fed the bougie but some of the soil washed out with the rain so I will have to replace it. The shade benches also got shaken loose and I will have to put them back together. I can probably move out some of the honohono orchids since the sun is not very strong . that will reduce the crowding on the fence.
The cilantro seeds I planted have still not come up, but at least no more seedlings have gone missing. I will probably have to put out more slug bait after the next rain
One of the Valentine tomato containers has some ripe tomatoes to harvest. The older thyme container is dying. I have a harder time keeping thyme and sage going. More of the green onions are blooming because of the cold.
The second planting of cilantro is starting to sprout. 9 days is not bad for cilantro.
One of the beans is wilting and one of the komatsuna is doing very poorly it is not growing as well. In fact in that strip of the garden nothing is growing. All of the seedlings are on the other side. I am not sure what is going on there. I will try replanting and see what happens. If it is still a problem. I will put some potted plants there instead. I am running out of room for those.
Today, I had to go to the annual volunteer training and got three cuttings of yellow dragon fruit. I am curing them now. My nephew wanted a yellow, so I'll ask if he wants one. I'll plant one and see if I have a taker for the last cutting, or maybe I will plant two. The yellow is the sweetest one.
I got out early this morning and caught 4 snails. one was eating the hibiscus leaves. It explains why that hibiscus is always bare, one was on the orchids. The like to eat orchid roots and two big ones were near the rose. I did not put out slug bait in these places, so I probably should. I haven't seen snails or slugs anywhere where I did put out bait. I am using a sulfur bait because the birds would eat the iron phosphate (sluggo) if I used that instead.
One of the beans is wilting and one of the komatsuna is doing very poorly it is not growing as well. In fact in that strip of the garden nothing is growing. All of the seedlings are on the other side. I am not sure what is going on there. I will try replanting and see what happens. If it is still a problem. I will put some potted plants there instead. I am running out of room for those.
Today, I had to go to the annual volunteer training and got three cuttings of yellow dragon fruit. I am curing them now. My nephew wanted a yellow, so I'll ask if he wants one. I'll plant one and see if I have a taker for the last cutting, or maybe I will plant two. The yellow is the sweetest one.
I got out early this morning and caught 4 snails. one was eating the hibiscus leaves. It explains why that hibiscus is always bare, one was on the orchids. The like to eat orchid roots and two big ones were near the rose. I did not put out slug bait in these places, so I probably should. I haven't seen snails or slugs anywhere where I did put out bait. I am using a sulfur bait because the birds would eat the iron phosphate (sluggo) if I used that instead.
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applestar
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As usual, it feels odd to see that you are doing the ordinary gardening stuff when it’s snowy and cold outside here. 
By bringing my potted plants inside, I give them similar if somewhat colder “winter” experience as yours (the less heated rooms get down in the 50’s and I know that’s too cold for you — but the variation in the coolness lets me overwinter plants according to their needs and hardiness).
Since I don’t do the near sterilization some folks put their container plants through, I do have to deal with stowaway pests.
So I’ve been dealing with snails like you — just much much smaller — I had some mass hatching earlier in December, then occasional “larger” ones — biggest so far was about 3/4” that had been mysteriously munching on coffee leaves — I picked that one off with a pair of tweezers.
I’m also finding the usual brown marmorated stinkbugs that inevitably find their way inside to hibernate, wake up and make their way among my Winter Indoor Garden. Tell-tail sign is the black tarry splatters they leave.
By bringing my potted plants inside, I give them similar if somewhat colder “winter” experience as yours (the less heated rooms get down in the 50’s and I know that’s too cold for you — but the variation in the coolness lets me overwinter plants according to their needs and hardiness).
Since I don’t do the near sterilization some folks put their container plants through, I do have to deal with stowaway pests.
So I’ve been dealing with snails like you — just much much smaller — I had some mass hatching earlier in December, then occasional “larger” ones — biggest so far was about 3/4” that had been mysteriously munching on coffee leaves — I picked that one off with a pair of tweezers.
I’m also finding the usual brown marmorated stinkbugs that inevitably find their way inside to hibernate, wake up and make their way among my Winter Indoor Garden. Tell-tail sign is the black tarry splatters they leave.
The weather here has been unusual too. Another front arrived today bringing back the cold and the rain. This one will last through the night as it passes down the Island chain. It is back down to 70 degrees again. The currents are running West to East so the winds keep changing direction and we are getting cold fronts and rain just about one a week. Most of it is to the North, but in about 5 days it will hit the West coast where the impacts will be greater. While it is raining it is not raining that hard, but the high wind warnings are in effect.
Actually, my weather now is probably more like your Spring. The cooler temperatures are good for green leafy crops, but we still have humidity so when the rain stops, thee will be a fungal disease on susceptible plants like roses, hibiscus, tomatoes, eggplant, and cucurbits. When the rain stops I will have to spray the susceptible plants. Even though I do have resistant cultivars cucumber, peppers, and tomatoes. They can still show signs of disease. They just don't get it as bad as cultivars without resistance.
I planted the garden late. It was warm for so long and it took a while to put up the frame and bird netting over the garden. It is now to late to plant things like broccoli, but I can still plant semposai and still get a good run with it. I just don't have the space for it. Pests are usually less of a problem now, but because it has been so warm. I have plants blooming out of season and pests like the broad mites are a month early. I had aphids which is really unusual. I haven't had any real aphid problems in years. But I did have cucumbers that were very old and while they still kept trying to produce they were obviously in distress, so they attracted aphids. I finally got rid of them and got control of the aphids that were going after the pak choy and gardenia. The hibiscus mites and mealy bugs also came early.
I harvested some of the valentine tomatoes and two cucumbers.
Actually, my weather now is probably more like your Spring. The cooler temperatures are good for green leafy crops, but we still have humidity so when the rain stops, thee will be a fungal disease on susceptible plants like roses, hibiscus, tomatoes, eggplant, and cucurbits. When the rain stops I will have to spray the susceptible plants. Even though I do have resistant cultivars cucumber, peppers, and tomatoes. They can still show signs of disease. They just don't get it as bad as cultivars without resistance.
I planted the garden late. It was warm for so long and it took a while to put up the frame and bird netting over the garden. It is now to late to plant things like broccoli, but I can still plant semposai and still get a good run with it. I just don't have the space for it. Pests are usually less of a problem now, but because it has been so warm. I have plants blooming out of season and pests like the broad mites are a month early. I had aphids which is really unusual. I haven't had any real aphid problems in years. But I did have cucumbers that were very old and while they still kept trying to produce they were obviously in distress, so they attracted aphids. I finally got rid of them and got control of the aphids that were going after the pak choy and gardenia. The hibiscus mites and mealy bugs also came early.
I harvested some of the valentine tomatoes and two cucumbers.
It is 71 degrees and it has been overcast for a couple of days. We have had rain and the winds have picked up again, but the rain has not benf hard enough to cause flooding. My rain barrel is beyond full. from yesterday till tomorrow is part of a prefrontal front. The front will actually arrive on Thursday. It should get sunny for a day or two until the next band of showers arrive. We are only getting the tail end of this. The greater impact will be on the west coast as the main part of the storm impacts them.
There wasn't much to do in the yard. The ground is so soggy.I did pick up a couple of pots that needed to be righted. I did not go out to the back yard, but the gutter is working the patio stayed relatively dry. Everything is so wet I did not need to water. I did not get a chance to take a look at the plants today. It has been raining most of the time.
I was looking at all of the solar panels in the neighborhood. Its been cloudy for days. They can't be generating that much electricity. The ones with solar water heaters won't have much hot water either.
There wasn't much to do in the yard. The ground is so soggy.I did pick up a couple of pots that needed to be righted. I did not go out to the back yard, but the gutter is working the patio stayed relatively dry. Everything is so wet I did not need to water. I did not get a chance to take a look at the plants today. It has been raining most of the time.
I was looking at all of the solar panels in the neighborhood. Its been cloudy for days. They can't be generating that much electricity. The ones with solar water heaters won't have much hot water either.
It is 75 degrees now at 5:30 p.m. and it has finally warmed up. It was 71 degrees this morning. We are between fronts again. So, there has been less rain, only some brief overnight rain which is normal for this time of the year. It has remained mostly cloudy but I am finally seeing some blue skies now.
The people with solar water heaters and solar panels would not have generated enough power or hot water on these cloudy days .
I got out in the garden yesterday and planted more Koba green onions, Shimonita Negi, and French Thyme seeds. I also planted Touchdown, and Revolution bell peppers. These are the most resistant peppers I have to fungal and bacterial spot diseases. I only planted 5 seeds of each as an experiment. I don't know how well they will germinate in 64 degree night temps. I also planted the yellow dragon fruit cuttings. The garden is still pretty wet, so it did not really need any more water. Most of the weeds I sprayed are dead. A few things were not touched by Round Up because of the shiny leaves, so I will have to hand pull them when I make the rounds. I have a trench in my front yard where the rain falls off the roof. I keep filling it up. I have lots of fill for it so it isn't a problem. The grass and weeds are growing again. I may have to weed whack again soon. The spreader sticker finally arrived. I am contemplating whether I should dedicate another sprayer for Image since I can't find the ready mix one and I don't want to use the Round Up pump sprayer for for Image.
The green onions are being attacked by black aphids and slugs. The rain stressed them because they are on the ground and the ground will flood temporarily in heavy rain. I sprayed them with alcohol and blasted the aphids off with water. I will have to do this a couple of more times. If worse comes to worse I can cut off the tops or start new pots. The green onions and leeks I had on racks were not attacked by aphids. I have to put out more slug bait as well since the slugs are all over the onions. The main garden looks o.k. and every thing is growing, including the weeds. I will have to do some scraping in the main garden again. The peas were on the ground and now they have finally found the trellis. The trellis is short because the double trellis would not fit under the bird netting. I may have to take the time to train the peas around the trellis at some point. I have to get another bag of potting soil from the garage to the back yard. Not looking forward to dragging it through the mud.
I can plant more green crops in the towers and a little more in the main garden, but it may be too cold to plant most of the peppers.
I checked my worms. I gave them a lot of sweet potato leaves last week and they look like they will be good for a few more days. I may have to cut up more cardboard for them. I also gave them a little steer manure and that should keep them busy for a while.
The people with solar water heaters and solar panels would not have generated enough power or hot water on these cloudy days .
I got out in the garden yesterday and planted more Koba green onions, Shimonita Negi, and French Thyme seeds. I also planted Touchdown, and Revolution bell peppers. These are the most resistant peppers I have to fungal and bacterial spot diseases. I only planted 5 seeds of each as an experiment. I don't know how well they will germinate in 64 degree night temps. I also planted the yellow dragon fruit cuttings. The garden is still pretty wet, so it did not really need any more water. Most of the weeds I sprayed are dead. A few things were not touched by Round Up because of the shiny leaves, so I will have to hand pull them when I make the rounds. I have a trench in my front yard where the rain falls off the roof. I keep filling it up. I have lots of fill for it so it isn't a problem. The grass and weeds are growing again. I may have to weed whack again soon. The spreader sticker finally arrived. I am contemplating whether I should dedicate another sprayer for Image since I can't find the ready mix one and I don't want to use the Round Up pump sprayer for for Image.
The green onions are being attacked by black aphids and slugs. The rain stressed them because they are on the ground and the ground will flood temporarily in heavy rain. I sprayed them with alcohol and blasted the aphids off with water. I will have to do this a couple of more times. If worse comes to worse I can cut off the tops or start new pots. The green onions and leeks I had on racks were not attacked by aphids. I have to put out more slug bait as well since the slugs are all over the onions. The main garden looks o.k. and every thing is growing, including the weeds. I will have to do some scraping in the main garden again. The peas were on the ground and now they have finally found the trellis. The trellis is short because the double trellis would not fit under the bird netting. I may have to take the time to train the peas around the trellis at some point. I have to get another bag of potting soil from the garage to the back yard. Not looking forward to dragging it through the mud.
I can plant more green crops in the towers and a little more in the main garden, but it may be too cold to plant most of the peppers.
I checked my worms. I gave them a lot of sweet potato leaves last week and they look like they will be good for a few more days. I may have to cut up more cardboard for them. I also gave them a little steer manure and that should keep them busy for a while.
It is 64 degrees. It may be colder tomorrow. I wonder how the pepper seeds will do? It rained yesterday afternoon and over night. A band of showers is hitting most of the islands overnight. The Molokai radar cannot see Kauai. It has been drizzling this morning.
I checked the green onions. It is better but a few more aphids appeared. I have been treating them with alcohol and water. I did move one onion to a different spot and it is doing the best, I don't have enough places to isolate the plants so I think I am going to move the plants onto a plastic sheet. and then sanitize their current location. Spray with alcohol and hose them off again and put them back where they were. If the infestation is controlled I may have to find another place they will be happier. The onions that I have on the other bench is not affected but there isn't enough room for these and that is why they are on the ground in the first place. I do have bread trays I can put on bricks. It may help if I can get them off the ground. I also have to put out ant bait and more slug bait since it has been more than a couple of weeks and more rain is coming.
The main garden is doing fine. It is cold so it isn't growing very fast. So far, the plants have not been eaten, but the neighbors tree is shedding leaves, flowers, and seed pods all over my yard, so I will have to try and rake them up. I hate raking wet leaves.
I can hear the birds in the trees. They do go after the basil seeds and any ripe fruit, but they can't easily get into the garden and I remembered to cover the pepper seeds when I planted them with insect bags. The orchids are blooming but I haven't seen bulbuls lately, so the buds are intact.
I am seeing more scale and aphids. I haven't had as many problems with them in years. There aren't that many beneficial insects around because of the cold.
Luckily, even with all this rain, the cultivars I select have fairly good disease resistance. Only one of the Valentines showed some yellowing, but that may also be a nutritional problem weakening it. So, I fed it and the cucumbers again and it is improving. Pests like weak plants. Once I get the aphids on the green onions and chives under control. I have to probably repot and divide some of them. Some of them are 2 or more years old and I don't feed them regularly.
The one good thing with semi heavy rain. It washes the mites off the plants.
The red currant, valentine have good mildew resistance even with all this rain they have needed minimal anti fungal sprays. Even New Big Dwarf looks pretty good, but that one is less resistant, so I have to pay more attention to it. I have removed the lower leaves from that tomato. It is in an insect tree bag. So, it is more of a pain to treat and fertilize it. It is flowering now.
I am behind on planting my towers. It is plus minus with the rain. I get better germination with the rain, but the soil does not dry out, and that can cause more disease issues because the soil stays wet.
I have huge lemons falling off the tree. My sister is offering her lemons to me, because she has more than she can use too. There is only so many lemon cubes I can use. I was going to bring some to the garden, but someone had a bag of lemons on the giving bench already.
I checked the green onions. It is better but a few more aphids appeared. I have been treating them with alcohol and water. I did move one onion to a different spot and it is doing the best, I don't have enough places to isolate the plants so I think I am going to move the plants onto a plastic sheet. and then sanitize their current location. Spray with alcohol and hose them off again and put them back where they were. If the infestation is controlled I may have to find another place they will be happier. The onions that I have on the other bench is not affected but there isn't enough room for these and that is why they are on the ground in the first place. I do have bread trays I can put on bricks. It may help if I can get them off the ground. I also have to put out ant bait and more slug bait since it has been more than a couple of weeks and more rain is coming.
The main garden is doing fine. It is cold so it isn't growing very fast. So far, the plants have not been eaten, but the neighbors tree is shedding leaves, flowers, and seed pods all over my yard, so I will have to try and rake them up. I hate raking wet leaves.
I can hear the birds in the trees. They do go after the basil seeds and any ripe fruit, but they can't easily get into the garden and I remembered to cover the pepper seeds when I planted them with insect bags. The orchids are blooming but I haven't seen bulbuls lately, so the buds are intact.
I am seeing more scale and aphids. I haven't had as many problems with them in years. There aren't that many beneficial insects around because of the cold.
Luckily, even with all this rain, the cultivars I select have fairly good disease resistance. Only one of the Valentines showed some yellowing, but that may also be a nutritional problem weakening it. So, I fed it and the cucumbers again and it is improving. Pests like weak plants. Once I get the aphids on the green onions and chives under control. I have to probably repot and divide some of them. Some of them are 2 or more years old and I don't feed them regularly.
The one good thing with semi heavy rain. It washes the mites off the plants.
The red currant, valentine have good mildew resistance even with all this rain they have needed minimal anti fungal sprays. Even New Big Dwarf looks pretty good, but that one is less resistant, so I have to pay more attention to it. I have removed the lower leaves from that tomato. It is in an insect tree bag. So, it is more of a pain to treat and fertilize it. It is flowering now.
I am behind on planting my towers. It is plus minus with the rain. I get better germination with the rain, but the soil does not dry out, and that can cause more disease issues because the soil stays wet.
I have huge lemons falling off the tree. My sister is offering her lemons to me, because she has more than she can use too. There is only so many lemon cubes I can use. I was going to bring some to the garden, but someone had a bag of lemons on the giving bench already.
I just got back from a meeting at the garden and picked up three pepper seedlings. 1 habanero red and 2 shishito. I got them home and potted them up into 3 gallon containers. I put them in the main garden. While I was there. I did a little weeding and planted Jericho Romaine lettuce. The peas were getting a little wayward and were starting to climb the bird netting so I put them back on the trellis. I may have to do this again. The bush beans are flowering already and the second sewing of cilantro is starting to put out new leaves.
I hosed down the onions again. They are looking a lot better.
The wind broke a couple of branches of the Ajaka basil. I will have to tie it up better. The small tomato cage it is on is buried by it already. It is still very windy and will be for a few more days.
I have 3 more cucumber to pick and the red currant already has some ripe tomatoes.
I hosed down the onions again. They are looking a lot better.
The wind broke a couple of branches of the Ajaka basil. I will have to tie it up better. The small tomato cage it is on is buried by it already. It is still very windy and will be for a few more days.
I have 3 more cucumber to pick and the red currant already has some ripe tomatoes.
My sister came by yesterday to raid my garden for green onions again. The aphids are better but not gone. She wants onions for garnish and those onions are the ones infected. The onions that are on the bench are mainly leeks and older onions that would be too tough as a garnish.
I have made a couple of pots of Koba onions and they have already sprouted. I will see if I can find space on the bench for a couple of more pots. I may need it. That way I can give my sister a pot later. She can kill green onions in 3 months. I have green onions that are over 3 years old.
The good thing about this time of the year. it is over cast and rains for about half the week, so I don't have to water most things and when I do water, I am only topping off so I can get it done faster. The garden looks good. I will see if I can figure out how to upload the pictures from my camera. I am having problems since Microsoft changed the photo app. It cannot see my phone.
I checked the lime trees because they did not fall over in the rain. They are not in the ground. But some other things are. I will have to pull or cut them off.
Even the worms have slowed down in the cold. I just checked their bin and they have lots of food left. Actually, I stuffed the bin with sweet potato leaves so it should last a while. I added more carbon and a few vegetable peels.
I have cucumbers in the refrigerator and more to pick. I used some of the tomatoes from the garden for the pinakbet (minus bitter melon). The tomatoes are handling the rain fine with no mildew issues, but they do have mites. Mites are harder to control.
It looks like the clover may be making a recovery. I will have to tarp them to stop them.
I have made a couple of pots of Koba onions and they have already sprouted. I will see if I can find space on the bench for a couple of more pots. I may need it. That way I can give my sister a pot later. She can kill green onions in 3 months. I have green onions that are over 3 years old.
The good thing about this time of the year. it is over cast and rains for about half the week, so I don't have to water most things and when I do water, I am only topping off so I can get it done faster. The garden looks good. I will see if I can figure out how to upload the pictures from my camera. I am having problems since Microsoft changed the photo app. It cannot see my phone.
I checked the lime trees because they did not fall over in the rain. They are not in the ground. But some other things are. I will have to pull or cut them off.
Even the worms have slowed down in the cold. I just checked their bin and they have lots of food left. Actually, I stuffed the bin with sweet potato leaves so it should last a while. I added more carbon and a few vegetable peels.
I have cucumbers in the refrigerator and more to pick. I used some of the tomatoes from the garden for the pinakbet (minus bitter melon). The tomatoes are handling the rain fine with no mildew issues, but they do have mites. Mites are harder to control.
It looks like the clover may be making a recovery. I will have to tarp them to stop them.
68 degrees at 8 a.m. It rained overnight and the road is wet. It is still overcast. I watered yesterday. I may not need to water much today.
The black aphids don't want to die. It is not as bad as before, but they keep coming back. I found more on the green onions that I already cut and some of the bok choy.
Most of the koba onions are up. One pot had only a few seeds germinating and the shimonita was the same. All the seeds germinated in one corner. Weird. I can over seed those pots and make a couple of more. I see something sprouting in the thyme container. I am not sure what it is yet. The peppers have not germinated but I am not that surprised, it is colder than they like to germinate with the night temps in the mid 60's.
The garden looks good the beans are still flowering. The peas are starting to get longer. The Tokyo bekana, komatsuna, chard, kale and cutting celery have large enough leaves to start harvesting. Only the chard may have enough to make a meal. I will have to go and put the wayward ones back on the trellis. I think I see some of the romaine sprouting. I would have to get a closer look, it may be weeds. The transplanted peppers look good. My older peppers not so much I may have to do some repotting and cutting back.
I think now the cucumbers may be at the end of the line. They are old enough now, so it may be time for them to go.
The lettuce is flowering. I should be able to collect the seeds soon.
The black aphids don't want to die. It is not as bad as before, but they keep coming back. I found more on the green onions that I already cut and some of the bok choy.
Most of the koba onions are up. One pot had only a few seeds germinating and the shimonita was the same. All the seeds germinated in one corner. Weird. I can over seed those pots and make a couple of more. I see something sprouting in the thyme container. I am not sure what it is yet. The peppers have not germinated but I am not that surprised, it is colder than they like to germinate with the night temps in the mid 60's.
The garden looks good the beans are still flowering. The peas are starting to get longer. The Tokyo bekana, komatsuna, chard, kale and cutting celery have large enough leaves to start harvesting. Only the chard may have enough to make a meal. I will have to go and put the wayward ones back on the trellis. I think I see some of the romaine sprouting. I would have to get a closer look, it may be weeds. The transplanted peppers look good. My older peppers not so much I may have to do some repotting and cutting back.
I think now the cucumbers may be at the end of the line. They are old enough now, so it may be time for them to go.
The lettuce is flowering. I should be able to collect the seeds soon.
I planted two more 6 inch pots of Koba onion and overseeded one of the Koba pots and the shimonita negi. I found my clippers I lost, it fell off the shelf.
Fed the worms today with more sweet potatoes. I pulled out the old vines from the bin. I need to harvest the worm bin. I can only use it in the new media, so it is unusual that I actually have too much. It's too cold for a lot of things. I need to get more media to fill the tower garden. I can plant more cool crops in the tower.
Fed the worms today with more sweet potatoes. I pulled out the old vines from the bin. I need to harvest the worm bin. I can only use it in the new media, so it is unusual that I actually have too much. It's too cold for a lot of things. I need to get more media to fill the tower garden. I can plant more cool crops in the tower.
I went to Lowe's yesterday and got some soil, dolomite lime, slug bait, Captain Jack's Dead Bug Brew ( spinosad). some seeds, daylily, and gladiolus plants, six inch lavender multifeda, and a inch Italian parsley. The prices have gone up the 4 inch parsley is $2.89 now. I don't buy too many plant starts, but I only need one parsley and it will last a couple of years.
It was warmer this morning so I got out to the yard earlier. I actually washed a load of laundry and turned my deboned rotisserie chicken into chicken tetrazini. I watered the yard while I was waiting for the pasta to bake. For me this is a lot to do in a short time. I even got up early enough to catch a very large 3 inch African snail and dispatched it. I raked up the leaves and flowers that fell from the neighbors' tree and put out slug bait. I have more snails in the front yard than the back because I put out more slug bait there. I could see the slime trails
in the front yard, so I put more bait out there as well.
Overnight the parsley lost a few leaves probably to slugs, so atter I rebaited around the garden. I put the parsley in the main garden still in its pot. I haven't figured out where I will plant it yet.
I ran out of charge when I tried to weed whack the front yard. I did get out to do a quick and dirty job of it later, but I will have to go back and edge it since it was too dark to see what I was doing. For me this is a lot of things I got done today.
Tomorrow, I am giving a talk on herbs and beneficial insects with a couple of other people at the Honolulu Garden Club. The time was shortened to 10 minutes per speaker to I had to make drastic cuts to the script. I have it down to 8 minutes with 9 slides. They asked for speakers to cover native plants, herbs and pollinators.
I paid more attention today to what flowers the bees are visiting. Basil, aloe, alyssum, melampodium, cuphea, mussaenda, ice plant, penta, sweet potato, and rosemary. I know they also visit the gardenia, roses, convuvulous, nasturtiums, and hibiscus. I am planning to take some of the flowers tomorrow for samples, just in case. I may not use them.
Besides the flowers from the above plants, most of my citrus have fruit now, The orchids are putting out new shoots and blooming. Phals, catleya ( it won't make it to the orchid show next month), and even some dentrobiums. Kimi pink ginger, and psitticorum, vireya, hibiscus,
I bought the soil to fill one of the towers. I can start mainly cool season crops now and short maturity crops like lettuce, spinach, bush beans and maybe some flowers. I hve 30 pockets. I could also put more onions in it. Hopefully, I will be able to get that done in a week. The soil is still in the back seat of my car.
I have already resorted my seeds. The other tower is still planted but has some empty pockets. I have to redo that one too.
I did a little weeding around the main garden. There are some small holes in the leaves of the cabbages. I did not see anything under the leaves and the cilantro is not being eaten. I have bird netting over the frame. Smaller insects can still get in.
I am going to try to renovate the flower beds. I actually had cilantro and lettuce growing in the front yard, from the potting soil I dumped there. This is a project I will have to do a little at a time, because it will be too tiring to do this quick. I miss the days when I could happily spend 6 hours in the garden. I can only work for a short time like an hour, less if I have to do any heavier work, with 2 hour breaks. It is hard to go back out again.
It was warmer this morning so I got out to the yard earlier. I actually washed a load of laundry and turned my deboned rotisserie chicken into chicken tetrazini. I watered the yard while I was waiting for the pasta to bake. For me this is a lot to do in a short time. I even got up early enough to catch a very large 3 inch African snail and dispatched it. I raked up the leaves and flowers that fell from the neighbors' tree and put out slug bait. I have more snails in the front yard than the back because I put out more slug bait there. I could see the slime trails
in the front yard, so I put more bait out there as well.
Overnight the parsley lost a few leaves probably to slugs, so atter I rebaited around the garden. I put the parsley in the main garden still in its pot. I haven't figured out where I will plant it yet.
I ran out of charge when I tried to weed whack the front yard. I did get out to do a quick and dirty job of it later, but I will have to go back and edge it since it was too dark to see what I was doing. For me this is a lot of things I got done today.
Tomorrow, I am giving a talk on herbs and beneficial insects with a couple of other people at the Honolulu Garden Club. The time was shortened to 10 minutes per speaker to I had to make drastic cuts to the script. I have it down to 8 minutes with 9 slides. They asked for speakers to cover native plants, herbs and pollinators.
I paid more attention today to what flowers the bees are visiting. Basil, aloe, alyssum, melampodium, cuphea, mussaenda, ice plant, penta, sweet potato, and rosemary. I know they also visit the gardenia, roses, convuvulous, nasturtiums, and hibiscus. I am planning to take some of the flowers tomorrow for samples, just in case. I may not use them.
Besides the flowers from the above plants, most of my citrus have fruit now, The orchids are putting out new shoots and blooming. Phals, catleya ( it won't make it to the orchid show next month), and even some dentrobiums. Kimi pink ginger, and psitticorum, vireya, hibiscus,
I bought the soil to fill one of the towers. I can start mainly cool season crops now and short maturity crops like lettuce, spinach, bush beans and maybe some flowers. I hve 30 pockets. I could also put more onions in it. Hopefully, I will be able to get that done in a week. The soil is still in the back seat of my car.
I have already resorted my seeds. The other tower is still planted but has some empty pockets. I have to redo that one too.
I did a little weeding around the main garden. There are some small holes in the leaves of the cabbages. I did not see anything under the leaves and the cilantro is not being eaten. I have bird netting over the frame. Smaller insects can still get in.
I am going to try to renovate the flower beds. I actually had cilantro and lettuce growing in the front yard, from the potting soil I dumped there. This is a project I will have to do a little at a time, because it will be too tiring to do this quick. I miss the days when I could happily spend 6 hours in the garden. I can only work for a short time like an hour, less if I have to do any heavier work, with 2 hour breaks. It is hard to go back out again.
It rained this morning so I didn't water. I got up early. Thankfully, it wasn't that cold. I picked some of the flowers from my yard and made a bouquet. Some of the flowers had not gotten up either, the flowers had not opened for the day. I took it with me when I went to do the talk for the Garden Club. All of us were nervous, but everyone did a good job presenting their areas and we got good feedback. When I got back upstairs the bouquet was gone. I don't know what happened to it. Hopefully someone is enjoying it.
I left at 9:30 and did not get back till 2 p.m. so I did not do much for the rest of the day. At least this morning I did not see any snails out and none of the plants looked chewed up.
Tomorrow, I have another Garden Club meeting. It is a different Garden Club. It is literally 2 blocks away. I'll have to see how much I can get done after that. Whenever, I go out for an appointment, I don't get a lot more done. if it doesn't rain enough, I will at least water the garden.
I had 2.5 inches of water accumulated in the rain gauge. I need to keep better rain records. I can't find my garden journal. It is in the house somewhere, but it is also very old. I can get another book for that. The rain is a cumulative total, but I don't remember when I emptied it last. The post of the rain gauge is broken and I tried to support it, but it won't stand up straight. I got another rain gauge. I don't like the thermometer as much, but it was the best replacement I could find. Lowe's has a different rain gauge now, but it does not come with a thermometer. I looked at the digital weather stations but I really don't need anything that fancy and I even less likely to look at it.
Since I have to take the car out tomorrow, I finally got the soil out of my back seat. I still have to empty the stuff I bought from Good Will out of my trunk. I got a garden hat, a glass vase, a long sleeved shirt I will use as a garden shirt, and a mug. I went to get a mug originally. This is why I hate to purge stuff. I actually gave away 5 mugs and maybe only one was ever used, because they are too small and I don't really use them. However, it is so cold now. I actually could use an insulated container for hot beverages.
I left at 9:30 and did not get back till 2 p.m. so I did not do much for the rest of the day. At least this morning I did not see any snails out and none of the plants looked chewed up.
Tomorrow, I have another Garden Club meeting. It is a different Garden Club. It is literally 2 blocks away. I'll have to see how much I can get done after that. Whenever, I go out for an appointment, I don't get a lot more done. if it doesn't rain enough, I will at least water the garden.
I had 2.5 inches of water accumulated in the rain gauge. I need to keep better rain records. I can't find my garden journal. It is in the house somewhere, but it is also very old. I can get another book for that. The rain is a cumulative total, but I don't remember when I emptied it last. The post of the rain gauge is broken and I tried to support it, but it won't stand up straight. I got another rain gauge. I don't like the thermometer as much, but it was the best replacement I could find. Lowe's has a different rain gauge now, but it does not come with a thermometer. I looked at the digital weather stations but I really don't need anything that fancy and I even less likely to look at it.
Since I have to take the car out tomorrow, I finally got the soil out of my back seat. I still have to empty the stuff I bought from Good Will out of my trunk. I got a garden hat, a glass vase, a long sleeved shirt I will use as a garden shirt, and a mug. I went to get a mug originally. This is why I hate to purge stuff. I actually gave away 5 mugs and maybe only one was ever used, because they are too small and I don't really use them. However, it is so cold now. I actually could use an insulated container for hot beverages.
I watered this morning mainly because it is so windy. The soil still dries very slowly but some plants will wilt in this much wind. Fertilized some of the plants today. I cut off the yellow leaves from the New Big Dwarf and found some tomatoes hiding under them. I have only seen flowers up to this time. Valentine is producing and dropping tomatoes. Some of the seeds are sprouting. I may lift them for the free store or a share.
I pulled out the currant from the front yard that was damaged by Round Up. It actually had recovered and wasn't showing any more signs.
Today was the first day, I did not see a lot of aphids on the green onions. Some of them are goners but a few may survive. The new seeds of Koba onions are starting to sprout. I may have to restart some garlic chives and garden chives.
Ohia is blooming and so are some of the lemons again. Its' so cold and windy, I really don't want to be outside today, so I spent most of my day cleaning and cooking.
I pulled out the currant from the front yard that was damaged by Round Up. It actually had recovered and wasn't showing any more signs.
Today was the first day, I did not see a lot of aphids on the green onions. Some of them are goners but a few may survive. The new seeds of Koba onions are starting to sprout. I may have to restart some garlic chives and garden chives.
Ohia is blooming and so are some of the lemons again. Its' so cold and windy, I really don't want to be outside today, so I spent most of my day cleaning and cooking.
It was a little warmer this morning 65 degrees. Not at 1:45 it is 74 degrees.
I think the aphids on the green onions have given up for now. Some of the green onions took a real hit and may not be salvageable. But some of them might come back. I got some photos of the garden. It was challenging to get them on my computer. It took me 3 hours. Microsoft has really made things much more difficult.
I took a couple of more photos but they weren't that good. My Meyer lemon has heavy fruit, so it won't stand up by itself. A lot of things are going out and need to be worked on.
This is the only time I can grow things like cilantro. They are taking up the same space that beans or a couple of Komatsuna would occupy. I do have takers for them and it requires more space than I would like. I need to plant this much just to get a couple of good sized bunches.
I can harvest some leaves of chard, kale, komatsuna. pak choy, and bekana now. as well as the beans. There are only a few beans. in this patch. I was just finishing up the seed packet I had.
My garden is small, so to maximize space. I practice an intensive planting style and I really don't plant in rows. There are multiple peas on the one trellis. The trellis is short. The double trellis was too tall for the bird netting. I do have to walk in this garden so I put the potted plants in the walkway. I don't go in there often, When I do I have to move some of the pots so I can get around them For that reason, I don't put a lot of heavy pots where I have to do the most walking. I use newspaper and the plastic soil bags as mulch and to hold down the weeds. It will keep some of the pots from going into the ground.
I can plant more lettuce bok choy, bush beans, and onions in the towers. I have planted bigger plants but they end up being too big for the pockets and end up taking up all the root space in the tier so I cannot plant the other pockets on the same level I might try planting some of the pockets with small flowering annuals to attract more beneficial insects. I planted cosmos with my tomato, but the cosmos was extra tall at almost 4 ft and they attracted too many butterflies. I need to be more choosy on what flowers I plant around the vegetables crops. I do have poppies, and roses in the back yard, but I am going to take the poppies out. They don't bloom long enough and they have scale. Marigolds and alyssum have worked before.
it is still too cold to plant peppers. Tomatoes can be planted, but I don't need any more right now. I'll have to plant replacement cucumbers as well.
I think the aphids on the green onions have given up for now. Some of the green onions took a real hit and may not be salvageable. But some of them might come back. I got some photos of the garden. It was challenging to get them on my computer. It took me 3 hours. Microsoft has really made things much more difficult.
I took a couple of more photos but they weren't that good. My Meyer lemon has heavy fruit, so it won't stand up by itself. A lot of things are going out and need to be worked on.
This is the only time I can grow things like cilantro. They are taking up the same space that beans or a couple of Komatsuna would occupy. I do have takers for them and it requires more space than I would like. I need to plant this much just to get a couple of good sized bunches.
I can harvest some leaves of chard, kale, komatsuna. pak choy, and bekana now. as well as the beans. There are only a few beans. in this patch. I was just finishing up the seed packet I had.
My garden is small, so to maximize space. I practice an intensive planting style and I really don't plant in rows. There are multiple peas on the one trellis. The trellis is short. The double trellis was too tall for the bird netting. I do have to walk in this garden so I put the potted plants in the walkway. I don't go in there often, When I do I have to move some of the pots so I can get around them For that reason, I don't put a lot of heavy pots where I have to do the most walking. I use newspaper and the plastic soil bags as mulch and to hold down the weeds. It will keep some of the pots from going into the ground.
I can plant more lettuce bok choy, bush beans, and onions in the towers. I have planted bigger plants but they end up being too big for the pockets and end up taking up all the root space in the tier so I cannot plant the other pockets on the same level I might try planting some of the pockets with small flowering annuals to attract more beneficial insects. I planted cosmos with my tomato, but the cosmos was extra tall at almost 4 ft and they attracted too many butterflies. I need to be more choosy on what flowers I plant around the vegetables crops. I do have poppies, and roses in the back yard, but I am going to take the poppies out. They don't bloom long enough and they have scale. Marigolds and alyssum have worked before.
it is still too cold to plant peppers. Tomatoes can be planted, but I don't need any more right now. I'll have to plant replacement cucumbers as well.
- Attachments
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- Ajaka basil is actually on a short tomato cone. Damaged by wind and rain.
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- The main garden Amarillo Carrots in the tub, cilantro, cutting celery, lacinato kale, Swiss Chard, in pots 2 Hawaiian chili, 1 Habanero Red, and the Italian parsley ( can't see from this angle) Oregon mammoth sugar pod peas, Contender bush beans (some pods are ready to pick), Tokyo Bekana, Komatsuna, perpetual spinach, bok choy and some Jericho Romaine still very tiny.
Thanks. There are weeds. I just put down either newspaper or the plastic soil bags down on the pathway and under the pots to keep it down. Now that most of the plants have filled in in the main garden, they will help crowd out the weeds. It is the main reason why I prefer intensive to row planting. The rest of the yard is another story.
It is 62 degrees this morning at 7:30 a.m. This is typically the coldest time of the day. The sun has come out and there is a thin cloud cover and calm winds. I don't feel as cold today because there isn't any wind.
Yesterday, I saw that the snow peas have started to flower. There are a few sprigs of the first planting of cilantro that survived I can harvest anytime. There is only enough for a garnish right now. There are flowers on the Shishito. I forgot they were Shishito. I thought they were Hawaiian peppers in the garden. No wonder the flowers are facing down This only means that I have to plant Hawaiian peppers. The jalapenos and the Alconcagua peppers are red. I need to do something with them. I may save them for seed if I don't use them all. Some of the citrus trees are flowering again. I have very ripe Meyer lemons and calamansi ready to fall off the trees. The worms still have food so I only had to give them some kitchen scraps. My potatoes and onions are sprouting in the house. They are not the ones for planting.
I have to do a lot of cleaning up of plants that have either died or are over the hill. Of course there are the weeds. It seems everytime I make a plan to do something in the yard, it decides a couple of minutes later to start raining or I forget I have an appointment somewhere. I get to it sometime this year I hope.
It is 62 degrees this morning at 7:30 a.m. This is typically the coldest time of the day. The sun has come out and there is a thin cloud cover and calm winds. I don't feel as cold today because there isn't any wind.
Yesterday, I saw that the snow peas have started to flower. There are a few sprigs of the first planting of cilantro that survived I can harvest anytime. There is only enough for a garnish right now. There are flowers on the Shishito. I forgot they were Shishito. I thought they were Hawaiian peppers in the garden. No wonder the flowers are facing down This only means that I have to plant Hawaiian peppers. The jalapenos and the Alconcagua peppers are red. I need to do something with them. I may save them for seed if I don't use them all. Some of the citrus trees are flowering again. I have very ripe Meyer lemons and calamansi ready to fall off the trees. The worms still have food so I only had to give them some kitchen scraps. My potatoes and onions are sprouting in the house. They are not the ones for planting.
I have to do a lot of cleaning up of plants that have either died or are over the hill. Of course there are the weeds. It seems everytime I make a plan to do something in the yard, it decides a couple of minutes later to start raining or I forget I have an appointment somewhere. I get to it sometime this year I hope.
I got a little bit done today. I pulled a few weeds ( very few), I weeded around the main garden and along the edges and a bit inside the garden. Redirected a couple of wayward peas. Fertilized the Jericho lettuce with kmag, lime, and sulfate of ammonia. I caught one large snail this morning. It means I didn't get out that late this morning. I did put down more slug bait but not everywhere.
I made cuttings of the Song of India cutting I had. It was starting to dry so I had to do something with it.
A couple of the pepper seeds I planted have sprouted in each pot. It has taken a long time. I almost gave up on them. They are growing slowly. I probaly should do water soluble fertilizer on them. They are too small for anything stronger.
I picked the beans. 315 grams. I am thinking these are Provider the seeds are very dark. Provider in the container gets much taller than the ones in the garden. But they are prolific. Although these plants are less than a foot tall. In the container they are 18 inches tall. The beans are round and straight. Contender usually is more curved. Jade has light colored seeds. I did not find the tag in the garden yet.
Yesterday, I suddenly spotted red on the New Big Dwarf tomato. I have an almost ripe tomato and I never saw it coming. It is a nice surprise. I know New Big Dwarf tomatoes can be larger, but this pot is a little small for a tomato. I think it is in a 15 gallon pot. I also reduced the starter tomato. I may have a little too much nitrogen in the mix. The tomato got taller than normal as well.
As usual, just as I decide to do some work in the yard, it rains. I did manage to get two of the tower tiers filled and planted. I have planted garlic chives, garden chives, and Koba onion on the lowest tier.
Garden chives are the ones I usually have the hardest time to get started. On the next tier, I planted Salad bowl lettuce (I went out when the rain took a break). I have three more tiers to plant. A 50 qt bag of potting soil fills 2 tiers. I'll need 1.5 bags more. I did bring a second bag to the back so I can fill at least two more tiers before I have to get more bags. To each tier I am adding about a tablespoon of dolomite lime, a tablespoon of kmag, and 2 tablespoons of 6-4-6 Vigoro citrus fertilizer. I forgot to add the vermicompost. I have three tiers left so I hope I will remember to add it to those.
I made cuttings of the Song of India cutting I had. It was starting to dry so I had to do something with it.
A couple of the pepper seeds I planted have sprouted in each pot. It has taken a long time. I almost gave up on them. They are growing slowly. I probaly should do water soluble fertilizer on them. They are too small for anything stronger.
I picked the beans. 315 grams. I am thinking these are Provider the seeds are very dark. Provider in the container gets much taller than the ones in the garden. But they are prolific. Although these plants are less than a foot tall. In the container they are 18 inches tall. The beans are round and straight. Contender usually is more curved. Jade has light colored seeds. I did not find the tag in the garden yet.
Yesterday, I suddenly spotted red on the New Big Dwarf tomato. I have an almost ripe tomato and I never saw it coming. It is a nice surprise. I know New Big Dwarf tomatoes can be larger, but this pot is a little small for a tomato. I think it is in a 15 gallon pot. I also reduced the starter tomato. I may have a little too much nitrogen in the mix. The tomato got taller than normal as well.
As usual, just as I decide to do some work in the yard, it rains. I did manage to get two of the tower tiers filled and planted. I have planted garlic chives, garden chives, and Koba onion on the lowest tier.
Garden chives are the ones I usually have the hardest time to get started. On the next tier, I planted Salad bowl lettuce (I went out when the rain took a break). I have three more tiers to plant. A 50 qt bag of potting soil fills 2 tiers. I'll need 1.5 bags more. I did bring a second bag to the back so I can fill at least two more tiers before I have to get more bags. To each tier I am adding about a tablespoon of dolomite lime, a tablespoon of kmag, and 2 tablespoons of 6-4-6 Vigoro citrus fertilizer. I forgot to add the vermicompost. I have three tiers left so I hope I will remember to add it to those.
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- 315 gms first picking. Planted Dec 28 Germinated around January 5. Approximately 49 days from germination.
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- New Big Dwarf tomato. It looks hazy because I took the picture through the insect netting.
Yesterday I planted the 5 tier tower. Today I did a renewal cut on the Super Chili and potted if up from 5 gallon to 18 gallon pot. Did some weeding and found 2 more pots with ground mealybugs. Night temp 65 degrees day 78 degrees. Soil mix MG soil, dolomite lime, kmag, citrus food 6-4-6 Onions and peppers to be transplanted out later. Put slug bait around base of planter. Rain expected for the next 3-4 days.
5 tier tower planted from top tier down. Six pockets in a tier. 10 inch deep approx 1 cu ft per tier.
tier 1 (top) Revolution Bell pepper, Joe E. Parker, Cascabella (seeds from my garden)
tier 2 Bibb lettuce
Tier 3 bush beans: Maxibel and Contender
Tier 4 Salad bowl lettuce
Tier 5 (bottom) garlic chives, garden chives, koba onions.
5 tier tower planted from top tier down. Six pockets in a tier. 10 inch deep approx 1 cu ft per tier.
tier 1 (top) Revolution Bell pepper, Joe E. Parker, Cascabella (seeds from my garden)
tier 2 Bibb lettuce
Tier 3 bush beans: Maxibel and Contender
Tier 4 Salad bowl lettuce
Tier 5 (bottom) garlic chives, garden chives, koba onions.
It was windy and it rained heavily last night. Today it is overcast. There is some rain on the radar and chances of 40-60% rain over the next several days. It is 74 degrees at 3:30 in the afternoon. The night temps are 63-65 degrees. Still good for cool crops. The peppers I started earlier took a long time but they did germinate. It would be better if the temps are warmer, but I might try starting more pepper seeds except for the super hots. Long rain helped with germinating seeds. The green onions in the tower are already sprouting and some green is appearing on the other tiers.
Today, I bleached a little more of the area around where I want to put the pots. I put the pot on a paver to lift it off the ground. I planted another 20 inch pot with the Pintungg long eggplant start I bought a few days ago.
I waited too long and the New Big dwarf tomato fell and it is mush now. Another one is half green half red.
I have spent most of my day trying to get the phonelink to work. It still isn't connecting to the phone so I can't get my pictures out of my camera.
Today, I bleached a little more of the area around where I want to put the pots. I put the pot on a paver to lift it off the ground. I planted another 20 inch pot with the Pintungg long eggplant start I bought a few days ago.
I waited too long and the New Big dwarf tomato fell and it is mush now. Another one is half green half red.
I have spent most of my day trying to get the phonelink to work. It still isn't connecting to the phone so I can't get my pictures out of my camera.
It is March 1. Technically, this is the day I can start all of my warm season crops and I still have time to start the short cool season crops like lettuce. It is 69 degrees now at 9 p.m. the over night low will be around 63 and the high tomorrow and most of the week will be around 77 degrees, with a few scattered showers intermittently. It is still cold for planting very hot peppers, but I will try some of the other peppers I have. My cutting bench is getting fuller. I may not have much room left. There is another plant share coming up. Hopefully, I will get my act together and get some of these things potted up. The mint can be divided again.
Today, I picked another handful of peas (14 grams). The 5 tier tower has more seeds germinating. I turned it a bit to expose another side to more sun. The pepper was cut back but it looks like it will be o.k. and there wasn't any setback on the eggplant.
I found another new spike coming up on my orchids and one of the vandas is budding up. I tried to straighten it up more since it is actually growing sideways on the fence. The show is not for another 22 days, so It may or may not make it till then. It depends on how fast the buds open up.
The cucumber does look like it is on its last legs. I have another pot to fill. I just have to prep the site and fill the pot. I'll have to dump more soil. I don't know quite where to put it.
The cilantro, chard, komatsuna, kale, Tokyo Bekana, and pak choy are all at harvest stage. I should be able to harvest the beans again tomorrow or the next day. A second tomato turned red, but when I went to pick it half the tomato was scarred probably from rubbing against the netting. I have tomatoes sprouting in the Valentine containers from the fallen fruit.
The green onions have recovered from the aphids. Some did not make it, but the ones that did are starting to look better. Two of the Koba onion seedling pots may be divisible soon. I will give one to my sister. It will only take her a couple of months to kill it. I bought 4 oz of Koba onions from the seed lab about 5 years ago and the seeds are still good.
This time of the year. I am always in a dilemna. The garden is ready to harvest, but I don't harvest everything because I just harvest leaves instead of the whole plant. But it is also the first day to plant corn for summer. I have to plant it where the cool crops are now. So, it is always, do I thin more plants or wait to start the corn. Usually, I wait to start the corn because, I can't eat all those greens at one time and my family are not really into things like Komatsuna, Tokyo Bekana, Chard or Kale. They will only take the cilantro. The other garden also has chard, kale, and eggplant, so they don't need those either. I grow these because, while they are not my favorite vegetables, I can grow them well and I can eat them. They a just not my favorite vegetables and I don't use them to make smoothies.
Today, I picked another handful of peas (14 grams). The 5 tier tower has more seeds germinating. I turned it a bit to expose another side to more sun. The pepper was cut back but it looks like it will be o.k. and there wasn't any setback on the eggplant.
I found another new spike coming up on my orchids and one of the vandas is budding up. I tried to straighten it up more since it is actually growing sideways on the fence. The show is not for another 22 days, so It may or may not make it till then. It depends on how fast the buds open up.
The cucumber does look like it is on its last legs. I have another pot to fill. I just have to prep the site and fill the pot. I'll have to dump more soil. I don't know quite where to put it.
The cilantro, chard, komatsuna, kale, Tokyo Bekana, and pak choy are all at harvest stage. I should be able to harvest the beans again tomorrow or the next day. A second tomato turned red, but when I went to pick it half the tomato was scarred probably from rubbing against the netting. I have tomatoes sprouting in the Valentine containers from the fallen fruit.
The green onions have recovered from the aphids. Some did not make it, but the ones that did are starting to look better. Two of the Koba onion seedling pots may be divisible soon. I will give one to my sister. It will only take her a couple of months to kill it. I bought 4 oz of Koba onions from the seed lab about 5 years ago and the seeds are still good.
This time of the year. I am always in a dilemna. The garden is ready to harvest, but I don't harvest everything because I just harvest leaves instead of the whole plant. But it is also the first day to plant corn for summer. I have to plant it where the cool crops are now. So, it is always, do I thin more plants or wait to start the corn. Usually, I wait to start the corn because, I can't eat all those greens at one time and my family are not really into things like Komatsuna, Tokyo Bekana, Chard or Kale. They will only take the cilantro. The other garden also has chard, kale, and eggplant, so they don't need those either. I grow these because, while they are not my favorite vegetables, I can grow them well and I can eat them. They a just not my favorite vegetables and I don't use them to make smoothies.
That's a great idea. I actually haven't made wontons in years. It is harder to find won ton pi, but if I can find pi or mondoo wrappers I can make the mandoo or won tun and flash freeze them for soup or saimin. I can even make pot stickers. I haven't don that in ages either. I have looked up some recipes today and I am thinking I can make stuffed meatloaf and try to substitute Swiss Chard, Komatsuna, or Kale for the spinach. I have sauteed the greens with olive oil, garlic, and onion before as side dishes. It is actually a good way to use up the greens since a lot of greens shrink to a very small size once they are wilted. I have to see if I can substitute the Komatsuna or Tokyo Bekana for Kai choy in Pork and cabbage soup. They are all mustards from the same family. I could even try making Ginisang Pechay, a Filipino dish with pork or sometimes shrimp and white stem pak choy. I can try to sub another mustard or the bok choy. Bok choy has a stronger flavor, but it should work.
I did not water today. I was tired after going to the Farmer's market and doing some house work. The garden is still wet and nothing is wilting today. I'll have to water tomorrow. It will be the third day and some things will start wilting by then.
I took some of the Chinese parsley from the first planting to the garden and gave it away.
I took some of the Chinese parsley from the first planting to the garden and gave it away.
What a difference a few days make! I did finally go out and water. Nothing was wilting and the soil was still wet on most things except the smallest and most pot bound pots.
The beans have sprouted. I planted them on February 27. 3 days ago there was only a hint of green. Today some of the Contender and Maxibel seeds are three inches tall and have the first true leaves. Not all of the pockets sprouted yet. I am seeing more lettuce seedlings with the cotyledons and the onions that did sprout are getting taller, but the other pockets haven't seen that much action.
The cilantro looks like everything is at harvest stage. I have a couple of good sized Shishito peppers, I picked the New Big Dwarf tomato. It is a small one, but I know it is probably because of the weather and the experimental fertilizer in a smaller pot. I have had New Big Dwarf produce larger tomatoes before. Most of the greens are also mature. I have Tokyo Bekana, Komatsuna, bok choy, kale, and Swiss chard. There should be a perpetual spinach in there too. The cutting celery is getting very large too. I treat these as cut and come again crops. Some of them are huge. My friend doesn't like them this big because they aren't as tender as very young leaves. I don't mind it. I think it is a waste not to let them realize their full potential. I don't have many takers for these, so I am the only one that is eating it or giving it to the worms. The Jericho romaine is making slow progress. I fertilized it with sulfate of ammonia, dolomite, and k-mag so it looks like it is growing a little faster now or it may just be because the days are getting a little longer. I have one more picking of bush beans, more snow peas to go. I had to buy Italian parsley and green onions because my new Italian parsley was attacked by slugs and the onions were attacked by aphids. The valentine tomatoes and lemons are still falling on the ground because I am not picking them often enough. The carrots look fine in the bucket. They are a slow crop. I have not fed them much. I may give them some kmag and dolomite, I would have to give them a tiny dose of nitrogen. The eggplant I planted is getting bigger. It likes its new home. It looks like it is time to collect the lettuce seeds from the other tower.
Addendum: I got out at 3:30 p.m. to harvest from the main garden. I picked the New Big Dwarf tomato this morning. It is a small one 122 gms. I found the label in my garden. The beans are Contender. Third picking was 184 grams. Oregan giant peas 17 grams. And I found the label for the choy. It is Pak choy so it is pechai or white stem cabbage. I just fed the garden with nitrogen. The pak choy looks like it could use it. The leaves are lime green which is what through me off. It is usually a darker green. I gave the New Big Dwarf and Valentine tomatoes more kmag. I wish this came in a slow release form, but this is a hydroponic fertilizer. A little goes a long way, but it doesn't last so it has to be applied often.
The beans have sprouted. I planted them on February 27. 3 days ago there was only a hint of green. Today some of the Contender and Maxibel seeds are three inches tall and have the first true leaves. Not all of the pockets sprouted yet. I am seeing more lettuce seedlings with the cotyledons and the onions that did sprout are getting taller, but the other pockets haven't seen that much action.
The cilantro looks like everything is at harvest stage. I have a couple of good sized Shishito peppers, I picked the New Big Dwarf tomato. It is a small one, but I know it is probably because of the weather and the experimental fertilizer in a smaller pot. I have had New Big Dwarf produce larger tomatoes before. Most of the greens are also mature. I have Tokyo Bekana, Komatsuna, bok choy, kale, and Swiss chard. There should be a perpetual spinach in there too. The cutting celery is getting very large too. I treat these as cut and come again crops. Some of them are huge. My friend doesn't like them this big because they aren't as tender as very young leaves. I don't mind it. I think it is a waste not to let them realize their full potential. I don't have many takers for these, so I am the only one that is eating it or giving it to the worms. The Jericho romaine is making slow progress. I fertilized it with sulfate of ammonia, dolomite, and k-mag so it looks like it is growing a little faster now or it may just be because the days are getting a little longer. I have one more picking of bush beans, more snow peas to go. I had to buy Italian parsley and green onions because my new Italian parsley was attacked by slugs and the onions were attacked by aphids. The valentine tomatoes and lemons are still falling on the ground because I am not picking them often enough. The carrots look fine in the bucket. They are a slow crop. I have not fed them much. I may give them some kmag and dolomite, I would have to give them a tiny dose of nitrogen. The eggplant I planted is getting bigger. It likes its new home. It looks like it is time to collect the lettuce seeds from the other tower.
Addendum: I got out at 3:30 p.m. to harvest from the main garden. I picked the New Big Dwarf tomato this morning. It is a small one 122 gms. I found the label in my garden. The beans are Contender. Third picking was 184 grams. Oregan giant peas 17 grams. And I found the label for the choy. It is Pak choy so it is pechai or white stem cabbage. I just fed the garden with nitrogen. The pak choy looks like it could use it. The leaves are lime green which is what through me off. It is usually a darker green. I gave the New Big Dwarf and Valentine tomatoes more kmag. I wish this came in a slow release form, but this is a hydroponic fertilizer. A little goes a long way, but it doesn't last so it has to be applied often.
It is 66 degrees and it actually rained last night. It is still overcast and a few more bands of showers are coming in on the trades. I will wait till this afternoon to see if I need to do more watering. The front yard still needs more water. I haven't watered it in at least a month and the roses are showing it. The weeds are coming back so I will have to do something about that too. Otherwise, the main garden looks good. The onions are recovering from the aphids and I still have a lot of benches to clean up and more pots to fill.
I did some harvesting this morning. Of course it decided to rain while I was in the middle of doing that. I harvested Kale, bok choy, Tokyo Bekana, snow peas ( I lost some pods along the wa) Swiss Chard, and Valentine tomatoes. I took them too the garden but only gave a few of them away. At the end of the day I ended up with more than I came with. I picked up lettuce and radish.
I called my sister and she took the bok choy, tomatoes, radish, and half the lettuce. She also raided my chocolate stash. I gave her some of my mini chocolates, she wanted my M&M's but I wasn't letting that go.
I told her if she wanted cilantro they were also ready, but I did not pick any today in the rain. So, she'll come back for that another day. Her green onions aren't ready yet to give to her.
I called my sister and she took the bok choy, tomatoes, radish, and half the lettuce. She also raided my chocolate stash. I gave her some of my mini chocolates, she wanted my M&M's but I wasn't letting that go.
I told her if she wanted cilantro they were also ready, but I did not pick any today in the rain. So, she'll come back for that another day. Her green onions aren't ready yet to give to her.
I weed whack part of the front yard yesterday. It started to drizzle while I was doing that. There are still light showers coming today, but I have to try to finish the rest of the weed whacking today. The garden is actually loving the rain. The hard rain the other day will cause issues but it did not cause a lot of damage. I have to get in the garden again to take the older leaves of the vegetables I harvested off and give them to the worms.