I really like how their Tomatoes, Cucumbers and Eggplant fruits are hanging from an overhead trellis.
☉Autopot Retail Outlet – GardenSmart – Melbourne, Australia.
Tag Archives: eggplant
Getting Ready for Planting…
I’ve been slowly getting ready for this season’s planting.
I’ve already pulled up some old (and bolting) Bok Choy, Daikon and Swiss Chard to make room for Tomatoes, Peppers and Eggplant.
I’ve been looking for tomato cages, but can’t seem to find the big ones; I’ve only seen the dinky 3 foot ones which are not tall enough. I did some searching online and found tomato cages made of PVC. That was an idea, but I found a welded wire mesh called Tomato Guard at OSH and thought I would try it. It rolls out to 5 x 20 feet and is enough to make 4 or 5 cages.
I’m going to use my old short Tomato Cages for Eggplants and Pepper.
While reading some forums online, I read about those water retaining crystals. I’ve known about these and seen them, but haven’t thought of getting them to the garden. They seem to be pricey, but I found a company that sells them in large quantities for a good price. I ordered 2 lbs. of medium polymers for $17.95 (includes shipping). I’m going to add these to my veggie beds and Coleus pots, because they then to dry out quickly.
Busy Nights…
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
I asked Micheal, (one of my best friends) who started his own garden design business a few years ago, if he wanted some Agrostemma ‘Ocean Pearl’. He did, so I planted three more six-cell packs outside.
Later after dinner, I sowed more seeds from penguingardener (Maraming Salamat!):
– Tomato ‘Bloody Butcher’
– Easter Eggplant Hybrid
I then got zealous (is that the right word?) and even though it was late, decided to transplant the Tomato and some Eggplant seedlings into larger drinking cups.
OMG!!! That took a while… It was really really late, and I was only about half way done, so I decided to do the rest next next day.
Oh yeah… I found a mutant Tomato Seedling.
This Tomato seedling either…
1. had a leaf bending down that went through a side stem, or
2. had another seedling fuse right into the stem, pinning one of its leaves.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
I started hardening off the Tomatoes and Eggplant seedlings I transplanted yesterday by taking it outside when I left for work, then bringing them in when I got home.
Michael emailed me asking if I can also plant some Bells of Ireland, so I passed by Target after work and bought some seeds.
I transplanted the rest of the Tomatoes into more drinking cups. I have so much!!! I think I have about 26 individual plants in drinking cups.
I then sowed some Pepper seeds:
– Tricolor Variegata Pepper
– Carmanola Rossa Pepper
– Topepo Rosso Pepper
The last two are from penguingardener (Maraming Salamat Ulit!):
I also performed surgery on three dying Coleus (Velvet Lime, Amazon and Dark Star Hybrid) that I mentioned yesterday.
I really hope they survive!!!
Lithops, Tomato, Eggplant and Pepper Seedlings
Six day old Lithops seedlings:
2+ week old Tomatoes, Peppers and Eggplant seedlings:
Saturday Plant Sale…
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Early this morning I went to the San Francisco Botanical Garden Plant Sale with my friend Howard. I purchased a Sempervivum and a type of Crassula. I’ll have to check on the names later.
I also snapped some photos, but left my camera at Howard’s condo… ARGH!… I feel weird without my camera… It’s funny how it’s become a part of me.
When I got home, I noticed that there are about 5 tiny specks of green in my Lithops container. YEAY!!!… Little baby Lithops being born, 3 days after sowing.
I also noticed one of the 12 Japanese Long Purple Eggplants sprouting. It’s been 13 days since I sowed this, so maybe the seeds are not viable… (Pause)… I just checked the seed packet and it was packed for 2003, so they are probably old… I’ll have to plant more of the newer seeds. (I don’t know why I didn’t do this in the first place?)
Garden progress:
Recent blooms: Peaches, Sparaxis Tricolor, Tulip
About to bloom: Italian Plums, Persimmons
Not doing well: some Carnation cuttings, Orange Grafted Cactus
The Scent of…
I made more newspaper pots and planted four kind of Asian vegetables: Chin-Chiang Cabbage “Hybird Summer Boy”, Misome Japanese Greens, Upo (Bottle Gourd) and Komatsuna “Hybrid Senposai”.
I know the Upo is probably too late to plant, but I want to see how it grows. I’ll make sure to plant is early next year.
As I was planting (at 9pm), I can smell the scent of our Dama de Noche plant. I think it’s called Night Flowering Jasmine in English. It is very fragrant and reminds me of Hawaiian leis.
Speaking of Asian vegetables, I harvested another eggplant and my mom made this Filipino dish called Pinakbet
Some of the ingredients include: Japanese Eggplant, Ampalaya (Bitter Melon), Sitaw (Yardlong Bean), Tomato, Garlic, Bagoong (Tiny Fermented Shrimp) plus more. It may look like a weird dish, but it’s good :)
I also found some Ginger rhizomes growing, so I placed them on a moist paper towel and placed it in a plastic bag. Hopefully it will grow roots and I will be able to grow it.
One last photo… My Pink Echevaria at work only has one flower left.
Thursday, Friday and Saturday’s Gardening…
Thursdays
After making those newspaper pots, I planted some Grand Rapids Leaf Lettuce, Correnta Hybrid Spinach, Lemon Basil and Miike Purple Giant Japanese Mustard.
I planted some William Guinness Columbine over a month ago and didn’t think the seeds germinated, so gave up on them… When I was looking for a place to put the newly planted seeds, I discovered 2 Columbine seedlings that sprouted plus another mystery plant. So I made 3 more newspaper pots and planted these 3 seedlings into them.
The Tendergreen Bush Beans are starting to sprout and they are just breaking ground. The newspaper mulch is really helping in keeping the ground from drying.
Friday
I didn’t do any gardening on Friday because I took 3 of my friends out to sushi (yumm!!!) for their birthdays… They all have birthdays within a one week period and they live together.
Saturday
I spent the night at my friends and later went to the Berkeley Horticultural Nursery (see previous entry)
I was surprised to see that the Tendergreen Bush Beans that were just breaking ground on Thursday have 2 sets of leaves. Damn! they grew fast!
I also noticed that the bed without the newspaper bed were dry to about 1/2 inch, but the mulched ones were not, so I shredded more newspaper and mulched almost all my vegetables. I think this will help a lot.
Ready to harvest: Peas, White Icicle Radishes, 1 Eggplant, 4 Pepperocini Peppers, 2 Hungarian Hot Wax Peppers
A few pictures from yesterday…
Here are a few pictures I took yesterday for some of my vegetable.
My first baby Cucumber
My first Eggplant bloom
Lettuce
New Zealand Spinach
My first Yellow Pear Tomato fruits
French Sorrel