A Whole Bunch of Gardening Going On…

12:45pm I’ll be planting alot soon and almost out of blank plant labels, so I’m erasing (they were written with pencil) used ones to be reused… #

4:06pm Tulips and my Mom’s Azaleas are blooming the the back yard… #

4:19pm Borage, Osteospermum and Snapdragon are blooming… #

4:28pm Comice Pear graft, Asian Pear near sink and Persimmons are starting to open its buds… European Plum near veggie bed is starting to bloom… #

4:31pm Envy, Fruit Smoothie and (Seeds from 2005) Zinnias are sprouting… #<

5:39pm Sowing 3 types of Tomatoes: Black from Tula, Beefsteak and Rutger-Select… #

5:43pm Sowing various Peppers: Emerald Giant, Golden Marconi, Red Bell, Carmagnila Rossa (G3), Sweet Mini Red, Sweet Mini Orange and Thai Dragon… #

5:49pm Sowed other Nighshades: Easter Eggplant, African Orange Eggplant, Congo Trinidad Pepper, Datura Golden Queen and Datura Purple Queen#

5:54pm Almost forgot to sow the Scarlet Chinese Eggplant (G2) seeds… #

6:36pm My Mom is top dressing her hanging tuberous Begonia with compost… They are starting to sprout… #

6:46pm Sowed some flowers in cell-packs outside: Tithonia Torch, Moonflower, Cleome Rose Queen and Cleome Four Queen#

6:46pm Sowed even more flowers in cell-packs outside: Orange Butterfly Flower, Blue Flax, Statice Rainbow Mix and Coreopsis Plains Bicolor#

6:47pm Sowed Strawflower Dwarf Mixed Colors in milk carton container… #

6:50pm Sowed 4 veggies into cell-packs outside: Misome, Miike Purple Giant Mustard, Marvel of Four Seasons Lettuce and Broccoli Raab#

6:51pm Kiwis, Figs and Pomegranates are starting to leaf out… #

6:54pm It’s been a busy day in the garden and it’s now dark… I would stay out longer to sow more seeds, but the mosquitos are annoying me!… #

10:35pm I noticed that the Sugar Cane now has a second sprout. The first one is about 3 inches now… #

Weekend Gardening

I thought I would be doing a lot of gardening this weekend, but there was actually not much to do. Surprisingly, the weather was warm… even after the rains we got mid-week.

I transfered about 18 Spinach seedlings from 2 six-packs into 3 inch pots.

The Bok Choy and Lettuce that I planted to replace the ones that were eaten are sprouting… and the Swiss Chard that were spared are getting bigger now.

Hopefully, we’ll have a lot of greens for the Fall, Winter and Spring.

The Sweet Peas and Snap Peas are also sprouting, but I won’t plat them in the bed until they get a little bigger, since they seems to be favorites of the birds and slugs.

I potted up a succulent (I think it’s some type of Kalanchoe) that has been growing from a leaf. I’ll have to post photos later, to see if anyone can identify it.

On Sunday, I took my mom to do some grocery shopping at the Filipino store, then we stopped by the 99¢ store and I found 2 more Cactus (actually one is a Euphorbia, so technically, 1 cactus)… I’ll post photos later.

Oh, I also forgot that on Friday afternoon, I took a late lunch and walked up Filbert Steps again to shot a few photos.

Murderous!

When I got home from work, it was almost dark, but I wanted to just put the Elephant Garlic into the ground to start growing. Before I started, with flashlight in hand, I checked the Swiss Chard, Lettuce and Boy Choy I repotted yesterday…

AHHHHRRRGGGG! Something ate them!!!

All the Lettuce were completely gone. All the Bok Choy were gone with the exception of a few decapitated ones. Luckily, most of Swiss Chard were fine, but it looked like a few were pecked at or nibbled on. (I guess birds–or whatever ate the seedling–don’t like Swiss Chard that much)

Decapitated Bok Choy

Pecked At/Nibbled On Chard

I’m suspecting that the birds ate them, because I’ve noticed them in various parts of the garden, when I have been gardening. I also found these marks on one of my Snow Pea leaves:

Beak Marks?

I resowed Lettuce and Bok Choy seeds and hope they grow quickly to replace the ones I lost. I placed the plastic cover from my large Jiffy Greenhouse Trays… Luckily it’s the perfect size for these trays.

Weekend Gardening…

I did quite a lot of gardening this weekend.

The weather is getting cooler and it was overcast pretty much the whole weekend. Leaves are changing colors and the summer vegetables are slowing down. There was a lot of leaves from the Pears and Apples to sweep up and I cut off more of the dying leaves on the Tomatoes and Cucumbers.

The Lettuce, Swiss Chard and Bok Choy that I planted about 2 weeks ago are getting crowded in the six packs, so I divided them up and planted 3-4 seedlings into 3 inch pots. (I have to remember that one Swiss Chard seed actually comprise of many seeds) I’ll let these grow a bit until I have space to plant them in the vegetable beds.
( before photoafter photo )

My brother went to a yard sale and bought a whole box of terra cotta pots (with 3 bags of cactus mix included) for only $3.00… what a deal! ( photo )

I potted the three $1.00 Cactus and Succulents into pots. ( photo )

As I was planting the Cactus, a spider paid a visit and I think it took residence on the Cactus. ( photo )

It seemed to be a spider weekend. I must have seen 4 different spiders, but I guess that’s not too unusual when you are cleaning up around the garden. Here are two of my favorite photos:

Unknown Spider

Mama Daddy Long Legs with Eggs (1)

Lastly, I harvested the first big batch of Tomatoes… along with Pears and Lemon Cucumber.

This Weekend's Harvest

Yeay! Good night :)

The Forgottens and Kangkong…

I noticed that the Tri-Color Variegata Peppers has fruits. Yeay!

Tri-Color Variegata Peppers

I planted the “forgotten” Lettuce and Swiss Chard grown from seed to the edge of the vegetable bed near the Cucumbers. I also planted a “forgotten” Brandywine OTV Tomato in an empty space in the other bed. I really doubt if it will produce fruits, but I felt bad for not planting it sooner.

I transplanted the “forgotten” Perillas–Large Leaf Korean Perilla ( photo ) and Tia To Vietnamese Perilla ( photo )–into larger pots, so they can grow a little larger before I plant them either in the vegetable bed, or in a Coleus pot.

This evening, I cooked a simple Filipino dish called Adobong Kangkong for dinner. As I was preparing the Kangkong (Water Spinach), I decided to save some to see if it would root.

Kangkong (Water Spinach)

I did some research and was surprised to discovered that Kangkong is a member of the Ipomoea genus along with Morning Glories and Sweet Potatoes.

Saturday…

This morning I did a lot of weeding in the vegetable beds. I pulled out the spent Snap Peas and the bolting Lettuce. I also cut away the dead or dying leaves on the bottom part of the Cucumbers and Tomatoes.

Bolted Lettuce

The Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans and Tendergreen Bush Bean are both doing well. They are actually growing better than the Bataw that my mom transplanted.

My grandma, aunts, uncle and cousin came by and came over in the afternoon and we all gathered in the garden checking out the plants and picking fruits (pears, peaches and plums).

I potted the Coleus “Pineapple” and “Copper Splash” cutting which I took on the 27th. It took about 12 days for these to root. I also took cutting of Coleus “Wild Lime (mistagged)” and “Gay’s Delight”.

In the front yard, I cut down the spent Gladiola stalks and removed all the dead leaves off the Yucca which has grown so big.

All in all, I think I collect six 5-gallon pots full of leaves and spent flower for the compost pile.

A Whole Bunch of Garden Photos…

Today I was able to take a whole bunch of garden photos, including some fruits, vegetables, flowers and other stuff in my garden. So if you have the bandwidth, check behind the cut.

Vegetables

Cucumbers
Cucumber

Hungarian Hot Wax Pepper
Hungarian Hot Wax Pepper

Pepperoncini
Pepperoncini

Baby Zuchini
Baby Zuchini

Sweet 100 Tomatoes
Sweet 100 Tomatoes

Newly transplanted Bok Choy
Newly transplanted Bok Choy

Flowers

Begonia
Begonia

Succulent Flower (I forgot this succulent’s name)
Succulent Flower

Flamingo Flower or Brazilian Plume Flower
Flamingo Flower

Coreopsis
Coreopsis

Clematis seed pod
Clematis

Fushia
Fushia

Radish
Radish Flowers

Lettuce
Lettuce Flowers

Young Hollyhock
Young Hollyhock

Garlic
Garlic

Young Gladiola
Young Gladiola

Hydrangea
Hydrangea

Fruits

Apples and Fushia
Apples and Fushia

Figs
Figs

Persimmons
Persimmons

Plum
Plum

Pear
Pear

Calamansi
Calamansi

Calamansi Leaves
Calamansi Leaves

Other Garden Stuff

Me
Me

Black Ladybug?
Black Ladybug?

Mickey
Mickey

p.s. Sorry for the image quality, my camera is acting up.

Also posted in gardening, entry: 691466

Yellow Pear Tomato RIP, Planting Bok Choy and Lettuce Harvest

After being sick for 3 days and having surprise showers, I was able to go outside and work in the garden.

My Yellow Pear Tomato died for some reason. I’m not sure why, but the others tomato plants next to it looks fine and healthy. I noticed some new tomatoes plants that sprouted from the homemade compost that I mixed in the bed and planted it in the Yellow Pear Tomatoes place.

I also transplanted the Bok Choy that I planted from seeds to the bed. I just hope that the bugs don’t eat them all up.

Bok Choy

The Lettuce are getting big and I was able to harvest some for dinner.

Lettuce

Lettuce Harvest

I also took a whole bunch of photos around the garden, but will post them behind a cut in my next entry.