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… #

Potato/Tomato Idea…

I’m debating if I should experiment and plant a Potato plant this year… Not only do I want to grow a Potato plant, but I want to graft a Tomato plant onto it, kinda like this one from Spring River Nurseries. The only reason I’m hesitant is because I read that the yields for both would be inferior to planting both the Potato and Tomato separately.

I’m not really concerned with the Potato yield, since any Potato harvested would kinda be a bonus… and maybe I can use a Cherry-type Tomato, since those just grow too wild (big) in our garden.

I’ll give it some more thought… and do a little more research…

[Update] After posting this, I had another thought. I don’t know if this can be done, so I’ll research it more later… I wonder if an Eggplant can be grafted onto a Tomato rootstock. The Eggplants I’ve grown never seem to get big and don’t bareany decent fruits, so I wonder if this would be a good experiment to see if a grafted Eggplant would grow more vigorously on a Tomato rootstock.

Links: Autopot Retail Outlet – GardenSmart – Melbourne, Australia

I really like how their Tomatoes, Cucumbers and Eggplant fruits are hanging from an overhead trellis.

Autopot Retail Outlet – GardenSmart – Melbourne, Australia.

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.

Nanay Harvesting Swiss Chard

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.

Repotted Tomato Seedling Batch 1

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.

Mutant Tomato

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.

Repotted Tomato Seedling Batch 2

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.

Coleus I.C.U.

I really hope they survive!!!

Lithops, Tomato, Eggplant and Pepper Seedlings

Six day old Lithops seedlings:

Lithops Seedlings (6 Days Old)   Lithops Seedlings (6 Days Old)

2+ week old Tomatoes, Peppers and Eggplant seedlings:

More Nightshade Seedlings (2 Weeks Old)   Tomato Seedlings (2 Weeks + 2 Days Old)

More Found Plants + More Sowing

Found Succulents and Asparagus Fern Seeds
I collected a few cutting along my way to work this morning. I got a sprig of Fairy Crassula (Crassula multicava) and an unusual relative of the Ice Plant (Oscularia deltoides). I also found some Aspargus Fern seeds (Asparagus densiflorus ‘Meyersii’).

Potted Succulents   Potted Succulents

Once I got home, I planted these as well as the three other succulents that I found last Saturday.

I sowed a few more seeds:

Red Pear Tomato from penguingardener
Wonder Light Tomato (Lemon-like Yellow Heirloom Tomato) also from penguingardener (Thank you, Thank you!!)

Red Texas Star Hibiscus from gypsy_soul
Pink Flowering Maple (Abutilon) also from gypsy_soul (Thank you, Thank you!!)

A few more seed just started to sprout:

Orange Ornamental Peppers from Virginia (sown 3/1, 7 days)
Calendula ‘Pacific Beauty’ (sown 2/20, 16 days)

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 :)