Update On Me...And Reason For No Update

I'm too tired to re-type...so I'm linking. Maybe tomorrow, when I get some sleep, I'll type a few words, instead of a link to my other blog post....

The Link

Some Seed Info

Before I get to the photos I promised in my previous post, nearly forgot that I wanted to post some info about the seeds I finally planted last night!

I don't think I mentioned this, but I actually started a whole bunch of seeds way back in April, but they got a trampled one day when I put them out in the sun, and 99% of them died. The one that survived that hadn't germinated yet, is that one dead-looking watermelon.

So, I finally re-planted those seeds and planted some new plants. WARNING: be prepared for a very long list of plant names, estimated germination dates, and estimated harvest dates.

I've decided to add a couple of photos to spice up all this text. Here is the diagram of the seed starter:

I realize that you can't read any of the text written on there, so don't stress yourself, I'll be going through all the seeds I've planted from right to left. The lines on the diagram are for multiples of the same plant.

EDITED TO ADD: "I've actually decided (midway through writing this post) that I can at least spice it up with photos of the seed packets. A bit of a taste as to how the harvest will look like."

So! With no further ado, we start with the Sweet Banana Peppers! These are completely not spicy, but should have a bit of a tart taste to them. I'll be planting these with the pair of bell peppers that I've got already started.

Sweet Banana Peppers:

Planted: 23 June

Estimated Germination: 3-5 July

Estimated Harvest: 1 Sept

Next, I've got two Eggplants. They're an heirloom variety called Black Beauty, a 1902 favorite. From the description on the seed packet, "Rich, deep purplish black fruits can grow to enormous size. Tender and tasty at all stages." Well, I've got to say, that sounds promising!

Heirloom Eggplants:

Planted: 23 June

Est. G: 3-7 July

Est. H: 4 Sept (?)

The cucumbers are next! I got the seeds in a Patio Vegetable Garden set that also included, Tomatoes (Best Boy Hybrid), Basil (Mammoth), and Lettuce (the Heatwave Blend that I've already planted). They are the Space master variety that supposedly only needs half the space of standard cucumbers. I had success with them last year even though (due to issues with contractors), they never got to their "real" home.

I had two of them planted already, and ready for transplant, but after an accident (I will got into that next post), I lost one, and the other may not survive. So, I planted three new ones.

Cucumbers:

Planted: 23 June

Est. G: 30 June-7 July

Est. H: 18 Aug

I planted one Cherry Tomato. Next year, I want to get the Tumbling Tom variety, that's made specifically for hanging baskets. This year, I'll try to plant my Supersweet 100 VF Hybrid in a hanging basket, and see how well it does. The packet boasts: "Unique salad type with amazingly high yields of super sweet 1-inch fruit with higher content of Vitamin C than any other tomato. Indeterminate plants bear until frost, each branch producing more than 100 fruits." Wonderful!

Cherry Tomato:

Planted: 23 June

Est. G: 30 June-3 July

Est. H: 27 Aug

Now, I've got some herbs that I keep meaning to plant...for the past year or more....and never get to it. I started with Basil. I have three different packets of Basil seeds. I decided to start with the oldest one. I won't even mention the year of the seeds, but if they grow, they grow! Basil is a very versatile herb, I'm sure I'll find a TON of things to do with it...if it grows.

Sweet Basil:
Planted: 23 June

Est. G: 30 June-3 July

Est H: unknown (a soon as the leaves are big enough! I'm guessing about 6-8 weeks?)

On to a difficult herb: Parsley. It takes FOREVER to germinate, from 21 to 28 days. So...about a month before I even know if it works. At least the seeds that I'm using are fresh. The good news is, that we use a lot of parsley, especially come the holiday season. So, once it starts producing, I think it'll grow quite well.

Planted:23 June

Est. G: 14-21 July

Est H.: ? (unknown. I think it'll take at least 8 weeks after germination, so around the halfway point of September)

Dill!!! Always a fun herb to have in the garden. I'm sure the garden grown will be so much better than the store-bought kind. Also, you can easily pick seeds from the plants...or so says the packet. Looking forward to this one.

Planted: 23 June

Est. G: 30 June-7 July

Est. H: packet doesn't say. I'm thinking about 6-8 weeks after germination here as well.

Sage! These seeds happen to be organic heirlooms: "aromatic garden". This is another herb used for cooking and seasoning, and supposedly can be used to make a tea. We'll see about that one...

Planted: 23 June

Est. G: 30 June-3 July

Est. H: 22 Aug-1 Sept

And now...last but not least: Snapdragons. Definitely one of my fave flowers. I'm using the same seeds I planted last year, and they were beautiful! The packet calls them Tall Rust Resistant Mixed Colors. I'll probably put these with my Mom's flowers, possibly in the window boxes on the front porch.

Planted: 23 June

Est. G: 3-8 July

Est. Bloom: I give them about 8 weeks after they germinate.

And to top things off, a photo of the windowsill garden seed starter I'm using, all planted with seeds!

In case anyone is curious, I use compressed peat pellets (the 36 mm size). They are wonderful for starting seeds, compact to store, and great for transplanting. The net-type covering is biodegradable and the roots can grow right through it. Sometimes, I will peel it off, if I can do that without injuring the roots, sometimes I'll leave it on. Plants grow great both ways.

That's it for now. This post took me a lot longer to put together than I though. So, I won't be getting to photos of the garden tonight. Seeing as, by the time I'm am finishing up, it's too dark outside to take decent photos. So, I'm leaving the photo update for tomorrow.

Cucumbers and Containers

I thought I'd post a response to Siren's comment in blog form, rather than comment back.

Here is her comment:

i want some cucumbers, too. i was thinking it would be too late to plant them.
Now i am wondering if i could stick them in the ground anyway. do you find they
like hot weather? Have you grown in those containers before? I thought melons
needed a lot of room! But i am a complete novice! Nice blog :)

Given our nice warm climate here, with the summer often lingering far into the fall, I don't think it's too late to plant them. The variety I'm using (Space master), is one specifically suited for containers or small spaces. Space master is supposed to harvest in 56 days. So, if you planted them today, that would give you an estimated harvest date of 19 August. Pretty reasonable.

So I say, if you want cucumbers...GO FOR IT!!! Just check the harvest date, to make sure that it's not too far away. Though, I remember having some cucumbers a bit into September last year.

The containers I'm using this year, I'm using for the first time. In case anyone is interested, I got them at Lowe's for a pretty reasonable price. I can't remember the exact price, but it was low enough to buy a whole bunch of them (have 5 square ones, and 2 round ones so far).

With the containers, I made sure that there are drainage holes in the bottom, and filled them with a mix of soil, composted manure, and organic fertilizer. I may add some peat moss next year, depending on how the mix does this year.

On to the melons! Watermelons -- like pumpkins, cantaloupe, summer squash, and winter squash -- grow on long vines. So, given that, all you need, is a bit of space for the roots to grow, and lots of space for the vines. The plus with planting the way I am, is that I can move the container anywhere to give the vines room to spread. Another option, is trellising. I forgot to mention that with the cucumbers. Those will grow wonderfully on a trellis. But, it IS possible to trellis watermelons, thus reducing the space needed for the vines to spread.

I am planing on putting up a trellis for a few of my plants, just waiting for them to get bigger.

Whew! I think I've answered all the questions. Now, to go take some photos, and put up a photo post.

Time For Photos

I finally have the time and energy to give that update with the photos that I promised. So be prepared for lots of photos and lots of info!



I'll start with my railing box, it's on the railing on the back porch. I planted a row of radishes, and a mix of lettuces (Heatwave Blend: a mix of 6 varieties). Here's a photo of the box:



Aren't my labels adorable? As you can see, some the radishes have already germinated, and are doing quite nicely. The little bits of green scattered around the box is the lettuce. Close-ups to follow. But some info first:

The radishes are Cherry Belle variety.
Planted: 8 June
Estimated Germination: 12-14 June
Estimated Harvest: 30 June

The Heatwave Lettuce Blend.
Planted: 8 June
Est. G.: 18-22 June
Est. H: 23 July

Here are my first two radishes to germinate close up:

Here is the row of radishes. Looks like only four had germinated at this point:

Now here is close-up of my baby lettuce. They're really tiny...and sooo adorable!



Even closer:



While I was taking photos, on my way to the rest of the plants, I passed my the flowers my Mom planted. They're quite pretty, so I decided I might as well put them up here. So here is me pimping my Mom's flowers:

The first one is a window box attached to the front railing (there is one on each side). This one includes: marigolds, geraniums, salvia, and I think there are a couple of petunias.


Here is the other one. You can see the bird feeders in the background. Hmmm...looks like they need to be filled. I swear....those birds eat like horses! So...in this box: marigolds, salvias, and petunias. There are two really pretty colors. The light purple one with the darker lines, and the dark purple one. You can't see the colors too well in this photo. I'll see if I can take a better one.



She's also planted two hanging baskets (more are in the works, including an idea I have to plant cherry tomatoes in a hanging basket). The one on the right has nicotiana, and the one on the left has petunias. Can you tell we like petunias?



On to the crops!!! I'll start with the tomatoes. So far, there are two in the garden, both bought as baby plants. This one (actually got it second....lol) is a hybrid variety that we got at the Reston farmer's market. Can't remember the exact name of the variety. I've got a tag somewhere. When I find it, I'll post it here. Both tomato plants were transplanted around the first weekend of June. This bad boy is an indeterminate, so we'll probably stake/trellis it at some point. If you look really close, you can see that there are a bunch of flowers on it, and two have already made it to fruit.



Here is a close up of the two baby tomatoes. I tried several times, couldn't make the photo less blurry, but you can still see the two baby tomatoes and one flower.



This is the other tomato. We got this one from Meadow's Farms sometime in May. It was much smaller then. On the day I took photos, I noticed that it finally started flowering. Can't really see them in this photo, as they're mostly on the other side and hiding a little bit. This one is patio bush variety, determinate.



Here is a close-up shot of the flowers. You can also see some buds, if you look really close. Even though I didn't start this guy from seeds, I'm still proud of him, since he was just a baby when we got him. So look at the flowers!




On to the seeds I planted on the 8th of June. As you can see from the labels in this shot, this container has beets and carrots. I don't have the packets near me at the moment, I'll have to put the variety of each one up later. But here's some info:

The beets:
Planted: 8 June
Est. G: 22-29 June
Est. H: 6 Aug

The Carrot:
Planted: 8 June
Est. G.: 22-29 June
Est. H: 17 Aug




Next, we have some muskmelons that I started from seed and transplanted on the 5th of June. There are 3 Watermelons (again I'll have to get the varieties next time), and 1 Cantaloupe (same regarding variety). Now for the info:

The Watermelons:
Planted: 16 May
Est. H: 2 Sept

The Cantaloupe:
Planted: 16 May
Est. H: 27 Aug

One of the watermelons looks a bit dead. It's actually from an earlier batch of seeds I planted, and it just germinated realllly late. It doesn't look like it'll last very long...




The cantaloupe in this shot, looks suspiciously like a cucumber... I guess I'll find out when it blooms and sets fruit.



Here are the back two watermelons. The one on the right is doing pretty good. The icky-looking leaves are the first leaves. They got a bit stuck in the seed shell, and they're a bit shriveled. Doesn't matter much, the first leaves will fall off soon anyway.



Now, on to the plants that are still waiting to get a bit older to get transplanted. These first two (the ones on the left actually), are bell peppers. The one in the foreground has its first set of real leaves, and it's looking pretty good!

Here are my cucumbers. Cucumbers are the plants I seem to have the most success with. The variety I'm planting are a space master bush type. They're more compact than regular cucumbers, and are wonderfully suited for container gardening.

I only had one of the two seeds I planted germinate. So a few weeks after the first one had sprouted its first leaves, I planted another seed, as you can see, this one germinated. The first true leaves have not come out yet, but if you look really closely, you can see that they will come out soon. These two will get transplanted pretty soon.





So that's my plants so far. Still have a few seeds to plant. Better late than never!

UPDATE: Seeing as I took these photos on Monday, there have been a few changes. Something I noticed today....my beets have germinated!!!! A whole 4 days before the estimated germination date! I'll see if I can take some photos this weekend, and post the updates.

Long Day

I had a bit of time to take some photos of the plants today, when the light was nice. But I had so many other things to do after I took them, I never got to it. I was planning on the evening then, but unfortunately I had to run to a meeting half the county away, and stopped by the grocery store on the way home.

So, by the time I got back home, put away the groceries, ate, etc.... I am too tired to put up a real post detailing the garden.

Hopefully I'll get to it tomorrow, in between running errands. Sigh....

First Post

I got the idea to blog my garden from a friend of mine. Figured might as well keep track of things as my garden progresses. I'm already doing a garden notebook, but on here....I can post photos!!

A few details about my garden. I'm doing it mostly container gardening style. Starting most of the plants from seed, and doing things as organically as possible.

Plants either include now, or to be included in the near future include: radishes, salad greens (assorted), cucumbers, peppers (bell and sweet banana), eggplant, tomatoes, carrots, beets, watermelons, cantaloupe, pumpkin, some sort of winter squash.

There may be more to come this gardening season, and DEFINITELY more to come next season. Yes, I don't even have all my plants for this season planted, and I'm already planning for next season. What can I say? I'm ambitious!

Well, for a first post and having no photos to share, I think this is good.
Till next time!