by A.J. Coltrane

Previous link here.

The basil and peppers are now permanently outside. And the Glacier tomato plant did this:

Continue reading “EarthBox Update — May 26, 2013” →

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here.

The tomatillos and tomatoes are planted.

The varieties — back to front, starting with the leftmost box. Descriptions from the Seattle Tilth plant sale:

Two Mexican Strain tomatillos. 65 day maturity.

Glacier. 56 day determinate. Grows to 2-1/2 feet high by 3-1/2 feet wide. “Great for containers”.

Siletz. 70-75 day determinate.  “One of the most reliable slicing tomatoes you can grow.”

Stupice. 60 day indeterminate. Red, 2″ fruit on 6′ vines.

Sungold. 65 day indeterminate. Apricot-orange 1-1/4″ cherry-tomato fruit on grape like trusses.

Brandywine. 85 day indeterminate. Fruits up 1 pound and 7″ in diameter. (The Brandywines are near the house to try to get some reflected sun off of the house.)

Roma. 75 day determinate.

The tomatoes were selected as a combination of low-risk (Glacier, Sungold) and more speculative (all the longer-timed maturities). I figure we’ll get something, but no idea how much.

Parsley, dill, and two cilantro. Hiding under the 2nd-story deck.

The tomato cages were purchased as “squares”, and they didn’t fit the earthboxes well. Note the two bars running over the center of the earthboxes — I had to prop them up on blocks to get them that high.

Note the “before” (left), and “after” (right). The blocks could go away now. We’ll see how enthused I get about moving them around again.

Removing the “center bars” also made enough leftover frame to cage the tomatillo. Win win win. I feel clever. Of course, I’d feel way more clever had I purchased stuff that fit easily in the first place..

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here.

Cucumbers and zucchini, May 5.

May 12.

May 5 — Left box:  Parsley, scallions, and romaine. (and bolting spinach).  Right box:  Brussels sprouts, bok choi, and lemon cucumbers.

And May 12. The spinach was already bolting (above), but I didn’t realize it. In the photo below it’s gone. It’s time for a bok choi stir-fry.

The romaine pictured below is now two entree salads for tomorrow’s lunch. It all came from the romaine lettuce in the back corner of the photo above.

Don’t worry, there’s a spreadsheet keeping track of the total harvest.

by A.J. Coltrane

Link to previous post.

The spinach responded to the wonderful 80+ degree early-May weather by bolting immediately. Four plants. Zero harvest. The lettuces, cilantro, parsley, and dill are now cowering under the deck, away from the heat of the mid-day sun.

It’s now time to prioritize harvesting whatever hasn’t already mutinied.

The first salad. Only the romaine was home-grown, but it’s still good to have something to show for the work.

After the break, blossoms from around the back yard, most of which came with the house.

Continue reading “EarthBox Update — May 6, 2013” →

by A.J. Coltrane

Link to previous Update, April 30.

The Seattle Tilth May Edible Plant Sale was yesterday (and today). That brought a lot of new inhabitants for the earthboxes.

To step back for a moment, I laid out potential locations for the EarthBoxes on Friday. The two boxes in the foreground have casters, the left box has leftover stuff from two years ago and needs to be emptied and restocked. It’s 18 spots, of which 12 would get used:

And the 12 winners. On the far right are the basil, tomotoes, tomatillos, lemongrass, epazote and probably something else I’m not thinking of right now. They still need to come inside at night. The empty hole on the left is the future home of the basil:

Closeup 1. The boxes with casters. These include most of the lettuces, the flat leaf parsley, dill ,and “calypso” cilantro — all the stuff that will bolt when it gets too hot. Eventually these will be moved somewhere a little shadier:

Closeup 2. On the left are the Marketmore 76 cucumbers. On the right are a cocozelle zucchini and a golden bush scallop (patty-pan) zucchini:

Closeup 3. Left box is parsley, scallions (or chives, going to have to check the label), spinach, and romaine. Most of this box will get replanted when it gets hot. The right box is brussels sprouts, bok choi, and an “extra” lemon cucumber from the plant sale:

by A.J. Coltrane

By request. Pics of the EarthBoxes 10 days in. (Original Post Here)

April 20:

April 30:

The lettuces in particular are really growing. Far left is the loose leaf lettuce. 2nd to the left (same box) is the romaine. I think the big romaine leaves will be ready for harvesting by as early as this weekend.

Also:  Spinach in the center box, foreground. Center box background is parsley, chives, and more romaine. Right box is brussels sprouts (L) and bok choy (R).

April 30, a closeup of the bok choi. It’s only one plant, though it looks like a few:

It’s amazing to me that it’s only one plant. I’m guessing that harvest will start this weekend too.

I’ve been doing some reading, and it sounds like the lettuces will need to be moved into partial shade whenever it starts warming up. That should delay the bolting that the lettuce will do at some point. (Which makes the leaves bitter.)  Good thing they happened to mostly wind up in one of the boxes with casters.

This weekend is the Seattle Tilth vegetable, herb, and flower sale. That’ll be a long day.

by A.J. Coltrane

The first planting of the year. According to the Sky Nursery gardening calendar all of these should work out.

The left side of the photo is the “front” of the “garden”.

From left to right:

Left Box:  Bibb Lettuce (left), Romaine Lettuce (right)

Center Box:  (left row, back to front) Parsley, Scallions, two Spinach. (right row) two Romaine, two Spinach

Right Box:  (left) Brussels Sprouts, (right) Bok Choi

Shortly after these were planted it rained. Everything perked up.

The old memory card on the camera finally filled up. So I needed to check the new memory card:

and

by A.J. Coltrane

Continued from here.

Twelve days later and the Earthboxes have arrived. That seems to be about par for the course as far as these guys go and delivery time. (5-7 days to ship, 5 days for shipping.)

Of course, that means 24 cubic feet of potting soil to fill them up. 10 of the big bags of the stuff.

Right now I’m leaning towards:

3 boxes of tomatoes (6 plants)

2 boxes of assorted peppers (12 plants)

1 box of zucchini (2 plants)

1 box of cucumbers (4 plants)

1 box of lettuces (8 plants. Hopefully something that can be continually harvested all summer.)

4 boxes of herbs (24 total plants. At least 6 basil, 4 parsley, 4 chives.. maybe some beans along the back of the boxes.)

I’ve got the Mother Earth News Almanac off of the bookshelf. (12th printing, March 1977. I paid $1.15 for it used, many years ago.) Maybe I can mix in some companion planting somehow..