by A.J. Coltrane

All photographs “borrowed”. Each link points to the seed/plant seller website where the photo was obtained, so nobody should get too uptight.

Tomato-

Brandywine

Continue reading “What Is That Vegetable Supposed To Look Like?” →

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here.

I tried for some photos that were a little bit different this time. At the very least, there are some pictures of ripening fruits.

The sweet peppers are starting to ripen:

The bunch onions and marigolds. Bugs stay away from this box:

Continue reading “EarthBox Update August 11, 2013” →

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here.

We’ve now harvested almost 30 pounds of assorted veg since early June. Last week was a large amount of basil:

It took a while to clean all of that basil from the stems. Here’s what the plants looked like right afterward.

And  this week.  The current state of the basil plants:

Continue reading “EarthBox Update — August 4, 2013” →

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here.

More nice weather = happy plants! All of the peppers are now fruiting. I think there’s going to be a deluge of tomatoes soon.

Today’s harvest:

The zucchini got some support to try to avoid a repeat of the breakage a few weeks ago:

If this flower is any indication, the mother of all zucchini is on the way:

Continue reading “EarthBox Update — July 28, 2013” →

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here.

We did a thorough search of the plants last night, looking for anything that might ready. A.S. found these eight perfectly ripe tomotoes all grouped together towards the bottom of the Stupice. I had no idea that they were there.

But when outside to water this morning I thought maybe I’d lift some of the wayward cucumber vines into the trellis. I discovered this big guy. (Photographed with some of last night’s produce for reference.)

Holy cow. I don’t *think* we missed it last night, although I guess it’s possible. The other explanation would be that it went from the smaller size to THAT between 5:00 pm last night and 9:00 am this morning.

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here.

We did a thorough search of the plants last night, looking for anything that might ready. A.S. found these eight perfectly ripe tomotoes all grouped together towards the bottom of the Stupice. I had no idea that they were there.

But when outside to water this morning I thought maybe I’d lift some of the wayward cucumber vines into the trellis. I discovered this big guy. (Photographed with some of last night’s produce for reference.)

Holy cow. I don’t *think* we missed it last night, although I guess it’s possible. The other explanation would be that it went from the smaller size to THAT between 5:00 pm last night and 9:00 am this morning.

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here.

The zucchini are bouncing back nicely. The cucumbers, peppers, and patty-pans are finally getting into gear. The tomatoes are going nuts. Yesterday provided this:

Which made for the first taste comparison among the tomatoes. A “caprese” with goat cheese and balsamic:

The store bought tomatoes lost. They lacked the acid and character of the home grown.

Continue reading “EarthBox Update — July 21, 2013” →

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here.

There are issues with the zucchini, and I think there is more than just one thing wrong with them. The symptoms:

1.  The patty-pan leaves are more yellow overall than it had been. (It was never as dark as the cucumbers or the cocozelle.)

2.  The cocozelle has fruits that are rotting from the blossom end. I cut off four bad fruit yesterday.

3.  Sometime in the last week white mold appeared on the cocozelle.

Which is kind of strange, because the cocozelle has produced seven pounds of fruit in the last few days. I thought it was ramping up for the summer.

My totally stab-in-the-dark diagnosis is that the fruits are experiencing blossom end rot caused by a calcium deficiency. (Which I’m pretty sure is correct after looking around the interwebs.) I’m also of the suspicion that the plants need fertilizer. I dosed the feed tube with a 14-14-14 granular fertilizer and calcium nitrate last night. In retrospect, that’s a double dose of nitrogen, which will be either good, bad, or indifferent, but, why not? I also pruned the heck out of the two plants, removing all of the really yellow leaves, as well as the most beat-up older leaves and the leaves with a lot of mold. The intent is to let more air and sunlight in, and to try to make it so that all leaves are getting more optimal use. Finally, I sprayed the plants with an organic mold inhibitor. The aftermath:

Zucchini from the back:

Onto “sunnier things”.

Continue reading “EarthBox Update — July 14, 2013” →

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here.

Midweek part of the cocozelle zucchini plant broke most of the way off:

So this mass was cut off, including two pounds of small zucchini:

Continue reading “EarthBox Update — July 7, 2013” →