by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here.  July 27, 2014 post here.  July 28, 2013 post here.

We think we may have “figured something out” with the Tromboncino. I’ll share that first, then some harvest pictures, then everything else.

Last week a Tromboncino vine looked like this:

The smaller of the two fruits withered over the next few days. I removed it midweek.

By Sunday the “winner” had grown to 28 inches(!)

It seems that each Tromboncino vine sends out two or three fruits at the same time, but can only really feed one fruit. The others just wither away. With that in mind, here are the next two candidates:

If within the next few days one starts to look sickly I’ll remove it. Maybe it’s possible for us to have two “winners” on one vine… as of right now, I’m not so sure that’s the case.

Onto the harvest pictures — Our total for the week was 16 pounds, including 3.7 pounds of zucchini, 1.7 pounds of pickling cucumbers, 4.9 pounds of Marketmore cucumbers, 4.9 pounds of Lemon cucumbers, some basil, and a few tomatoes.

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Sunday. That’s the same zucchini as pictured above, with a smattering of Sweet Million and Sun Gold tomatoes. And an Iko Iko pepper that had a little bad spot on it so I pulled it:

An overview. Note the ballistic basil on the far right:

Cucumbers (foreground), tomatillos (midground), and zucchini (rear). Also a bunch of energetic tomato vines. For reference, the tomatillo trellis is 6′ tall. The zucchini trellis is 8′:

Carmen peppers. The plants have been super vigorous:

Sweet Millions:

The first Tigerellas are almost ready:

 

It rained today. Everything is a little more photogenic when wearing a few water droplets, I think.

2013 total weight to date:  24.6 pounds

2014 total weight to date:  22.3 pounds

2015 total weight to date:  56.4 pounds

More Progress!

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Visit Daphne’s Dandelions, host of Harvest Monday.

by A.J. Coltrane

The Lemon cucumbers are really starting to ripen. As for the Marketmores, we must have missed these monsters over the weekend:

(Left to Right):  Six Lemon cucumbers (2.3 lbs);  The two of the four cherry tomatoes that didn’t get eaten before Picture Time;  Three Marketmore 76 cucumbers (3.1 lbs);  One National Pickling cucumber (0.7 lbs).  6.2 pounds total.

The big cucumber weighs just under 1.5 pounds. It was lying sideways on the wood trellis, hiding behind a leaf. I’m hoping that we can peel it and most of it will be usable.

As a group, the cucumbers are starting to look a little haggard. But then, August is only two weeks away, so maybe the cucumbers should be approaching the end of their run.

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For reference. Marketmore total weights each year, through July 15:

2013:  0 — none until July 18.   End of season total:  25,414g (56.0 lbs)

2014:  0 — none until July 28.   End of season total:  20,141g (44.4 lbs)

2015:  3932 g (8.7 lbs).       As a flat guess — the warm summer weather is causing the cucumbers to produce and age rapidly, and we’ll still see something around 40-55 pounds of Marketmores by the end of the year. The candle that burns twice as fast burns half as long. Accelerated Decrepitude.

 

by A.J. Coltrane

The first really good week — total production of 15.4 pounds, including the 12.2 pounds harvested tonight:

(Clockwise from top left) — Marketmore 76 cucumbers (4.1 lb);  the first Sun Gold and Sweet Million tomatoes;  National Pickling cucumbers (the darker two, 1 lb);  “Calypso” pickling cucumbers (1.5 lb);  Lemon cucumbers (0.7 lb);  Tromboncino zucchini (4.7 lbs)

We have zucchini bread and a bunch of cucumber salads in our future. Also zucchini crisps, post to come.

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Visit Daphne’s Dandelions, host of Harvest Monday.

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here.  July 11, 2014 post here.  July 14, 2013 post here.

Some of the lower (south-facing) leaves of the tomato plants are fried-looking from the intense June sun. It’s been (thankfully) a little bit cooler the last few days. An overview:

The basil got a super thorough haircut this week. I made a point to “open it up”, trimming out some of the larger leaves and “excess” growth in the interior:

The yield was one pound of leaves. This is about half of it:

We’re still well ahead of last year. Lots of things are ripening. The first Sun Golds:

Sweet Millions:

Raspberries:

Lemon cucumber:

The Lemon cucumbers are sharing a box with two varieties of pickling cucumbers. The Lemon cucumbers are easily more prolific:

The tomatillos. People often mistake these for an ornamental — tomatillos aren’t mainstream:

This “Yellow Bell Pepper” is the one plant that we purchased at the Master Gardener Plant Sale. There are a whole bunch of little fruits:

The west facing Iko Iko peppers. The white stuff is diatomaceous earth. It’s intended to discourage bugs:

The east facing Iko Iko:

Totally different… I’m not sure what to think.

The biggest King of the North:

Below is the first pepper that the bugs have ruined this year. I cut it open, and nothing was inside. I’m guessing earwigs or stinkbugs, or… If anyone could tell me what what’s causing it I’d really appreciate it:

Marketmore 76 cucumbers:

The Tromboncino. I think we’ll need to harvest the big ones to see new growth. As it is, they’re basically only making male flowers:

Still no powdery mildew, so that’s nice.

What I’ll call the first “real” caprese of the year. It’s our basil with store-bought everything else. The garlic-cilantro balsamic is by Eleven Olives. They’re local. Highly recommended:

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here.

The Tromboncino zucchini had two large fruits on one vine, so I harvested the larger one with the idea that the other would get bigger, faster.

(Left to Right)  —  20″ Trombocino zucchini (853 grams, 1.9 lbs).  6″ Marketmore 76 cucumber (251 grams, 0.5 lbs).  Boy Cat looking for interesting smells.  Kitchenaid mixer:

It feels like Marketmore cucumbers have been really “blocky” this year, at least so far.

(Picture taken at 9pm with natural light only, facing east. We just passed the solstice. I’m enjoying the late evening “bright” while it lasts.)

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here.  July 7, 2014 mini update here. July 7, 2013 update here. The 2013 post includes the “zucchini breakage disaster” and a picture of the raspberry plant when it was new.

This time I tried taking pictures at dusk. An overview from last night:

The peas in the front yard are dying from the bottom up. I think it’s too hot:

We left a few little peas on the vines to see if they’d get bigger. Everything else is in the colander. We’d been nibbling off of the plants — the total yield was maybe 50% more than this (it’s more than it looks like):

Considering the late start, I’m fine with that output.

The basil was well overdue for a haircut. I cut out most of the flowers. The bowl contains 1/4 pound of basil leaves:

An attempt at a different camera angle — standing next to the “pretty flower container”, looking towards the zucchini:

The “De Mipa” tomatillo is losing some leaves (note the yellow leaves on the right of the photo), but they’re all on the same position on each node (bottom center). The rest of the plant looks healthy. I’m guessing the plant is sloughing those off on purpose(?)

Cucumbers, Tomatillos, and Tromboncino zucchini. The nearer two trellises are 6′ tall, the rear trellis is 8′. The “De Mipa” is the sprawling tomatillo. The “Mexican Strain” is now growing over the top of the trellis. It’s a good combination from a space-utilization perspective:

Closeup of the Tromboncino trellis:

I’d pruned out a few of the worst looking “loser” leaves earlier in the day. Overall though, they’re still looking pretty healthy and there’s no sign of powdery mildew. The back-right Tromboncino is around 24″ long:

The determinate tomato plants are in full output mode. The Taxis:

The Romas. A different cluster of fruits from last week’s picture, these are on the west side of the plant:

A big, fat Marketmore 76 cucumber that I found while poking around taking pictures. A fun surprise:

National Pickling cucumbers, getting there. 6″ is full size:

(For reference, the “Calypso” are full-sized at 3″ long.)

There are a bunch of Lemon cucumbers around this size. They will will double or triple in size before they’re ready:

 

I think we’re about to get overwhelmed with veggies.

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here.  June 28, 2014 post here.  June 23, 2013 post here.

An overview picture:

We’re still ahead of last year. I’d attribute that to better weather, mostly. We also made a point not to cramp the plants quite as much this year.

We’re also learning as we go — in late June 2013 I was trying to nurse along lettuces. Now I save my effort for stuff that’s inclined to cooperate.

One thing that I noted in the 2013 post was the absence of predatory insects. We had lots of leafhoppers and some aphids. Now we have lots of predators, especially wasps and spiders. I’ve only seen a couple of leafhoppers. Hopefully that’s “equilibrium”.

The flower barrel is much happier lately — I threw a little fertilizer into the container, and we increased the plant density. I think there’s less direct sun hitting the dirt now, and it’s reducing the amount of evaporation, leading to less stress on the plants… That’s my theory for now anyway:

The “late peas experiment” is going well. We’re now harvesting super sugar snap peas:

The pot of raspberries is doing well too. On a typical day we harvest 3-6 of them. It’s a nice little treat:

The basil needs a serious haircut. I’m guessing that will happen on Tuesday:

The King of the North are our biggest and earliest peppers again:

And:

The Roma tomatoes:

Tigerallas:

The tallest of the Tromboncino are now climbing over the top of the 8′ trellis:

A reverse-angle view:

 

We’re going to have a lot of zucchini soon. I didn’t get a picture of the 6-12 largish fruits at the bottom of the plants..

 

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here.  June 21, 2014 post here.  June 16, 2013 post here.

More beautiful, warm weather means more happy plants. The overview:

The basil is … sprawling:

The Sun Gold tomatoes:

The Sweet Millions are at more or less the same stage:

The first little Jalapeno:

One of the two Lemon cucumbers in the southeast corner is shriveling, but only the bottom leaves. It’s been going on for more than a week. If the top starts to go we’ll cut out the plant. This is the perfect example of why I don’t like to prune to one plant per hole:

The earliest cucumbers — “Calypso”:

The Tromboncino zucchini is well taller than the door. Still no sign of powdery mildew. The milk treatment is “working”. Or it’s still just early:

Zucchini flowers:

The biggest fruit. It’s going to be dinner sometime this week:

The tomatillos. They can’t be controlled. Or contained:

The peas by the front door are doing their thing, finally:

Probably my favorite cartoon:

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here.  June 21, 2014 post here.  June 16, 2013 post here.

Reviewing the pictures, this post is very similar to the June 21 post of last year. I even took pictures of most of the same things (Oregon Spring tomatoes, King of the North Peppers, the first Tromboncino zucchini.)

But I’m just now figuring that out, so here goes, starting with the overview:

Overall, I’d say we’re basically one week’s growth ahead of last year.

The basil — The mass is loosely the same as 2014, it’s just sprawled out:

The Tromboncino zucchini. They’re a little less than six feet tall:

The biggest zucchini. It’s around 4-5 inches long:

The tomatoes are trying to escape their cages. This one had to be coaxed back in:

The Oregon Spring:

It feels like we’re not seeing as many bees this year. Hopefully they’ll find the tomatillos attractive over the next few days:

The biggest King of the North. I may hit them with diatomaceous earth sooner than later. In theory it should keep the earwigs from eating holes in the peppers:

Because I haven’t done a picture of these in a while, the Marketmore 76 cucumbers:

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here. June 7, 2014 post here. June 9, 2013 post here.

Things have changed a lot in two years. The cucumbers and peppers are much larger this year than in 2013. I think a big part of that is because we spread the cucumbers out more — the EarthBox instructions call for four in a row along one side of the box. This year we put two on each side with the fertilizer strip down the middle. There is only one “Calypso” — it’s not competing with anything else, and it’s growing faster than every other cucumber we have. It has blooms! Progress!

(In theory the right answer is to prune out the weakest zucchini and cucumbers and leave only one per hole. I’m hesitant to do that though, because if something happens to the solo plant we’re starting over from scratch. This year we pruned the cucumbers back to two per hole, mostly. However, if the “Calypso” continues to beat the bejeezus out of the other cucumbers then we maybe we’ll need to take a deep breath and go with one per hole in the future… Ultimately the final yield will tell use what to do — two plants at 60% production create more food than one plant at 100%… we’ll see how it shakes out.)

Clockwise from front right on a very bright day:  “Calypso” cucumber, Lemon cucumber (2), National Pickling cucumber(2), Lemon cucumber (2) –

For comparison, here are the 2013 Marketmore cucumbers. (This year’s Marketmores are similar to the picture above):

The photo below is facing north. It’s a direction I don’t usually use to take pictures-

Left side, front to back – basil, peppers, tomato

Center – Marketmore cucumbers, pretty container, tomatoes

3rd row – cucumbers, tomatillo, tomato

Far back right – Tromboncino zucchini

A more conventional view. Tomatoes and zucchini on the left. Peppers in the front. The basil (front right) is still floppy, but it’s now growing upwards:

A closeup of the Tromboncino zucchini. The four plants have been trained to their own “space”. One plant on one half of each side of the A-frame trellis. Note the complete absence of powdery mildew.. so far the 1/3 milk spray is working. Or it’s just early yet:

The tomatillos. “De Mipa” on the left. “Mexican Strain” on the right. The “De Mipa” is doing it’s usual flopping thing, and “Mexican Strain” is catching up:

Next week I’ll try to get pictures in the early morning before the direct sun kicks in. I think that makes for much better photos. Today that wasn’t a possibility. Hopefully by next week we’ll have a lot more little veggies to look at.