Container Garden Update — August 28, 2016

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here.

August 30, 2015 post here. September 1, 2014 here. September 1, 2013 here.

Lots of sun this week — we finally got a chance to have a “tomato tasting” get-together. The Tuesday harvest:

(L-R) Paul Robeson, Sun Gold, Tigerella, Taxi, Oregon Spring, Black Krim. — Tomatoes (L-R) Paul Robeson, Yellow Pear, Sun Gold, Tigerella, Taxi, Oregon Spring, Black Krim.

Thursday was more tomatoes and a colander full of tomatillos. The tomatillos are starting to drop off of the plant in earnest, which I’m assuming means they’re ready. A thick layer of Sun Golds is hiding under the other tomatoes:

It seems like the Sun Golds always look like this, no matter how many we harvest:

The only really large Tromboncino. We may be getting near “done”:

Oregon Spring:

The “late” tomatoes are now ripening too. The first Romas:

Cherokee Purple (and Taxi):

Valencia:

It’s supposed to be cooler this week. (70’s and cloudy/light rain). I think fall is starting, so hopefully everything ripens quickly…. or else it’s just one of those years. There’s a reason basically all of our tomatoes varieties are “early”.

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Visit Dave at Ourhappyacres, host of Harvest Monday.

Container Garden Update — August 21, 2016

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here.

August 23, 2015 post here. August 24, 2014 post here. August 25, 2013 post here.

We had some nice sunny weather this week again. The garden ate it up. We’re now officially “in gear”.

To quote last year’s post:

47.1 pounds of produce this week, including 38.5 pounds of tomatoes.

The days are getting shorter, and the nights are getting cooler. The cucumbers are completely finished, and the Tromboncino may not be far behind. The tomatoes have begun to randomly drop fruit. If it’s not Fall already then it’s coming real soon.

…and 14.9 pounds this week. Roughly 1/3 tomatoes, 1/3 Tromboncino, and 1/3 cucumbers. On the bright side the cucumbers (and everything else) are still a long way from finished. And the weather has been much warmer lately. There’s still time for a late rally.

On to the pictures:

A Midweek Harvest:

Another Midweek Harvest:

Tromboncino, Sun Golds, Taxis, Tigerellas, and Lemon cucumbers.

Continue reading “Container Garden Update — August 21, 2016” →

Container Garden Update — August 14, 2016

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here.

August 16, 2015 post here. August 19, 2014 post here. August 10, 2014 post here. August 18, 2013 post here.

It’s been relatively hot and sunny this week. We had a few 80-ish degree days and the garden is loving it.

Friday’s harvest being inspected by the boy cat:

In the box (L-R) — Oregon Spring tomatoes, Taxi, Sun Gold, Marketmore cucumbers, Lemon cucumber. A Tromboncino zucchini is in the foreground.

The Tromboncino plant is still going strong, with lots of fruit in process. For size reference, the netting squares are 8″:

As I mentioned in the last post, we recently cleaned up the bottom of the tomato plants (on the left, below). Peppers are in the center. Basil on the right:

In 2015 we did the first “tomato tasting” on August 12. We’re a little ways away still. Hopefully it will happen within the next 10 days. Most of the tomatoes are now starting to color up.

The Tigerellas:

Taxis (which need to be cleaned up):

Sun Gold and Yellow Pear:

The peppers are ripening too:

The Serranos are going bonkers:

The basil looks good, mostly. It seems to benefit from aggressive pruning — I think it knows fall is right around the corner:

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Visit Dave at Ourhappyacres, host of Harvest Monday.

Container Garden Update — August 8, 2016

by A.J. Coltrane

It’s been more than two weeks since the last post, but then, I started this post on the 6th and today is the 8th, so you can kinda see how it’s been going around here…

Previous Update post here. August 2, 2015 post here. August 3, 2014 post here. August 4, 2013 post here.

The 2013 post includes the “search favorite” picture: “Girl Cat With Bags Of Green Stuff”:

…complete with a caption referencing the 2012 Olympics — “McKayla Is Not Impressed”.

Also — “Green Stuff” wasn’t legal in Washington state at that time, which I’m sure contributed to the popularity of the photo.

The garden is finally now producing. We had a smallish midweek harvest:

The Oregon Spring are far and away the best and earliest producers this year:

The Taxis are sharing a box with the Oregon Spring. They’re “next”:

The “overview” picture. Shortly after this photo we cleaned wonky leaves out of the bottom of the tomato plants. Next week’s picture will look very different:

Note the basil on the far right of the overview picture — we’ve been trimming it back far more aggressively this year and it seems to like it. A closeup:

I feel like we could trim the basil twice a week at this point and it would just grow faster. Maybe we’ve been “doing it wrong” all along.

The Yellow Pear tomatoes are starting to ripen (bottom right) — pictured with Sun Golds:

The Paul Robeson are rocking. I have high hopes that they’ll taste good:

Bell Peppers of some sort in the foreground. So far not many have been “bored”. We’ll see:

The cucumbers are now producing 2-3 fruits every couple of days:

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Visit Dave at Ourhappyacres, host of Harvest Monday.

Container Garden Update — July 24, 2016

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here. July 26, 2015 post here. July 27, 2014 post here. July 28, 2013 post here.

A quote from the 2015 post:

2013 total weight to date: 24.6 pounds

2014 total weight to date: 22.3 pounds

2015 total weight to date: 56.4 pounds

I believe we’re at less than ten pounds of produce so far this year. My guess is that 2015 was the “sunny and hot” outlier, and that 2016 is the “cool and cloudy” outlier… The weather this week is supposed to be sunny and warm, so hopefully the yield will start to look a little more normal soon.

I think the pictures this week are similar to last week’s — only a few peppers are really starting to show color.

The overview:

The “Marketmore” cucumbers:

The “bit of color” — Gypsy peppers:

“Verde” Tomatillos — the fruits are starting to fill the husks:

Basil and Marigolds:

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Visit Dave at Ourhappyacres, host of Harvest Monday.

Container Garden Update — July 17, 2016

by A.J. Coltane

Previous post here. July 19, 2015 post here. July 27, 2014 post here. July 21, 2013 post here.

We’ve been thinning out some of the Tromboncino zucchini with the idea that the plant only has a finite amount of energy to pour into fruits.

A photo of a few small zucchini and the first cucumber:

I tried to bend the Tromboncino over the top of the 8′ trellis. I’ve done it in previous years. This time I bent a little too hard, and the plant now has a 90 degree angle turn at the top. Hopefully it won’t die above that point:

Some of the basil became part of a pizza Margherita:

63% hydration, 3% oil. Last year's frozen "assorted tomatoes" as sauce. — 63% hydration, 3% oil. Last year’s frozen “assorted tomatoes” as sauce.

The Basil plants pose with Marigolds. Peppers back left, cucumbers back right:

The Taxi are getting close:

The Tomatillos continue to produce huge husks:

The Jersey Knight asparagus and strawberries now have a fence between them and the weeds. The strawberries came with the house. They were in a bad location, so we moved them. They’re loving the new place it seems:

An overview. Tomatoes on the left. Peppers front center. Basil on the right. Zucchini back left. Tomatillos back center. Cucumbers back right:

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Visit Dave at Ourhappyacres, host of Harvest Monday.

Container Garden Update — July 10, 2016

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here. July 12, 2015 post here. July 11, 2014 post here. July 14, 2013 post here.

More wet. More clouds. It’s been an overcast spring and summer. In comparison to 2015 we’re waaaay behind, and I doubt we’ll catch up.

Though taken in isolation we’re doing ok.

The overview photo:

Front: Tomatoes on the left, basil on the right, peppers in the center.

Standing near the leftmost pepper box:

The basil looks better at this point this year:

The cucumbers are not digging the rain:

Continue reading “Container Garden Update — July 10, 2016” →

Container Garden Update — June 26, 2016

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here. June 28, 2015 post here. June 28, 2014 post here. June 23, 2013 post here.

Looking at last year.. we’re well behind. For comparison, in 2015 the zucchini was already over the top of the 8′ trellis. It’s not 5′ tall yet this time.

Today has been one of the nicest, sunniest days we’ve had in a while. There are supposed to be at least a few more nice days coming up. I doubt we’ll equal last year’s overall production, but the improved weather should help pick things up.

A few of the plants are doing at least ok. The Oregon Spring are first on the scene, as usual:

The Tromboncino are growing. Hopefully we’ll be able to start harvesting in a week or so:

Standing next to the cucumbers, looking north at tomato plants:

The flowers in the whiskey barrels are doing well. The nasturtiums have completely overrun their container:

The tomatillos have lots of flowers too:

The boy cat hanging out in the shade:

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Visit Dave at Ourhappyacres, host of Harvest Monday.

Container Garden Update — June 16, 2016

by A.J. Coltrane

Previous post here. June 14, 2015 post here. June 21, 2014 post here. June 16, 2013 post here.

The weather lately has been all over the place. Looking at last year, overall we’re a little “behind”.

An overview:

[Tomatoes on the left, peppers in the front, basil on the right. The tall plants in the back center are tomatillos.]

It’s not super easy to see, but the Serranos (front right, rear right, center left) have gotten much much taller than everything else in this box:

Something ate a hole in one of the Gypsy peppers this week. I suspect earwigs again. In addition, a few other peppers had their leaves chewed on. As a remedy attempt I dosed a very few grains of Sluggo Plus at the bottom of each pepper plant. Normally I wouldn’t use that around veggies but I’m sort of out of answers. In any event, it was only 2-3 grains per plant.

Onward — We paired Taxi and Oregon Spring tomatoes again. They’re doing great:

They’re of comparable size and they’re both very early. No reason to mess with what works.

The cucumber plants are almost to the size where they can be threaded through the netting:

In the meantime, the cucumbers are sort of flopping everywhere.

Finally, we didn’t wind up with two Tromboncino this year. The smaller plants in the picture below are lemon cucumbers. Assuming that the cucumbers are allowed enough space to climb the trellis I think it’ll be fine. The sun came out from behind the clouds just as I took this photo:

More sun would be appreciated.

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Visit Dave at Ourhappyacres, host of Harvest Monday.

Peas, Garlic, And The Summer Garden Layout

by A.J. Coltrane

The summer garden layout from the 2nd-story deck:

Top left row (L-R): Basil, peppers, peppers, peppers, determinate tomatoes, indeterminate tomatoes.

Center row (L-R): Marigold whiskey barrel, trellised cucumbers, indeterminate tomatoes, indeterminate tomatoes x2

Bottom row (Trellises (L-R)), Tomatatillos. The far right box has Lemon Cucumbers and Tromboncino.

From the “front”:

To make room for everything the garlic had to be harvested:

I think overall the cloves were slightly smaller this year. It may be that they need more space, but it wasn’t a bad harvest.

Finally, the Super Sugar Snap peas that didn’t get eaten as they were harvested:

I count ten. I’m guessing we ate about half of them before the photo. It’s a good start.

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Plant list here.

Visit Dave at Ourhappyacres, host of Harvest Monday.