Container Garden Update — August 2, 2023. The Zucchini

Here in the Seattle area It’s been a dry summer and it’s also been relatively mild. The garden is doing fine, maybe developing a little more slowly than usual. We’ve harvested around 15 pounds of cucumbers, some early Oregon Spring tomatoes, Fortex (haricot vert / pole) beans, basil, and a few Tromboncino zucchini, including this one:

For reference, the table is 36″ in diameter. The fruit is 33″ long and weighs 4.3 pounds. I’m pretty sure this is a record for us. It may be that if left on the vine it would have gotten even larger, but it also might have started the transition to “yellow winter” squash, and that’s not what we had in mind.

I wasn’t able to get a photogenic picture of it on the vine. The next picture shows what that looks like. (2014 photograph):

We like to grow the Tromboncino variety for a few reasons: We like the firm texture of the flesh. The seeds are all in the ball at the end, the rest of the zucchini is totally usable. The plants themselves are relatively mildew resistant, and because they can be trellised they work well with the fact that we’re gardening on a concrete patio.

Another picture of the “new” zucchini for fun, this time posing on a 4′ long table with the kitchen appliances and a vase full of tarragon:

The next post will have pictures things besides Tromboncino. By mid-August The Ripening should be in full swing.

The 2022 Garden Plant List

The 2022 garden plant list. Starting with a photo from the front, facing East:

The sun is just coming over the house catching the tops of the poles in front.

Left to right. Front: Rattlesnake (pole) beans (about 18), Roma Tomato (2 plants), Oregon Spring (2 plants), Roma Tomato (2 plants), Carmen Peppers (6 plants), King of the North Peppers (6 plants).

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An Improvised Ultomato Stake Trellis, And An Update To The 2014 A-Frame Trellis Post

I originally posted about the A-frame style trellises in 2014. The external links on that post are dead now, so today’s post includes an update with a few close-ups and explanations of the details of construction.

First the improvised Ultomato trellis:

I’m hoping this is a more stable answer than putting the stakes directly into the boxes — almost every year at least one pepper box has toppled over on a windy day when the plants are heavy with fruit.

This was done with 60″ Ultomato stakes and held together with cable ties. It barely covers two 30″ EarthBoxes lengthwise. The commonly available 48″ stakes would work too, but would only cover one box. The “X’s” at the ends are 24″ wide.

I built this by myself, though an extra set of hands would have been very helpful, especially in the early stages. I wound up creating both “X’s”, then leaning one against a wall and loosely attaching the cross-pieces to the “X” leaning against the wall, then attaching cross-pieces to the “free end” I was holding up. Then I again tightened all the ties once it was standing on its own. It all fell over a few times but eventually it cooperated.

The cross pieces pictured below are separated by 12″, which is the length of the Ultomato clips:

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