Food Plants:
I started getting some Sun Golds to snack on. The one in the container is heavy with them, so I should probably tie it up to the wall a little more. Its leaves look kind of off. They have a lot of pale spots on them? I don't know what that's about. The one in the raised bed is huge, of course. I think they have the same bio mass, just different shapes. The one in the raised bed should probably be tied up to the cage a little more because it's getting all rangy and messy looking.
The Brandy Boy is obviously not as big but it is putting on some nice sized green tomatoes. They're kind of weird shapes, and one of them looks like it split, really early in its growth. I know that's because I have been watering really sporadically. I'm watering now, but I need to get on a better schedule with it, like watering twice a week.
By the way, today I heard Mike McGrath say that there's nothing wrong with watering in the evening as long as it's at the roots and not wetting the leaves. I always knew that was true but I'm glad he said it out loud.
The beans are growing I guess, but not much yet. I really should have planted more of them, because they aren't really covering the trellis even. It's a month late to plant more, but I guess I could if I wanted to.
Also around there are the Strawberries. They keep putting out lots of runners and they're soon going to fill that space entirely, which is what I was going for, but they don't produce any berries really. Probably what I need to do is add some form of fertilizer, or some rock phosphate. I don't really know what else I need to do with them, They get a lot of sun...
The herbs in the pots are doing ok. They were real dried out yesterday, yet another thing I need to get on a good watering schedule. The Rosemary that I have in a pot on the ground is fine but it's starting to get totally shaded from the tomato, so I might need to move it.
The herbs in the raised bed are fine, of course. The Rosemary is great, the Parsley is finally taking off, and the Chives are going strong. The Chives are the only thing I've really used recently. The Sage is doing fine as well, although it's practically ornamental.
I am missing not having my Swiss Chard. But in reality, I don't have space for it. The two tomatoes take up the majority of the bed.
The Peppers seem pretty good. The "salsa" pepper is producing like crazy. There were 7 very large peppers on it today. I picked one, because it was hitting the soil below it and starting to curl in an unattractive way. I am leaving the rest on there because I want them to ripen up and turn red.
The Habenero hasn't put on any peppers at all. It's just now putting on some flowers.
I cleaned out some trays from the worm bin and put down the castings around the peppers, because I thought they could use some extra nutrition.
What should I have done differently? Or rather, what will I do differently next year?
- I will mark the Tomatoes with popsicle sticks so I don't mix them up again. I really wish I had the container tomato in the container, not the biggest, craziest tomato out there. And now I have no real idea how the Fresh Salsa tomatoes worked out. I can find out from my work friends who have them and maybe I can even adopt the one who is being left behind.
- I will space the Tomatoes wider in the raised bed. I think I spaced them more than I did last year, but I would put the one on the end right up against the edge, more or less, because it has plenty of room to grow out that way.
- I will try a real Heirloom, maybe? I guess that depends on how much success I have with my Brandy Boys. If I can pull that off, maybe I can handle a real Brandywine.
- Plant more beans. I'm not sure why I was so stingy with them.
- Start some Swiss Chard. I'm not sure where I will put it, but I do wish I had it.
Containers:
The window box is doing really well. The Calibrachoa look really nice and really healthy, but not as many flowers as I would like. So I mixed up some Miracle Grow flower food and dumped that on there. I'm worried I did too high of a concentration. I also have one Elf Sunflower that is getting ready to pop open. The others that I started in there are going pretty well.
The wall planter is such a nightmare. The Calibrachoa in there have never really bloomed. I think I should dig up some more Creeping Jenny to put in there. Of course the tall spiky thing is doing fine. I think those things might be fake.
In the Woolly Pockets, the Sweet Potato Vine is doing ok but not growing that fast. I did take some Creeping Jenny out of the ground and plopped it in there. I think it will do ok. I should probably do some more. Once it gets established in there, I think I might fertilize them because they are just not growing.
Side Bed:
I cut the roses way back, because they were mostly dead heads, and lots of tall spindly stems. But overall that bed is a total mess.
