Another week in the garden…

Garden Log

Container 1

Container 1 Progress

It’s worth noting that this container seems to have something wrong with its weed cloth. Whenever the water runs out it’s brown - full of dirt it looks like. I’m assuming it won’t be a problem before we take that container apart and plant something new in it.

  • Bush beans - I wouldn’t say these are doing so well. They look stressed and aren’t producing very many beans. I think it’s a combination of too much sun and the flowers crowding everything out.
  • Flowers - These things are monstrosities. I never wanted so many flowers :(
  • Ginger - I’m going to downgrade the ginger to merely ‘okay’. It doesn’t have nearly the zeal of the turmeric and the leaves are looking a bit anemic.

Container 2

Container 2 progress

The eggplant is a beast and continues to develop huge, healthy leaves and now, finally a beautiful flower:

Eggplant flowers

I can’t wait for eggplants!

Container 3

Container 3 Progress

This container is currently shaded.

  • Parsley - It seems fine for now, but still not very fruitful
  • Big pepper plant - I did a bit of pruning of some pathetic leaves and the scaly peppers and things have improved. The stress level of the plant is down I’d say and the peppers look healthy and continue to grow at a normal rate. The plant overall looks like it’s putting a lot of resources into the peppers but it doesn’t seem too harmed by it so far.
  • Pepper sprouts - I had a pepper fall off due to wind, so I planted the pepper seeds and have been keeping the soil moist. No sprouts yet - I’ll keep my eye on them.
  • Turmeric - The turmeric shoots are lovely and huge! Definitely healthy.

Fruit Trees

A friend at work generously brought a small papaya tree to me, so now we have this:

Papaya Tree

I’m not getting too excited because apparently papayas have three types of trees: boys, girls and both. The only tree that will produce fruit on its own is the both. The girl tree produces the fruit, but needs a male. The male tree doesn’t produce fruit. Time will tell which one we have.

Plan

Container 1

No idea what I’m going to do here. I have to pick the beans at some point. Maybe the bean plants will last until the fall.

Container 2

Just going strong - waiting for eggplants.

Container 3

I’m going to keep watering the seeds but otherwise just wait for the peppers to mature. Also, I need to keep up on pruning the pepper plant so it stays healthy.

Container 4 - Planned

Possible options:

  • Yellow squash
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Okra
  • Southern Peas
  • Sweet potatoes

I’m leaning toward cherry tomatoes at the moment.

Fall/Winter

We’d like the following plants:

  • Garlic
  • Onion
  • Green onion
  • Spinach
  • Kale
  • More greens
  • Carrots
  • Broccoli

I’d like at least 6 containers by October 1st.

Fruit Trees

We want the following fruit trees:

  • Avocado
  • Mango
  • Lime

Harvest Log

Harvest Date Green Pepper Tomato (Beefsteak) Beans Eggplant
Up to now 12 11 0  
6/17/17 2 5(3) 0  
6/24/17 0   0  
7/3/17 0   0 0
7/10/17 0   0 0
7/17/17 0   0 0
Total 14 14 0 0

To Do

  • Research when to harvest beans

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