New additions to heal our grieving hearts

Almost forgot – since the loss of the zucchini freed up some space, we decided to see if there was anything decent left out there for purchase.  Lowe’s came through (thanks Bing for the tip) – we picked up a bell pepper plant, a cucumber plant, and some more basil.  The pepper plant is in the zucchini spot (with room for friends if we find some) and I put the cuke and basil in containers.

Speaking of basil, I’ve got a post brewing to gripe about the lifecycle of my herb garden this year.

Fresh caviar and more additions

You’d think fresh caviar’s a good thing, right? Not so much.

Several notes and photo roundup

Several quick notes and a full photo roundup from this evening, 06/15/2008:

• We added a few new members to the veg/herb garden this weekend: habanero, peppermint, oregano, and more basil. I wanted to get a serrano pepper as well, but couldn’t find one. The lady at the nursery tried to convince me that “hot chili” pepper was basically the same, but I wasn’t sold. I didn’t recognize the variety, but it looked small, red, and hot. Not what I wanted.

• The cilantro I planted in early may has already begun to flower. I haven’t even really had a chance to use it yet. Why the heck does cilantro bolt so quickly? Is there any way to slow it down? I looked around this weekend for more cilantro seedlings, but no one had any. Bad sign. I’m going to go ahead and let it go to (coriander) seed, and then save and dry the seeds for later use.

• We added a bunch of marigolds and nasturtiums to the beds (particularly by the tomatoes) for their companion properties – pest resistance and predatory insect attraction. I used this site as a guide. Apparently, nasturtiums are entirely edible, and their seeds can be pickled and substituted for capers. Someone’s lox-and-cream-cheese bagel will be appreciating that in a month or two, I’m guessing.

• Some of the tomato fruits are coming along nicely, but a few of the plants still have yet to pollinate their blossoms. I’m blaming the wet weather and hope it turns around shortly. It kills me to see all these blossoms dying on the vine.

The infestation theme continues … and we planted some beans

First up, we have a frequent visitor to the garden (and house) now … his name is Pepe Le Pew and he’s pretty camera shy. This is the best shot I could get so far:

He showed up yesterday actually inside the house – Gabby tracked him down while he was checking out Leeloo’s bed. I shoo’ed him out several minutes later but now he keeps hangin’ round the deck. Dude loves hangin’ out in the sun but does not want to stand still for his glamour shot.

In other news, tonight I went out back to plant the Blue Lake bush beans .. and encountered some other most definitely unwelcome visitors in the ornamental bed right by the veg beds (large picture warning).

From what I can tell, they look like red spider mites. I’ve attached the uncompressed picture so someone can help me identify them. Google tells me this is not a great sign. Looks like the best treatment option is insecticidal soap. Since I don’t have any just yet (perhaps I can make some), I went ahead and blasted them off the rocks with the hose. We’ll see if they show up again tomorrow.

I did get the green beans planted though (in the east bed) – 1 4 ft. row, give or take (had to work around the soaker hose).

Fifty-five days later and we might be eating some beans.

Out with the old, in with the new (pepper)

Turns out, 2 of our 4 jalapeño plants lost the will to live. When we got them, they had partially broken stem but tried to soldier on despite their disabilities. Alas, it was not to be, and today I finally threw them in Olathe’s compost pile.

The good news is, this freed up some space for a new veg. Now filling the void is a sweet (red) pepper, capsicum annum, “Red Beauty”. We’ll be calling her Rosey. I’ve transplanted her to the old jalapeño container and she’s currently waiting in the garage for the sun to go down to ease her transition to her new life.

Pics of Rosey in her new home:

Welcome Shaggy to the party

Please welcome our newest tomato plant, Shaggy, to the party.

With many thanks to my friend George “WisCarney” Fehrenbach, we now have a Cherokee Purple (heirloom) tomato in the garden. Georgey raised Shags from seed he saved from last year’s harvest, so this plant’s got a history.

Shaggy is so-named because he’s part of a tag-team of Cherokee Purples – we separated him from his brother Scooby just before planting. Scoobs is now recovering happily in a pot and will soon be planted in the depths of Independence Hell (i.e., Bing’s back yard).

Planted tomatoes, zucchini, and herbs … built badass trellis

We got the majority of the organic garden transplants yesterday from Bear Creek Farms and got everything planted today.

Container herbs:

• Parsley – Italian flat leaf – 3 seedlings, big pot
• Cilantro – 2 seedlings, big pot
• Basil – Italian – 2 seedlings, medium pot
• Rosemary – 2 seedlings, medium pot
• Thyme – standard – 1 (really large) plant, long rectangular pot

Container plants:

• Pepper – Jalapeno – 4 seedlings, 2 large pots
• Tomato – Black Cherry (heirloom) – really large pot

For a potting mix, we used a blend of Fertilome potting mix and Summer Field Farms “Professional Potting Soil” (mix of pine bark and compost). The Fertilome is pretty light and the SFF mix is somewhat heavy, so we used more of the former than the latter.

Raised bed (east) plants:

• Tomato – Prue (heirloom, paste)
• Tomato – Green Zebra (heirloom, medium size)
• Tomato – German Johnson (heirloom, beefsteak size)
• Zucchini – Spineless Beauty – 4 seedlings

We planted the tomatoes about 24 inches apart from each other, in a square, and the zucchinis about 8 inches from each other, with the intention of keeping the healthiest of the plants and giving away the rest of them.

We watered the plants in (not the herbs) with Nature’s Creation Liquid Plant Food per the instructions and mulched all the plants (not the herbs) with shredded hardwood mulch.

On the hardware front, we installed our cattle panel trellis for the tomatoes – 8 vertical feet of growing room for those babies. We’ll never be able to reach the top but they’ll have a good time growing.

Pictures of the aftermath:

Planted lettuces, onions and radishes

Sowed seeds for the following in the west raised bed:

• Radishes – French Breakfast – 1 4 ft. row
• Radishes – Cherry Belle – 1 4ft. row
• Green onion – Evergreen Bunching – 1 4 ft. row
• Lettuce – Mache – 1 4 ft. row
• Lettuce – Rouge d’Hiver – 1 4 ft. row
• Lettuce – Mesclun Mix – 1 4 ft. row
• Lettuce – Arugula – 1 4 ft. row

Planted carrots

Sowed seeds for the following in the west raised bed:

• Carrots – Red Core Chantenay – 1 4 ft. row
• Carrots – Danvers – 1 4 ft. row