Tomatos

 Bloody Butcher Tomato - purchased from The Seed Bank in Petaluma, CA - Planted 4/1/12, all seeds sprouted, (four per cell) thinned seedling replanted 4/22/12. Will plant in the garden when they are a little larger, and when I can set up some fencing around the raised bed to keep the dog out of it.

Today I planted tomatoes that were purchased, four cherry red tomatoes from a six pack that I bought at OSH about a month ago.  They've been on my windowsill waiting for the weather to be warm enough to plant. They had grown pretty tall, so I trench planted them, laying them sideways, and leaving just a bit sticking out from the top, so the plants will root well.

Tomato Arbunzyi purchased from Annies last weekend. Planted deep down and mounded soil up to encourage rooting.

Cedar Raised beds from Cedar Fencing Boards

Check out this great article from Alaskan DIY-er Ana White on building raised beds from cedar fence posts. Her blog also has other great building projects

http://ana-white.com/2010/05/hack-natural-rustic-cedar-raised-beds.html

Veggie Garden Fail

 

So I'm declaring my Veggie Garden a Fail for this year, The only thing I have harvested from the garden is some super tiny cherry tomatos, everything else has either died or failed to produce, and everything is stunted in it's growth. those sunflowers? they are supposed to be 10 feet tall. The corn is only a foot tall, and the artichocke only has the same 3 leaves on it as it had when I bought it. Clearly the cheap soil I bought did not have the nutrients I needed for a lush veggie garden. and the fertilizer I used was not cutting it.

Veggie Garden - Update 2

Updated list of what's in the raised bed: crossed out = dead, purple = newly planted

The List:

• Tomato (four varieties)
• cherry tomato
• eggplant
• cucumber
• crookneck sqaush
• cantelope
• watermelon
• nasturiums
• artichoke
• corn
• snap beans
• edamame
• sunflower edible
• sunflower decorative
• carrot
• more corn
• broccoli
• decorative corn
• snow peas

A lot of stuff is stunted/dying but I'm holding out some hope, it's not too late to replant some items, and hopefully they'll take off.

Veggie Garden - Update

Here's the Veggie garden a month later:

Well so far most everything is still alive after a month of being in the ground, which is further than I was last year...Today I put some veggie fertilizer down because some of the plants are looking a little yellowish, and since the flowers have tended to dry up rather than turn a color and fall off, I'm thinking there is some kind of nutrient deficiency... Hopefully the generic veggie food will help.

The Tomatos are looking the most promising, there are two regular and five cherry with little green fruits on them that will be ready to eat in a few weeks.

The corn is starting to come up they are about 4" tall, the sunflowers are doing well so far, and the squash is taking off.

The cucumbers are bouncing back from getting a little crispy over an overly hot weekend, there are two miniscule cucks starting...

The potato died - but left me one small new spud. It was a transplant that grew in my compost heap.

The cantelope is not looking like it's going to make it, I think a squirrel sat on it and cruched it. The Garbanzo bean plant was attacked and two of the three "branches" were snapped off.

Oh - The dog is well trained and stays out of the raised bed. Even if the ball falls into the bed during a game of fetch she'll just stand at the edge and look at you to get the ball for her.

Veggie Garden

This is attempt #3 in 3 years at a veggie garden in our back yard.

History:

The first year I tried growing veggies in pots, I got a few tomatos, a miniature butternut squash, a mini watermelon, and a gigantic zuchinni, but that's it. That winter I planted Fava Beans as a cover crop in an area that I planned to make a veggie bed, and while the fava beans did very well, I failed to grow anything at all in the bed over the summer. The cover crop was not enough on it's own to make a good growing medium for the plants, and they all stayed about the size they were when I bought them in the nursery.

This year, I filled the bed with new soil, and am trying a random assortment of veggies.

The List:

• Tomato (four varieties)
• cherry tomato
• eggplant
• cucumber
• crookneck sqaush
• cantelope
• watermelon
• nasturiums
• artichoke
• corn
• snap beans
• edamame
• sunflower edible
• sunflower decorative