Experiment: Tomato Cloning

So the branch of the Big Boy that broke off and I soaked in water for a few days I stuck in a small little transplant pot with some potting soil and a little vermiculite and its rooted!!!! It looks great and I think is even growing! However the Cherry isn't doing so hot, Its starting to root but nothing like the Big Boy did. We will get some pictures up later!

News: Jalapenos

Well so far so good, we had to deal with some pests the last couple days but we think they are under control now and everything seems to be going well. I picked a couple jalapenos the other day that were ready and put a few slices on a turkey sandwich.... Holy Sh%$ were they Hott!  I just picked 2 more yesterday if anyone wants any I don't think I will be using all of them so let me know.

News: Fu%$ing Pickle Worms!

We were out looking at the cucumbers last night and found 3 or 4 damn pickle worms! also some nice chunks out of some of the foliage. I guess it's time to spray some insect killer I don't want to lose my Cucs! Organic < Healthy Plants.

Pics: Cucumbers & Eggplant

We found our first cucumber today as well as the first flower on our eggplant take a look!

First Cucumber!

Eggplant Flower

More Eggplant Flowers

Close up 

Pretty

Video: Tomato Update 10/28

Go Check out the Video Updates of our Garden by clicking the links below! 

Tomato Update 10/28

Garden Update 10/28

News: New Tall Bed!

We made a new box today for the sole purpose to grow some underground veggies like carrots, turnips, radishes, garlic and possibly some onions. We constructed two 4' by 2' boxes that were 8 inches tall, and placed them on top or each other.  We then secured them together and filled with some really good soil, chicken manure, and a big bag of potting soil to help with moisture control and proper drainage.  We will now let this bed sit for a couple days turning over the soil a couple times then will start to plant!

The Right side is full of 6 rows of carrots! The left side are bush beans, and in the middle is a Zucchini-Squash!

Thats where all the Carrot seeds are planted hopefully the sprout!

News: New Additions!

Okay so the Bok Choy didn't end up doing very well after a couple weeks and died off except for one plant, so we removed them from the first cement bed and added some really nice little Zucchini-Squash to the front, if all goes well they should get huge! We also pulled the snow peas up because we reconfigured the trellis situation, and planted them in a small circle where we placed a small tomato cage around them in hopes that they will climb away!  I didn't have enough room for the other two Zucchini-Squash plants because they get so big, however I planted them in 2 separate pots if anyone is interested in growing them I would be happy to hand them over just leave a comment on this post.  We also planted some Cucumber seeds in some trays, I believe they are Market more 76's to see what happens.  Janelle and mom also got some new herbs gong on, they planted some in some baskets we had laying around the house. Will have pics up later!

Experiment: Pumpkins

In spirit of Halloween we carved pumpkins! They came out great and were lit up for a few nights on the porch. We had a blast making a mess cleaning them out, getting seeds and pumpkin goo everywhere! We roasted the seeds and found a few we forgot out on the porch. So we did what any plant loving gardener would do, planted them! We checked them daily and for about a week...nothing. A week and a half later, we have pumpkins sprouting! They will soon be transplanted and put in the garden. I highly recommend ANYONE trying this, from what we've read it is one of the easiest things to grow and with little work! We're so excited and have high hopes of carving our very own pumpkins next year, not to mention maybe some yummy pumpkin pies!

That's only 2 weeks after planting the seeds!

Experiment: Cloning Tomatoes

So I accidentally broke the main stem on one of my big boy tomato plants and tried to save it however it was to broken so instead I cut it off hopefully saving the plant, and placed the remaining part of the stem on a cup of water which I will keep in there for a few days changing the water everyday.  Hopefully if all goes as planned the stem ill begin to root and I can place it right next to its ol' friend in the new tomato box and successfully clone a big boy plant!  I also am doing the same with a big sucker off my other cherry plant I will get pics up asap and keep everyone posted on hows it goes!

News: New Fall/Winter Bed Update!!!

So the new Fall/Winter bed has been in the ground about 3 weeks now and all the plants are getting fat and happy! 

This was the bed 2 days after we planted it. 

This is only 2 and a half weeks later! Everything is growing great with the exception of the cucumbers, their taking a little longer but still getting greener!

Collards after a week...

Now after 4 weeks!

Zucchini. 

More Zucchini.

Giant Black Beauty Eggplant!

The Green Onions!

Cauliflower!

Broccoli. 

Green Pepper #1.

Green Pepper #2.

Jalapenos.

The only surviving Bok Choy of the 4 we planted. 

More pics to come! Keep Checking Back!

News: Tomato Bed #1 Update!!!

So they have been planted now for about 2 and a half weeks, and they have all grown about a foot and started really blossoming! I got 2 big Romas so far a bunch of Cherries and about 10 Moby Grapes all growing! Take a look!

Thats the bed now only 2 weeks later!

Those are the Romas.

Moby Grapes.

And the cherries.

Their all coming very well and we will keep posting new pics as they continue to grow!

News: Project Save The New Tomatoes!

So we had to build a new box yesterday to plant the new tomatoes that we took out of the buckets, and we decided to go with a smaller one this time.  We made a 7 by 3 foot box 8 inches tall instead of our normal 10 inches, and it turned out very nice.  It should be really interesting to see whether this box grows better than the first tomato box.  This new one has great soil and a lot of organic material also a lot of peat moss (which were trying for the first time) mixed in for good water retention and drainage.  We have a few different types of tomatoes in the new one including a hybrid yellow cherry, a heirloom variety called Mr. Stripey which looks kinda like a pumpkin, a couple big boys, a celebrity, a Phoenix and a better boy. We also added some marigolds to keep the root eating bugs away! check out the pics!

One Half.

Bad Picture I will get a better one tomorrow. 

Our first celebrities.

Better boys.

Hybrid Yellow Cherries.

The Mr. Stripey you can kinda see what they are gonna look like, pretty awesome!

We will be back with pics next week!

Experiment: 5 Gallon Bucket Growing

This week we checked out a different nursery and found a bunch of beautiful tomato plants.  We bought 4 of them different varieties, a big boy, better boy, super 100, and a phoenix and planted them in 5 gallon buckets!  Were going to give container growing a shot and see how it works compared to our raised beds! ***EDIT*** I did the bucket soil wrong and to save my plants Janelle and I are making a new bed today to transfer them into!!!! At least now I know what to do next time!

News: New Beds!!!

Cement Beds.

We made two more beds yesterday out of some old cement pavers we found laying around the yard!  They are about 4 feet wide by 3 feet long.  We built them right up against the fence that leads to our garden so we could plant some vine veggies that will climb! We've got some lima bean seeds planted right on the fence and some other bush beans growing in the other, along with some colorful  Bok Choy and a big beautiful Jalapeno I got for 4 bucks!!! It already has fruits growing and was neglected by the local nursery (it was growing 3 inches off the ground across a packed table about 3 feet across) I staked him up and he's already looking better!

The Jalapenos.

Two of the Bok Choy.

Bed 1, Were waiting to mulch the back until the row of bush beans sprout along the fence!

 Bed 2, one row of Lima Beans along the fence and 4 rows of bush beans between them and the Bok Choy.  Again waiting for them to sprout.

News: Early Fall Veggies!

Fall Planting
It's October and finally time to plant some new fall vegetables!  We added a new 9' by 3' raised bed for some extra space to our ever expanding garden!  We now have 3 wood beds and I'm currently working on 2 more made from some cement pavers I found laying around the yard.  The new bed contains a bunch of transplants we purchased from our favorite local nursery including Broccoli, Cauliflower, Zucchini, Green Onions, and some Super Slicer Cucumbers.

I made the trellis out of some old pieces of wood I found at work and some safety wire I had laying around the garage.  I only could get my hands on 4 little transplants so its all I could plant.  We originally wanted to to a whole bed of different varieties of cucs but I think we planted a little late, so we planted what we could find.   

    

These are some Zucchini we planted way too close together, I will be transferring the one in the middle to the new bed when its done later today. 

In the other bed we have some tomatoes going that we got from a local flea market for 2 bucks a piece! nice big beautiful transplants that I couldn't help but picking up, I got 2 nice Celebrities, 2 Romas, 2 Super-sweets, a Moby grape (which I had never heard of) and a Big Beauty Eggplant. 

Heres another homemade trellis I made out of some recycled PVC and some nylon crab line I had in my tackle box.  These are the Super-Sweets and the Moby's. As you can see they are beautiful and starting to blossom. 

Heres the Big Beauty Eggplant! hopefully we will get a few big Eggplants from this little guy!

Then in the first bed we have some real nice Okra growing, along with some Georgia Collards I picked up last week. This bed was just cleared of about 15 Black Eyed Pea plants who produced like crazy!

Here are a few of the Collards.

We will add some new pics when we get the other 2 beds finished!