Zuchinni producing flowers

Not much of an update this time.   The zuchinni is starting to produce flowers which in turn will fruit.  As you can see it has quadrupled in size since I planted it.  Other things of note is the Lemon cucumbers are a no go.  The 2009 seeds apparently are no good.  So they will be discarded.  My seed potatoes are finally starting to chit.

Adjusting the spray heads

The wax beans are now starting to come in and the 180 degree spray head is no longer suitable.  In its place are three 360 degree sprinkler heads.  They have been adjusted to only water in the space allocated for the beans.



It is important to weekly check your system as the small spray and drip heads are easily clogged.  This was the case with the strip sprayer on the peas.  The obstruction could not be cleared so I put in a spare.  Also you can see the twine I strung between the bamboo poles for the peas to climb.

Seedlings - wax beans and okra

Things are really starting to take off.  In this first picture is my second bed.  On the right hand side you can see that the yellow wax beans have really taken off.  The peas are on left side.  I have put 3 foot bamboo posts in and will run twine between them.  This will allow the peas something to climb.  The beans will also get type of support.



Bed three has the two okra seedlings up front.  They look really good and hopefully will produce well.  In the center is that eggplant.  Then 4 different tomatoes on the left and 2 different bell peppers on the right.  Tomorrow a hot red cherry pepper will be planted.  I will be pickling those when they come in.

The eggplant is indestructible

So after pulling the plastic off the garden yesterday the eggplant looked like it was dead.  Well one day later and it is back strong.  There are a couple leaves that look like the cold got to but other than that its healthy.  On another note a couple of carrots have sprouted.

Status update

Today I took the plastic sheet off the planter beds.  It seems that the cold only killed one plant and that was the eggplant.  I will give it a couple of days to see if it comes back.  Some of the seeds I planted have sprouted.  The picklebush cucumbers, okra, and sugar beets have all sprouted.  Still to show up are the yellow wax beans, lemon cucumbers and carrots.

Cold weather preparation

So here in sunny Southwest Florida we are expecting low temps into the 30's.  This means its time to cover up the plants so that they survive the cold.  Most of the stores are out of the plant covering material but that is very expensive anyways.  I am using 3 mil plastic sheet found in the paint isle of Lowes.  It is not ideal but will work.  Other options people use are septic drain field liner and landscape weed block.  To hold it up off the tops of the plants I cut pvc pipe 18" in length and then pounded it into the ground.  The plastic sheet was put over the beds and held down with landscape stone.  We will see in a few days if the plants survived.

First blooms on the Roma tomatoes

In the past couple of days both of the Roma tomatoes have each produced a few flowers. From the time I have planted them they have doubled in size. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come.

New plantings - part two

This is bed number three.  I had two Roma tomatoes already planted and growing fast.   Today I put in a Atkinson tomato and a Yellow tomato.  That finishes out the row of tomatoes.  In the foreground is a Yellow bell pepper and a Red bell pepper.  Above that I planted two Okra seeds.  Finally in the center is a egg plant.  It looks pretty sick.  I bought it 3-4 days ago and had kept it in the house and watered. For the tomatoes and egg plant 2 gallon per hour drip heads were used. On the peppers I used 1 gallon per hour drip heads.



It only took it an hour in the soil, sunlight and water to come back!



Bed four is not too interesting as of yet.  There is the zucchini that was planted at the time of the original planting.  I seeded three Picklebush cucumbers at the far side.  In the middle I seeded three Lemonboy cucumbers.  Those seeds were from 2009 and hopefully will work.  If not I will go buy more. I used a 90 degree spray head for the seedlings. After the plants have grown to 2-4 inches I will install proper drip heads.



Til next time happy growing.

New plantings - part one

So I have had some time this Sunday to put in some more of my garden.  Here is bed one.  As you can see I had already planed a row of red and white onions.  Between the two rows of onions are carrot seeds.  They are orange, red, yellow, white and purple mix I bought off eBay.  In the past I have had mixed results with eBay and seeds so check the feedback and make sure it is positive.  On the other side of the 1/2 black plastic hose is another two rows of Georgia sweet onions.  They were picked up from Lowes in a bunch of 60.  I have used 23.  Off to the right in the center is 3 rows of sugar beets also from eBay.  Future plantings will include some celery and potatoes.  My initial plan was celerac but I am going to change those to container grown.  For the drip irrigation I put in a 90 degree spray head as individual drippers would be impractical.  The spray pattern is contained to about 7 inches outside the box.



Bed two already has a row of peas and three brussel sprout plants.  On the other side there are two rows of yellow wax beans planted.  A 180 degree spray was installed for the yellow wax beans and a strip spray for the peas.  Some more adjustment has to be done to the sprayer for the beans but that is for tomorrow night.

Peas make an appearance

About 7 days after I have planted the seeds the peas stuck their heads above ground.



Some more planting and seeding will continue tomorrow.