Hello Everyone out there.
Here is an update on the garden and what to expect this weekend. I am going to finish out the last of the beds this weekend so everything should be set. The plan is that we will build three more 4x4 beds to house peppers, squash, another type of tomato, and Isaac's pumpkins. I also will be building a small bed for an herb plot which I will be filling with basil, cilantro, dill, and some chives. Should be a pretty filled weekend.
Hopefully, there will not be any storms.
Everything continues to grow. I just wish the okra would grow a bit faster. I have re-seeded several plants and hope to squeeze them in before fall gets here.
Well hope to add some pictures tomorrow of our progress.
Joe Delk
Friday, May 27, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Long Time - No Update
Hello everyone out there. Here is the latest update from the garden. Pictures will follow tonight.
We have had another tragedy in the garden and it is no one's fault but mine. I left to go on vacation and we had a heat wave here in Ringgold while I was gone. The casualties were severe in the garden. A list of them is below:
8 Poinsett Cucumbers
1 Cherry Tomato Plant
6 Silver Queen Corn Plants - Not dead but look terrible
1 Sumter Cucumber Plant
All of the Midnight in Moscow seedlings
Isaac's Pumpkins
The Squash that was still in cups
The Better Boy Tomatoes that were still in cups
It was hard to see this but I blame myself. Luckily, thanks to Bonnie Plants, we have replaced most of the damage and have added a few more. I must say if I have learned one thing from all of this, planting from seeds is cheaper but a lot harder.
The Better Boy Tomatoes are still doing good. One of them now has a stake to hold it up. I will probably replace the stake with a string trellis this weekend. I have already had to prune back the blooms on all the plants twice already and one them three times. I think this will be the last though because I want them to get some height before they start to fruit.
The Fordhook Zucchinis are doing well with the exception of one plant (it is still small). I did find last night that there were three female flowers on it now and that is a good thing because that means three zucchinis will be ready for harvest next week.
Clemson Okra is still growing but it is painfully slow. I planted three Bonnie Plant ones a few nights ago to help fill in the gap.
The beans plants are going well, however, half of the seeds failed to germinate. I will also have to build a trellis for them as well. The Silver Queen Corn is still alive but will probably have to be replaced. I will try and sow some more of those tonight or tomorrow.
I planted 6 Straight Eight cucumber plants yesterday to replace the 8 Poinsetts that were lost and hopefully they will do well.
A side note, my first attempt at growing roses has been well. We have already had 2 beautiful rose blooms and are working on the third and fourth ones. I will have to get pictures of those. The two marigold plants are doing wonderful but are started to get crowded out by the zucchinis. The Zinnia plants are also doing well.
We have had another tragedy in the garden and it is no one's fault but mine. I left to go on vacation and we had a heat wave here in Ringgold while I was gone. The casualties were severe in the garden. A list of them is below:
8 Poinsett Cucumbers
1 Cherry Tomato Plant
6 Silver Queen Corn Plants - Not dead but look terrible
1 Sumter Cucumber Plant
All of the Midnight in Moscow seedlings
Isaac's Pumpkins
The Squash that was still in cups
The Better Boy Tomatoes that were still in cups
It was hard to see this but I blame myself. Luckily, thanks to Bonnie Plants, we have replaced most of the damage and have added a few more. I must say if I have learned one thing from all of this, planting from seeds is cheaper but a lot harder.
The Better Boy Tomatoes are still doing good. One of them now has a stake to hold it up. I will probably replace the stake with a string trellis this weekend. I have already had to prune back the blooms on all the plants twice already and one them three times. I think this will be the last though because I want them to get some height before they start to fruit.
The Fordhook Zucchinis are doing well with the exception of one plant (it is still small). I did find last night that there were three female flowers on it now and that is a good thing because that means three zucchinis will be ready for harvest next week.
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| Zucchinis Growing ! |
Clemson Okra is still growing but it is painfully slow. I planted three Bonnie Plant ones a few nights ago to help fill in the gap.
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| Bonnie is in the center of the ones I started |
The beans plants are going well, however, half of the seeds failed to germinate. I will also have to build a trellis for them as well. The Silver Queen Corn is still alive but will probably have to be replaced. I will try and sow some more of those tonight or tomorrow.
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| Beans and Corn! |
I planted 6 Straight Eight cucumber plants yesterday to replace the 8 Poinsetts that were lost and hopefully they will do well.
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| The Straight 8's with the wilted Poinsetts |
A side note, my first attempt at growing roses has been well. We have already had 2 beautiful rose blooms and are working on the third and fourth ones. I will have to get pictures of those. The two marigold plants are doing wonderful but are started to get crowded out by the zucchinis. The Zinnia plants are also doing well.
 | |
| Sunbright Rose Bloom |
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| Marigold Growing |
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| Jocelyn's 1st Zucchini - It's a baby |
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
April 26, 2011 Update
Hello everybody out there. Today I bought the lumber I need for the final bed. I will buy some of the dirt tomorrow on my way home from work and hopefully build some of it. I really need to do this because of the pumpkins and get them in the ground so they can grow.
I also need to get this bed built so I can get spots for the final tomatoes and the last of the squash that I have.
The Chianti Rose and the Amish Paste and the Midnight in Moscow have all sprouted and are doing well. The Chianti Rose really surprised me today because three little sprouts popped up. It won't be long until I will have to thin them.
The two Zucchinis and the Cauliflower that Andy weeded are showing some signs of stress. Hopefully, they will make it through, but I may have lost three plants to little hands.
That is it for today. Hopefully God will allow everything to keep on growing.
I also need to get this bed built so I can get spots for the final tomatoes and the last of the squash that I have.
The Chianti Rose and the Amish Paste and the Midnight in Moscow have all sprouted and are doing well. The Chianti Rose really surprised me today because three little sprouts popped up. It won't be long until I will have to thin them.
The two Zucchinis and the Cauliflower that Andy weeded are showing some signs of stress. Hopefully, they will make it through, but I may have lost three plants to little hands.
That is it for today. Hopefully God will allow everything to keep on growing.
Monday, April 25, 2011
April 25, 2011 Update
Well there is a lot going on in the garden. So here is a quick recap. Pictures are included where available.
Finished the last 6' x 6' bed over the weekend and it is already full. I decided tonight that I really screwed up in my planning and over planted. I guess that is a good thing if I keep at it. I will need to build one final bed. This one will run the length of two of the 6' x 6' beds and will be the final holding place for my vegetables.
How things are growing:
Let's start with the little 4' x 4'. The broccoli is doing quite nice. Another head has started on it and it will not be long until Abby gets to have some more broccoli.
The Avens seems to have done its thing. It is simply building up foliage and not putting out any more flowers. Being as it is a perennial, I guess we will see what it does next year.
The Better Boy Tomatoes are still growing. I put stakes out next to them tonight. It will not be long until I will have to start staking them. I think I will build a twine trellis for them to grow up once they get going. I had to prune back some buds tonight to promote some more growth out of them before they start flowering.
Bed # 1 of the 6' x 6'. The Marigolds are still putting out some pretty blooms. They appear to be doing well.
The Zucchini is still growing. One of the ones in the back is showing some yellow on the edge of its leaves, but I think that had to do more with the fact we reached almost 90 today and it is still a young plant.
The Zinnia flowers are still growing some. Not much additional growth but they are going.
The Better Boy Tomato plant is also doing well in this bed. I also had to pluck some emerging buds from this one as well to keep it growing and not flowering.
Of the three Dixie Hybrid Squash I put in this bed, only two remain. I damaged one of them transplanting it to a Styrofoam cup and it never fully recovered. The first day it was in the ground it wilted and I soon plucked it out. I will probably replace it with a pepper plant in the near future.
Isaac went crazy Saturday for some Cauliflower. He wanted them really bad when we went to Walmart on Saturday. So I popped for the $1.75 and we bought some White Cloud Hybrid Cauliflower. We planted one in the first 6' x 6' bed and it is doing fine. We planted it Saturday night when it was cool.
Bed #2 of the 6' x 6'. In this bed I have the pride of our garden so far. 11 little Okra plants. I planted them from the Styrofoam cups and they are continuing to do well. They have added about a 1/2 inch of growth since the were moved last week.
I have also planted the four cherry tomatoes in this bed. They are doing well since they were just moved last Saturday night. Hopefully I can have some progress on their growth next week. Right now, still doing well.
In this bed there is also two more of the Cauliflower that Isaac wanted. They seem to have survived transplanting and are doing well. One even survived the tragic encounter with Andy's weeding ability. He also "weeded" two of the Okra plants as well, but they have survived so far.
Hopefully we will have some pictures of the 2nd 6' x 6' bed soon.
Bed #3 of the 6' x 6'. This one was just built on Friday and already it is full. How amazing is that! In this bed we have the 8 Poinsett Cucumber plants. They are doing well and have even showed some signs of growth since Friday via extra leaves that have popped out. I also will be building a twin trellis for these guys as well to grow up. I will be securing this to sides of the bed with the boards I got at work.
In the back of this bed is the little project the kids are most excited about: Corn. Each of the kids got to plant 2 seeds of corn in Styrofoam cups. Each cup had their name on it and the plants are transplanted in the order of birth. All of them are doing well and showed additional leaves today.
Last but not least, planted along with the corn are Kentucky Pole Beans. I planted these the way we used to plant them when I was younger. This will allow them to climb up the corn once they have sprouted. I soaked them overnight in water to help them germinate. I should start to see little bean sprouts by this weekend if not before.
We also planted off to the side of this bed some more green beans that I will have to support with a twine trellis as well.
Out side the beds. Isaac's Strawberry is still going. I will re-purpose one end of the long additional bed I am going to build with his Strawberry plant in the fall. Right now it cracks me up because we have some wild Strawberries growing next to the house and Isaac likes to go and pick those and then sneak off and eat them.
Right now all egg cartons are empty and disposed of. What germinated and took off I have moved to Styrofoam cups and are awaiting their day to grow big enough to be moved to their own bed. In these, I have Isaac's Pumpkins, which are going to force me to build the new bed quickly due to their size, three Roma Tomato Plants, one Better Boy Tomato plant (you may remember the tragedy of the other day) and the heirloom tomato plants. Three of the Midnight in Moscow plants have sprouted. Still waiting on the Chianti Rose and the Amish Paste Tomato.
Well I would say that is a good enough update for now. ... Almost forgot, the roses are still doing well. I have a Sunbright Yellow Rose and a Chrysler Imperial Red Rose. Both are showing signs of new growth and have really darkened their leaves. Hopefully they will continue since this is my first foray into rose gardening.
Finished the last 6' x 6' bed over the weekend and it is already full. I decided tonight that I really screwed up in my planning and over planted. I guess that is a good thing if I keep at it. I will need to build one final bed. This one will run the length of two of the 6' x 6' beds and will be the final holding place for my vegetables.
How things are growing:
Let's start with the little 4' x 4'. The broccoli is doing quite nice. Another head has started on it and it will not be long until Abby gets to have some more broccoli.
 |
| Packman Broccoli - still going strong |
 |
| Abby's future garden snack |
The Avens seems to have done its thing. It is simply building up foliage and not putting out any more flowers. Being as it is a perennial, I guess we will see what it does next year.
The Better Boy Tomatoes are still growing. I put stakes out next to them tonight. It will not be long until I will have to start staking them. I think I will build a twine trellis for them to grow up once they get going. I had to prune back some buds tonight to promote some more growth out of them before they start flowering.
Bed # 1 of the 6' x 6'. The Marigolds are still putting out some pretty blooms. They appear to be doing well.
The Zucchini is still growing. One of the ones in the back is showing some yellow on the edge of its leaves, but I think that had to do more with the fact we reached almost 90 today and it is still a young plant.
The Zinnia flowers are still growing some. Not much additional growth but they are going.
The Better Boy Tomato plant is also doing well in this bed. I also had to pluck some emerging buds from this one as well to keep it growing and not flowering.
Of the three Dixie Hybrid Squash I put in this bed, only two remain. I damaged one of them transplanting it to a Styrofoam cup and it never fully recovered. The first day it was in the ground it wilted and I soon plucked it out. I will probably replace it with a pepper plant in the near future.
Isaac went crazy Saturday for some Cauliflower. He wanted them really bad when we went to Walmart on Saturday. So I popped for the $1.75 and we bought some White Cloud Hybrid Cauliflower. We planted one in the first 6' x 6' bed and it is doing fine. We planted it Saturday night when it was cool.
Bed #2 of the 6' x 6'. In this bed I have the pride of our garden so far. 11 little Okra plants. I planted them from the Styrofoam cups and they are continuing to do well. They have added about a 1/2 inch of growth since the were moved last week.
 |
| Grow little Okra Grow! |
I have also planted the four cherry tomatoes in this bed. They are doing well since they were just moved last Saturday night. Hopefully I can have some progress on their growth next week. Right now, still doing well.
In this bed there is also two more of the Cauliflower that Isaac wanted. They seem to have survived transplanting and are doing well. One even survived the tragic encounter with Andy's weeding ability. He also "weeded" two of the Okra plants as well, but they have survived so far.
Hopefully we will have some pictures of the 2nd 6' x 6' bed soon.
Bed #3 of the 6' x 6'. This one was just built on Friday and already it is full. How amazing is that! In this bed we have the 8 Poinsett Cucumber plants. They are doing well and have even showed some signs of growth since Friday via extra leaves that have popped out. I also will be building a twin trellis for these guys as well to grow up. I will be securing this to sides of the bed with the boards I got at work.
 |
| Isaac posing like the crazy gardener he is |
In the back of this bed is the little project the kids are most excited about: Corn. Each of the kids got to plant 2 seeds of corn in Styrofoam cups. Each cup had their name on it and the plants are transplanted in the order of birth. All of them are doing well and showed additional leaves today.
 |
| Picture of one of Isaac's corn |
Last but not least, planted along with the corn are Kentucky Pole Beans. I planted these the way we used to plant them when I was younger. This will allow them to climb up the corn once they have sprouted. I soaked them overnight in water to help them germinate. I should start to see little bean sprouts by this weekend if not before.
We also planted off to the side of this bed some more green beans that I will have to support with a twine trellis as well.
Out side the beds. Isaac's Strawberry is still going. I will re-purpose one end of the long additional bed I am going to build with his Strawberry plant in the fall. Right now it cracks me up because we have some wild Strawberries growing next to the house and Isaac likes to go and pick those and then sneak off and eat them.
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| Isaac staring at his All Star Strawberry |
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| Isaac's Pumpkins growing |
Right now all egg cartons are empty and disposed of. What germinated and took off I have moved to Styrofoam cups and are awaiting their day to grow big enough to be moved to their own bed. In these, I have Isaac's Pumpkins, which are going to force me to build the new bed quickly due to their size, three Roma Tomato Plants, one Better Boy Tomato plant (you may remember the tragedy of the other day) and the heirloom tomato plants. Three of the Midnight in Moscow plants have sprouted. Still waiting on the Chianti Rose and the Amish Paste Tomato.
Well I would say that is a good enough update for now. ... Almost forgot, the roses are still doing well. I have a Sunbright Yellow Rose and a Chrysler Imperial Red Rose. Both are showing signs of new growth and have really darkened their leaves. Hopefully they will continue since this is my first foray into rose gardening.
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| Sunbright Yellow Rose |
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| Chrysler Imperial Rose |
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Update - April 20,2011
Hello everyone. Here is an update from the garden. The Better Boy Tomatoes are still doing well. The Fordhook Zucchini plants have transplanted are doing well. Abby's broccoli is still growing as well. and has now sprouted its second small head. I will need to prune it soon and Abby will have some more broccoli to eat.
The seedlings are still doing well and I will probably transplant the okra to its permanent home this weekend. We will probably get a lot of production out of them. I am looking forward to this. They will go in the second 6' x 6' bed.
I transplanted the Zinnia transplants tonight to their permanent home. They are positioned next to the marigolds in the first 6' x 6' bed. These should entice several pollinating insects to the garden. If that does not entice them enough, I scored a good deal last night at Aldi. They were selling rose plants at a steeply discounted price. I got two rose plants for $2.99 each. If they work out great, if they do not, well I am out $6.
The second egg carton I started that had the pepper seeds in them are not doing anything yet except the Crooked Neck Squash which is sprouting its first head through the dirt. All three are looking good.
The tragedy that happened a few days ago was not as bad as it could have been. I did lose three of the Better Boy seedlings but two of the Roma tomatoes survived unscathed. Hopefully, they will be ready for transplanted soon for Styrofoam cups.
I also have another project I have to do this week. I need to build a couple of 4'x4' beds for Isaac's pumpkins. They are doing really good in their Styrofoam cups but they will need to be transplanted soon.
Still nothing from the Silver Queen corn, the heirloom tomatoes and other seeds started this week.
That's it for now.
Joe
The seedlings are still doing well and I will probably transplant the okra to its permanent home this weekend. We will probably get a lot of production out of them. I am looking forward to this. They will go in the second 6' x 6' bed.
I transplanted the Zinnia transplants tonight to their permanent home. They are positioned next to the marigolds in the first 6' x 6' bed. These should entice several pollinating insects to the garden. If that does not entice them enough, I scored a good deal last night at Aldi. They were selling rose plants at a steeply discounted price. I got two rose plants for $2.99 each. If they work out great, if they do not, well I am out $6.
The second egg carton I started that had the pepper seeds in them are not doing anything yet except the Crooked Neck Squash which is sprouting its first head through the dirt. All three are looking good.
The tragedy that happened a few days ago was not as bad as it could have been. I did lose three of the Better Boy seedlings but two of the Roma tomatoes survived unscathed. Hopefully, they will be ready for transplanted soon for Styrofoam cups.
I also have another project I have to do this week. I need to build a couple of 4'x4' beds for Isaac's pumpkins. They are doing really good in their Styrofoam cups but they will need to be transplanted soon.
Still nothing from the Silver Queen corn, the heirloom tomatoes and other seeds started this week.
That's it for now.
Joe
Monday, April 18, 2011
Tragedy in Joe's Garden
We had a tragedy in Joe's Garden today. The small Roma and Better Boy seedlings that were going well were scorched today because I negligently left them outside to get some sun....all day. Luckily I noticed the mistake when I got home and quickly brought them inside and doused them with water. Within 30 minutes, the two Roma seedlings were back up to their normal selves but only one of the Better Boy Seedlings was back. The others were tragically lost. I quess I tried to harden them too much.
On the plus side, I did sow some of the heirloom seedlings I got in the mail. I planted two Styrofoam cups of the Amish Paste Tomato, two of the Chianti Rose Tomato, and four of the Midnight in Moscow Tomatoes. Two of these are for some guys at work that I talk about planting with. We will have to follow their progress to see how they do.
On the plus side, I did sow some of the heirloom seedlings I got in the mail. I planted two Styrofoam cups of the Amish Paste Tomato, two of the Chianti Rose Tomato, and four of the Midnight in Moscow Tomatoes. Two of these are for some guys at work that I talk about planting with. We will have to follow their progress to see how they do.
April 18, 2011 Update
Hello everyone out there. Just a quick update.
1. Cleared out the ground for the third and finally 6'x6' bed yesterday. Looking to build it tonight and then start filling it with dirt. Had some great help from a little helper named Abby.
2. Abby and I moved the five Fordhook Zucchini and two Dark Beauty Zucchini to the 1st 6'x6' bed last night. They are now in their permanent home.
3. Also moved the Dixie Hybrid Yellow Squash to Styrofoam cups. This was not that succesful though and I have worried they will wilt today. But we will have to see. If they do I will simply plant them in the beds.
Just a quick update.
1. Cleared out the ground for the third and finally 6'x6' bed yesterday. Looking to build it tonight and then start filling it with dirt. Had some great help from a little helper named Abby.
 |
| Abby helping clear dirt |
2. Abby and I moved the five Fordhook Zucchini and two Dark Beauty Zucchini to the 1st 6'x6' bed last night. They are now in their permanent home.
 |
| Fordhook Zucchini in its permanent home |
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| 1st 6' x 6' bed taking shape |
3. Also moved the Dixie Hybrid Yellow Squash to Styrofoam cups. This was not that succesful though and I have worried they will wilt today. But we will have to see. If they do I will simply plant them in the beds.
Just a quick update.
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