Garden update :)

[logovo]

We planted these Japanese cucumbers for the first time this spring and now they've come in!





Tomatoes!


We didn't do any pinching and so now you can tell. This weekend we'll cut all the foliage on the first foot of height (since we've read and seen ourselves that the bottom leaves get diseased first) and will maybe try to do some pinching. I don't know if it will do much good at this stage.


Basil, mint and some barrel strawberries.


Strawberries are still tricky. The leaves get this white moldy stuff, even after we try no to get water on them. First strawberries are coming in. We'll see how they work out, if we can get more than a handful before the plants get really sick or bugs find their way to our plants. Pill bugs in the past have eaten more of our strawberries than we've had.

Comments

[laurashapiro]

Envy! Our cucumbers have not done well at all. ): Everything else is going like gangbusters (except the beans, which are being eaten by creatures of some kind), but the cukes just never took off.

[elke_tanzer]

Oooooh, green growing things!

:-)

[from]

They look great! Terrifically green! The only things working well on our balcony this spring are the sage and camellia. The rest are so-so. Are the strawberry leaves that get white stuff on them the ones that are clumped together?

[logovo]

We had some of the cucumbers tonight and while good they're not as good as last year's. Oh the variables! Maybe the soil or watering or the amutn of sun they're getting - or maybe how early we got them this year - really, it's pretty funny how so many little details seem so random when we're doing something we can't quite understand.

We've had so-so luck with beans. I think we get too excited about the tomatoes and then forget to eat the beans at the right time. I've been thinking about planting some this year, but it's already June and we never did. Although here in SoCal that stuff doesn't seem to matter as much ;)

[logovo]

I can't believe that I'm actually in the process of becoming a gardner :)

[logovo]

Yes, each barrel has to plans together and they have that powdery mildew. Some strawberries are already coming in, but the plants are not looking like they'll survive for very long.

I planted some sage too! Not all the herbs I planted made it, but sage and parsley seem to have liked their little spots in the garden. I wish the oregano had made it too.

[from]

Oh, okay. The reason I asked was because I have noticed the same kind of mildew on the sage leaves that are clumped together. I shake the plants apart after watering when I can be bothered, but maybe it's not the same thing. I love the smell of sage. MMM.

I planted some golden oregano last summer and had to cut it back because it was choking the sage and rosemary. Unlike the others, it thrived so well with little water. I guess they can't be put in the same container or something.

How do you position the parsley? Mine is poorly most of the time, but sometimes I'll get an amazing clump of it for cooking. Does it need a lot of sun?

Yay for strawberries coming in!

[logovo]

I have flat leaf parsley that seems to be doing OK under direct sun most of the day. I would not say it's thriving though, it's still a small clump that came out from seed that I put into one of the vegetable beds. It's my first time planting parsley, so I'm not sure if the slow growth is a natural thing for this herb. This plant below is about 7 weeks old.



I planted cilantro a few months back that I ended up having to pull it out because it did amazingly well and I could not use up so much, even if I cook Mexican and Asian quite often.

I've been careful not to water the strawberries directly, but it seems this mildew doesn't care about that, maybe has to do more with the moisture in the air here (I live a few miles from the coast) and so maybe that explains part of the problem. But yeah, strawberries and squash leaves have been specially susceptible.

Ah, your oregano story sounds encouraging, although it does seem I need to plant it on it's own separate container.

There are a handful of strawberries ready! They'll be eaten tonight :D

[laurashapiro]

Ah! SoCal, that explains much. Our weather just doesn't get very warm until August, here in SF, so the summer crops are all off-kilter, looking at the fog and going "Why???"

[logovo]

How do winter veggies do? I would expect that they'd like the cold, but SF is so very weird weather wise (to me!) with sun peaking out one minute and then freezing your butt off the next and then everytime I visit SF in the spring it seems it's always a bit damp.

[laurashapiro]

I haven't tried a winter garden yet! Hope to plant one this fall after the summer harvest is in. I imagine we can do all manner of leafy greens without too much trouble.

And yes, it is damp here in the spring -- spring/early summer are our big fog seasons.

[from]

Oh, the parsley is so lush. And is that basil next to it? They look so good! Cilantro can't seem to grow here unless in a hothouse.

I'll have to be careful about watering then. The air here is not necessarily damp, but the rain does come down whenever it pleases and it's hard to gauge how much I should be watering.

Yum. Do you eat them fresh or use them for baking? I'd love to be able to plant fruits. Right now, I'm just hoping my camellia will bloom. =D

this got too long! sorry!

[logovo]

Yep, that's basil. It's growing a lot slower than the parsley. This is my first year of growing herbs from seeds, so I'm not sure what's normal for my garden. I planted several herbs but not all of the sprouted. I'm going to give another go later. The tiny basil plans next to the parsley will be left alone for a long while, since we have 2 other basil plants that are thriving in another part of the garden. I had neglected them but after some extra care these past months and a better spot in the garden they seem happy. I keep cutting the little flowers that try to come in, thinking that it's the same thing you do with cilantro, but actually I have no idea if that is what I'm supposed to do to keep the basil tasting sweet. It seems to be working!

I eat the strawberries fresh, because we don't get that many (I'm thinking we'll get about 3 dozen - tops. Also? Not really a baker, sorry to say.

We planted a fig tree! Now that would also be a big treat, because home grown figs have a thinner skin and I can let ripen on the tree. My neighbor back in Tijuana had a fig tree and wow, those were amazing.

[logovo]

Yes, SF should be perfect for lettuce and other greens!

I planted different mustard greens early January and they did great in our garden. Lettuce seemed less happy - it might have been too warm for them here and they got too much sun. We barely got any before it started getting too funky looking to eat.

[laurashapiro]

Our lettuces are thriving, for sure, and our mustard greens went like gangbusters. There will definitely be more of both. I'm also a big fan of broccoli rabe, but it went to seed in a freak heatwave we had two months ago. ): Will try again with it in autumn.

Re: this got too long! sorry!

[from]

A fig tree? That is so good. Wow! So you'll be able to have ripe figs with thin, tearaway skin. I'm drooling right about now.

I've found that basil is labor-intensive here. Only a little water everyday and even then, the rain can drown them. Oh, so cutting the flowers on herb plants make the leaves sweeter? I didn't know that. Yay! Gardening tip! Thanks!

Re: this got too long! sorry!

[logovo]

So you'll be able to have ripe figs with thin, tearaway skin. I'm drooling right about now.

YES! Exactly! Store bought figs can never be like that, since they would probably spoil in 2 days!

cutting the flowers on herb plants make the leaves sweeter

Eh. Not sure there. I read a bit more about basil and they recommend cutting down the plant to encourage tender leave growth. I need to do this this weekend, since the basil plant is starting to produce too many stems and the leaves are starting to look drier than the first burst.