KEY LIMES!

I finally went and germinated the last of my key lime seeds. I think i've found a good way to germinate seeds because I had 4 out of 5 sprout when I did my experiment. I used an old CD or DVD spool and placed moistened peat pellets around the ring putting a seed in each pellet. I then sealed the lid on and left it on top of my aquarium that heats and lights my other seedlings. After a week or two 4 out of 5 seeds sprouted and are growing nicely.

That's all I have for this time, till next time.

Probably the last major harvest of the season

Today I had probably the last harvest of the season, most of the plants have started to die back from the cool weather of the fall, or have tried to set seed and will therefore died anyway having reached the end of their reproductive cycle. I brought in numerous cucumbers, a few cantaloupes, the last of the lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, raspberries, and the heads off of my sunflowers which I hope to cook the seeds for a snack in the winter. I still have the peanuts, potatoes, more beets, more herbs and the last of the raspberries to pick before everything will have run its course and I can see how they've done for the year.

So far this year as been tremendous for cucumbers I've probably picked 50 or 60 throughout the summer, I've had lots of raspberries in comparison to last year, so many that I've actually let some rot on the plant or the animals have gotten them. I've had the most peppers ever, largest sunflowers, most melons, and highest output of herbs.

I truely believe that the square foot gardening method worked wonders, I have had almost no weeds in the areas I converted to SFG, and maybe next spring even attempt it on the strawberries since they were so plagued by weeds while trying to reestablish themselves from the dieback of last fall.

I've been happy with the new plants for the summer so far, the beets came out wonderfully for my mother, the newest herb rosemary is quite tastey with chicken, the melons were rich and full of flavor, and the blueberries were succulent and delicious.

I still won't be able to guage the potatoes or peanuts yet as they've not been harvested.

The upside down tomatoes did not do as well as hoped, but it may just require some tweaking to the setup since i made my own. The same design was used by my brother in minnesota and his came out amazingly different from my own so obvisouly its not a complete failure.

until next time when I can finish my review of the year's productivity, keep on growing!

just in time for an august update

I've returned to post and almost too late to have one per month. So let me update you on the progress. Outdoors i've had the best cucumber harvest ever so far and it keeps going, I am definitely a believer in the vertical method of growing vine plants. I've just started to get fresh melons and i have picked on so far but not had a chance to consume it. The tomatoes didn't do nearly as well as i had hoped, i may try again next season in the same way, maybe it was a fluke this year. The raspberries are continuing to grow and begin their fall fruiting. I've had good success with the lettuce, basil, rosemary, beets, and sunflowers. I'm still unsure of the peanuts and potatoes but i keep my hopes up. I've actually gotten peppers from my home grown transplants which makes me happy. The prickley pear cactus is growing well and i'm hoping it fruits so that i can try some.

On the tropical growing font, the bananas continue to grow although they have slowed down a bit, i'm thinking it may be due to the cooling off of the temps as we approach fall, but i may try to fertilize them and see if that helps. The mandrins, lemon, lemonquats, mandrinquats, navel orange, and kumquats all continue to grow pretty well and i am now attempting to germinate some key limes. The coffee plants also continue to grow and i believe they have become acclimated to their new pots. My pineapple top project has shown signs of life and is now potted. Hopefully we will continue to see growth from everything.

I'll keep on trying to update as i remember. Until next time fellow readers.

update for july 2008

Let's update for the month of July. The outdoor garden is flourishing under the new remodel to square foot gardening and use of vertical gardening for my vines. Cucumbers are now growing with a vengeance I've already picked 7 with many more still to get cut. the peanuts flowered and are hopefully starting to grow their fruit. The potatoes are growing well and hopefully are growing me some nice taters for later. The upside down tomatoes are doing well and it seems like my homemade containers work better than the store bought container. the raspberries are laden with fruit to enjoy for the next couple weeks, and the blueberries are finally finishing up. This years attempt with lettuce is also proving good as i have harvested plenty and it just keeps growing. The beets are doing well and my mother is enjoying them. The bananas are growing taller, and the separated coffee plants are reestablishing themselves well. All the citrus seedlings are also enjoying a spell outside to hopefully harden the stems up for the coming winter so they won't get lanky. I got some prickly pear which flowered and is showing signs of continued growth. The currants have fruited and been collected. The only thing that hasn't gone correctly is that what i hoped were black raspberries turned out to be normal red raspberries so i will be sending them off to friends and replaced with black raspberries when i can find some. This last weekend i purchased a pineapple and i'm attempting to start a new plant from the detached crown. Wish me luck. Until next time, keep growing!

update for june 21

sorry for not updating but we had some high heat days which prevented me from doing work outside and i have been busy otherwise. Well as an update on my outdoor garden i have finished construction of the raised boxes, installing trellis supports and netting, putting up anti-bird and anti-animal netting and fencing, and i've installed the tomato pot hangers. things are growing well and i've already been harvesting some early blueberries and the first crop of strawberries and even a little bit of lettuce and broccoli. Now i'm just waiting for the black raspberries and raspberries to ripen up. also all the other plants are doing well and i hope to harvest more lettuce soon, slowly i've been getting peanuts planted but i may have to bring them in at winter time to let them finish growing which may be a challenge. I've also planted out some currant bushes which already were fruiting when i got them and hopefully i'll be able to harvest some berries soon. I've also gotten a hold of prickley pear cactus which i will hopefully be able to get to root for me in a pot that i'll grow them in all year to see how viable they are to eat. Also since the last time i posted i've acquired some dwarf orinoco bananas which are planted in pots and hopefully will begin to send up leaves soon. As far as experimenting with potatoes so far only a sweet potato survived but is growing well and hopefully by the end of the summer i'll have a small batch for my parents.
I'm now looking into plans to build myself a completely passive solar greenhouse to perhaps continue to bolster my love for plants and area to grow them in. As i get more work done on that project i'll keep you updated.
On the front of my indoor plants, my orchid is putting out a new leave but no flower stalk yet. The coffee plants will be divided into 3 pots, one for each bush. The navel orange lost a branch due to sloppy pruning by myself. I've lost my calamondin seedling and a lemon seedling. Don't really know what killed them but its ok cause I can always attempt to grow more. All the other plants are doing fine except the plumeria which is currently fighting an infestation of white flies while outside on the porch.
I hope to have more updates soon but it all depends on how hectic things get. Until next time, tune in for more updates.

update for may 26 (memorial day)

Hello to anyone who can read this,
Happy memorial day, let us take a moment to remember those who have died or are currently serving our country on this day.
Now on to the gardening stuff. I've now gotten about 2/3 of my garden planted, the other seeds are being stubborn right now and being kinda slow to germinate, but i am seeing some growth on most of them finally. To all those who try to germinate potatoes to grow from store bought potatoes, its so much harder to get them to sprout when you want to grow them than when you don't want them to sprout before you eat them. i'm guessing if i ever manage to get them in the ground i'll only be expecting smaller sized taters than i had hoped for. The blueberries are growing well and some of the green berries have started to turn. I really need to get my last section of netting up because today i saw a bird inside the cage, he wasn't doing anything but i know that if they are in there i will lose the good fruit when it finally is ripe. I noticed the strawberries are starting to get small green berries starting as well as continued flowering. The raspberries look as though they might flower soon as well. I hope soon to get my new section done for the currants so that i can start caring for and rejuvenating them back to full bushy plants. I've also finished making my home made upside down planters for growing my tomatoes, i'm hoping these will work as well as they suggest they do on the internet and in pictures.
On the indoor/exotic planting side i've just ordered an Orinoco Banana from another member of the forum on bananas.org. The other citrus plants are looking good and i might get some seeds for trying to start kumquats. I'm also going to get some prickley pear cactus which will hopefully be fruitful both in growth as well as in actually fruiting, i'm kinda interested to see how they taste.
I've decided with how much stuff i grow i guess i'm going to consider myself a gardener with a focus on edible plantings. Hopefully by the next time i post i'll have the last part of the netting up and all the plants in their proper place. So until next time, keep gardening.

update for may 16, 2008

well things have been busy with school ending for the semester, but i've still managed to get things done and now I can update you all. I've had more things sprouting such as my peppers for the upcoming summer garden, lavender for my mother, and a test germination of a peanut which worked and now i have to figure out the needs of it while in its infantile state. I've now finished growing all the alfalfa i got seeds for and i've harvested them as well, now i plan to try growing some mesculin salad greens in the same tray and see if that works. I'm happy to report that the coffee and naval orange have started to put on new growth as well.
On the outdoor gardening front i've made wonderful progress. I have built my tire stacks for growing potatoes, i've purchased and planted all the blueberry bushes i needed, i replanted the strawberry plants that escaped their partition of the garden, built square foot garden boxes, weeded the black raspberries, blackberries, and my great aunt's last surviving raspberries that i saved, i also moved those raspberries to a new location so that they would get better protection and care than their old spot, and i also pruned all the berry bushes for the spring. I am hoping to finish rescreening my garden area soon i've gotten most of it done already. soon all that will be left is to fill the boxes and tires with dirt and plant the garden.
So until next time, keep on growing.