So in anticipation of my leggy potatoes falling over I tied them up with sizzle and bamboo canes. I guess I did not tie them up well enough because they fell over anyway. I think this is caused by several things that hopefully I can rectify next season:
- I planted whole seed potatoes with lots of eyes, next year I am going to reduce the eyes per plant in hopes of reducing the multiple stem competition.
- Being planted in a small raised bed I do not have room to hill the potatoes as high as they should be for support, next year I am going to dig deep trenches, store the soil in bags and fill the trench as the potatoes grow thus creating underground hills.
- I am going to install either horizontal trellis netting across the bed or install cheap tomatoes cages around each plant to give the plants support.
Everything else is really starting to chug along and I am going to predict that in 3-4 weeks I should be able to start harvesting warm weather crops:
Cucumbers are rambling up the trellis, about 2 feet high and starting to get bloom clusters
My eaten beets rebounding, well at least the Chioggia's. The Cylinder's are not going to amount to anything they are still being eaten and now shaded by the carrots
If you click on this carrot image you will see that one of the carrots is bolting. This is a little strange because carrots are a biennial and should flower the following year. I am going to let it go to seed so maybe next year I will not have to purchase seed.
Onions are finally starting to do something but I am not holding out much hope for large onions. I will have to try harder next year, maybe plant earlier with row cover?
Brussels are just starting to form, they are best eaten after a hard frost so I hope they take that long to develop or I may have alot of bitter tasting sprouts.
The cherry tomato is start to really develop, doesn't it have rather massive leaves for a cherry tomato. I am wondering if it is an F1 Hybrid or even has had its chromosomes double or tripled.
Borage is starting to flower around the tomato pots. It is a nice herb the always pops up in the garden without planting, that is once you have planted it once in the first place. You can eat the flowers which have a cucumber taste.
Mild Banana Pepper's are starting to form, no sign of the chocolate or red peppers yet, just flowers.
So in anticipation of my leggy potatoes falling over I tied them up with sizzle and bamboo canes. I guess I did not tie them up well enough because they fell over anyway. I think this is caused by several things that hopefully I can rectify next season:
Cucumbers are rambling up the trellis, about 2 feet high and starting to get bloom clusters
My eaten beets rebounding, well at least the Chioggia's. The Cylinder's are not going to amount to anything they are still being eaten and now shaded by the carrots
If you click on this carrot image you will see that one of the carrots is bolting. This is a little strange because carrots are a biennial and should flower the following year. I am going to let it go to seed so maybe next year I will not have to purchase seed.
Onions are finally starting to do something but I am not holding out much hope for large onions. I will have to try harder next year, maybe plant earlier with row cover?
Brussels are just starting to form, they are best eaten after a hard frost so I hope they take that long to develop or I may have alot of bitter tasting sprouts.
The cherry tomato is start to really develop, doesn't it have rather massive leaves for a cherry tomato. I am wondering if it is an F1 Hybrid or even has had its chromosomes double or tripled.
Borage is starting to flower around the tomato pots. It is a nice herb the always pops up in the garden without planting, that is once you have planted it once in the first place. You can eat the flowers which have a cucumber taste.
Mild Banana Pepper's are starting to form, no sign of the chocolate or red peppers yet, just flowers.
Very cool pics. Glad to see things are going well! I found the same thing about multiple stalks from one full potato. If you're having trouble finding good space in your beds, you may consider checking out the potato bins I use. Can't hurt to check them out. I love how little space they take up.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
Such a joy to find another blog devoted to growing veggies. I grew those choggia beets last year, I wasn't that impressed with the size or flavour but they were spectacular to look at.
ReplyDeleteEverything looks great. Onions give me something exciting to look forward to. Our onions are growing so slow... and I don't know when to pull.
ReplyDeletesin - yes I have been eying your potato bin and I think I may try one next year. I am not totaly sure yet though as I am thinking about adding more raised beds up were the tomato pots are which would be the only spot I could fit a potato bin.
ReplyDeleteMatron - I was excited to find your blog as well! I have yet to taste the chioggia beets so I can't comment but they sure look great.
DP - I think onions can be fussy and they have a long growing cycle, most take 100 days from transplanting seedlings. I know that the bulbs start to form after there is a certain amount of day light. They like even water due to shallow roots and are heavy feeders. I have also read that you can bend the tops over so it puts more energy into bulbs, I have yet to try this though.
I have always found choggias a great bbet to grow. Not too fussy and tasty as well. O the other hand I've never had great success with cylindra.
ReplyDelete