Well, I've backdated this one too. Why? Why backdate EVERY single entry in this blog? Well, I want the blog dates to match the dates the photos were taken. It's a lot easier to look back at the garden's progression that way. Also, I'm far too lazy to write the blog on the same day that I take the pictures. It just won't happen.
So, as you can see, my tomatillos have gotten quite a bit bigger and bushier. Each of the stalks has several forks which are approaching 5 feet long...I wasn't planning on putting up any sort of other stakes/ties, but I think I may have to do that now!
For all of the tomatoes, we ended up with a variation on the Florida weave. Every plant is staked up the center, then additional stakes were placed on either side and between the tomato plants so that the string could alternate between them. It looks something like this from above:
.* *
.x x
* * *
.x x
* * *
.x x
* * *
.x x
.* *
*=stake, x=tomato plant, .=spacer for this post (I'm html illiterate, what can I say)
So far it seems to be working out rather well. The plants are something like 6-7 feet tall and each branch has gotten heavy enough to lean on various intersections of string. Hopefully it will hold! Also, hopefully there's enough room for us to get in there and harvest! As of this time, there are only a few dozen tiny green tomatoes. I think we won't harvest until mid-August at this rate.
My peppers have all grown up quite a bit. Above is a view of the jalapenos. The tiny plant on the right is a weed that replaced my caterpillar-eaten serrano :( I think the tall plant second to the right is also a serrano.
Here is a view of my poblanos, starting to catch up to the jalapenos and serrano. With any luck, there will be chile rellenos aplenty in a month or two!
I have a shot of one of my bucket tomatoes. For the most part, they all look like this but it's hard to see in the photo (green leaves on green leaves) -- they're all really quite big, but because they're off on their own in a bucket I haven't been able to do the weave. I actually ended up taking some extra stakes and adding one to each bucket to give some additional support. Unfortunately, these bucket tomatoes are all mortage lifters and other LARGE tomatoes so it's going to be a headache keeping the plant from falling over!
Here's my herb garden. Apparently the sun came out since my last post; the basil is all in full swing and the turnips and radishes are doing a bit better. I don't think my radishes are ever going to live up to their 29-day cycle, but someday they might fatten up enough to eat. You can BARELY see the green onions behind the turnips in the second box; the boxes in this particular order have ended up shading the lower boxes. We'll have to fix that at the end of the season (the soil in the boxes is WAYYY too thick anyway, it needs to be mixed with some sand).
