Un-tulled the other potted zucchini bec it's also not looking great

Not sure what's wrong with this one -- though several of the in-ground zukes are equally sad -- I am definitely thinking because I didn't do a mid-season amendment soon enough (did it only a few days ago after seeing all these sad zuke plants).

So, figured I'd just take off the tulle and que sera, sera.

Transplanted bush beans -- how will they fare?

Transplanted into the garden (in-ground and in pots) most of the bush beans that I started in potting mix on July 30th.

This involved also splitting them up from their cell-mates.

So, I'll be curious to see if they do ok, since I think I read that beans don't like to be transplanted.  But, worth an experiment, especially given the issues I have with getting them to germinate in-ground.

Some of the beans went into two of my nice-sized black pots from which I harvested the first two sets of potatoes.  I amended before transplanting with alfalfa, mrp, azomite, and kelp meal.  The north pot has the white bush beans and the south pot has the other bush beans.

The others went into the gaps in the central bed's SW corner.

Both container zukes having an "ouf" moment after harvesting

Hmmm, both of the container zukes are looking pretty exhausted after I harvested one or two from each of them.  One of them is starting to look promising again; hopefully the other will soon too.

In-ground ones have done this too in the past, so not necessarily due to being in containers...?

First-ever CONTAINER ZUCCHINI harvested! And more on the way!

Woo!  So exciting!  If the container thing is really successful this year, I could see converting more zukes to containers in future years -- it's just more space-efficient and flexible.

Cukes, zukes, and zinnias transplanted -- including 2 zukes in pots

For the cukes (all Eureka, 6 of them, consisting of 4 from round 1 and 2 from round 2 for staggering the harvest),  and zukes (7 in ground (3 8 Ball and 6 Golden Glory) and 2 in big pots*), amended with lots of mrp, semi-lots of azomite, and some kelp.  Oh and for a few of the zukes I did add some alfalfa but not a lot.  Also put some of the freezer rabbit poop in with most of the zukes, but not the pair... oh which pair.... I think not the SW-most pair.  Or was it not the pair in the central bed.... Ah well.

Didn't amend the zinnias with anything.

* 2 of the zukes (both Golden Glory) are in big pots.  The soil in these consisted of a mix of garden bed soil and a mix of my potting mix (peat, ProMix, lime, kelp, mrp, azomite, and a small amount of alfalfa).  I've never had success with potted zucchinis before -- the plants have always been wimpy and never produced anything -- so I'm curious for this year, now that I have bigger pots and lots of mrp and azomite in there.

Mulched most of the things with the last of last fall's basement mulched leaves.

Undecided which of the zukes I won't tulle.  For sure I'll tulle at least 6 of the 7 in ground.  I may also try tulling the potted ones and the hydro bed one while they're relatively small at least.

Harvested all potted Bolero carrots: Results

The carrots sowed July 26th in the big black pot were short, but great!  Not hairy, just short -- nice ~3" beauties.  No difference in size from the ones that I thinned generously vs. the ones I left more crowded.  I wonder if they would do fine in a shorter container, given they only used the upper bit of the pot.

On the other hand, the ones sowed April 12th in the grey rectangular pots, which growed beautifully in 2021, weren't a flop, but were all hairy and short.  Did I wait too long to harvest?  The July 26th ones noted above were much nicer.

Hmmm -- reviewing my notes -- the July 26th pot had been amended with kelp and MRP, whereas the April 12th one I didn't seem to have added anything to it -- maybe that could be related?

But regardless, they're all perfectly edible!

Container ground cherry and tomato not looking so great anymore -- not terrible, but not great

The container ground cherry just looks palish, whereas all of a sudden the central ground cherries are starting to look happy.

The container tomato is having foldy leaves at the new growth, and also has turned palish compared to the central tomatoes.

Nothing too drastic in either case, but something to watch.

Planted potatoes in pots

Four to a pot, except bellanita because one was rotten -- so instead for that one I cut one in two.  Pots are 6 gallons, ___ liters.  Placed them over 4 inches of soil, covered with another ~2-3 inches.  Will cover with more soil as they grow.  This worked last year with a grocery store potato, hope it works this year too.

- 4 x ruby gold
- 4 x cherry red
- 4 x eramosa
- 4 x bintje
- 3* x bellanita (one of the three I cut in half, so total 4 "parts")

Pot potatoes = success!

Emptied out one of the container potatoes today (the experiment started August 4th with a mega-sprouted grocery store potato).

Wow!  More potatoes than I thought!  I nice double handful.  I will definitely try this again next year, with an earlier start / longer season.

This might have been the one in which I put two potatoes.   So, I won't be surprised if the remaining container produces fewer potatoes.

It's nice to not be poking holes into potatoes digging them out with a fork.

Potato update (in pots)

The two pots of potatoes started on August 4th are coming along, with nice growth coming in.  I've been nearly-covering the new growth and will continue until reaching the top of the pot, which will probably happen within a week.

Still no idea if there will be enough time for actual potatoes to happen.

Potatoes: Planted sprouted kitchen potatoes -- some in pots, some in ground

As an experiment, planted eating potatoes that had mega-sprouted in the kitchen drawer. 

One pot has two potatoes; one pot has one potato; planted two into the ground along the north wall, east of the cucumbers.

Planted the potatoes intact (didn't cut them into pieces).

Never tried pot potatoes before, plus, it's late in the season but this cost me $0 so why not.  Used the leftover soil from the condo to use in the pots.

Didn't fill the pots up -- just enough to cover the potatoes/buds.  Will fill as the plants grow.

Ground cherry update

Central patch:  Both tall and vigorous, forced tall to outgrow the giant squash leaves surrounding them.  The south one continues to be a bit bigger than the north one.  Lots of flowers.  No harvest yet (other than a few sporadic ones in earlier days).  Hoping the shading of the lower leaves/fruit by the squash leaves won't be an issue.

By the compost bin:  A nice size, coming along though not as big as the central patch.  Have harvested a few here and there.

Container:  Growth remains stunted following its initial surge.  Harvested some today.  Not many more fruit/flowers on this one.

Air conditioner:  The smallest of all.  No idea why it didn't thrive. 

Container tomatoes rallying!

On July 4th I posted that all three container tomatoes officially looked terrible.

Now, they're rallying!

- The worst-looking one (in the biggest pot, which has not yet produced anything, whose leaves have all turned mega-purple and which hasn't grown an inch in the past month or so) suddenly has a few flowers.  Not sure if they'll take, but it's a sign of life...

- The cherry, which I re-potted into a slightly larger container about two or three weeks ago now looks great!  The leaves have come back to life, and there is new growth!  Have harvested about 10 cherry tomatoes so far.

- The other one, from which I've harvested two or three tomatoes so far, also seems to be coming back to life.

Drilled holes and repotted the long planters

Nothing in the long planters has been thriving, all looking stunted.  I'm sure it's because their soil is so wet -- they don't drain properly the way they were made.

So, repotted them all:
- drilled 8 holes into each (except the first, with chards/parsley, which have only 4 holes)
- put the tray back onto the bottom
- put an inch layer of vermiculite
- then layers of new potting soil from Home Hardware, and mushroom compost, and into some I put back some of the (soaking wet!!) soil

Hopefully they'll perk up now.