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Friday, September 24, 2010

Friday Greenhouse Updates

Friday Greenhouse Updates
I'm adding a new greenhouse extending out the carport for greens and herbs.
It started raining and didn't stop, so I will have to continue tomorrow.
I only have one rockwool slab left in the greenhouse and I hand water it. It was just waaaay too hot during the peak of summer to continue. Many plants stopped producing and only cost money to keep alive. Money I didnt have, so if I couldn't transplant them to dirt, I composted them.    
Sweet Orange Bell Pepper in Rockwool Slab. For some reason or another, this pepper plant hasnt developed any flowers. The tomato plants are large enough to lean them more out of the light, so maybe more light will solve this problem.
Lots of dirt starters. Most of these were outside, but the bugs attacked them, so I moved them in the greenhouse.
Matt's Wild Cherry Tomatoes
Dragon Tongue Beans


The ggplant stopped producing flowers and are now focusing on developing the fruits.
Suyo Cucumber 16 inches. Very delicious and a good producer. I have harvested about 6 to date and the squirrels have eaten about 10 small female flowers.
Outdoor Tomatoes with Pine Needles used as mulch. I also added some worm compost and let the dirt set for a week before transplanting these into their home. I grew these from seed in the greenhouse first, and transplanted them at about 2 ' tall.
Outdoor Tomatoes in Pine Needles
Tangerine Tree on the side of the house full of tangerines.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Recipe: Baby Spinach Cranberry Salad

Baby Spinach Cranberry Salad w/ Blue Cheese


This is an easy, nutrient rich salad that's very easy to make. I'm not a big fan of spinach, but this salad is great!

  •    Organic Girl Baby Spinach
  •    Sliced Organic Carrots
  •    Sliced Organic Cucumbers
  •    Finely Sliced White Onion
  •    Dried Organic Cranberries
  •    Organic Sunflower Seeds
  •    Dressing of your choice.. I love blue cheese

Lots of Folic Acid for the ladies - Folic Acid deficiencies are very common in today's young woman adults.

 

Friday, September 17, 2010

SWC Suyo (Japanese) Cucumber

SWC Suyo (Japanese) Cucumber
 Suyo Cucumbers from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. So far, so good. I have these in a SWC (self watering container) and they seem to love it. Cucumbers are heavy water drinkers, so a SWC seemed like a perfect match. I'm using my chain fence to trellis these. I told my neighbor on the other side to pick them as he pleases. This cucumber plant seems like its going to be a heavy producer and is very heat/disease tolerant.

I have lots of female flowers cukes and about 3 mid-large size cukes. The squirrels run alone the fence, knocking some flowers/cukes off. Im going to have to solve that problem soon. Other than that, it looks likes it going to be cukes for breakfast, lunch and dinner pretty soon.

I will report back on first harvest with the taste test, which should be this weekend :)

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

First Eggplant Fruit! Finally!

First Eggplant Fruit From Hydro-to-Dirt Transplant

I never thought I was going to get a fruit. So many dropped flowers and no eggplants. One day I noticed a clusters of flowers and it looked like there were two different types of flowers, males and females. I did the research and some people said that they are self pollinating (which looks to be true b/c some flowers have both parts).  I've tried all types of pollination methods with the eggplant flowers, but all failed. Until the 'male' flowers appeared. 


These 'male' flowers have a skinner stem and  only contain anthers and not a stigma in the center of the flower. The female flower had a thick stem and a flower with both an anther and stigma. It seems that there is much debate on the male & female flowers on the eggplant. But in my experience with the 'Black Beauty' variety from Ferry Morse, the ONLY way I got my eggplant to fruit was to remove a male flower and rub it into a female flower. I'm sure natural methods (bugs/insects/bees) of pollination would have worked outside of the greenhouse as well.

When I rubbed the male flower against the female flower, I saw noticeable pollen from the male flower that was flying off. I've never seen any this from the female flower during all my pollination attempts.

In conclusion, maybe I pollinated the two flowers at the right place, at the right time. But after all my previous attempts, all of the flowers I pollinated with the male flowers are finally setting fruit. It's possible that although the female flowers supports anthers, they don't always produce enough pollen. But I'm no expert, so if you have the answer, please comment to give me some insight :)

**Update** 9/24/2010