Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Mindless banter (and photos!) about growing food:

We have our first squash blossom and teeny tiny squash! Can't wait to harvest something other than greens and herbs. I'm also glad we are finally getting something from the monster squash vines that are taking over our patio.

Yay for squash!
I'm bummed that we have to take down a couple trees this week so our garden can get more sun. But the garden out front gets too much sun. It's always dry. Good thing the broccoli likes to be in full sun and not watered very often.
I should take pictures soon. I keep admiring all the gardens in the other threads and forgetting to take pictures of mine.

my tomato plants are growing several inches a day, and my first tomatoes are appearing!

i planted four eggplant seedlings outside over a month ago, and they were immediately eaten up by some kind of beetle that likes eggplant leaves. i believed they could make it, and after a month of doing absolutely nothing, they're finally growing and looking healthy!

i took a peek at some little carrots, and they're so cute and colorful! i think it'll be a while until they're big enough to eat, though.

my yard is filled with blackberries that should be ready to turn into pies in a few weeks!

i got my first frost damage today since i moved here. usually i travel during the winter and don't see the damage, so it's sort of shocking. lost most of the basil plant, should have made pesto last week before the frost!!! some of my medicinal herbs look pretty rough, but everything else looks alright. hoping my peas and baby chard are OK.

shiitake, there's such a thing as frost in Brazil?! Wow! Never knew.

Also... I should really go to my plot more often to water. Currently it goes too long without any. Basically, I only water it once a week right now. Keep in mind however the weather here is not that hot, and sometimes it even rains... but still, it is not enough.

I really need to remember to check the forecast before I water the garden. It's been really hot here for a couple weeks and I got a root irrigator that I was excited to put to use, so I did a generous watering yesterday evening, and now it's supposed to rain today! In late June! ::shakes fist::

I hate that! I didn't water yesterday because it was supposed to rain and then it did but barely, so I had to go home and water so my poor little plants wouldn't fry.

I've been so bad about watering lately too. I have a soaker hose, but it has a hole that needs to be patched. So I have to use a watering can or hose, and I just haven't had the time. I also don't want to overhead water in the evening, when I have the most time. A catch-22!

It was full on thunderstormin' today! My poor baby lettuce and collard sprouts had the shiitake beaten out of them.

they'll recover, mel! i'm still freaked out by east coast summer thunderstorms like twice a week, and was really worried about my little lettuces since they look beaten up after just being watered with a hose. but somehow, i think they're even stronger after a storm!

I have trouble believing stuff will grow from seed and so sometimes if I don't see anything within a week, I stick in more seeds. So now I have parents and babies and I'm scared to get rid of one of them!

I way over seed because I am always afraid of low yields, but that never happens, and I always end up with a really crowded plot. I learned from my farmer friends that with the exception of tomatoes and maybe a few other finicky plants, most veggies don't need nearly as much room as gardening guides and the back of the seed packet would have you believe.

Also, thinning makes me really sad. Probably because I anthropomorphize everything.

Yeah me too, this is why my thinning is really just 'rehoming'. They usually don't seem to mind after a week or so that I plucked them out.

I used to do the same thing. Each seed has a different germination period. Most packets will put the time on the back. Planting in direct soil is ALWAYS slower with the exception of onions and garlic-(from bulb, not seed).

Have you tried aubade's seed tape method? The link isn't hers, but it is the same idea:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-Yo ... eed-Tapes/

Baby bean plants are the cutest.

I tried pruning today and it made me start tearing up so I had to stop.

Oh sweetie. If it bothers you that bad, just take your clippings (not the suckers, but the stems that aren't producing) and clone them.

BTW, I felt that way about pruning too. BUT I wasn't as sad when I had a shitload of tomatoes from being a diligent pruner. Trust me, it works!

wow, that's awesome! i'm going to need to prune soon too - my tomato plant is growing like crazy!! i'll have to try this.

RIP squash plants. I'm sorry the neighbourhood kids decided to run straight through the garden and crush you.

Ughhhh. So sorry.

AM, I'm sorry to hear about that! I don't know what's more depressing, having plants trampled on by humans or having them destroyed by insects. Either way it sucks.

My chocolate beauties are dying. :(

The leaves are getting gross and they're starting to look really bad. A bloom will be about to come and then out of no where it'll turn black and die.

One tomato is red! Finally! The plants are full of tomatoes since weeks but they all stay green, and now one is red! Surprisingly, the one that was squeezed between the trellies. Mmm.

Shankypants, is this chocolate beauty a pepper? What are you feeding it? Don't forget tomatoes and peppers need Ca and Mg in addition to a grow/bloom formula.

It's a bell pepper and all I do is water it. All of the other bell peppers and the tomatoes are doing fine but my chocolate beauties aren't looking very beautiful.