I take it all back

Yesterday, not 12 hours after I wrote about how worried I was about the transplanted eggplant, it had already started to perk up. And today not only is the stem lifted up from the side of the pot but all four of the green beans I planted in the same pot have sprouted.

Recovering eggplant.

Baby "Provider" bush beans. You can't quite see the fourth one from this angle but the stem is pushing up the dirt between the left and middle seedlings.

In fact the whole front was looking pretty nice this morning, after the rainy day we had yesterday.

Of course by early afternoon everything was dried out and droopy, but nothing 4 gallons of water couldn't fix.

In the back things are chugging along, slowly. There's a bunch of new cucumbers starting out, and a few tiny black krims just getting started. It's a relief to see that some blossoms made it through the heat wave, though full sized tomatoes take their time back there so it'll be some time before the real celebration.

My second planting of edamame have been flowering and setting fruit too, but I'll be lucky to get much from that bed.

At least three edamame pods and more to come.

Behind the high tech bean trellis you can see the empty space where the fall broccoli and brussels sprouts will go, along with a new trellis at the other end.

On the right side there's a sweet potato vine and on the left I've wrapped a regular potato plant around the string. The bamboo holding this up is 5' tall; this is what happens when you plant potatoes in the shade.

First, the bad news

The transplanted eggplant isn't exactly flourishing.

Two days in.

It's not totally dead either, but I'm not sure what I can do for it. If anything the pot it's in has too much water, so I'll just wait and see some more, again.

Then there's the figs, which haven't grown at all since the first couple of weeks they came in.

I wasn't expecting them to get huge, it is a tiny plant in a tiny pot after all, but I worry they don't get enough water/nutrients/whatevs and I'll be looking at tiny green figs in October, wondering where it all went so wrong.

Finally the cucumber that had one end cutely supported by the plant is growing all funny, even though I clipped it free the day after I took the picture, just to avoid this scenario.

It's not a huge tragedy or anything, but these variable thickness cucumbers I seem so adept at growing are harder to pack into jars for pickling. Maybe I'll just end up with a lot of slices for sandwiches.

The good news is I can console myself with at least a few berries or cherry tomatoes every day.

This morning, from the front garden.

Friday, from the back garden.

Thursday, from the front garden.

And my first eggplant is almost big enough to harvest, any day now...

Building a better container

This large pot was acquired last winter when someone down the block threw it out, complete with soil and very dead houseplant. I dragged it to my stoop, thought about all the amazing things I could plant in it, like a currant bush, and eventually settled on some cosmos and poppies. Mostly because that's what I had on hand (it's not like currant bushes grow on trees), but also to put off worrying about what might be in the soil.

The poppies were fine, until the lack of water got to them, but the four cosmos only ended up with one flower between them, while growing huge, leafy stalks. They were lovely and green but nothing was getting established at the base, I think because the large plants were hogging all the water, and it was scraggly and ugly down there.

Since I was going to be ripping them out I decided it was time to install a water reservoir while I was at it, since everything out front gets so dry on sunny days. One of my roommates had left a super-skinny liter bottle in the recycling so I poked some holes in the top with an awl and cut off the bottom.

Then stuck it in the newly cleared out and heavily watered pot. Later it was covered with some netting, held in place by a rubber band, to keep it from being a mosquito breeding ground.

The pot got some compost and a few more inches of potting soil, then I headed out back to grab an eggplant. Below you can see one eggplant on the left, but under the huge cucumber leaf there's another, smaller plant.

The poor thing gets so little light and the cucumbers growing like mad next to it doesn't help matters.

It got replanted out front, along with four bush green beans that say they mature in 50 days and enjoy lots of sun. The eggplant is pretty wilted, even after being watered in and I'm not sure it'll hold up to the move. But I'm pretty sure it was never going to set fruit in the back, so even if it doesn't make it I won't be losing much.

There's still room for some more in the pot, but I still haven't decided what exactly. I'll wait to see if the beans germinate.

In other news I thought this cucumber with it's end being held up by the plant was cute. If only all the heavier melons did this automatically.

Self-supported cucumber.

And I actually took a picture of today's harvest!

An eggplant!

First eggplant developing! Also more cukes.

Things are coming along out front, with the first eggplant already 3" long. Last week it was still a flower! I moved the cucumber and eggplant pot as far away from the tomatoes as possible on Friday, but yesterday the cucumbers were still finding inappropriate things to wrap around.

That sage isn't going to help you get anywhere, buddy.

There's a newer crop of strawberries coming in, I wonder if they'll taste any different from June's berries.

I had no idea there were so many until I went to take a picture.

I worry a little as I've run out of fish fertilizer and the hardware store has none in stock, while the closest nursery has never had it. Maybe it's time to try out some of that (expensive) bat guano fertilizer they carry?

There was also a honey (and/or mason?) bee out front yesterday, which was exciting since I never see this kind in the front, only in the back. Out front it's usually tiny bees only.

What I think of as a "regular" bee.

The herbs are doing alright, I'm starting to move some to the back since the direct sun plus the heat wave can be rough on the plants. July and August in NYC isn't for the faint-hearted. The one nasturtium out front bloomed and was a lovely peach color, but the plant has since gone back to looking like I singe it with a flamethrower every few days, just for funsies.

Last Monday. 

I've always thought of nasturtiums as fool-proof, probably because they were some of the first flowers I grew, but haven't had much luck this year. In the back the leaves look healthy, but are leggy and never flower, while out front they dry out. I do have two in a window box upstairs that have bloomed prolifically, but the leaves are in a terrible state from the heat and sun.

Eventually I'll find the spot for them—there are probably about ten other microclimates around the building I haven't tried yet.

Portable strawberry bed

Today I put together a new container using a rubbermaid bin (about 14"x20", 10" deep?) I pulled off the street some time ago. First I drilled a bunch of holes in the bottom.

Using a 1/2" bit, because that's what was on hand.

Then mixed up some potting mix using coco coir

The coir before water was added. Next to the watering can you can see the "Premium Cow Manure" from Agway. No ordinary manure for me!

and compost, or rather composted cow manure.

This is what premium quality looks like, apparently.

I ended up with a mix that was around 60-70% coco coir, just mixing until it looked and felt right to me.

Partially mixed, I added more coir after this.

I'll see how it works out over the next few days, hopefully it'll hold the right amount of water. I used the white bucket above to mix them at first but I think the next time I'll just add a thin layer of each to the container and then mix it up with a garden fork, repeating until it's full.

Before I filled the bin I placed in some broken pots and plates, and then a bit of plain coir, just to be sure any clumps of compost I missed didn't block the drainage holes.

Then the container was filled, though not to the top. I didn't think it needed that much depth and I didn't want it to be too heavy to lift. As it is, it's still pretty heavy.

With two baby strawberries. In front is my leaf lettuce and current arugula.

In my head this is a portable strawberry bed, but I have to admit it could be difficult getting it down the ladder, or out to the front steps, if I did want to move it to get more sun. For now it'll stay here, with some netting on top.

While I was out back I photographed one of the dragonflies that have shown up this week.

Resting on a mix of cables and dried vine parts.

I spent some time watching a giant one fly around down in the backyard. It seems the damp and shade that make our yard so attractive to mosquitoes is also nice for them.

I also snapped the seed pods forming on the flower stems of my winter arugula.

 I hadn't realized they grew like that, as I've never harvested the seeds before; it's a relief to see them because earlier on I'd torn open a dried flower and was worried there was nothing in there looking like it could form into seeds. Another crisis averted!

In the back

Finally, finally, I got around to picking up some bamboo stakes for the tomatoes out back. Of course I still need more but it's, like, 110 degrees or so and kind of a hassle to bike to home depot for more. So this happened in the sunnier bed:

Sunnier bed, with staked up tomatoes at last.

Towards the back you can make out the tips of the 6' stakes and closer to the front are some 5' stakes (there was only one package of 6' ones available). In front are cucumbers, that are climbing over everything, and two eggplants that have barely grown since I transplanted them in... mid-May?

In addition to the cherry tomatoes which have been growing and ripening for a few weeks now, there are real tomatoes too.

In the center, a future black krim.

Also quite a few baby cucumbers, but that's about it. Out front the eggplant has flowered but back here it's still waiting to make its move.

The shadier bed is pretty boring by comparison, since I ripped out all of the brassicas except for two cabbages that started heading up, though I doubt they'll do much.

Shadier bed.

There are still some edamame growing, and a couple of the sweet potatoes towards the fence are getting a little viney, but the middle of the bed is cleared for fall plants.

More stakes are needed for the other bed, which has all of its tomato, and potato for that matter, plants flopped left and right. There are a few staked up in the back row, but the front is a mess.

The bonus bed.

On the left is a literal pile of tomato plant limbs and on the right there's potato plants leaning over the edge of the bed.

I wish there more detailed shots but I started taking pictures after watering which roused the mosquitoes from whatever portal to hell they had been waiting in, so the back garden tour got cut short. However I remembered to take pictures of what I harvested this time!

There's a cucumber, a few cherry tomatoes, and a bunch of unripe ground cherries that had fallen already. I actually harvested a similar size cucumber on Friday, the first this year, but forgot to document until it was halfway eaten. Someday I'll remember to take a photo when I'm bringing in a bunch of herbs and lettuce and scallions and such.

Front garden update

An overview looking up the steps.

On the steps are strawberries, dill, basil, lemon basil, rue, and some bedraggled marigolds.

Down at the bottom, there are definitely figs happening!

And definitely ground cherries happening.

There's even a little nasturtium flower peeking out under the ground cherry. I'm not sure why this nasturtium is so tragic looking, I figured if it were lacking in sun it'd start inching out over the pot edge but perhaps this is a different type than I've grown before? Anyway so far it's just sat under, growing straight up at a sad rate, while its siblings in my window box have been flowering for the past couple of weeks.

Last weekend I split my rue plant into two pots, one of them is down by the cherries and both are doing well.

Rue.

More tomatoes are ripening, though the Isis don't seem to set nearly as many fruit as the Sun Gold out back. There are also Isis in the back but they've been slower to bloom than the front ones. I suppose in a few weeks or a month I'll know if the sometimes lack of water out front or the size of the container have held these guys back, since by then the back garden plants should have caught up.

Isis Candy Shop cherry tomatoes.

There's also a few eggplant flowers, and I planted some edamame in the pot that used to hold the peas, so I guess those'll be ready in... Octoberish?

Eggplant flowers, a little blurry. The eggplant is the the same pot as the cucumber and seems to be holding its own for now.

Just sprouted edamame, next to the tomatoes.

There's actually edamame that looks ready to harvest in the back, along with a few Sun Gold cherry tomatoes, but the mosquitoes back there make it kind of unfun to visit these days.

Goofus and Gallant

These are two lemon basil plants that were potted up at the same time.

June 10th.

I put one on the back deck and left one on the front steps, to see how much the sun made a difference. Earlier in May I had tried to put two seedlings on the back deck and they just sat there for two weeks not growing at all. This back deck lemon basil fared a little better, I believe because it started out much bigger.

June 24th, two weeks later. Back deck basil on the right.

But it was still clearly lagging. And yesterday I brought it back to the front and checked them out side-by-side.

July 5th, back deck basil on the right.

The one good thing about the back deck is that the soil holds onto to moisture much longer, so the plants don't need to be watered every single day. But it's clearly not an area where plants thrive, except maybe arugula, which is a shame because it's right outside the kitchen window.