Cucumber Growth Progress/ Pickler's Choice vs. Lemon

Our cucumber experiment is in full swing. Pickler's Choice appears to be significantly outperforming the Lemon variety! Both were seeded on February 23rd and transplanted into the same barrel container. 

Pickler's Choice/ 4" Length/ 36 Days after Sowing

Pickler's Choice easily has 100 small cucumbers growing. It's the common, easy-to-grow variety. Two are already at least 4" long and the others are in various states of growth. 

At this point, the Lemon variety -- a fancy yellow, globe-shaped cucumber -- hasn't produced recognizable fruits. 

Maybe the Lemon cucumber starts as a typical, elongated shape and then forms a globe shape during maturation? That would be interesting. Perhaps the Lemon variety produces a smaller yield. Since we've never grown Lemon cucumbers before, this is truly an experiment!

Outdoor Classroom Experiment/ How Temperatures Affect Hybrid and Heirloom Tomatoes

Cultivating a variety of plants is a fantastic opportunity to observe science in action! The way heirloom and hybrid tomatoes grow is very different and noticeable when compared side by side. This year, we'll be studying how these varieties grow:

Pineapple heirloom tomato. Isn't the variegated red and yellow fruit gorgeous? The fruit is large and organic in shape, not perfectly round. 

In our region, the temperature rises very quickly. Larger tomatoes are a bit trickier to grow than the cherry and smaller fruits. Even with regular watering, they can split once the temperature rises. Logging the temperatures in a journal will help us estimate:

• At what temperatures the fruit tend to split more easily
• How long the fruit takes to mature at different temperatures
• What the ideal temperatures are for larger tomatoes vs. cherry 

What would the garden be without scientific observation? ;)

Chef Jeff's yellow cherry version is another premium variety we'll be observing. The bright yellow flesh looks so bright and beautiful! Again, our journal will chart temperature -- to see if and how temperature changes affect the yield, quality, and overall fruit size. 

Green Zebra looks to be absolutely breathtaking. Fruit like this is the reason people grow and treasure their heirloom tomatoes! Extraordinary, juicy, large green tomatoes boast impressive yellow variegation. How tart will this green variety be? Only one way to test...

Of course, you always need a control group. Super Sweet 100 is a common red cherry hybrid available at the big box home improvement stores. Any guesses on how it will fruit compared to the yellow specialty variety? Will it continue to fruit well past the larger varieties? 

Top Tips for Planting Seeds Indoors

Sowing seeds is one of the most awesome gardening adventures! If you've not had success, try these tips. Everyone CAN grow amazing plants from seeds. There is so much more to know that what is on the back of the seed packet.

Tip #1/ Pick easy to grow varieties for your planting zone. It's exciting to grow unusual varieties, and I often do. But always plant a regular variety too! If the exotic doesn't do so well, you'll always have a backup. An easy to grow variety will flourish. The exotic is bonus!

These yellow lovelies are cucumbers. Just stunning.

My backup? A plain, green pickling variety. Different varieties grown side by side make it easy to compare growth patterns, health, and yields.

Tip #2/ Use a seed starting kit. Really, use it! I have seen so many cute designs on Pinterest from egg cartons and other materials. In my experience, they get moldy and gross. Not ideal for plants. Use the right tools for the job.

Tip #3/ Plant 2-3 seeds per peat pot. Some seeds will not grow. If only one is planted per pot, you'll have empty pots. Empty pots are frustrating and completely avoidable. An extra seed in the peat pot will ensure beautiful green seedlings!

Tip #4/ Don't cover your seeds until you've planted them all. Inevitably, you'll get interrupted and forget where you stopped planting. So just wait until all rows are planted to cover them. M likes to push the seeds down a bit with a chopstick. Then cover with a little peat from the pot. 

Tip #5/ Mark north with an 'N' in Sharpie on your tray. Write down each row planting - Row 1 zinnias, Row 2 cucumbers, etc. All my row plantings are written in a dollar store composition book. When the tray is turned, you will always know which side is Row 1! And since the pages are bound together, all your information will be in one handy place.

Tip #6/ Keep the tray watered and covered. The top should look like this:

If there is no condensation on your lid, add more water or move to a warmer spot. Seeds need warmth and water to germinate and grow well. Or else they get moldy and die. Let's avoid that ;)

Tip#7/ As soon as seeds sprout and start leaning toward the sun, flip the tray 180 degrees daily. It helps the stems grow straight.

Tip #8/ When your larger seedlings are almost touching the top of the tray, move them to a taller plastic bin. If you don't, their stems will bend and most likely break. Broken stems will kill the plant at this stage!

I use a Sterilite bin with a lid. You can buy these anywhere. Though it's designed for hanging files, taller seedlings love it. 

Remember to keep your bin moist and place in a warm/ sunny spot. As soon as the seedlings have leaves, they need sunlight to photosynthesize. Think mini-greenhouse. 

My seedlings usually need at least four to six weeks in a bin or 'mini-greenhouse' environment to form strong starter plants. Open the lid each morning and night for a couple of hours to let fresh air in...

Tip #9/ Label your plants. Once the seedlings are in a larger bin, you need to know which is which. Sometimes I can figure it out the by the leaf's shape, but it's better to label unless you are really experienced. Popsicle sticks make inexpensive dividers + labels.

Any tips to share? I'd love to hear them and what you are planting.

Stay tuned for my list of crops and herbs to be planted this season. Hopefully, there will be no more ice storms...

Oh, Peaches!

This week the peaches turned color ~ luscious, beautiful red and yellow! They are still small, but no longer green.

Some little birds are starting to take nips out of them. I'm wondering if they need to be picked? Or do I let them ripen on the tree?

Growing upside down? I never knew they did that :)

So cute together

We definitely lost a ton of peaches due to a late freeze. There are much fewer peaches on the tree after the frozen blooms fell off. At least the little tree is growing with lots of pretty foliage :)

Everyday Madeline and Sophie have been checking on the peach tree. It's fun to count the peaches, measure their size, and see how the final crop will turn out!

Growing Dramatically ~ Black Krim and Indigo Sun Tomatoes {Heirloom Grafted}

Goodness gracious, the Black Krim tomatoes grew over an inch in diameter this week! The larger tomatoes measure over 3" in diameter.

Black Krim heirloom hybrid cluster of 3

Newer, bigger Black Krim cluster of 2

The Indigo Sun cherry tomato heirloom hybrid is covered with clusters like this one:

Indigo Sun heirloom heirloom grafted

Some of the clusters are ALMOST ripe. They're not bright yellow yet, still green. I couldn't resist and tried one but it was not sweet. Super juicy though. Can't wait until we taste our first ripe one!

Growing Garden: Final Radish Harvest?

The radishes were a fantastic success! If you are looking for an easy, fast crop then give radishes a try.

Big radish! It was left longer than its 35 day harvest date.

Interesting heirloom/fancy shape

Whatever big sister does, little sister copies. Sophie was dying to help pull radishes. No way! There's other plants in that barrel that are still growing. I didn't want her overzealous hands to pull them out. Instead, we gave her a big bowl of water and she washed the dirt off the radishes.

Eh. It's still dirty. But hey, she's only 3.

Every time I think we've harvested the last of the radishes, another plant appears. Are the gnomes planting extras at night? Anyway, I think this is the LAST radish plant. It's gone to seed, if you look close you can see the flowers. Madeline wants to leave it a little longer so it will grow bigger.

Can you see the flower?
It's a bit fuzzy, but it's as close as I could get.

The tomato seeds have now taken over the radish barrel! They are now at the two-thirds up the tomato cage. No tomatoes yet though.

Are you growing radishes? If not, what's growing in your garden? I'd love to hear about it :)

Outdoor Classroom: Berry Blossoms

A few years back I planted a blackberry bush. At least, I think it's a blackberry bush. All the canes except one little survivor went to plant heaven. My 65 lb. hunk of furry love {Tank}, used to stomp through it while barking at pedestrians passing by our fence.

Since it has never bloomed or fruited, your guess is as good as mine. But this week, two new canes popped up and the existing cane is blooming! And a few berries are emerging from the blossoms.

Blackberries? Raspberries? We'll see...

Madeline even called the bush our 'blackberry bramble'. She remembered the term from Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIHM. 

This year we've been sprinkling the base of the canes with soil acidifier. Maybe that's the difference? 

Outdoor Classroom: Tiny Black Krim Tomatoes

Our second heirloom hybrid grafted tomato plant has fruit! Hopefully, the Black Krim tomatoes will grow large and dark purple/black. Supposedly, the hotter it is ~ the darker the fruit. And it gets REALLY HOT in Dallas!

So far, this is what the emerging fruit looks like:

Growing...and about 2 inches in diameter

I'm thinking we'll count how many fruit are on each plant every week. That way, at the end of the season we'll be able to tally how much fruit each plant gave total. Good plan?

Growing Garden ~ Who Ate the Radishes?

Our radishes are ready for harvest! And a little mouse named Madeline has been eating them all. No joke. She ate 10 radishes in one afternoon, and then we quit counting ;)

Her verdict? Spicy, peppery, crispy, crunchy, and refreshing. 

Radishes grown from seed

What you see is what's left of the barrel full of rashes. Not much. These were so easy to grow, we will definitely replant another crop. And yes, these are the same little seedlings Madeline and I protected from the late freeze. And now look at them!

Growing Garden Experiment ~ Heirloom vs. Hybrid Tomatoes

Science experiment in the garden! This spring and summer, we've decided to experiment with with hybrid and heirloom grafted tomatoes.

The first group of specimens are hybrid tomatoes sown from seed. The feathery young leaves on the top right are the tomatoes. I honestly don't remember which variety they are.

Tomato hybrid seedlings, about $3 per seed packet at Lowe's

Because the kids and I are impatient gardeners, we also bought two (2) young hybrid plants as our second set of specimens. Their common name is Lemon Boy. The fruit are large and yellow, so I am hoping they will be interesting to grow!

Lemon boy plant from Home Depot, about $4 per plant

The third set of specimens are heirloom grafted tomatoes. We've never grown this type of plant and have never had good results or yield with traditional heirloom tomatoes.

However, these plants graft the top of a heirloom variety plant onto the base and roots of a hybrid plant! Supposedly, this increases the yield by 50%. Plus, you get incredibly unique varieties of tomatoes that just can't be found at big box stores.

These heirloom grafted plants cost about three times (3x) the cost of hybrids from the big box stores, but they were also about three times as big. Very healthy with plenty of flowers too. And I can't wait to see all the interesting tomatoes they produce!

Plant with variety of heirloom tomatoes, cost $12/plant at
Calloway's nursery

Heirloom variety with purple tops and yellow bottoms, cost $12/plant at
Calloway's nursery

This heirloom variety is nearly black in color! Cost $12/plant at
Calloway's nursery.

Since my old tomato cages were broken and old, they were replaced with these fun green ones. No more boring gray! Home Depot also had them in a dark raspberry, orange, and aqua. Fun colors!

If you are having a garden experiment, please share ~ I'd love to hear about it and get more ideas for the garden...

Growing Garden ~ Eggplant Musical Chairs

Sometimes, plants just don't stay where you want them. This is the pot where we sowed eggplant seeds. Notice anything wrong?

Where did the seeds and dirt go?

Thanks to my 65 lb. hunk of love, Tank, the pot somehow fell over. I tried to put the spilled dirt back in, but somehow it ended upturned again.

I gave up. And then saw this:

Eggplant? 

I'm about 90% sure this is an eggplant seedling. There is a set of four of them on the edge of the walkway a few feet from the original pot.

For now, I'm taking a wait and see approach. I guess they just didn't like that pot and found a new home ;)

New Crop Additions ~ Crazy Pink Blueberries!

Ever seen bright pink blueberries? Me either, until a recent visit to my favorite local nursery. They were calling my name, and I just couldn't bear not to give them a try in the outdoor classroom ;)

Blueberry variety 'Pink Lemonade'

Blueberries produce better yields if planted near another plant of a different variety, so I chose a traditional blueberry for the second plant. To ensure cross pollination between the two, they'll be planted next to a butterfly bush that bees and butterflies love!

If you've never grown blueberries, they are acid loving plants. So definitely invest in some soil acidifier if you do not have acidic soil! Dallas soil is not acidic at all, so a few scoops of acidifier are added to my camillas every month to keep them happy and healthy. Now I'll just add a few scoops to the blueberries at the same time.

So far the traditional blueberry has a ton of flowers and fruit. The pink one doesn't have nearly as many, but it also has fewer leaves so I'm thinking that it may just fruit later in the season. Only time will tell!

Growing Garden ~ Carrots Emerging

Look what finally has started growing...the feathery tops of our carrots :)

Potted carrots and lillies