Re: [gardeners] A postage stamp garden
Margaret Lauterbach (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Mon, 31 Aug 1998 07:14:05 -0600
>
>Next to this plant there are 11 bok choy plants, all of them ready to
>use simultaneously, of course. I don't think it lends itself to
>freezing...
Penny, Joy Larkcom says you can dry it for later use in soups or you could
make kimchee. If you don't have her book on Oriental Vegetables, you
should have.
>
>Then we have one cherry tomato, Sweet 100's. Problem is that
>Jimmie, in his enthusiasm, has lifted the branches up off the
>ground and enclosed that plant with rigid wire. Now I cannot
>get my paws in there, to pick the tomatoes!
Can you convince him to remove the cage? He's trying to keep the tomatoes
off the ground, but in that case a better way would be to slide large
pieces of cardboard under the plant to protect the fruit.
We have one green pepper plant from which we are now getting peppers
>#6 & 7. Today a major branch has broken off, nobody knows how. Of
>course, if one goes in to weed, there's no telling what harm besides
>damaged rootlets might occur....
Pepper plants are very brittle, Penny. I use those three-ring "tomato"
cage things on peppers and eggplants. They're far too flimsy to hold up my
6-foot tomato vines, but are useful for peppers and eggplants. Some places
sell them two for 1$ in spring or fall.
>
>But the biggest mystery of all is the watermelons. I planted a hill of 3,
>and as of last week, there were two adorable melons growing. Jimmie
>decided that they should not sprawl on the ground when we use soaker
>hoses, so he carefully stuck a 4 x 4 sheet of rigid wire underneath, and
>placed all the watermelon vines and melons on top. Three days ago they
>looked terrific! Yesterday they were rotted and disintegrating. They had
>been larger than an orange and smaller than a grapefruit. BTW, we have
>had zero rain. Everything is in full sun.
Perhaps he introduced them to anthracnose if he moved them while the plants
were wet.
>
>Technically, the veggie garden is his baby. Very small (Alpine
>strawberries
>and raspberries, and one real tomato plant (unknown -- they all come to
>a point..) plus all of the above.) There had been super scallions, the
>rabbits
>ate ALL the snow peas to the ground, and the lettuce was so very bitter
>that
>we threw it all away. But Jim luvs his garden, and I can only encourage
>him..
>
>Penny, NY
>
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