I just finished getting all sorts of garden tasks completed - finished planting two more types of bush beans, dug and partially de-clumped another long row...fed most of my plantings, did some tomato plant tying and sucker removal.  So as I ambled back to the side yard garden to turn the deer sprinklers back on, I noted a very large, furry fellow scurrying out of the back of the garden and into the woods.  It was a pretty healthy sized groundhog - and he or she was nibbling some beet greens when I interrupted him/her.  I know many gardeners who have done battle with groundhogs...and the groundhogs typically win.  About 30 minutes later, I looked out the dining room window - and Mr or Mrs G was back - this time sampling my lettuce, having already taken part of my cucumber plants.  So I have to come up with something before all of my efforts become wasted.  Current thought is to acquire a Have A Heart trap - since I don't think it will be easy to find the burrows (we have a lot of woods in back of our house, and the woods floor is thick with creeping charlie and/or stilt grass).  Stay tuned.....the battle begins!

To catch you up on what I've planted in the big garden thus far over the last few days:  For basil, I've kept to those that will be for salads and pesto - so there are three plants each of Red Rubin, Osmin, Mrs. Burns Lemon, Genovese, Martina Genovese, Serrata, Mozzarella and Aroma.  I will plant the more exotic ones - the bush types and Thai, Cinnamon, Licorice and the variety Christmas - in pots on our deck.  As for bush beans - there are short rows (about 15 feet) of the varieties Jade, Fresh Pick and Velour - I plant double rows, seeds about 3 inches apart in rows 6 inches apart.  Once I get the last bean row fully prepared, I will be planting shorter blocks of the following bush beans:  Maxibel, Speculator, and Royal Burgundy (commercial sources), as well as Marbel from a SSE member.  I also hope to plant some blocks of dried beans, including Jacob's Cattle and Vermont Cranberry (commercial sources), and from SSE members, Lafayette, Cuban Black, Tiger Eye, Midnight Black Turtle, Calypso, Zuni Shalako and Pelardron.  That is if the groundhog leaves me any!

I decided to work on the big garden rather than play with peppers or eggplant today....so tomorrow I return to the small pots of hot and sweet peppers, eggplant and a very few additional tomatoes.  Still plenty to do!

After the video clips were taken (from the blog post of a few days ago), I planted some sweet and hot peppers and eggplant, but  only in the 5 gallon (and a few 2 gallon) grow bags.  I've not yet returned to the rest of the peppers and eggplant, but there are lots more to plant.  (where can I squeeze them in?  We shall see...)

Instead, it seemed to be more important to work in the big garden and work on some other crops.  Remember that sunken, clay filled row I showed in the video?  It is now a half row of different basil (it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but did require breaking of the clods and adding a thick layer of last year's used Miracle Grow potting mix/Cow manure to ensure a nice loose bed).  On the other side of the blueberry bushes is a half row of a bush green bean called Jade.  I also dug two additional half rows and did the initial cultivation; tomorrow I hope to plant those in bush beans as well.  After I accomplish that, all that remains to complete the big garden is to dig up one more long row, which will contain some small sections of bush beans obtained from SSE members - some dried beans, and a few bush types.  Yes, we love green beans and dried beans and seem to never be able to plant enough!

I actually am thinking that the big garden could be a perfect spot to park some of the final plantings of hot peppers in small, 1 gallon containers - but we shall see if there is sufficient room to do so.

I also took my hand held audio recorder and made initial observations on all tomato plants.  Most have flower buds, and a surprising amount have open flowers already!

Today was another really productive day.  I shot the driveway video this morning, so it shows how things were at that point....right now, the fruits of today's labor sit out there in rows of eggplant and sweet and hot peppers.  You will be able to see that in my next update - but there is plenty to see in these!

First, my main dirt garden, with lettuce the star of the show.

And here is the driveway garden, with the endless array of tomatoes in pots and grow bags!  Enjoy!  

It seems like my days of extreme planting (meaning lugging those big 2.5 cu ft bags of stuff into and out of the truck and into the wheel barrow and into the pots...and lugging the pots into position) end up being followed by a slower day to recover.  And that defined today.  There isn't quite as much pressure to get the eggplant, peppers, beans and basil planted - they aren't nearly as unhappy in their little pots as the tomatoes were becoming.

So I took stock of what I did - walked about with my hand held recorder, noted colors and shapes of lettuce and whether they are bolting or holding; noted the positions of all tomatoes, and updated my Excel grow log.  After the weekly lunch-with-best-friends, I decided it was time to get out the ladder and hammer and 8 foot stakes and get that particularly unpleasant task out of the way.  (A tomato friend got to see me in action - hope those plants do well for you, Brandon!).  So, with nearly 40 stakes in place, I started to tie the indeterminate tomatoes to the stakes...but ran out of gas part way through.  

So - the task of buying more planting medium and finishing off planting eggplant and peppers falls to tomorrow and Friday, if necessary.  The frequent rain storms means a delay to digging the basil and bean rows - perhaps Friday or the weekend for those particular tasks.

I am pondering the first video garden tour of the season, since - finally - there is quite a bit to look at and describe.  Stay tuned for that - maybe once the peppers and eggplant are planted and the driveway garden nears completion.

Feels like a good night for a pint of something cold!

If my counting is correct, there are now 198 tomato plants in their final locations, with one more to go.  Actually, I can't end up at 199 tomatoes, so will have to add one more.  200 tomatoes - that is an all-time record for me.  Today I planted the last of the small pot indeterminate varieties (15 of them) in bleached 2 gallon pots, then dove into the rest of the dwarfs in 5 gallon grow bags (40 of them new, but 20 older ones that had to be bleached).  Home Depot is becoming familiar with me and my push cart of Miracle Gro potting mix and Moo Nure.....well, familiar with my credit card, actually.  Ouch!  

With that out of the way, I will turn my attention to eggplant, and sweet and hot peppers tomorrow.  Once those are finished, I will be on the home stretch - just a short row of basil and some bush snap and bush dry beans remaining to be planted.  Then there is the rather unpleasant of climbing the ladder to hammer the 8 foot stakes into the ground for the indeterminate tomatoes in the big garden and around the edge of the driveway.  My goal to have the garden completely planted - Sunday.  We shall see!

We've started to really enjoy the plethora of lettuce we planted, and a big salad is our typical recent dinner.  The hot weather is pushing it along fast and some varieties are bolting rather quickly.  The heat is also having a negative effect on our non-lettuce greens.  The beets, however, are looking great!  And my little foray into growing carrots in large pots is also a success - they are so much more delicious than the little bags of so-called "baby" carrots!

Today I got to notice how well watered the big pots are since I spent much of the morning moving them about!  I didn't plant anything today - it wasn't exactly planting weather - but did get the driveway garden reorganized, and it is now starting to approach the final design.  The large pot indeterminate tomatoes are in the final location; tomorrow I need to pound in the tall stakes since they will soon need support.  In between most of the large pot indeterminate tomatoes are some of the smaller pot, extreme prune indeterminate varieties - this will allow me to bang stakes into the edge to provide a bit more secure support.

In front of each large pot is now a Dwarf variety in a grow bag - I will use a short take in the large pot to provide support.  Then I started a second double row of tomatoes - anchored on each end by a tomato in a 10 gallon pot.  The double row has the small pot, extreme prune indeterminate tomatoes.  In order to make room for all of this reorganization and pot movement, I went through all of my remaining seedlings - I've reserved from a few to most of each type for any final seedling sales and a bit of plant shipment, but the vast majority are now forming a double row on the lawn, all ready for donation to non-profit organizations.  

On tap for Tuesday (tomorrow) - weather permitting is:  staking the garden front row cherry tomatoes and large pot indeterminates along the driveway edge, as well as the small pot indeterminate tomatoes.  Purchase of more planting mix.  Planting the remaining small pot extreme prune indeterminate tomatoes (which will require some pot bleaching), and the rest of the Dwarf tomatoes (in new grow bags and some bleached old grow bags).  I don't think I will make it to eggplant or peppers yet.....that will be a job for Wednesday and beyond!

I've included a few pics, and will perhaps do a video update - pictures/videos will speak much more clearly than text to show you what I am up to....

Top row - left to right - current driveway, lg pot indet with dwarfs and small pot indet, Dwarf Lemon Ice dwarf blossoms
next row - big garden front row, Sungold blossoms, remaining seedlings
next row - blueberries, Diva, lettuce in big garden
next row - more views of lettuce (which we are now picking big time!)
bottom row - water scarecrows in action near big garden, and protecting driveway garden

We've been busy at other things this week....tomorrow I resume getting the garden planted.  There are the rest of the indeterminate tomatoes, rest of the dwarf tomatoes, and all of the sweet and hot peppers and eggplant....and basil....and beans.  There are tomatoes to stake, pots to rearrange.....seedlings to ship, transplant, donate - all I can do is take it in bites-sized bits!

For those who still have room for seedlings, we've still got them.  This coming week I will have some availability each day, we can use email to set up times that work for you.  There are still plenty of Dwarf project plants for anyone else who wants to jump in....

So stay tuned - more updates to come!  

We've always loved sweet peppers, and since discovering how much the yields increase by growing them in containers, we love them even more.  To tell the truth, eggplant and peppers seem to much easier to grow successfully in Raleigh than do tomatoes - less potentially devastating diseases, less fussy plants, easier to control, and more reliable yields - it's all good, really.  Two more thing that make Sweet peppers essential - they dehydrate really easily and can then be ground in a food processor to make heavenly paprika (the heat can be adjusted by adding some dehydrated chiles to the mix).  And they are so easy to freeze - no need to blanch...just take out the seeds and ribs and chop them into bite size pieces, then into a freezer bag.  

There are a few "categories" of sweet peppers - the familiar bells, the longer, so-called "Italian" or frying types, and the squat pimento types.  We love them all, and they can be used interchangeably.  Before we changed to peppers growing in pots, we noticed that bells can disappoint in yields when grown in the garden.  But moving to pots now makes each sweet type a near guaranteed yield success.  

And one more thing - with the exception of just a few extremely rare varieties, green peppers are just unripe peppers - they will all end up at a particular "ripe" color, and that is where the elevated nutrition, sweetness and flavor emerge.  We rarely pick peppers that haven't gone to their ripe color, because it just seems pointless (in terms of flavor and quality).  Typical ripe colors are yellow, orange, red or chocolate brown.  Purple peppers are also unripe varieties that will end up either red, orange or yellow.  

The following varieties are going into 5 gallon containers:

Aconcagua - this is a very, very large Italian frying type of pepper that ripens from a lime green to orange red.  I first grew this many years ago, having obtained it from Glecklers in the late 1980s.  

Corno di Toro and the similar Marconi, Italia and Super Shepherd - these are all wonderful long green Italian frying types of peppers with thick walls, high productivity and great flavor once they go to their final color, which is deep red.  Notice a theme here?  We love the long fruited Italian types!

Garden Sunshine - this is another old Gleckler variety and produces pale yellow bell peppers that ripen orange to red.  It isn't as sweet as some, but is pretty and very productive, and fills in a rather unusual color change for peppers.

Orange Sun and Corona - both of these are blocky green bell peppers, non-hybrid, that ripen deep orange and have a wonderful, sweet flavor.  My favorite of this type, Orange Bell, is taking a break from my garden this year.

Purple Beauty - this is another I've grown for years; its big blocky green fruit quickly change to a nearly purple black, then ripen deep red.  This is another that isn't at the absolute top in flavor, but is a nice colored variety and I need some fresh seeds.

World Beater - a true oldie from the early 1900s, this is one of the original blocky bell peppers that ripen red.  It is one of those that really hasn't been bettered through the many years of hybridization, and is a sentimental favorite to grow.

Then come my project sweet peppers - offspring of hybrids that I've worked with for a few generations to derive new, non-hybrid varieties.  These are the most advanced and merit 5 gallon pots:

Chocolate Bell - nice blocky green bell shaped fruit ripen a rich chocolate brown (they don't turn to red, so this is a rather unique color change), and have a good sweet flavor.  

The following all originated in a beautiful (and expensive) hybrid called Islander.

Amethyst - selected and named by me, this one is most like the hybrid in color changes, a bell pepper that goes from cream colored to a lovely lavender, ending up at red.

Fire Opal - also selected and named by me, and very unique - it goes from cream, through lavender, but ripens golden yellow - this is the only pepper I know of that has this color shift.

White Gold - another of mine from Islander, and another unique color shifter - blocky to elongated bell peppers go from cream to yellow - and that's it!  Very prolific and very sweet when yellow.

Royal Purple - the 4th pepper I selected and named out of Islander, this has a color change similar to Purple Beauty - blocky bells go from pale green to dark purple to deep red.  

Candy Corn - the final pepper out of Islander, and the most difficult to stabilize for color.  My goal is a cream colored bell pepper that ripens to red orange - so the least flashy, but also quite unusual.  Let's see if I've nailed it down this year.

Finally, I am going to grow three different alternate selections of Royal Purple, and one each of Amethyst, White Gold and Fire Opal, in 2 gallon pots just for evaluation - a few fruit and some seeds.  All of the Islander project peppers are from saved seed from last year's grow outs.

I will be keeping you all informed of how these various sweet peppers do throughout the season.

OK - enough about tomatoes (if that is possible...actually, it isn't possible to talk too much about tomatoes - but...)

My driveway again will be home to hundreds of growing things in many pots and bags of various sizes.  The majority will of course be tomatoes, but there will be no shortage of peppers and eggplant.  So here is a little bit of info on the eggplant I chose to grow and my rationale.

These will be my 5 gallon grow bag eggplant:

Early Green Giant - this Johnny's variety (not a hybrid) is really excellent - it is of the classic eggplant shape, but a beautiful light green, with sweet, mild very pale green flesh.  It is a favorite for all of our eggplant uses, and I need to save some fresh seed - so there are two good reasons for me to grow it this year.

Listada di Gandia - Along with Zebra (a hybrid), this is to me the most beautiful of eggplant.  Also of the classic bulbous shape and growing to quite a large size, it is a striking combination of white with vertical dark lavender stripes, with sweet white flesh.  This is another that I need to save seed from.

Louisiana Long Green - I've had this for years, originally obtaining it from Gleckler.  I've noted a bit of crossing over the years, as the seedlings can have either the typical pale lavender or nearly white stems.  This year I am going to grow out the pale green stemmed version.  The fruit from both types seem the same - moderately long and slender, with pale green skin and very pale green flesh.

New York Spineless Improved - A real oldie but goodie, this is what most people think of when they picture eggplant - dark, glossy black purple skin, very pale green flesh, and a perfect size for eggplant parmesan slices.  I consider this one of the best eggplant to grow for all purposes.

Ping Tung Long - I've not grown this in some years, and need fresh seed.  This is the classic long, slender lavender Asian eggplant that is perfect for grilling and very, very productive.

Prosperosa - Very similar to Italian Pink Bicolor, Violette di Firenze and Rosa Bianca, this is a very old, large, nearly round eggplant with skin of varying shades of purple.  I got my start years ago from Tomato Growers Supply Company, and suspect it is an old Italian heirloom.

Ripples - This is a non-hybrid variety that I developed out of Zebra hybrid and appears to be stable.  It is nearly a Listada di Gandia lookalike in its purple stripes over white background, but is not as fat - yet not as slender as the Asian types.  I like to grow the varieties I've developed to see how I did with my selection and stability - it is a really nice eggplant.

A trio of varieties I developed working with Orient Express F1 - Midnight Lightning, Twilight Lightning and Skinny Twilight.  All are of the long, Asian eggplant shape, with Skinny Twilight the most slender, and Midnight Lightning the most darkly colored - nearly black.  The other two are more of a dark lavender.  

Snow Globe - this is a nice, nearly round white skinned variety I developed from Cloud 9 hybrid.  I've not grown it in some time and need to do a confirmation on my selection, as well as save some fresh seed.

The following four are rare eggplant sent to me by my friend, Jeff - I think he may have gotten them in seed swaps, or via Baker Creek.  They are Indonesian Pink Blush, Bianca di Imola, Thai White Ribbed and Lao White.  I've not grown any of the four in years, and am badly in need of fresh seed.  Indonesian Pink Blush looks a bit like Rosita - semi-fat/ semi long, with a deep pink/lavender skin.  The other three have white colored skin; Bianca di Imola a semi-slender, semi-bulbous type, Lao White not quite so large and nearly round, and Thai White Ribbed very unusual indeed - more of a flat, lobed tomato shape.  I will be sure to take pics of them once there is something good to see.

Now for some of my eggplant experimental work - grow outs of unexpected stem colors of seedlings that indicate crosses, or continuation of stabilization work.  I am going to grow these in 2 gallon grow bags, as I am more interested in seeing a flower/ripe fruit and collecting seed than maximizing yields and using for cooking.  The first of these is a selection from the popular variety Neon hybrid - my seed saving wasn't very effective (I have two selections, and one didn't germinate at all - this is the lone seedling from the other) - my efforts are toward a non-hybrid version of Neon.  Then there will be up to a dozen all from a purple fruited seedling that came from some saved Casper seed - clearly a cross.  Last year I grew out 5 of them and had an array of colors - four of them varying shades of purple with a dark purple or green calyx.  The most unusual was a nearly white eggplant with a green blush and some pink as well.  From looking at saved seed from all 5 of these, it is clear that continued segregation is occurring - so I will plant up to four seedlings of each based upon the color of the young seedling stem (which ranges from nearly white to distinctly purple and lots of shades in between!).  I actually find this sort of thing quite fun and interesting.


So that's the eggplant story - wait until I get into the complexity of my sweet and hot pepper excursions of the coming season!

As I blogged yesterday, real planting is finally happening ....and looking back, despite the weirdly warm spring, my planting dates are just about spot on with those of last year.  This will help us to start salivating for home grown tomatoes at the appropriate time!  (just as an example, last year's plant out date of May 2 for tomatoes like Brandywine and Cherokee Purple resulted in the first ripe fruit around July 7.....not all that long to exhibit patience!).

But that was last year.....let's talk about this year and what's been planted - and what will be planted today.

Front row main garden cherry tomatoes:  Blush, Tiger Tom, Ambrosia (orange fruit), Green Zebra Cherry, Sungold, Sungold, Sungold (no, this is not a typo...), Ambrosia (red fruit), Maglia Rose, Sungold Select II...and ....Sungold!  Blush and Maglia Rose are new releases - they are elongated cherries (2-3 inches long by less than an inch wide) - the former is yellow with pink vertical stripes, the latter pink with vertical gold stripes.  We tried them last year as a very late planting and the few fruit we tasted were good enough to warrant a more complete trial this year.  The size and shape will lend itself very well to dehydration/drying, as well as salads, and perhaps grilling.  Ambrosia is another new one - and another attempt to get a non-hybrid version of Sungold.  It is still not stable, as we saw both red and orange fruit - but they were both pretty tasty, hence I am growing out both.  Green Zebra Cherry, also quite recent, is essentially a cherry sized version of Green Zebra.  And Sungold Select II is one of the initial efforts of coming up with Sungold quality in a non-hybrid form.  We shall see!

As for the indeterminate tomatoes that are now in large (10-15 gallon) pots:  Cherokee Green, Giant Syrian, Cherokee Chocolate, Cherokee Purple, Amish Dester, Green Giant, Brandywine, Lucky Cross, Big Sandy, Mexico Midget, Lillian's Yellow Heirloom, Aunt Ruby's German Green, Selwin Yellow, Don's Double Delight, Caitlin's Lucky Stripe, Bridge Mike's, Little Lucky, Nepal, Large Lucky Red, Abraham Lincoln, Anna Russian, Piennolo, JD Special C-Tex, Tennessee Britches, Torre Canne, Striped Sweetheart, and Hege's German Pink.  There is a method to my madness in selecting all of these.  Some are my favorite eating tomatoes and tend to get grown every year.  A few are older seed of a variety I really liked but haven't grown in far too long.  And quite a few are offspring of Lucky Cross.  If a variety gets to grow in a large pot, it is something we really look forward to eating!

I planted many of the extreme prune, small pot indeterminates in 2-3 gallon pots.  The varieties getting this treatment are:  Green Grape,  Costoluto Genovese,  German Johnson (potato leaf), Yellow Bell, Amana Orange, Druzba, Hillbilly, Anna Russian, Nebraska Wedding, Sunny X Orange Pear F1, Ivalde F1, Reinhart Green Heart, Softy F1, Lazy X Orange Banana F1, Kiwi F1, Dana's Dusky Rose, Strawberry Margarita, Big Willy, Green Doctors, Taps regular leaf, Great White, Stump of the World, Teddy Smooth, Teddy Steak, German Johnson regular leaf, Arkansas Traveler, Lucinda, Taps potato leaf, Virginia Sweets, Cuostralee, Hillbilly potato leaf, Yellow Ponderosa, Regina's Yellow, Reinhart Chocolate Heart, Orange Strawberry, Burgundy Traveler, Abraham Lincoln potato leaf, Casey's Pure Yellow regular leaf, Lucky Cross regular leaf, Summertime Green indeterminate, Green Giant regular leaf, Nelson's Golden Gem, Black from Tula, Cherokee Purple, Cherokee Chocolate, Large Lucky Red regular leaf, Kellogg's Breakfast, Cosmonaut Volkov Red, Cooper's Special, Lillian's Yellow regular leaf, Trader Joe Yellow Cherry, Indian Stripe cross F2 (at least two plants), Maiden's Gold, Hege's German Pink, Lucky Cross regular leaf, Sorrento, Tondino,  and Cuor di Buie.  I didn't plant them all....about a dozen of the above are still a bit small.  But there are about 40 pots out there with tomatoes in them.

There are all sorts of reasons for this set of tomatoes - some are old varieties I need fresh seed from, a few are new hybrids for the Dwarf project, some are favorites I am growing for a few fruit to eat and seed to save, there are some that are new to me, some sent to me as their own favorites by various gardening friends, and a few unexpected leaf shapes - likely hybrids, hence starting points for new projects.....it will certainly make for an interesting garden this season, with lots of good eating

Then, I planted the first 41 of the dwarfs in my white handled grow bags - which I bleached first (today was a very, very exhausting, busy day!).  I won't list the names right now.....in another week or so I will plant the final 60 or so dwarfs, but in black plastic grow bags.  I will blog on the Dwarf project once all of them are planted.

Oh yes - I also planted squash, cukes and melons.  And everything got a bit of liquid fertilizer.  And the tomatoes in pots got a nice fresh grass clipping mulch.

That's enough - I'm tired just thinking about today's activities....so off to bed!