Our deck gets quite a bit of mid morning to late afternoon sun, and for some time, we've used that to our advantage by filling it with containers of all sorts of plants. The main issue we face is that our two chocolate labs like tomatoes....if we aren't quick they tend to get anything low on the plants!

Each year we try different things in our deck garden. This year we had lots of pots of spring greens (lettuce, mustard, arugula, collards and chard), then added various flowers, herbs such as basil, chives, parsley and cilantro, and finally, some tomatoes and something new for us - cucumbers.

Pictures always do better than words, so below are a sweep of our deck plants.

Top row shows the left-most part of the deck garden - tomato Arkansas Traveler in a 10 gallon pot, then some chard. Next are a selection of flowers and herbs, then a view of more small pots and the monster cucumber plants.
Second row - chard, aloe, dahlia and zinnia, then the corner with chives, arugula, lantana, chard and torenia, followed by the cucumber tree (I planted 4 seeds of Diva in a 10 gallon pot in mid May - this is the result - I am using twine tied to an 8 foot take to provide a ready-made trellis).
Third row - our first Diva (for tomorrow!), then three large potted cherry tomatoes - Tiny Tim Yellow on the left, Egg Yolk in the center and Lemon Drop on the right - then one of our female Hummers (we call this one Dippy Doo because she takes short microsecond drinks - dips constantly - unlike our other female, which we call Mrs. - she takes long drinks).

There is quite a lot going on in my two gardens - between growing in bales, the various eggplant, sweet and hot pepper and Dwarf tomato projects - as always, there are things I am learning, some things that are working, some things starting to go a bit south.  

If anyone would like to stop by for some time to walk around and talk about progress, growing techniques, share how things are going in your own garden - send me an email so we can schedule some times to do so. Right now there is fruit set on most everything, eggplant and peppers are turning interesting colors, and tomatoes will be joining them soon.

If there is a lot of interest, I will work to create small groups....it all depends upon availability (both mine and yours).  But - one of the best things about gardening is sharing what we do, sharing the excitement and the disappointments, the successes and newly found secrets.

I hope I hear from some of you soon!

One of the great things about growing eggplant in containers is the speed in which they start showing you what they've got! I have two eggplant projects going this year; one is a continuation of the work on some new selections from the hybrid Orient Express. The other is from an unexpected cross between Casper and a neighboring variety, which is providing some really interesting and unique leads.

In 2012, I had three selections that had very unusual combinations of green with blushes of lavender. These were saved in vials 12-24, 12-32 and 12-35 - my descriptions were:  12-24 - slender bicolor fruit, green with lavender; 12-32 - slender pale green fruit with lavender streaks; 12-35 - teardrop, oval shaped pale green fruit with a lavender wash.

I started seeds from each, and am growing four plants from 12-24, three from 12-32, and four from 12-35. Most have set fruit and are starting to reveal their colors!

From 12-24, the first can't be seen yet - still in the calyx; second is tear drop shaped and pale green, third has small buds and fourth has pale green fruit - once the fruits on the first, second and fourth plant get larger, any trait to show a lavender blush will show itself.

From 12-32, the first has a more purple calyx and fruit already quite purple; second has nearly white slender fruit with a distinct lavender streaking, and third is slender, pale green with the lavender streaking, which is what I am hoping for.

From 12-35, first has fruit still in the calyx, second has really pretty oval light green fruit with purple streaking, third has an open flower, and fourth is very similar to the second - so two of these hit the mark.

It is still too early to make conclusions, but it is clear that I am seeing a few that I was hoping for....there are years more work to go to ensure any of these are stable, and I will have to think of additional names, but it is really interesting to see the green/purple color combo.

For those of you who are also growing some of these plants...how is it going?

Each garden is a mix of early cold and later warmth (which ends up as extreme heat), of not enough rain with too much rain, of pleasant air and uncomfortable humidity. Gardens see success and failures, and some seasons one outweighs the other. Troubles can come on at any point - they will be critter, weather and disease-related.  The troubles vary from year to year. And yet we still garden - one taste of the produce we grow convinces us of the reason for the efforts we expend each year, and the emotional roller coaster that we all ride on throughout the season.

My troubles to date have been the probing nibbles of deer (usually because I don't have the Water Scarecrow sprinklers aimed quite right, or are insufficient in number....they've sampled some young hot pepper plants, and each end of a bean row - but the damage has been minimal), a few chews of foliage by beetles of various sorts, and the seemingly inevitable appearance of disease on tomato plants. Diagnosing disease is tricky and challenging business and is worth some Googling at pictures and perhaps a visit to the local Extension service with some tainted plant parts. Our current conditions - lots of rain, especially late in the day (meaning wet foliage overnight) - seems to be favoring some Early Blight (alternaria), showing up on lower foliage or that at the rear of the plant (brownish spots, especially on the edge, with some yellowing next to it), away from the direct, day long rays of the sun. If the agent is present, the increasing heat and humidity can also bring on Fusarium wilt, which shows itself as wilting (even when the plant is well watered) and then yellowing of the foliage on a particular stem of the plant.

Below are some pictures I took of the issues I am dealing with (and compared to previous years, things are pretty rosy - I am wondering if all of that bleaching, detergent-spraying, of pots, stakes, the driveway, are really helping). I am not spraying, though there is no shortage of products that can be used (again, Google is your friend). What each gardener uses is a very personal choice. I am going around the garden each morning with a container of detergent and shears - I am cutting off the lower impacted foliage and then dipping the shears in the detergent, so I don't spread issues plant to plant. For the deer, I added the second Water Scarecrow to the driveway garden; for the side yard garden, I've got my unused tomato cages providing blockage to the rear of the garden, and aiming the scarecrow right down the middle to protect the garden front. It is a daily - and nightly - battle and I am sure surprises await me in the coming days and weeks!

By the way, we ate the first ripe tomato today - a Mexico Midget - 37 days from transplant...and yummy!

Happy Sunday everyone. The forecast said sunny and cooler, but reality said drizzle, clouds and stifling humidity. Instead of kayaking, it was a morning of working outdoors and an afternoon of catching up indoors. 

We are sad to see the end of the lettuce...as always, it is such a treat to spend the spring eating salads of tender, sweet home grown lettuce. We continue to pick mustard, Red Russian Kale and Collards,  they end up in numerous smoothies or sauteed in various dinner dishes. Last night I picked the first beets - they were wonderful, a mix of white, gold, red and striped - about 1-2 inches in diameter. I tried a new recipe...the beets were roasted in foil for an hour separately, and the beet greens sauteed with spring onion, red sweet pepper, hot pepper flakes, sesame oil, salt and pepper - the greens and beets were served over steamed black rice and topped with toasted walnuts and dollops of goat cheese.  Yum! Our summer squash is blossoming (only the male blossoms so far), the cukes and melons are starting to run, and our bush beans will be ready to pick in a week or less.

We had another heavy rain last night - though it reduces the need for watering, it increases the time with wet tomato foliage....there is more Early Blight on lower foliage than I would like to see, but I remove the impacted plant parts each day, dipping my shears in a quat. ammonium detergent solution in between snips. 

I am hoping that the blushing Mexico Midget tomatoes will be ripe in a few days....and it seems Sungold and Coyote, as well as Lemon Drop, Tiny  Tim Yellow and Egg Yolk (growing in large pots happily on the deck), will soon follow. We will also have some hot peppers, sweet peppers and eggplant within a week or so, meaning the summer produce production line is starting to hum.

A few other tidbits - Sara bought me a Mr. Beer kit for Fathers Day, so I am finally adding beer making to coffee roasting and other various and sundry hobbies - I just got the first batch going (a Czech Pilsener) today - bottling will happen in two weeks. Storey is formalizing their request for me to write a how-to book on Straw Bale gardening - I expect to see a contract very soon (hence my dive into adding 17 bales to my garden this year....and they are doing really well). The repeat photography (where needed) for my first book - Epic Tomatoes - will take place on the week of July 21. Fingers crossed on ripe tomatoes at that time!

This weather brings to mind the song "Summer in the City" - not that this is the city, but the song captures the feeling of heat pretty well...and I guess I am dating myself as well!  I am definitely in my summer schedule of gardening work between 9 and noon...then afternoons recovering, updating my growing information, blogging.

I've been tracking a few tomato plants in terms of increases in height, just to get an idea of the vertical growth rate of indeterminate tomatoes. It is quite interesting - on May 19 I planted Sungold and Cherokee Purple in the front of my side yard garden. Sungold was at 6 inches tall after planting, and Cherokee Purple at 6 inches tall as well. I've recorded the height each day. Today, Sungold was at 59 inches - a gain of 53 inches over 33 days.  Cherokee Purple was at 45 inches tall, a gain of 38 inches over that time. (I am tracking a few more, but don't want to bore you with too much data). The punchline -  in general, the plants grow over an inch to nearly 2 inches per day on average...which means that a staked indeterminate tomato plant will grow approximately one foot each week. There are many variables at play - the location of my plants (hours of full sun per day is an important factor here), soil quality, and weather, just to name a few. But think of that - at one foot per week, that's 4 feet per month....a mid may planting will be at 12 feet tall by mid August. No wonder the 3 foot tall cone-shaped "useless tomato cages" are so useless for indeterminate varieties!

I've now got fruit set on 75 of my tomato plants....as well as 48 pepper plants and 11 eggplant.  The first cluster on Mexico Midget tomato is blushing! Planted on May 17, this would put first ripe fruit on that plant at less than 40 days......

Below are a few selected pictures showing progress. The top row shows a few eggplant - the first is from my "Green Ghost" project - all from a Casper X ??? cross that happened a few years ago. The goal is pale green fruit with lavender striping - meaning that first one is a successful hit...there could be slender or teardropped versions. This first looks very much like a pale green tinted Antigua.  The second two are examples of the Midnight Lightning/Twilight Lightning/Skinny Twilight selection work, all out of the Orient Express hybrid.  I am growing quite a few and will wait to see all of the results before I decide where to go next.

Second row shows a couple of Dwarf varieties - Sleeping Lady (released), and Tennessee Suited (in progress), as well as another really nice eggplant plant.

In 1927, on June 20, my mom, Phyllis Gibbs, was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. In 1953, on June 20, Wilfred LeHoullier, also of Pawtucket Rhode Island, married Phyllis at the Pawtucket Congregational Church. Theirs was a happy marriage of 54 years, ending with the passing of Wilfred in 2007; Phyllis finally joined him on Easter Sunday of this year.

It is amazing to think of the serendipity in all of our lives - how one decision, one chance meeting, can change the lives of those that make it and all around them, from that time on. I am very thankful for both my parents' lives, for both deciding to attend the dance at the Polish Home and thus meeting, leading to their marriage, leading to my brother and I. 

And so, as we approach the first day of summer, on an important birthday and an important wedding day, as I water my garden and do my usual Friday Farmers Market shopping, I will think fondly of both my mom and dad on this most special day, and be reminded of how much I miss them.

Mid June seems a bit early to "enjoy" a week of solid mid-90s. Oh well...my efforts this week will be to ensure that everything is sufficiently watered, do the garden chores in the morning - then do what the plants cannot do...work on indoor projects in the comfort of air conditioning while the plants roast! Once we get through this week the temps seem to moderate a bit (but beyond a week, weather forecasts are iffy of course). The main concerns will be tomato fruit set and triggering onset of various diseases. I am pretty aware of how my gardens are moving in to this spell - let's see what things are like on the other end.

Yesterday I did a pretty detailed walk through of the garden.  Here is the summary of my observations:

Fruit is set on 47 tomato plants. Of those, 22 are Dwarf varieties, and 25 are indeterminates. Of the indeterminates, 9 are cherry tomatoes, and 16 are larger fruited types. Of those that have yet to set fruit, just about all of the indeterminate plants have open blossoms, and perhaps half of the dwarfs; the rest have buds of various sizes.

I've got open flowers or advanced buds on most of the sweet peppers and quite a few of the large container hot peppers; virtually all of the small pot ornamental hots have blossoms or buds, and some have tiny fruit - I will get to see the colors soon, which is always fun!

Most of the eggplant have buds or open flowers, and a few have set fruit.

We are nearly done with the lettuce (boo hoo...but then again, with the late start to planting, having fresh lettuce into mid June is a nice bonus). The collards, chard, kale and mustards are providing lots of greens for us to use in sautees, and we are even using them as salad greens. The largest beets are now approaching 2 inches in diameter, so harvest begins this week. Bush beans are in full bloom, and summer squash have advanced buds.

I estimate that our first ripe tomatoes will be on Mexico Midget, Coyote, Sungold, Lemon Drop, Egg Yolk and Tiny Tim Yellow for cherry tomatoes...perhaps within the next two weeks. The first non-cherry ripe fruit will likely be on a few dwarfs - Tennessee Suited and Sleeping Lady - as well as the indeterminate types Arkansas Traveler and Polish; they were the first to set fruit.

Stay cool, everyone, in the coming week of intense heat!  Now I must head out to mow the lawn....the rewards from which will be more mulch for my containers!

We are pretty lucky in the pest department with respect to keeping our garden safe. For whatever reason, birds and small rodents (squirrels) don't pay much, if any, attention. A few years ago a groundhog family took up residence at the base of an old tree in our back yard and provided some real frustration. Deer was and will remain our main annual challenge....and judging from the tiny newborns seen on streets near our home, there is no end in sight.

Over the years we tried pretty much everything to keep the deer out - non-electric and electric fencing and substances of a plethora of aromas, transistor radios, sweaty Tshirts - you name it, we tried it. The best chemical substance in our experience, Tree Guard, works great for ornamentals, but can't be used on edibles (it seems to go systemic and is so bitter that any produce harvested is inedible). We still have really good results with a device called a Scarecrow that is motion detector activated to shoot a jet of water at the offending mammal. We've used them for several years and are happy with the results....it is important to remember to turn them on (!!) and to ensure that the battery gets changed regularly. I was protecting the driveway garden with a single device, but the edge nibbles of a few nights ago caused me to install the second one....so far, so good.

I am no tomato disease expert, but it appears as though the most stubborn annual issues for us are Alternaria (Early Blight) and Fusarium Wilt, both caused by Fungi. Early Blight is showing up now - lower foliage (shaded from the sun, or tucked low on the plant or in the container) is particularly susceptible and it seems to work its way up the plant; look for dark patches with yellow at the margins. I am working to remove the lower foliage that gets wet when plants are bottom watered, or that doesn't get the direct drying sunlight. I am also using disinfected shears to remove infected foliage every few days...we shall see how well that works keeping the plants vigorous and slowing the upward spread of the disease.

Fusarium shows itself as actual wilting of a part of the plant, accompanied by bright yellow coloration. Think of this fungal disease as impacting the plant by turning off the plumbing - water can't move up into the impacted plant parts. My bleaching and disinfecting efforts of my pots, driveway surface, stakes, cages are made in an effort to avoid or at least slow the incidence of diseases. The fungal spores are certainly around, and the diseases are activated by moist, humid, warm conditions - they can also show up quite suddenly.

What to do about plant diseases is really an individual decision based upon your own gardening philosophy - spray or not spray, organic or chemical. It is worth spending some time on Google to educate yourself on the various tactics and options.

I've found this site to be a particularly useful one for dealing with tomato issues. Be aware, however, that determination of what is specifically troubling your tomato plant is not straight-forward, since many of the diseases present very similarly. 

As far as what I've seen in my garden strolls to date - there is some spotty Early Blight, maybe a single incident of the beginnings of Fusarium on one plant, a bit of white fly on one tomato plant, and some aphids here and there....I did also see a very young fruit worm on a pepper leaf, and there is the usual collection of flea beetles on some of the eggplant. I saw my first Japanese Beetle on a Hibiscus plant, and a stink bug flew on to my leg the other day (foolish insect...it is no more!). Now that we are into summer conditions, everyone who gardens will be starting to enter the part of the season when increasing challenges present themselves.  The other thing I've noticed is some blossom drop on this or that tomato - the conditions just were not quite right for pollination - though I also am finding quite a lot of fruit set.

Good luck, all - it is about to get even busier - trouble shooting, maintenance...and eventually, harvest!

Raleigh area gardens are enjoying pretty consistently fine weather so far (though the last few days really feel like summer...muggy days, rising temps which make the clouds billow and the thunder rumble and the rain fall!). I think we are in good shape with rain, though - a stretch of dry days would be pretty nice. When the temps get into the 90s and the foliage stays wet, nasty issues like Fusarium Wilt can pop up....

And so, a few very minor issues showed up today, just in time for Friday 13th. I experienced the very first deer nibbles of the season, which caused me to add the second Water Scarecrow to our driveway garden. A few tips of the small container hot peppers were nibbled - 6 or 7 plants tested, but nothing that will negatively impact the plants.

Looking through the straw bale Dwarfs toward the rear of the side garden, I noticed that a Beauty King growing in a bale has foliage that is not quite right - kind of curled - and two lower foliage stems showed the tell tale yellow color that indicates the beginning of Fusarium. I will get a back up ready just in case, but am hoping that the plant can withstand it..we shall see.

I've been looking closely at the tomato plants growing in containers, particularly at the health of the very lowest foliage (which often sits in the containers themselves, and end up getting wet quite often with the bottom watering). Some early signs of Alternaria (Early Blight) are showing up as brownish areas on the leaves with yellow margins. I've been removing the impacted foliage as the blemishes are noted.

All of the indeterminate varieties growing in large pots have now been pretty severely pruned to two growing stems each. It's been years since I've used this pruning method, and it is keeping the plants quite tidy, with good air flow and sun exposure all around the plants. There are open blossoms everywhere and the beginnings of fruit set on quite a few varieties.

The lettuce is now nearing an end - the few plants remaining are beginning to bolt. We are just loving the greens (collards, mustards, chard). The bush beans have open blossoms and summer squash good sized buds. Eggplant and some peppers have open flowers also.

And so, as we approach mid June, I am feeling pretty optimistic about the garden this year.