Tomatoes

Someone at work brought in some homegrown Cherry Tomatoes… and they were yummy.

I wish I had grown some this year. I decided not to plant any, which was a mistake, because I miss having little Cherry Tomatoes to snack on when I’m in the garden.

Things I learnt:

– I have to plant them in the ground earlier.

– One thing I noticed this year was that the cutting from one of my tomato plants grew a lot bigger and healthier than the mother plant. I wonder if I should just plant one plant and take cuttings from it next year… hmmm?

– I won’t plant Great White Tomato next year, because I didn’t like it that much. I’ll concentrate on Brandywine, a cherry tomato and Roma.

It’s Hot…

Yesterday, I spent the day in San Francisco, celebrating my friend Wincy’s Birthday. We went to the West Portal district and had a Mexican lunch… Yumm!… Afterwards, we walked around the shops. I happened to see a hardware store that was selling a Coleus… so, knowing me I had to get it. Hello Coleus ‘Red Ruffles’.

Today, it was really warm, reaching the mid 90s (°F). Once it cooled down a bit, I fertilized with a water soluble fertilizer, spray almost all my plants. That was pretty much the extent of my gardening.

I did notice that the tomatoes are finally fruiting… and I saw my first tomato!!! YEAY!!! It’s a Great White Tomato that is about half an inch wide. The Cucumbers are also starting to flower. Below is the Sikkim Cucumber blossom.

My First Tomatoes

Sikkim Cucumber Blossom

While in the garden, I snacked on some of our yummy Italian Plum, which I think is my favorite fruit in the garden.

Yummy Italian Plum

Message Bean Emerges

Oh yeah, one of the Message Bean has emerged. The other one rotted :(

It was a Busy Gardening Day…

I took a half day off and left work a bit early. I just needed to take care of a lot of things, because I know I won’t have much time this weekend because of another Filipino Fiesta in San Francisco.

Before going home I stopped by Mid-City Nursery and got three plants.
– Coleus ‘Show & Tell?’ (I don’t think the sticker on the container was correct)
– Coleus ‘Burnt Sienna?’ (I’m not sure if the tag on this plant was correct)
– Heuchera ‘Amber Waves’

Coleus 'Show and Tell?'   Coleus 'Burnt Sienna?'

Heuchera ‘Amber Waves’ photo

I Just Gotta Do What I Can!

Sometimes I feel like I have so much plant and gardening projects going on, that I don’t have time for it all.

For example I’ve been wanting to build up two of the three garden beds in the back yard, but haven’t had the chance to. I still have bolting Swiss Chard and radishes and I have not amended the soil.

I just checked the planting chart I have pinned to my wall, and I think I am still okay to plant vegetables for the summer. Maybe I’m just getting anxious with the little time I have after work… or maybe I’m getting discouraged when I see fully grown tomatoes and peppers in the stores, when the one that I planted from seeds are still little… but I just checked mine and they have continued to grow since I took them outside. So maybe I’m just stressing over nothing.

My Mom just reminded me that she found the scions that I got in January. Oh my! I thought they were dead… but some are still buds, some are a little bit open and some that sprouted are dried up and dead… but all of them don’t seem dried out. I’m still going to try to graft these even thought it’s late. Who knows…

Anyways, I was going to complain more, but I see that I just have to do what I can and learn from it. I think I have to ask for a few days off to tend to the garden :)

BTW, remember the tomato seedlings that I cut and rooted because they looked like they were dying?.. Well, I just check them and they have really bounced back and look much more full of GREEN leaves than the seedlings that I didn’t cut.

Also, remember the Pineapple we got about a week and a half ago… I placed the Pineapple top in water and it has started to show signs of roots!!! YEAY!

OK… I’m tired… I must get ready for bed…

Tomato Harvest + Flowers Starting to Bloom…

Today I thinned the seedlings in the newspaper pots to a few strong ones. I’ll thinned them to a single plant once they get a little bigger.

I also clipped a lot of dead leaves from the tomatoes and cucumber to make things a little tidier. Anyone know why most of the bottom leaves are dying on my cucumber? Is this normal? or is there something wrong?

I did my fourth big tomatoes harvest and I got a lot, considering I only have two tomato plants this year.

Here are two photos of flower that are about to bloom

Fucshia triphylla Firecracker

Naked Lady

I’m not sure if this Naked Lady is Amaryllis belladonna or Lycoris squamigera. Can anyone tell just from the photo?

Saturday…

This morning I did a lot of weeding in the vegetable beds. I pulled out the spent Snap Peas and the bolting Lettuce. I also cut away the dead or dying leaves on the bottom part of the Cucumbers and Tomatoes.

Bolted Lettuce

The Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans and Tendergreen Bush Bean are both doing well. They are actually growing better than the Bataw that my mom transplanted.

My grandma, aunts, uncle and cousin came by and came over in the afternoon and we all gathered in the garden checking out the plants and picking fruits (pears, peaches and plums).

I potted the Coleus “Pineapple” and “Copper Splash” cutting which I took on the 27th. It took about 12 days for these to root. I also took cutting of Coleus “Wild Lime (mistagged)” and “Gay’s Delight”.

In the front yard, I cut down the spent Gladiola stalks and removed all the dead leaves off the Yucca which has grown so big.

All in all, I think I collect six 5-gallon pots full of leaves and spent flower for the compost pile.