First Eggplant has arrived!

Pictured below is the first eggplant of the year, weighing in at 11-3/4 oz. It was picked off the largest of all the eggplant plants, located on the extreme South end of the garden. It was planted in mid-January using the Kozy Koat. It seems that is the secret to getting the plants off to an early start. I am going to track the total eggplant harvest, and try to determine the optimal size to harvest the eggplants.

From what I've read, it is better to pick sooner rather than later. The eggplant picked today still had a nice shiny glossy outer skin. I read that when the outer skin turns dull you've waited too long.  Rather than pull the eggplant off the vine, it is suggested that the stem be cut using a knife or scissor--the stem can be sharp.

After work, went to the garden with Karen and we picked 7 more large slicing cucumbers and 2 zucchinis, bringing the total to 97 cucumbers and 22 zucchinis.  I anticipate that cucumber #100 will be harvested as soon as tomorrow!

Also picked a few peppers, several smaller cucumbers, purple and yellow beans, orange sungold, red currant, and a Better Boy tomato.

Another colorful harvest

Just about another day or two and the eggplants will be ready. Also waiting on more of the large heirloom tomatoes. In the meantime, there is still plenty to pick. 6 more cucumbers today and 2 more zucchinis brings the total to 90 cucumbers and 20 zucchinis.

If anyone is reading my Blog and would like to sample any of the freshly picked organic produce please let me know, as I have been picking way more than my family and I can ever eat. You can reach me at odpadoc@verizon.net

By the way, I have 2 Shetland Sheepdogs, and their favorite vegetable are cucumbers from the garden!

Tuesday update

Today was a very hot day here in Safety Harbor. Having received an inch of rain over the past 2 days, today there was no rain. No plans to water anytime soon--we may have more rain in the next several days, and the plants are doing fine. There are eggplants that will be ready to pick any day -- watching them daily so they'll be picked when they are at optimal size -- all the eggplants are either the Black Beauty variety or the Park's Whopper Hybrid -- both are the largest eggplant varieties. There are a total of 8 eggplant plants -- all but 2 were started from seed. One plant in particular is gigantic for an eggplant and it'll be interesting to track how many eggplants are picked just from this one plant.

Put down about 7 wheelbarrow full loads of mulch on the garden pathway. Only about 25% done.
After that, went into harvest mode and picked 2 prime zucchinis - a Butterstick and a Black Beauty -- bringing the zucchini total up to 18. Also picked 5 more large cucumbers, bringing the total to 84.

I've been eating several cukes a day in salads, grilling the zucchinis, and steaming the beans! Planning on grilling the eggplants as well, hopefully in just a few short days.

Almost an inch of rain -- we'll take it!

After watering everything in yesterday morning, it rained both Sunday evening and Monday evening, for a total of almost an inch of rain. The garden is continuing to produce like crazy. The rain ended about 7:00, with enough time to harvest what has grown since yesterday. Tonight's salad will include freshly picked cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers.

I also installed five fence posts which will become Myrtice's new fence. All that remains is to install the actual fence material. The fence will serve as a trellis for the Ambrosia Melons that are now growing in Myrtice's garden.

Here is what was harvested today from the garden: Brandy Boy, Delicious, Orange Sungold, and Red Currant tomatoes, 4 more slicing cucumbers, bringing the total to 79, about a dozen or so of the smaller pickling cucumbers, sweet banana peppers, and purple and yellow beans.

Check out the variety of today's harvest

Just about everything was included in today's harvest, with the exception of the eggplants. I expect that the eggplant harvest will begin no later than next Sunday, and likely before.

Today was probably a record harvest so far this Spring garden. 6 more slicing cukes were picked today, bringing the total to 75. And 3 more zucchinis were picked, bringing the total to 16. With Sandy's help, everything was watered in today, using the Compost tea, that has orange oil and molasses added to the compost tea. We mixed in 2 oz per gallon of water. We must have put down about 50 gallons of water into the garden today.

I have been watering twice per week, but when I do water I water very deeply. The garden needs about an inch of water per week, and some plants, such as zucchini, require about 2 inches of water per week. Mulch, and I prefer the pine straw, is essential for a Florida vegetable garden, as it holds the moisture and nutrients in the soil.

With the exception of 2 more zucchinis that were picked after I took this photo, here is today's harvest. The beans are the purple podded and the yellow wax variety. The tomatoes pictured here are the Delicious, the Brandy Boy, the Orange Sungold, and the Red Currant.

We also picked about a dozen or so of the small pickling cukes as well. And still to come are the white cucumbers, the Brandywine Pink tomatoes, and others. The beans are just starting to go into full production.

Harvesting cukes, zucchini, and beans.

Picked 6 more of the large slicing cucumbers and 2 zucchinis this afternoon, bringing the total to 69 cukes and 15 zukes. Also, picked enough of the purple beans to have for dinner. Going to cook them up. Also ate a few of the orange sungold tomatoes right off the vines; they never seem to make it home. Shared the 3 small Cuccino cukes with Yoo-Hoo and Derby; they think the cucumbers are such a treat! Yoo-Hoo goes crazy when he smells that I've been to the garden.



Here is how the garden is shaping up. The pole beans are really filling in around the trellis. Expect to be picking beans just about every day now. Zucchinis are producing every day as well. Eggplants will be ready in a few more days. Tomatoes are ripening. And cukes are continuing to produce like crazy!

Here are just a few of the Brandy Boy tomatoes ripening on the vine:

And here is just one cluster of the Brandwine Pink tomatoes that still have to ripen. You might just be looking at over 10 lbs. of tomatoes just in this small section of the entire plant!

And, last but not least, received a great email this afternoon: Sandy and Bill are back safe and sound from their trip to Israel! I cannot wait for them to see what has been going on at the garden in just 3 short weeks!

A quick stop after work

Stopped by the garden after work. Wasn't planning on picking anything as I was just there yesterday. But I wound up picking 3 more cucumbers, bringing the total to 63. Also picked 2 more zucchinis, bringing the total to 13. There are red ripe tomatoes of the Delicious and the Brandy Boy. There look to be many tomatoes that will weigh in well over a pound each, but they are still green. Of the large varieties, the Brandy Boy has ripened first, followed by the Delicious. Of the cherry variety, the Sungold have ripened first, followed by the Red Currant. Here is today's harvest:

And there are many sungold cherry tomatoes ripening daily. These are so good that they rarely make it out of the garden. They are best to eat vine ripe. Here is a photo showing just how many are in various stages of ripening.

Also picked a few purple podded pole beans to munch on while looking for veggies to pick.
The new cucumber trellis is holding up fine and some of the vines are already attaching to the new bamboo poles. There are at least a dozen or so small cukes that are too small to pick yet, but will be ready in about another day or two. Also picking lots of the small cukes as well, but I haven't been keeping count of how many. Those vines are just starting to go into full production. There are about a hundred flowers on the small cucumber varieties.

It hasn't rained in quite some time. Since I watered everything in yesterday, my next scheduled watering day will be Sunday. I'm trying to water just twice per week, and I see no drought stress whatsoever. I credit it to the soil being able to hold water/moisture and to the mulch, as well as the 8 inches plus of rain we had several weeks ago.

Have been able to pick fresh produce just about every day for well over 2 weeks straight.
There are also at least a dozen, and soon to be much more, eggplants setting fruit. All of the eggplants (8 plants in all) are of the Black Beauty large variety and it should be quite a harvest. I anticipate that I'll be giving away many eggplants from this garden.

Some major harvesting going on

Today, my day off, I was met at the garden by Poppy Mel, and while showing him around, picked a nice assortment of fresh veggies: With the 3 cucumbers picked this morning it brings the total up to 60. The zucchini total now stands at 11. And, 4 red ripe tomatoes so far.

The two tomatoes are more Brandy Boy's and lots of smaller cukes as well as lots of orange sungold, a pepper, and another Tiger Stripe Zucchini, and a small Butterstick. Also, some purple podded pole beans. And... there are eggplants setting fruit all over the place, but still too small to pick.

Today I watered everything in with the Neptune's Harvest Fish Emulsion and Seaweed. It takes nearly 2 hours to get everything watered in and fertilized! I ran out of the initial gallon of the Neptune's towards the end and had to use the Maxicrop Seaweed in its place.

After getting everything watered in, I built the bamboo trellis roof for the cucumbers (and next season the peas) to climb across. The 4 foot length bamboo that I bought from Sunset Bamboo turned out to be the perfect choice for the job:
Sunset Bamboo™, provides only commercial grade bamboo poles that are grown using the highest grade available. These poles have been dried and treated to withstand insect and fungal attacks. These poles, as all our bamboo have been inspected by the U.S.D.A and have passed all of the requirements for entry into the U.S.A. Our bamboo offers beauty, strength and stability with all the eco-friendly benefits. I purchased 25 4 foot poles but only needed 20 to do the job.

I now have an extra sturdy roof trellis for the large slicing cukes to climb across!



There will be a continuation of this major harvest on Sunday. Looking forward to a bumper crop of eggplants in just a few more weeks! 

And here are just a few shots of how the garden is shaping up on this 20th day of April. I would have to say that April is a major harvest month!

Here is the South end of the Garden:

Here are the Orange Sungold Tomatoes: (1 plant)



Here is a photo of the middle bed showing the Red Currant Tomato (1 plant) and how it has grown to epic proportions:

And here is a photo of the row of zucchini plants: 3 total, with the Tiger Stripe in the foreground:

And here is the Purple Podded Pole Bean-8 plants in all (2 on each side). It is by far the most vigorous growing of our 3 pole bean varieties:

And 1 last shot of today's colorful harvest:

I'm having to pick every day to keep up with production.

The temps hovered in the high 80's today, and none of the plants are showing any drought stress. I can easily water twice a week. I am preferring to water the plants deeply twice a week rather than shallow every day, and it seems to be working.
The Big Mama, which was showing major leaf curl, is starting to produce nicely. I think it was planted in too wet and too cold of a soil way back in mid January, but I let the soil dry out and warm up, and it is doing much better.
Here is a snapshot of what was picked around 6:00 PM, after work:

With the 4 cukes picked today it brings the total count up to 57, and with the 3 zucchinis picked here it brings the total zucchini count up to 10. And there are a nice number of purple pole beans ready to pick as well. I picked just a few to try.


Tomorrow, Wednesday, is a day off, so my plans are to try to get to the garden early and water everything in with fish emulsion and seaweed and then not water again until Sunday, when Sandy returns from Israel. I cannot wait to see her reaction when she sees what has transpired in just 3 short weeks!

The Rest of the Story

Back to work in Safety Harbor this morning on the routine -- drop Steven off, then stop by the garden before heading into the office. As I'm driving away, I noticed that Trish was approaching with a huge bag of cucumbers, 13 in all, plus many of the pickling types, that she picked over the weekend. Thanks to her keeping the vines picked, the cucumbers are continuing to produce like crazy.

I also would like to thank Janice and Jeff for watering everything in while I was away. They did all the hard work, and it was fun coming back to so much produce that ripened while I was out of town.

We are now up to 46 cucumbers picked, and counting...BUT wait, that was as of this morning...After work Karen and I stopped at the garden and picked another 6 nice sized cucumbers, bringing the total after 2 weeks and 1 day to 53! You'll also notice in the bottom of the photo the smallest Cucino cucumbers and a few Burpee Pickler cukes picked very young. I am not totalling anything other than the large slicing cukes into the total count! We planted a total of just 5 of the large slicing cucumber plants from seed back on February 6th. Now, after just about 2 months and less than 2 weeks we are enjoying a record harvest!

She also picked a prime yellow Butterstick Squash that I took a photo of below. That is squash #6 of the season. So far, the Butterstick is a variety of zucchini I'll be planting again...Here is the description off the Burpee website.

Squash, Summer, Butterstick Zucchini Hybrid:

Bright yellow zucchini with firm texture and sweet, nutty flavor. Burpee Exclusive

Bright yellow fruits have white flesh with firm texture and sweet, nutty flavor. Prolific plants with single-stem habit, have a long harvest period. Butterstick hybrid produces a yellow straight-neck squash on a zucchini type plant.

There are also some purple podded beans that look like they will be ripening in just a few days, and more tomatoes becoming vine ripe. Karen, Trish, and I sampled some purple beans straight from the vine, and they were very good! There will be an abundance very soon!

Also picked this evening was another zucchini, a large Tiger Stripe, #7 of the Spring Garden. They are very camouflaged within the plant, and without careful inspection are very easy to miss. Also, another red ripe bell pepper was picked as well. There is more of everything well on its way!

And here are the six cukes that were picked around 5:30 PM this afternoon, after work, bringing the total to 53 large slicing cucumbers in the first 2 weeks of picking! Two of the vines have reached the top of the 6 foot fence and I'll be constructing a roof for the trellis in just another day or two!

That's it for April 18th, the first day of Passover! I've got to find a recipe for cucumber salad or find some takers for cucumbers! Interestingly, my two dogs absolutely love them, and go crazy when I bring some into the house.!

Back from Houston

Flight arrived on time into Tampa Int'l. On the way home from the airport, I had to stop by the garden and check on the progress. I hadn't seen it in over 4 days. When I saw the changes I couldn't believe it! There were small purple podded pole beans, small zucchinis,
3 red peppers ready to be picked, about a dozen orange sungold tomatoes, more cucumbers,
and some eggplants that had set fruit, and the best surprise of all, a perfectly ripe Brandy Boy tomato-the first ripe large tomato of the season.

I have to back up here and say that I have NEVER had any luck growing the large tomatoes here in Florida. The bugs always seem to ruin the fun--be it the hornworms, or the stinkbugs, or the aphids, or the leaf miners, or the slugs--you name it. In this particular garden I did not use ANY insecticides, and that includes any and all organic pest controls.
There have been NOTHING to date attacking these large tomatoes. I attribute it to the health of the plants, the minerals, and the microorganisms that I have added to the soil.
Plus, the compost tea and the earthworm castings.

So on the way home from the airport I picked 2 vine ripe Brandy Boy tomatoes (I'll definitely be planting some more of those), a cucumber (#33), and 2 red ripe bell peppers.
Once home I weighed the tomatoes--the larger one was 8 1/2 oz and the smaller 4 3/4 oz.
I can't wait to slice into one soon and take photos showing the inside.

Here are some photos from today's harvest:

And here is a photo just of the first tomato of the season--a 8 1/2 oz. Brandy Boy!

Here is another view--this tomato plant was started from seed by me, in my garage, on Dec. 1, 2010,

approximately 4 1/2 months ago! The plant is huge, and has set dozens of fruit, and is over 6 feet tall!

From Houston

Arrived in Houston for the Vision Source annual meeting. Below is a photo taken from my room-- that is Minute Maid Park in the background, and the convention center on the right, where I spent 3 days with vendors and speakers learning about and seeing the very latest in eyecare technology. It was a great meeting!

Before leaving for Houston, early Wednesday morning, April 13th, I picked 4 cukes and 3 zucchinis, and snapped this photo:

That brings the total to 32 cukes and 5 zucchinis thus far, and we've only been picking cukes for about 1 1/2 weeks! The zukes are just getting started. I watered everything in this Wed. morning, prior to my being out of town until the 17th--thanks to our neighbors Trish and Jeff and Janice for offering to keep an eye on the garden while I was out of town.

I also noticed that one of the tomatoes on the Brandy Boy--the large heirloom tomato plant with the huge potato leaves, was starting to show the earliest stage of ripening. I hated to leave it and go out of town,
but I did at least snap this photo--this is the first that I saw a large tomato ripening in our garden!

And with this photo I loaded the freshly picked produce into a couple of bags to be put into my Dad's carry on. He was to transport the veggies up to Albany as he was on a visit the same day as I was traveling to Houston. While in Houston, at the Lenyrd Skynyrd concert, I received this very colorful photo of the grilled squash that my sister served for dinner that evening.



The Cucumber vines are producing almost as fast as I can pick them!

After dropping Steven off this morning, I stopped by the garden. Having just picked 5 cukes and 2 zukes yesterday, I wasn't planning or expecting for anything to be ready for picking. After all, it had been just over 12 hours.

I noticed that there are more zukes that will certainly be more than ready to pick tomorrow morning. And the cukes... I had to pick 2 more cukes...they were ready. Additionally, I'm seeing that there will another 3-4 cukes that will be ready by tomorrow morning.

So...the picking I did yesterday with the intention of shipping it up to Albany with my Dad for his flight tomorrow, will be able to stay in my fridge, and I'll be able to pick even fresher produce tomorrow morning!

Today, cucumbers # 27 and # 28 were given to Trish, who lives in a house neighboring the garden. The onions now growing in the garden were complements of Trish. I snapped a photo of Trish with the freshly picked cukes this morning...

First zucchinis picked today!

Today was a hot and humid day. Did not water today, as yesterday's watering should last for 3-4 days, and, it may even rain a little bit tomorrow. I was watching the cucumbers and the zucchini's--not wanting either to get too big--finally, after work, the squashes were just optimal in size and I picked them both. I also picked 5 more cucumbers. The total number of cucumbers now stands at 26. That is 26 cucumbers in 9 days. They are producing just about every day, and I hope it will continue for another 4 or 5 weeks. Here is a photo of the cukes and the zukes--these are the first zukes picked this garden--the Butterstick and the Tiger Striped Squash both look like they are keepers and will be planted again. We'll see how many total zucchinis we get.

I also ate 3 or 4 of the orange sungold tomatoes right out of the garden. I can' t imagine planting a garden without growing these--they are amazingly good! There are also more peppers in the pipeline, some are starting to turn red, and we are still waiting for the eggplants to set fruit. If I don't see fruit by next week,
I'll spray the plants with magnesium sulfate (Epsom Salts)--that seems to work. Lots of flowers, but no fruit, no yet! Eggplants take time, but with 8 plants, the potential exists to get well over 100 eggplants!

Here is how the garden is shaping up as it is almost mid-April. Although we are having some hotter weather, we are due to have a cooling trend, with highs in the low 80's and low's in the mid 60's--near
ideal growing weather.

Neptune's Harvest Fish and Seaweed Emulsion Day!

Obviously, it has been quite awhile since I've grown zucchinis! I totally misjudged how quickly these grow! There were quite a lot of changes at the garden today. There are purple podded pole bean flowers! It won't be long until the first purple string bean is picked. Our neighbor and friend Genia met me at the garden this morning and I sent her home with several freshly picked veggies, pictured here:
I was foliar feeding with the Neptune's Fish and Seaweed Emulsion when Genia arrived, and I warned
her that there was going to be a fishy smell. I don't think she quite understood, until she got a good whiff!
Sorry, Genia! Also learned from our gardening neighbor Nancy, that her dog literally goes crazy trying to get at the Neptune's Harvest Fish Emulsion. Her dog thinks it is the greatest thing in the world!
Check out this morning's harvest:

Picked cucumbers #18 and 19 early Sunday morning, along with several peppers, a small butterstick squash, and a sungold cherry tomato.

One of the biggest surprises of the day was witnessing how large the zucchinis have gotten. It won't be very long until a full-sized Butterstick Squash is picked. I read that 1 zucchini plant can yield between

25-50 squashes. Here is how the Butterstick looked this morning: Also, I'm now convinced that there is no powdery mildew on the Butterstick Squash:



The other amazing squash plant is the Tiger Stripe Zucchini. It, too, will be ready for harvest in just a few short days. Here is a photo of how it looked today. Also not worried about any powdery mildew.

Last, but not least, is the Black Beauty Zucchini. Some of the lower leaves were dying off, so you'll see in the photo that I trimmed them off. The zucchini's got a good deep watering of seaweed/fish emulsion this morning. Looks like there will be a zucchini sampling in a day or two!

Here is a couple of photos of the the purple podded pole bean and the first day of flowering!

The entire pole bean trellis is nearly encompassed by just 8 plants that surround it. All have easily made it up the 6 foot high trellis:

After watering and fertilizing everything, here is Winn receiving cucumber # 20 !

Winn has the most amazing zucchini plant--it must span close to five feet. She used

Hen and Mushroom Compost in the planting hole that she purchased at Willow Tree Nursery.



Jeff and Janice were at the garden this morning. Jeff and I started to put mulch down around the garden path, and after 2 wheelbarrows full of mulch, we ran into an ant problem again so we quit.

We are waiting for another delivery of mulch from a local tree service that happily dumps the mulch at the garden and avoids a disposal fee. Here is Jeff proudly displaying cucumber # 21. Hard to believe that just one week ago today we picked cucumber #1 !

The biggest change to Janice's & Jeff's garden today was the ears of corn that are forming. I'll need to take a photo and post it.

Here are the sungold tomatoes continuing to ripen. I ate one off the vine this morning, and it was one of the best tasting tomatoes of all time! Even better than what I remember them tasting like last Fall!

It is actually getting pretty close to the correct time to build the roof for the cukes to climb. Here is a photo showing that the vines have grown taller than the 5 foot fence posts. There is barely a foot of fence left to climb and then the vines will be trained to cross the 3 foot roof. The roof will have to wait until I return from Houston for the Vision Source North American Meeting.

Also, there is a 20% chance of rain on Tuesday. Regardless, I have no plans to water Monday or Tuesday. I plan on watering Wednesday morning before I leave for my trip.

Janice asked about Sandy this morning. We all hope that Sandy and Bill are having a wonderful time visiting with family and friends in Israel.

Premier Blog Post!

     Today was my Saturday to work, first patient at 8:30. I stopped at the garden before work for about 15 minutes, enough time to water the cucumbers. It was the only watering I've done in 13 days. I knew it was going to be a very hot day. Turned out, it topped out at 89 degrees. Sharon L. stopped by, and we walked to the garden and picked 3 cucumbers--#15, 16, and 17. One went to Sharon, one to Krys, and another one to Karen. It looks like the vines are producing very nicely. I see no insects or drought stress on any of the plants.

Looks like the zucchini's will be ready to pick in about a week, so they should be going crazy by the time Sandy comes home. It looks like there will be another 3-4 cukes to pick tomorrow! I noticed that one of the green bean plants has begun to flower-WOW, not the purple or the yellow, but the green ones! And this morning, I picked the very first tomato of the season--an orange sun gold--it was perfectly vine ripe, and I ate it right out of the garden--it was a WOW! It was sweet and non acidic, and had a creamy buttery texture. It was amazing! That's how a tomato should taste. 

After work I drove up to Land Rock and picked up 3 more bales of pine straw--1 for Myrtice, 1 for Barbara, and one for me. Also, Costco was having a sale on landscape fabric-4' wide x 200 feet for $33 so I bought one--that is enough to wrap around the garden twice. I'm hoping to see more mulch at the garden soon.

Another idea I had is to use straw around the garden--it looks better, is more comfortable to walk on, and doesn't get ants--so I may pick up a couple of bales of straw from Land Rock next week, and put it down around the garden, on top of the landscape fabric.

Tomorrow it is going to rain fish and seaweed emulsion on all of the plants in the early morning, when there is still dew on the leaves.  It has been 2 weeks since I've applied fertilizer, and with the rain, and the mulch being set down, tomorrow is a good interval to apply another round of fertilizer.

On another note, I started 2 cow pots of Ambrosia melon for Myrtice 6 days ago, and yesterday all the seeds germinated. I am going to give them to Myrtice tomorrow and help her build a trellis fence for her garden. I know I'll have more takers for the cukes tomorrow; that makes 1 week since we picked the first cuke, and to pick 17 cukes the first  week of harvest isn't bad. From left to right is Sharon, Krys, and Karen, with cucumbers 15, 16 and 17.