Bucolic Bushwick: Slowly But Surely

The garden is still doing great. There's no bad news to report so I've just been focusing on keeping the plants watered and fed and trimming the suckers off the tomato plants.

Each container got a strip of granular fertilizer at planting time and I've also been feeding the plants regularly with liquid fertilizer. The fertilizer can be applied once a month at full strength, but I've been feeding them once a week at 1/4 strength. This means more work for me, but I think a consistent, even food supply is healthier for the plants than a high to low cycle.

The Planet F1 pepper plants have flowered. Now that they've flowered I'll spray them with epsom salt.

The Minnesota Midget melons are starting to grow toward the trellis. I didn't add cages to the melon containers this year because there weren't enough to go around (and I was too lazy to buy more), so I'm wondering if the lack of cages will make a noticeable difference in plant health or fruit production. Something to keep an eye on this year.

The Brandy Boy F1 tomato has flowered and it looks like some of the flowers have been pollinated.

The leaves on this plant are huge, some are bigger than my hand!

The Jasper F1 cherry tomato is getting pretty unruly so I've tied several of the longer stems to the cage.

This is the first flower cluster on the plant, but many more have also fruited.

Serenade F1 melons.

Japanese Trifele Black tomato has also flowered, but still no signs of pollination.

Ozark Beauty strawberries. I've planted several of the daughter plants around the mothers, the rest get snipped off. These plants aren't that thirsty so the containers can handle the additions.

Beaver Lodge tomato. This plant has a good growing habit for the roof. It grows outward instead of up so it's not as vulnerable to the wind as much as the taller tomato plants. I just hope it can stand the heat in July and August.

The first flower cluster has fruited.

Giant Aconcagua peppers.

Yukon Gold potatoes. I'm not really sure when these will be ready to harvest. Several sources state different times, either after the plants have flowered or after the plants have died back. I assume if you wait longer you'll get larger potatoes, but on the other hand young potatoes are pretty tasty. The plants have flowered so I'll dig around, and based on what I find, I'll make a decision on when to harvest.