Ernie's 2012 Garden

[ErnieHodge]

I have some pictures of where we are with our EBs right now so I will post them with some text explanations.

This is my box of Sweet Success cukes that were planted direct on 3/18/12 and germinated on 3/21/12. There are now 14 cucumbers started on the three plants. I'm going to put two more between the others tomorrow.

To the left you can see what's left of my two bush tomatoes that were put in last Sept. and have tomatoes that are starting to ripen. These are the two that had a little brown leaf mold and now look like 'Bill the Cat' from Bloom County. 

I have some Celebrity Bush that will go in after the toms ripen.

[ErnieHodge]

This is a picture (at this time) that is my first peacage  setup with yellow cherry tomatoes that were given to me by a postal customer. These were transplanted on 3/23/12 right after the Sweet Success came up and now have small tomatoes on them.

[ErnieHodge]

This is our pole bean box which was planted on 3/27/12 and took a while to start. They are just now starting to grab the netting.

[ErnieHodge]

These are our Alibi cucumbers that were planted on 3/25/12 and came up on 3/28/12. They started a little slow like the pole beans but are just starting to grow where we can see something happening.

[ErnieHodge]

This box is County Fair cucumbers that were a disappointment at first. They came up about the same time as the Alibi cucumbers did and the wind broke all three of the seedlings off at the potting mix level. I put more in and just went with five instead of succession planting.

[ErnieHodge]

Here's three Jalapeno plants that I put in last Sept. and they are still producing. I need to start more to replace them but it's hard letting go when you like having these to eat. Like in my eggs on Sunday morning. 

[ErnieHodge]

Here's a picture of one of the ground pots on our vertical garden with three Viva Italia paste tomatoes in one of the ground pots.

[ErnieHodge]

This is a tomato plant that another postal customer gave us (he actually gave us six and I gave four to other neighbors) and here's what we have left after a 'haircut yesterday. I had to get rid of most of the foliage because of a little leaf mold and some worms. The tomatoes that are left are starting to ripen and these were really good last fall. I don't know what kind they are but he told me he picked them up in Kentucky or Tennessee. It's now an ugly plant but it needs to come out to make room for some sweet banana peppers.

[ErnieHodge]

These are celebrity bush tomatoes in our vertical garden. I know this looks crazy but they will grow like this with a little selective pruning. They were put in four or five days ago and are starting to go now.

[ErnieHodge]

Here's a question for all those growing Sweet Success cucumbers. How big do you let them get before picking?

The package says they will get to be 14" but do they still taste good at that size?

[bobk]

They are a good 12" when I pick them.  It's best to keep the vine picked rather than going for max size, the plant will stop setting fruit until you do.

[ErnieHodge]

Bob,

Thanks, I put in three plants on 3/18 and I have one cucumber that's 11". Also a whole bunch more that are about 3".

I think I'll pick the 11" and cool it down for my salad tonight.

39 days from germination to a cucumber. 

[bdank]

Ernie, your garden looks great except your cucumbers look wilted. Is the wicking working on that box?

[butterflygirl67]

My cucumbers often wilt during the day once the temps get warmer, but perk up later in the evening.

Everything looks great Ernie!

[ErnieHodge]

My cucumbers do look a little wilted during the day. We have had a couple of weeks of wind which tattered the leaves.

I just picked the first cucke that is 11 1/2 " long.
I couldn't get it all in the picture because my arm isn't long enough.