Meanwhile, the tomatoes in Centralia are still in limbo

The plants all have flowers, but will they produce fruit? Last year we waited and waited and didn't have ripe fruit until well into September! This is Washington where the weather can rake your salsa dreams right through ringer.

But I am optimistic. We two tomatillo plants this year. Two because I was told I needed two. But how far apart do they need to be? Because these two plants are kissing cousins, sharing the same pot!

And here's the rest of plants along the house - exposed to south sun and a warming wall. They are slowly climbing (this is not voluntary, but forced) the tightly secured twine. Not sure yet how this is going to work, but putting it out there any way. The other tomato plants are not against a wall and are not faring as well. So at least the wall seems to be a good idea.

First garlic harvest - purple Belarus

We pulled our first batch of garlic this week - the Belarus. We've tied and hung them to cure (dry).

Measuring bulb size, the bulbs with cut scapes are clearly larger. The bulbs where the scapes remain, are smaller. So my husband begs the question - some sources say to always keep the larger bulbs for planting, but the direction we are using this year is to keep the scapes on seed cloves until cured, which result in smaller cloves. 

What I haven't found a good explanation of what keeping the scapes on do to enhance the seed cloves.

I've seen many posts advocating for keeping the scapes but not one that does a technical job of explaining why. I"d like to know. Help me out if you have the answer.

Potatoes towering -

Our plants are huge and quite healthy looking except for the occasionally slug feasting on a leaves. But I think there is enough foliage to overcome their midnight marauding. 

Update on the process.  The soil is staying cool and damp. We're watering 2x per week. I cannot determine if the proper amount of water is filtering well to the lower levels so I'm just going on plant health.  I am seeing inside the tower, some leaf yellowing. But the jungle is dense in there, so I am guessing that some of the plant is losing out on sun time.

See more photos on the Potato Project page.

Just looking for a name. . .

I got this perrenial from a friend a couple of years ago. Large leaves, mulitiple seed/flower pods per stalk. Just looking for a name.

Tomato ripening!!!

I have one tomato beginning to ripen, I am so excited it looks like we will have a ripe tomato by our goal of July 4th!!!

Irisis

I planted a few new varieties and they look really nice. I love iris and have a nice variety. Teh white and yellow are some of my favorites. The white ones have a divine scent and some times they bloom again in the fall.

Tomatoes looking good!

Tomatoes are growing, more tomatoes and blossoms. I water everyday now, the weather is still cool but tomatoes in garden are beginning to bloom even though they are on the small side.

To pull or not to pull - that is the question.

And the answer? No one really knows for sure - so here's a few things to consider:

Scape watch:

• When your scapes appear, your plants are within weeks of pulling.
• Cut scapes to enhance/enlarge bulb size; keep scapes for plants being saved for seed. When exactly to cut scapes varies. If you want to eat the tasty bubil stalks, wait until they curl. If you do not, cut then as they appear - 4 inches or so. Once the scape is gone, all the plant's energy is focused on bulb size. But to create good seed stock, you'll want to let the plant continue it's life cycle, so leave the scapes in place for plants destined as seed stock.

When is it time to pull/remove?

• I say remove not pull because when it's time, you'll want to coax the plant out, not pull it. Use a fork-style device. The roots will hold this plant securely and pulling may detach the leaves that you'll want for the curing process.
• When your scapes curl or are cut, stop watering. Let your bed dry out.
• When half the leaves have died back (dried out) - it's time to do a test removal. Is the bulb a good size and the leaves not soggy? If you've had recent rain and the leaves are soggy (sometimes we have weeks of rain, so this occurs), and your weather forecast is dry, wait a few days longer -otherwise start removing.

Each bulb type reacts a bit differently in timing so check them as a garlic-type. If they stay in too long the bulb will split and the leaf-paper won't be able to contain them. Once this happens, you will not be able to cure and store. So instead of overall bulb size, we are looking at the cloves - do they look filled out and firm.

We are hoping to start removing next week - which is early, but with this wierd weather year, watching the plant instead of the calendar is your best bet.

Mustard seeds

We started a batch of mustard greens and have been eating these tasty leaves in our salad for weeks. Now we're letting them flower and go to seed. This is a batch of standard yellow seed. Later this summer, we plan to plant black mustard seeds - the one's used to make dijon mustard.

Here come the potato flowers!

Debbie says her potatoes have gown wild; Carol, same. And the towers, well one look at the potate project document their growth.

But does this foilage transfer into potato yeild?  That's the next part of this story - coming soon.

Tomatos thriving

We have had crazy weather, one day cold, next hot, next cold. The tomatoes are really coming along. I am still hoping for a ripe one before 4th of July!

The tomatoes in the garden are beginning to flourish. I am sure we will not be worrying about canning until September.
The flowers are from the backyard. I added some to flickr so go visit!

Potato plants top towers; Blue Majesty sporting flower buds

6/6/11:

Now we're talking. The plants have all exceeded the tops of the towers. The stalks are thick and strong.

Attended the Mother Earth News fair in Puyallup this weekend and picked up Worm Tea from Sequim Prairie Star. It's made from organic worm castings. I'm going to use it to mist the potatoes, tomatoes, beans, cukes, squash and peppers each morning.

The tea is like a mist humus, if that makes sense and is known to increase plant growth and suppress harmful bacteria, fungi and plant pathogens. We can use all the help we can get from bacteria and fungi with our cooler, moist conditions. It's not a nitrogen, but more of facilitator helping the plant uptake more efficiently.