Chris J Bell

Gardening Fall 2011

// August 27th, 2011 // No Comments » // garden

The South Florida planting season is around the corner. I have big plans this year for a variety of tomatoes, including some rarer varieties.

I plan on reworking my soil this weekend.

Garden Update

// October 21st, 2010 // No Comments » // carrots, cucumber, garden, squash, tomato

It has been roughly 45 days since I first transplanted seedlings and planted seeds in the garden. Most plants are doing well. The weather has been good except for a few windy days and some heavy rain.

The cucumbers I planted in the container were doing very good until I noticed caterpillars. These are the small light green variety that I dealt with last year. I wanted to use a biological approach but could not find the product I wanted. So I opted to spray with Sevin. It has been a week and it looks like they are under control, for now. Today I saw my first female flower which is a little early for the 55 day harvest time. It is a good sign that the plants are healthy. The plants that are in the raised bed are much smaller than their counterpart but are starting to flower.

The squash plants in the container are doing very well. They suffered from a caterpillar attack also. It has also has it’s first female flower. Again the plants in the container are much bigger than those in raised bed.

The tomato plants I transplanted are doing very well also.

Planting Cucumbers

// September 8th, 2010 // No Comments » // cucumber

I spent the morning planting seeds and making containers. I direct sowed 2 types of cucumbers. One is what’s called a bush variety that will produce slicing cucumbers. The plant is suppose to be compact but produce medium to high yields.

The second type is a pickling type. This plant will have 4′ vines. I direct sowed the seeds into a mound of garden soil and compost.

Onions

// September 7th, 2010 // No Comments » // Onion

I decided to plant my onions in containers. I planted the yellow onions in a large deep container. They should be ready for harvest in 162 days (April). I planted the white bunching onions in a container also. We will use then for scallions. The should be ready for harvest in 60 days.

My Seeds Arrived

// September 7th, 2010 // No Comments » // garden

My seeds finally arrived! They were delivered by USPS in a small brown package at about 2pm. It is great timing because I just started a week of vacation. Now I have something fun to do this week. That is if the weather cooperates.

Adding Garden Real Estate

// September 1st, 2010 // No Comments » // garden

The other day I sat down and planned out my garden plot and decided that instead of having a bunch of containers I would add some space to my garden. Originally I had an 4×8 raised bed. Today I added three 3×3 raised beds and will add another one in a few days. This will allow me to isolate a few plants, and will be cheaper in the long run. I am mulching around the beds to provide a more landscaped look. I will still have some containers but they will not be the bulk of my garden. Now my garden will be even more enjoyable.