Progressing Plants

By Shidonna Raven, Chef Editor

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Image / Photo Source: Unsplash, M. Lou

It is always amazing to see what the plants are doing from day today. We often get questions and visitors who are curious about the progress of a particular plant or the garden overall. Those waiting for a harvest typically have a favorite vegetable or fruit in mind. Yesterday was an amazing day to be in the garden observing the plants as they are progressing in amazing ways. So, we thought we would take advantage of this platform to share the progress of a few plants doing some simple yet amazing things in the garden.

CABBAGE – came to us straight from the store as a plantling. As we shared, some of the plants experienced shock because we put them straight into the ground from the store. Since then we have improved our transplanting progress, which now includes a 3 day acclimation process. The plants have responded to this improvement very well. They experience less shock and stress. We have also seen almost no signs of pests at all. Save a few mold outbreaks due the fact that our mini greenhouse, as we like to call it, is actually a garage with a big unobstructed window. We also had a army of ants when the plants went into shock. We were able to resolve all pest concerns organically and naturally. The plants have been nurtured and maintained in good health and consequently we have seen very little pest. We are thus happy to report that CABBAGE is doing very well and growing beautiful and thick deep green leaves. She has grown quit a bit from the little plantling she was when she first came to us.

PUMPKIN – came to us as a fresh saved seed if you will. She came fresh from another pumpkin and was not purchased as a seed. It took her a while to sprout but when she did she was one of our largest and most beautiful sprouts. We have a few fall babies who are partial to PUMPKIN as it is commonly associated with fall. PUMPKIN did well the whole time until an unknown culprit took both of her leaves leaving only a stem from which no more leaves grew. We were very disappointed when this happened. PUMPKIN was resown and we were all hoping she would return successfully in time enough for fall. We had a few seeds we were saving for next season. So we cleaned up the remaining seeds we had and resowed her for this season. We still have a few seeds saved for next season. PUMPKIN has indeed returned and we believe in time enough for fall. As always she is our biggest sprout sporting thick and deep green leaves. Once she has come out a little more she will go back into the garden where she has plenty of space to grow her vines. We expect to put her in the ground by the end of this week or the beginning of next week. Her come back has been much anticipated. Stay tuned for updates on this manmouth plant. We think she is going to look great in the garden and the back yard.

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SWEET PEPPERS – was a transplant that went through our 3 day acclimation process. She did very well in the mini greenhouse and has done very well in the garden. She took some time to sprout but when she did she came out strong. She has been strong every since. She stayed fairly small in her pot, so we were anxious to get her outside in the garden to give her roots time to develop so that she would increase in size. When your plant starts getting bigger after moving outside, that is a good sign that she is developing a strong root system underground bringing her the nutrients she needs to grow and thrive. SWEET PEPPERS stalks are strong and upright, which we love because she is looking very healthy indeed. She has also started to grow tall and wide, which again is a good sign that she has taken root and completed the transplant process very well. We have found that it takes several days before a plant starts to show signs of a successful transplant completion. Just when you are concerned that they are not doing well they come back strong. We will also be trying a new technique of loosening the ground beneath the transplant to help its roots develop when we transplant. Stay tuned to find out if this new technique helps them develop a larger root system faster helping them to successfully complete the transplant process quicker.

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ROMA TOMATO – she is a favorite of a lot of people. She is also suppose to be very good for making sauces as she has very few seeds. We believe that our selection of tomato varieties is a direct reflection on how much everyone we know likes tomatoes. If there is one vegetable we kept getting a lot of, it was tomato. ROMA is also an Italian favorite. She came to us as a plantling straight from the store. She is another one that was planted straight into the ground and did not go through our new acclimation transplant process. She was on the row by herself for some time. We think because she did not have any other plants on her row she came through the stress and shock of transplanting better than her other co transplanters. She has done very well and begin growing big and tall. She was the first plant to sport brilliant yellow flowers. Tomatoes are perfect plants meaning they pollinate themselves without any outside help. We can see here that she is either sprouting more flowers; still pollinating or about to bare fruit. The amazing part is we will have to wait and see what she is actually doing. We get to watch nearly the whole process. We of course were not there when she sprouted. Stay tuned to find out exactly what ROMA is doing. She maybe the first plant in the garden to bare fruit.

KALE – is a major favorite around here because it is rich in iron. Iron is just what we need in our diets. She looked great in the mini greenhouse. She was a little leggy and on the thin side. So, we brought her on out hoping that giving her roots more space would encourage growth. And her leaves are growing larger each day. Your seed packet should tell you how long it should be grown inside before transplanting outside. If you are not sure, just ask us. We kept her inside a while because we still have an unidentified culprit attacking the leaves of the smaller transplants, so we wanted the transplants to get as big as possible before putting them in the garden. She will probably go into several salads, Stay tuned to find out how we mix up a kale salad straight from the garden.

CAYENNE PEPPER – took a little while to sprout but when she did she stayed strong and healthy. She went through our 3 day transplanting process very well and is now in the garden as you can see. She is beginning to take root and is growing tall in the garden. We know a few people who like it hot and have been inquiring about CAYENNE. So, we wanted to let you know that she is doing very well. We are keeping our eyes on her. We look forward to the day when she grows up into a plant bearing her delicious peppers. So, if you like it hot like June & July stay tuned. CAYENNE is a wonderful and fresh way to spice up all the foods you like when you use CAYENNE as a spice from your kitchen cabinet. Only thing is this one was not found in a container on the grocers shelf. She will come fresh from the garden. Stay tuned to see how we cook her up. Better yet, we will be looking for you to share your recipes and photos when we give you a few peppers to take home and cook up.

SPINACH – we love watching SPINACH grow. She is another plant that is rich in iron. That is just what we need in our diets, so we have a lot of salads planned for SPINACH. Our first SPINACH plant shot up beautiful and bold However, she was tender, as SPINACH is known to be, and we think the first SPINACH plant did not make it because of a mold outbreak we had to address early on. We believe the combination of the garage and the paper products we were using encouraged mold. And the mold was too much for this delicate plant to survive, so we resowed SPINACH. The second plant grew by leaps and bounds. We could hardly contain her in her pot. She was one of the plants we wanted to get transplanted fast. She is growing bigger every day. Stay tuned. We think a strawberry and spinach salad is on the horizon.

We also removed all plants from the mini greenhouse that were not growing. We are not 100 percent sure why all are not growing, but we have some good ideas. They are outside on the side of the house so we can continue to watch them and learn. Plants can surprise you. One day you think it is all over for the plant and the next day its thriving. We wanted to remove them from the same environment as the healthy and growing plants to prevent any disease from spreading. We also opened the mini greenhouse up to allow a free flow of air to discourage any disease. Plants also need good air flow.

We also put out Delicious Tomato and Cabbage, which were resown, for transplant. They are in the process of getting acclimated to their new outside home. Delicious Tomato never sprouted. Cabbage was originally sown in a pot with no drainage. When we put her out in her container and it rained, she drowned. Big lesson learned. Pots should always have proper drainage and plants must be monitored while being transplanted and acclimated . We also finished sowing all the seeds we will put out into the garden this season. One of our gardening cohorts came over just in time to help us expand our rows to fit a couple more plants. So we may sow a few more different plants before the planting season for our Zone wraps up.

What are your favorite fruits and vegetables? Which plants’ progress are you tracking? What have you learned that you will use in your own garden? Share your comments with the community by posting them below. Share the wealth of health with your friends and family by sharing this article with 3 people today. As always you are the best part of what we do. Keep sharing!

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