Mikhailah's Blog
Mikhailah's posts about: cauliflower
Apr 30, 2007 | 10:21 AM PST
Tags: lobelia , sunflowers , gladiolus , flowers , cauliflower , chives
I haven't been in the garden since early saturday, sometimes I like to have time away, that way I really notice changes that have happened. I'll be out there this evening, just before the sun sets to check on things. We may be having one of those cauli's with dinner tonight. Will be cutting back the unruly chives in the herb bed and adding that to some mashed potatoes, throw in some fried fish and we have dinner!
My flower seedlings are coming along nicely. the Lobelia seeds have all come up, they're so TINY! I'm not sure how I'm going to separate/space them. Sunflowers had to be started again, I had checked thru in the soil to see if any were germinating, only one seemed to be, kept that one and threw out the rest as the cardboard (toilet rolls cut in half!) had been placed too close together and had begun to go mouldy. So I should see at least one pushing thru in the next couple days.
I potted up my gladiolus' (april 28th) in a couple of large pots, they're on the patio for the moment.
I NEED MORE GARDEN SPACE! Now that I'm getting into flower growing. Hopefully I should get two 3x15 ft beds in the front for all my flowers. Will have to pave over the rest for parking space.
Apr 24, 2007 | 10:13 AM PST
Tags: peppermint , flat leaf parsley , Lobelia , Zinnia , Balsam , Alyssum , Sunflowers , cabbage , cauliflower , eggplant , scarlett emperor , polestar , onion , chives
I went to a small garden centre yesterday looking for parsley seedlings, ended up buying some peppermint instead. After reading up on mint in general I found that I need to restrict the roots to stop in from taking over the whole bed. So I have potted one plant and will be sinking it into the herb garden.
Not sure what to do with the rest, would like to put them out in the veggie garden out back. Will have to get some plumbing tubing and plant them in that. I would love to get my hands on some chocolate mint seeds.
The question is: is this really a peppermint? I looked at pictures online and the peppermint I saw didn't look like this. I also read somewhere that it should have purplish leaves? Maybe it will change as it matures?
I finally sowed some flower seeds today.... Lobelia, Alyssum, Zinnia, Balsam and 9 Sunflowers - in trays. See picture above.
I checked my baby bean yesterday, it hadn't grown any and I didn't see any more growing either. I think I'll just let it get on with it by itself. The polestar variety over on the other side is not doing too well, not very green and growing/flowering very slowly.
Cukes are still doing well, never had leaves this big before, gotta watch out for bugs all the time.
My cabbages are doing really great, I wish I'd planted more, I'm thinking to get more seedlings, you can never have too much cabbages, it's a pity they take up so much space though.
What else?.... oh yes, I'm getting a lot of sweet and hot peppers flowering and fruiting now, amazing how quickly a pepper grows, I'm giving them lots of water in the evening and they're producing well, compared to previous years.
My oak leaf lettuces that I let run to seed are now flowering, pretty little yellow flowers, hoping it will be straightforward to get the seeds from it.
I think this blog is becoming a 'note to self' . I'm hoping that I can organize my garden by looking back on this gardening diary and make good choices regarding when, where and what to plant and how I have dealt with problems when they have arisen. Sounds good in theory...!
I bought some strawberry seeds from the UK, still trying to figure out what to do with them, so much is against this project being successful, and I only have 13 seeds! (I was given some hope when I heard that they have been grown in the Blue Mountains in Jamaica! )
Another seemingly impossible project is getting rhubarb from seeds to grow here in the caribbean. Those of you in 4 season climates must think I'm nuts!? It can't hurt to try I guess.
Apr 23, 2007 | 6:02 AM PST
Tags: sweet basil , beetroot , cauliflower , coconut tree , sage , pole beans
On doing my usual daily rounds of weeding, feeding or watering I found a baby bean still on the vine, it's maybe 2-3 inches long and very skinny but still a pollinated bean nevertheless!
I'm not sure if it's one of the one's I tried to hand-pollinate or it did it of it's own accord, boy do I hope so, the prospect of having to pollinate beans (of all things!) by hand seems really daunting, to say the least. I guess later down in the week I'll know.
The eggplants are flowering now, despite being rained on by giant coconut tree leaves (fronds). It's a good job their kind of flexible and give way so easily. They have really beautiful pale purple flowers, I LOVE purple flowers. So much that I've been gathering picture of them (and white, cream and yellow flowers) in an album so I can dream and plan which one's would grow well in the climate I live in.
I pulled up my sweet basil out of the herb garden, way too invasive. I also cut back my sage, I then found it had something yukky growing on it, looked like dry cottage cheese with orangey-red tiny egg-looking mush inside. Cleaned that up, not sure what on earth it was. I need to keep an eye that it doesn't come back. I pulled up my dill also, it was looking spent and sorry for itself. I will be planting coriander in it's place.
I lost a lot of the baby beetroot plants I planted out, I'll wait till what remains are bigger/stronger and replant them more together to save some space. The sun was a bit too much for them.
My lone cauliflower is forming curds now. I loosely tied some of it's leaves around it to shade it from the hot sun. Hoping to get a less 'yellowly' head when it's ready to harvest. This is the first time I've tried this, hope it works.
I heard about some place I can get miniature fruit trees from in St. Andrew. Apparently these trees will bear in the first year and the fruit is sweet and delicious, the price (around $4 each) is pretty good too! So I'll be looking into that. I like the idea of 'miniature', that way I can easily net them to prevent the monkeys chomping on them.
Once the basement apartment is completed we'll be leveling out the rest of the back garden, then (if all goes as planned) I plan on having a deck with some lounge chairs, a bbq pit, shading, plus some bermuda grass and huge pots for the fruit trees and some medium sized pots for my flowers. Sounds like a plan!
My six cucumbers are coming along nicely, (she said tentatively!). some of them have tendrils, they haven't flopped down and begun crawling yet, I can see flower buds forming too. After so many disasters maybe April is a good time to grow cucubits in my garden.
