An Interloper amoung the Berries

In anticipation of today's thunderstorm I went outside to pick the alpine strawberries. I noticed that they are a bit bigger in size than the one's from Monday's harvest. I also noticed that in the middle of my bushes there was a mushroom! This is most unexpected. I am particularly surprised because I am gardening in a container on the second floor of a building. Where could it have come from?

Mushroom in the Strawberry patch



Aug 29 - 15 berry harvest



Flowers in Boston Common

I decided to take some pictures as I strolled though the Boston Common at lunch yesterday.

Small Alpine Strawberry Harvest

Renee's Garden Alpine Strawberries

To Bonsai or not to Bonsai

It is very rewarding to see  plants that were grown from seed  flowering and generating fruit. This also means that cold weather can not be too far behind. It saddens me to not be able to garden in the fall and winter. Thus, I decided that I needed a plant to grow indoors. Bonsai!! I bought some seeds for the Japanese Wisteria and Japanese Maple. These take years to develop and will be a nice long term project for me. Today, I wrapped the seeds in a wet paper towel and placed them in a plastic baggie to start off the germination process. Below are pictures of these odd-looking seeds and the beautiful trees they may someday become. Updates to come!

Japanese Maple

Wisteria Bonsai

Japanese Maple Seeds

Wisteria Seeds

More Cucumber Glory

I finally cut down my first Botanical Interests Marketmore cucumber. It was about 7 inches in length and absolutely delicious!!

First Marketmore Cucumber.

Marketmore Cucumber cut up. Yum!

Cucumber Progress

I have my first 5 inch cucumber though I hope it gets a bit fatter. The trellis I bought seems to  be working very well! I am excited that I am getting much farther with my cucumbers this year than I did last year.

First Botanical Interests Marketmore Cucumber

Tomato vs Tomato

The two types of tomato plants I grew from seed. The Botanical Interests Sweetie tomato is way ahead in this race.

Garden Update 7/9/11

Botanical Interests
Sugar Sweetie Flower

My little garden seems to be making progress overall.  The first flowers have appeared on the botanical interests Sugar Sweetie tomato plants. The Renee's Garden superbush plant has grown significantly but has not had any open flowers.  My blueberry bush has a few green blueberries. The raspberry bush has grown and become more green, but no fruit thus far.



Alpine Strawberries - first
Renee's Garden

 Alpine strawberries - I can now see many tiny little berries (still green) developing from the little white flowers. The planter from last year has also sprouted its first flowers.

Two weeks ago I planted some Zinnia Cut and Come Again flowers by Botanical Interests and these are growing at a surprisingly fast pace.



First Blueberries (very few)

 Today I also planted some Romaine Lettuce. I ordered the seeds from Amazon and while it was supposed to be by Botanical Interests, the package said Todd's Seeds. I thought this was odd and planted the seeds regardless.

Cucumber Trellis Solution

Cucumber Trellis

I've been searching for the perfect solution to keep my cucumber plants off of the ground (away from bugs) but also a solution that does not take up too much room. Most of the solutions I found either blocked sunlight for other plants or were too bulky or expensive. I tried to create a popsicle trellis but that quickly fell over as soon as the wind blew. At last, I was in Staples today and found these little devices. They were originally intended for student locker's but seem to work perfectly for my purposes.



Baby Cucumber