Grow Baby Grow

   One of the babies growing on my Brandywine tomato plant.  The whole plant is still only about 18 inches tall with a spread of 26 inches, but I counted 3 baby fruits this morning.  They're all about the same size as the one pictured here.

   Here's the picture of the same exact baby tomato from 3 days ago.  Ahhh, it's growing. :D

   The Corn Box on Day 52.  It's getting hard to see the frame of the box.  The tallest plant measured 35" from the soil level this morning.

   The "cat's eye view", if you will.  I can see why it's so irresistible for them to go in there and lie down for a cool afternoon nap.  People have fun in a corn maze, too.

   The Summer Veggies Box.  Things are really starting to take off now that they're no longer 'seedlings' and the daily high has been consistently in the mid 90s.  I transplanted the flowering kale seedlings to one square and into three pots this morning.  Although they are still tiny, their roots were already reaching the bottom of the starter containers.  I've never grown them in the past and I'm not sure how I'll like them, so I'm just committing one square in this box.  If I like it, I'd like to build a dedicated SFG box for fall/winter flowering plants.

Corn Box Day 49

   Corn Box on Day 49.  The front half of the box was planted April 25th.  Germination occurred about 7 or so days later.  I'm looking at the seed packets information about 'days to maturity', and according to that, it's 66 days.  So the projected date of maturity is around July 6th.

   Right now, the tallest part of this group of corn plants measures about 30 inches from the top of the soil.  They are practically bursting out of the box. ^^

   Strawberries are coming!  The plants have been producing a lot of flowers in the past few weeks and now we are starting to see the fruits on the vine. :D  Exciting!

   The beginning of a tomato fruit!  This is my Brandywine tomato plant.  I found the baby tomato today. :D

   The closeup view.  You can see the dried-up flower still attached to this baby green tomato.  The plant is about 16 inches tall.  The leaves are huge and the plant is about twice wide as it is tall.

Day 31

   Looking at all four of our SFG boxes at once.  (In the right upper corner, you can see the frames of the chicken coop that my husband has started building.)  The spring veggies box closest to us is starting to look nicely loaded with fresh green colors.  I do notice a bare spot in one of the Mesclun salad mix squares where a cat had dug around. T_T

   Oops, I took this photo from the north side.  I have been taking the pictures of this box from the east side all this time.  I put the peas along the west side of the box, although the book recommended to put the trellis in the north of the box so the sun doesn't get blocked.  The peak summer sun in the afternoon will be so harsh for the greens, I figured they will be able to use a break later in the season.  We'll see if this works out ... or not. :D

   Visiting the boxes counter clock wise, starting with the spring veggies box, the next up is the corn box.  I just planted the second variety of corn on the south half of the box (8 squares).  The variety planted is Honey and Cream -- an yellow and white bi-color.

   The summer veggies box (Box #4).  I have two heirloom tomatoes, Black Krim and Brandywine.  Brandywine is a favorite of mine for the classic tomato flavor and the size of fruits, and Black Krim is something I'm growing for the first time ever -- it's a variety from Ukraine and has purple/black shoulders and the inside of the fruit shows the color as well.  I'm curious how this tomato will do in our climate.  I haven't grown tomatoes in several seasons.  I've missed them and am extra-excited about growing them in  the SFG to see how they'll perform.  I'm the only one in the family who enjoys unprocessed tomatoes straight from the vine.  I guess I will be sharing them with neighbors. ^^;

   Also in the summer veggies box so far are: Japanese eggplant "Ichiban", Italian flat-leaf parsley, red bell pepper, all from the local nursery.  I have also planted squares of soybeans, garden beans (bush variety), broccoli, carrots and four o'clocks (for color).  I'm also planning to plant sweet basil and some other veggies (not all the squares are filled yet in this box).

   Finally, the strawberry box.  They have stayed healthy without wilting since the transplant, and also managed to avoid any intrusion by our kitties for some reason.  I have seen only tiny fruits so far, but they had strong strawberry flavor.