Oh Cabbages!

I have two updates and a new finding to share with you.

The first update refers back to my previous blog A Special Avian Visitor and Two'fers - here. In the content of that blog I mentioned that, by only removing the outside leaves of red leaf lettuce, you might prolong your harvest, and prevent bolting. Since then by following my method, I can share with you a picture of lettuce I snipped for lunch today. 

5th Harvest

This is my fifth batch of fresh lettuce from my original and still thriving 7 plants. I also learned that the other benefit of this method appears to be that, although lettuce has a compact and shallow root system, the mature lettuces can go 3 or 4 days without needing additional water, vs. coaxing along additional baby lettuces. Just a thought.

Patio Salad Bowl 

I also have a salad bowl of the varieties: Grand Rapids, Red Salad Bowl, Oakleaf and Prizeleaf.  I am experimenting with them in the same way as the red leaf. PS. The red tag in the photo is a potato plant, and a reminder to myself not to add those  leaves to our salad anytime soon.

The 2nd update pertains to my blog on saponins and Quinoa  - here. A gardening blogger asked me to update my findings. The results were that using the water soluble, bitter, trace elements of the grain Quinoa did seem to prevent caterpillar damage. Unfortunately, the rabbits or raccoons were not deterred and actually had the cheek to chomp a couple down to stumps, along with my six fledgling broccoli plants.

My new finding: As dusk settled on the garden I was racking my brain for a quick fix to the nocturnal feastings. I grabbed the garlic powder, paprika and hot, red pepper flakes and liberally sprinkled this on the leaves of the remaining plants. Two days later those plants remain intact, but we will see if that continues to be the case. If anyone has any additional "Bunny-Stay-Off" remedies, I would be thrilled to hear about them. My husband suggested a scarecrow! Eww.. too creepy!

Chomped To A Stump!

The Remaining Crop

Lemon Boy

The Lemon Boy tomato shares a 25 gallon container with a Bell Pepper. When I planted these 2 little sprigs it was almost a joke that something 3" tall would grow so gigantic and spill over the sides of the container. My not-so-secret was this. I did not have enough Miracle Grow potting mixture to fill this container. 25 galls is a LOT of container space. I did have a duplicate-size, half filled, compost pot, comprising of both freshly discarded vegetable stumps, leaves etc., along with completely rotten vegetables, egg shells and newspapers. So I just used that (compost pot) and topped off with the potting soil. The tomato has dozens and dozens of flowers and very healthy leaves. Note to self: do this more often.

Last but not least. If my links to previous blogs do not connect you, I do apologize - I am still a fledgling blogger and cannot get my blog page to behave itself sometimes!