Though this time of the year can be exceedingly busy for me, I thought it was important to share a few things about what is happening in each of the gardens I work in.
As one can expect from a gardener this time of year, a number of things have been going on. In the backyard garden the majority of my tomato plants were killed or badly damaged when they were splashed with over-chlorinated pool water.
In order to keep my summer plants from drying out, I decided to try having a big reservoir for my container plants. However, my intention eventually morphed into a kind of modified Kratky hydroponics method – which I had no intention of doing.
Though my wine barrel continues to house tomato plants and a purple kale plant, much of the red leaf lettuce has bolted.
My main garden is growing a carosello variety that I acquired from a gentleman in the Salento area of Italy. What the name of the variety will be, I am not sure, but it is extraordinarily delicious and exhibits some unique properties to its color development. I even made a little video about this new variety.
Meanwhile, I decided to do another growout of the Carosello Massafrese cucumber variety. I planted seeds in the fertile garden. They grew incredibly fast. The only problem is that in the fertile garden I have to be extraordinarily careful to keep things aired out. The owner likes to water a lot and sometimes the yard sprinklers overwater the cucumber beds. This time my son took a video of me and the cucumbers.
Finally, the chicken garden has really been coming along. Though it continues to lag behind in fertility, the production will likely be much more than it was last year. This year I planted out some tomatoes and the owners will likely have a very nice tomato crop. In this garden I decided to try growing one of my dark Leccese carosello varieties. I’ll be sure to continue taking pictures and update everyone on the progress as I get the opportunity.
Well, that is about it for now. Thank you to everyone who has been so supportive of my gardening venture and of my blog, my little Cucumber Shop and of my cucumber varieties.
As one can expect from a gardener this time of year, a number of things have been going on. In the backyard garden the majority of my tomato plants were killed or badly damaged when they were splashed with over-chlorinated pool water.
 |
| Chlorine damage on tomato plants. The rest soon suffered damage too. |
In order to keep my summer plants from drying out, I decided to try having a big reservoir for my container plants. However, my intention eventually morphed into a kind of modified Kratky hydroponics method – which I had no intention of doing.
 |
| Learn from my mistake: Never fill the water above the root oxygen line |
Though my wine barrel continues to house tomato plants and a purple kale plant, much of the red leaf lettuce has bolted.
My main garden is growing a carosello variety that I acquired from a gentleman in the Salento area of Italy. What the name of the variety will be, I am not sure, but it is extraordinarily delicious and exhibits some unique properties to its color development. I even made a little video about this new variety.
 |
| A striped carosello cucumber variety from Leccese |
Meanwhile, I decided to do another growout of the Carosello Massafrese cucumber variety. I planted seeds in the fertile garden. They grew incredibly fast. The only problem is that in the fertile garden I have to be extraordinarily careful to keep things aired out. The owner likes to water a lot and sometimes the yard sprinklers overwater the cucumber beds. This time my son took a video of me and the cucumbers.
 |
| The Carosello Massafrese in 2019. |
Finally, the chicken garden has really been coming along. Though it continues to lag behind in fertility, the production will likely be much more than it was last year. This year I planted out some tomatoes and the owners will likely have a very nice tomato crop. In this garden I decided to try growing one of my dark Leccese carosello varieties. I’ll be sure to continue taking pictures and update everyone on the progress as I get the opportunity.
Well, that is about it for now. Thank you to everyone who has been so supportive of my gardening venture and of my blog, my little Cucumber Shop and of my cucumber varieties.
