I planted beefsteak tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, green beans (bush), and zucchini.
Beefsteak tomatoes: didn't sprout at all. I think I had a couple but never grew past a couple inches tall.
Cherry tomatoes: one grew very well, but took a long time to actually produce anything. By May 15, I had some green ones finally, just ripened a week and a half ago.
Green beans: they grew pretty quickly and then died pretty quickly. They only produced a handful of green beans each time. Not really seeing it as worth the real estate to grow the bush variety in the future. Plus, they are fuzzy on the outside. I have tried soaking then and washing them and they still have a fuzzy texture to them. After the green beans died, I had a couple of sprigs that I kept watering to see what they are. It appears that one is a small cherry tomato plant and the other might be a small beefsteak. I am still watering them and seeing what happens.
Zucchini: I had one grow and flower, but didn't produce anything. Then it flowered again but the roots started to grow out of the soil. I think maybe the pot was too shallow to grow it. So now it is dead.
Lemon tree: I still have a bunch of green lemons but in the last week they have started to get yellowy pock marks on them. Maybe something small is eating the fruits? I will try going to the home improvement store and get some fertilizer specific for citrus plants and see if it helps develope them to finally change color and ripen.
Some things I might try for next summer:
1) Change the soil completely between the fall and spring crops. This year I used the old fall soil and mixed in some fresh to fill them.
2) Try placing some sort of black netting over then to prevent the sun from burning them so much...there might be such thing as too much sun. We passed a farm today that had a large part of the field covered by something that looked like a greenhouse that was made of a small hole netting. It might be for pests, but it might prevent them from getting too hot in the tropical sun. Something to experiment with.
3) Definitely planting my cherry tomatoes again...its a staple.
4) Going to try zucchini again but want to research if they are more cold-ish weather or a hot weather plant. If cold-ish, then might go with the fall crop instead. Also would plant a few together. I hear they have female and male plants that are needed to produce anything.
5) Want to try jalapeños again.
6) Want to try bell peppers as well next year.
I will give more updates as I find out what mystery plants are wanting to grow in my green bean pot. Also, how the lemon tree fairs. As well as how long my cherry tomato crop lasts in the summer.
Zucchini needs a lot of room to spread out. I'd think that jalapeños, cayenne, and other peppers would do well there. I'm wondering if the beefsteak tomato was male or didn't have pollination. Did it flower? Also have you tried herbs? It would be interesting to see what does well there.
ReplyDeleteThe beefsteak one did flower. I know the cherry tomatoes are self pollinating, but never really thought about the beefsteak ones needing male and female. Jalapenos do really well here. But it seems most do better when planted in the fall (mid September) rather than the normal spring planting. The sun is too intense in the summer and burn the plants.
Delete