Reading Materials

Now that I've sent Anna her birthday present, I can tell you about the book I've been using.

The backyard Vegetable Factory: Super Yields from Small Spaces by Duane Newcomb


It's a little outdated, but very helpful. Newcomb goes through the entire process of creating a 25 square foot garden with helpful tips, scientific findings, and concise writing. He does not focus on the aesthetics of gardening, unlike many other sources I've seen.

Obviously, I'm not gardening on a plot of land. He has a small section on container planting, but the book is more useful for its explanation of how to garden. It's quite hard to explain.

The first 130 pages or so are about starting seeds, pests, planning, etc etc etc. The other half of the book is basically straight up facts. He profiles types of vegetables and describes their particular needs. There is also information on freeze dates, vegetable time range, and vegetable companion suggestions. It also has bibliography that I haven't gone into yet.

The book also has some very nice diagrams and illustrations, which really helps me out. The only section that the pictures didn't help out was for the pests. Even that wasn't because they were poor illustrations. Rather it was that the drawings weren't the same size as the actual creatures nor were they colored. So it's a bit of a mystery.

Newcomb also considers the gardener's environmental footprint AND her pocketbook. He supports the re-purposing of objects and wholly supports organic growing. His compost section is excellent.

There is a lot to say about the Vegetable Factory, but you really can't learn much from it if you don't read it yourself. It really is good.

Pick it up at Half.com for $1.13 (hardcover) at the time of this posting.

Enjoy

Who would have thunk?

After weeks of ridiculing it, the pepper plant is officially the first plant on the terrace to go to fruit.

This just nine days after I saw the first blooms!! A few more fruits are coming out, but this one is the largest. My book says most bell pepper varieties take 60-75 days to mature. I got mine June 28 as a seedling, meaning I've had it 83 days. Who knows how long it was growing at the nurseries. What a poky pepper! I guess it was mature when I saw the blossoms at 74 days. So really it's right on time...?

Now for some pretty pictures of the cucumber blossoms:

An Elephant Flys!

The Pepper Plant is blossoming. There are about 4 open a few more buds sitting around.

Pepper Plant Pests

The pepper plant finally has something interesting to look at.

Neither Nicholas nor I knew what they were. They look like little red ant-like things with long legs. Nicholas figured they were either Assassin Bug or Leaf Leg Bug nymphs (what comes after the larval stage but before they are fully mature). Apparently the two bugs are in the same family(?) and don't look much different from one another at this stage. After some interwebbing I concluded they were the Leaf Leg Bugs, before they have their leafy legs.

Click on Photos to Enlarge

Assassin bugs generally are lone creatures who stalk the stalks for other creatures to feed on. Leaf Legs gather together in wild packs, sucking the life out of leaves or burrowing into the fleshy parts of fruit. (Slight exaggerations). Assassin bugs are somewhat beneficial and leaf legs are not. I cut the leaf holding all the nymphs and tossed it over the balcony onto the nearby crepe myrtle. Hopefully they'll stay on it and not bother my planties.