Going away? Plan ahead

We're going to take a little vacation soon which means we need to prepare. The last time we left for a few days our cucumbers suffered (see A Death in the family). It also means no posts for at least two weeks! (It also explains why we haven't posted anything in a while. Planning a vacation is time-consuming) So what things you need to take into account when you're going on vacation?

1. Watering - Your first (and probably only concern but we threw a few additional ones just for the fun of it) concern should be watering. Your plants might survive a day or two without water outside and maybe 3 or 4 days if you move them inside. For short trips you can get some water bottles or 2 liter soda bottles and fill them with water. Make a small hole in the cap and insert the bottle upside down in the soil. Water will slowly trickle out as the soil dries out. If your time away will be longer than a few days then we suggest a garden-sitter. We recommend that you take this person to your garden and instruct them on how to water your plants.  Also, you can mix water retaining hydrogels into your soil. This will increase the availability of moisture in your pots. There are also automatic watering solutions but we cannot comment on them since we haven't tried them (Crystal ball: I see a future post about this topic).
2. Pruning - Take this opportunity to do a little pruning (Editor's note: Joel hates pruning but he knows it's necessary). This will help reduce the water requirements of your plants. 
3. Harvesting - Harvest as many fruits and vegetables as possible. Also teach your garden-sitter how and which plants to harvest while you are away. They won't mind eating some fresh vegetables while you're out.
4. Location - Since you have a container garden you also have the opportunity to move your plants to a shaded location. This will obviously reduce the water requirements for your plants.

These tips should help you in keeping your garden alive while you enjoy your days away. We'll be back in a few weeks. Until then keep on gardening!

The Holy Grail

Strawberry plant. Easily recognized by its 3-parted leaves.

Gotta admit that finding some plants in Puerto Rico is hard. Orchids, roses, citrus trees, oregano brujo, avocado, tomato. Easy. Strawberries, especially in fall. Hard. So this is the story of how two little adventurers braved the scorching sun and high humidity in search of a strawberry plant. Cue the adventure theme music. In all seriousness we've been searching for a strawberry plant since we started our garden a few months ago. We both love strawberries and have been wanting to grow our own since we tasted a freshly picked strawberry in Verona, Italy in 2010. The difference between a fresh and a supermarket strawberry is, as we say in Puerto Rico, "del cielo a la tierra" (from heaven to earth). After months of searching we were able to buy a plant at a garden center about an hour from where we live.

Growing strawberries in Puerto Rico is not an easy task. Some say it is impossible unless you live in the mountains. Due to the high temperatures and humidity extra care must be taken to avoid fungus, root rot and burnt plants. In temperate, and even sub-tropical, climates strawberries should be grown in full sun. In the tropics full sun will most likely kill your plants so it is recommended to grow strawberries is semi-shade or 3-4 hours of early morning or late afternoon sunlight. Another precaution to take is not to get the leaves wet which will likely cause fungus (usually, powdery mildew) to develop.

Strawberry plants are technically perennials but are usually grown as annuals. The plants you find at the nursery are called mother plants. These plants produce a significant amount of berries and also produce runners called daughter plants. These daughter plants can be allowed to root or cut from the mother plant since they drain energy that could be directed towards fruit production. If allowed to root they will become a mother plant next season. A good trick is to put a rock over the stem of the runner to pin it to the ground to encourage root growth.

Strawberries are classified into three classes: June-bearing, ever-bearing and day neutral. June bearings bear fruit in June (no surprise there), ever-bearing produces two batches of fruit (one in early summer and one in late summer) while day neutral are not affected by the length of a day and produce small batches of fruit from June until frost stops them. We have no idea which plant we actually got but I will assume it's a June bearer since it's the most common. (Editor's note: Always research your plants before buying.) It would be interesting to see how day neutral plants would behave in Puerto Rico since there is no frost.

Will we succeed in growing strawberries in the tropics? Keep tuned to find out and for more information on growing strawberries.

Did someone say party?

Pink and red flowers on our verbena.

For all our Spanish challenged readers the title of today's post will make absolutely no sense. Probably won't make sense to Spanish speakers too but I like it so I'm sticking with it. Verbena, which means street party in Spanish, is a flowering plant from the Verbenaceae family. There are many species commonly called verbena which all share the characteristic of producing small five-petal flowers in bunches or clusters. Flowers come in many colors including red, pink, purple, blue or white. We have no idea which verbena species we have but I assume it's some type of Verbena X hybrida.

In prehistoric times when the world was in darkness (before the blog was started) we went crazy and bought (almost) every seed pack we could find. (Editors note: If it wasn't for Jessica Joel would have bough every seed pack including watermelons and pumpkins. Good thing Jessica can keep him straight.) One of these seed packs was for verbena, a truly beautiful flowering plant. We placed a few seeds in peat soil pellets and two plants emerged. Verbena germinates quickly in Puerto Rico's hot weather although I cannot recall exactly how long it took. After a few weeks we moved one plant to a mixed pot with tomato, chives and oregano while the other was placed by itself on a pot. The plant in the mixed pot received full sunlight (6+ hours a day) while the other received only 3-4 hours of sunlight in the early morning.

The verbena which we grew by itself before the whiteflies.

We learned a few things from this little "experiment". Verbena prefers full sun with a good draining soil. Boggy conditions will cause fungus to develop, most commonly powdery mildew. However, don't let the soil dry completely or the plant will wither. Too little sun will stress the plant and attract pests. Whiteflies in our case (Yes, those whiteflies). Also, the plant that received full sun has flowered multiple times while the other plant has yet to flower. This may be due to lack of sunlight or because the whiteflies were draining its strength. In any case full sun may have solved the problem. After the plant has flowered the deadheads must be cut to promote new flowers. Failing to perform this task will cause the plant to stop flowering.

Have you grown verbena in your garden? Let us know. 

Arugula Follow Up

Our lonely arugula. Soon to be joined by four more friends

We mentioned that we were raising some Arugula from seed back in mid-August (yes, it has been that long - see The more the merrier - Arugula). For comparison we posted a picture of our arugula today. Definitely not pretty but oh so tasty. A the time we promised a follow-up which hadn't happened until today (no, not because I'm lazy although that was a good guess). The reason for the delay is that I wanted to know if the arugula would bolt in Puerto Rico's hot weather. Two months later the plant hasn't bolted yet and we're harvesting leaves every week or so. We felt so encouraged by this that we planted four seeds a few days ago which have already sprouted into four tiny plants. This should give us enough arugula for a few tasty salads (nice!).

Arugula is a green leaf with a growth pattern similar to open-leaf lettuce. It has a peppery flavor which contrasts with other mild-flavored green leafs such as spinach or lettuce. Young leaves develop at the center of the plant and expand outward as they grow. Once the leaves reach full size they may harvested one leaf at a time. Remember not to take too many leaves or they plant may die. Since arugula is considered a cool season vegetable it is recommended that it be planted during the "cooler" months (September - March) to avoid bolting. Also, provide some shade during the hotter hours of the day. That being said bolting is inevitable. Once it happens you can remove the plant or allow it to go to seed. The flowers are also edible and can be added to salads to give it a spicy punch.

We definitely recommend having this plant in your container garden. Arugula is uncommon or non-existent in Puerto Rico supermarkets so your best bet is to raise it from seed which is fairly simple. Just plant, water and harvest. Have you raised arugula in Puerto Rico? Share your experiences with us in the comments section.

Tastes like onion but won't make you cry

The beginnings of our scallion forest

If you're like me and you like the onion flavor but find onions to be too strong there is some hope for you. There's a little plant that has a milder flavor than onion and is ideal for growing in containers. Scallions. Also known by other names such as green onions, spring onions, and bunching onions just to name a few, scallions are members of the Allium genus which contains onions, garlic, and leek. Sometimes the term scallion is used to describe young onion plants that have yet to develop a bulb. For the purpose of this post scallion refers to plants that do not develop a bulb even after they've reached maturity. The species we are interested in is Allium fistulosum, aka Welsh onion. (Editors note: Being a science geek I can't resist the temptation of throwing in some taxonomy).

Scallions are a perennial plant that's commonly used in Asian (and Jessica's yummy) cuisine. It's usually served raw in salads or as a garnish but can be cooked to provide a mild onion flavor to soups, seafood, and even scrambled eggs. Scallions can be raised from seed or young plants can be bought from nurseries. But by far our favorite method is to plant supermarket bought scallions. We save the white stalk that contains the roots and we plant it in a sunny location (6+ hours of sunlight). Care must be taken since the roots are very shallow. Plant the scallion deep enough for the roots to be covered by the soil but not the white stalk. Water thoroughly to establish the plant. Usually the next day  you can spot green shoots coming out of the white stalk. Congratulations, you are now the proud owner of a scallion plant.

A few days after planting you should see green shoots

If you interested in the white shanks mount up soil around the base as the plant grows. This will stimulate the growth of this part. After 4-6 weeks you can harvest individual shoots and let the plant regrow more leaves. Cut the brightest and healthiest looking leaves at the base of the plant. Alternatively you can wait 10-12 weeks and pull the whole plant for use. We recommend sowing more than one plant so that you have enough leaves to harvest at any time. Space plants 3 inches apart for optimum growth.

Have you grown scallions in your garden? Share your experiences in the comments section and stay tuned to watch the progress of our scallion "forest". (Scallion forest is a trademark of Container Garden PR. All rights reserved.)  

Scarecrow is the new Metal Chicken

As you should know, because you always follow our blog, we had a problem with a crazy bird the other day; the bird was unmercifully taking our tomatoes. Well, the problem is still present; we have lost several additional tomatoes, snif, snif. So we have been thinking of ways to control our foes and we actually found an elegant way of solving the problem.

There are available wire nets that you can place surrounding your plants. You can also use a fabric mesh that protects your fruits and vegetables. They are not very expensive, and less of an eye sore than the wire nets. You can wrap your fruits or vegetables with these and they’ll ripe as usual. And remember you could also take advantage of your trellis. But why go elegant when you can go fun, right?

Enrique Iglesias

Joel and I were at Home Depot picking some things for the apartment and of course, for our garden, and I was joking with Joel that we should get a scarecrow to get rid of all the birds. And awesomely, there it was: a 9 foot scarecrow! “We should totally get it!”

Inspecting it closely we noticed it has glowing eyes. Glowing eyes! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. We then remembered our fellow blogger and personal heroine: The Bloggess. (Editor's note: Jessica meant her personal heroine. That crazy woman shouldn't be any man's heroine. Although I must admin she's very funny.) We remember all the joy Beyonce has brought to so many lives (if you are unfamiliar with this you should really start weighting your priorities in life, go here and read it, you’ll understand).

So we embarked in the task of taking a giant scarecrow home. Luckily, giant scarecrow makers know most of us have tiny cars and they manufactured it in two detachable parts. So Enrique Iglesias, that is the name of our giant scarecrow, went home comfortably laying down in the back seat of the car.

Now Enrique Iglesias is guarding our tomatoes with his life. I don’t think any bird will dare eat anything else from our garden but they might well as try it and behold the power of the glowing eyes… or the awful singing, we really don’t know if our Enrique sings as bad as the original. Did I said bad, I meant... special.

Joel said it all when he declared: “If laughing could always be so cheap, I’d buy a scarecrow every day.”

Ring My Bell

One of our two bell pepper plants

It's amazing that we haven't talked about one of my favorite plants: Bell Peppers. Little known fact. Bell peppers and chili peppers are actually the same plant, Capsicum annuum. Nature will never cease to amaze me.

Capsicum annuum is a perennial plant belonging to the Nightshade family. This family of flowering plants includes commonly known crops such as tomatoes, peppers, tobacco, eggplant and potatoes. The pepper plant requires high temperatures and grows to around 1.5 feet which makes it ideal for container gardening in Puerto Rico. Peppers do not tolerate frost which is why most US and British literature list them as an annual. The plants are able to adapt to a wide array of soil conditions with the requirement that the soil must drain well. Provide full sun (6+ hours) and keep the soil moist to keep the plants happy. Too little sunlight will cause stunted growth and little flower production while dry soil will cause the leaves to wither and the fruit to get bitter. According to the bible (The Bountiful Container by McGee & Stuckeys) peppers need a few microelements, calcium, magnesium and sulfur, which can be found in common household items. Calcium can be found in eggshells, magnesium in Epsom salt, and sulfur in matches. It is recommended that when transplanting peppers you put a few matches and dried eggshells at the bottom of the planting hole. Epsom salt can be mixed with water and applied when blossoms develop.

Growing from seed is fairly easy in the tropics since the seeds require high temperatures to germinate. At typical tropical soil temperatures (75-85 degrees) the seeds will sprout with a very high yield in 3-4 days. We've planted 3 pepper seeds, 2 bells and 1 Cubanelle or "Pimiento de Cocinar" (which is also the same plant C. annuum), and we got 3 plants. Flowers are small, white, and self pollinating and usually emerge about 2 months after germination. Fruits follow after a few days although not all flowers set fruit. Between 4 and 5 full bell peppers is the most we've been able to have at a time per plant. However, other pepper varieties are able to produce more peppers per plant.

Peppers, as most flowering plants, require a higher percentage of phosphorus than nitrogen for optimum fruit production. Using a fertilizer with a high nitrogen ratio will produce lots of beautiful leaves but few flowers. Our recommendation is to use a fertilizer with a 1:2:1 ratio (Editor's note: If you need a refresher on what the fertilizer numbers mean see our fertilizer post: The F Word). Leaves are usually a deep green but if they start yellowing switch to a balanced fertilizer or supplement your soil with nitrogen. Most bell peppers start green and, as they ripen, they turn red, yellow or orange depending on the variety cultivated. When harvesting peppers it is best to cut rather than pull the fruit since you may damage the plant. Also, we recommend securing the plant with a stake since they can get top heavy when bearing fruit which may cause them to tilt, fall over or get uprooted during strong winds (Editor's note: Obviously we recommend this because our plants already got uprooted during strong winds. Again, please learn from our mistakes.).

Bell peppers are susceptible to pests and diseases such as aphids, whiteflies, powdery mildew, tobacco hornworms, flea beetles, blossom-end rot, TMV, and others. Ours have suffered from whiteflies and powdery mildew. As always take the proper precautions and actions to control or eliminate each problem.

Have you grown bell peppers in your garden? If so, please share your experiences with us in the comments section.