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. 

Hold Me Tight

We used a net to support our cucumbers

Let me come out clean and say this at least once: We haven't been the best planners when it comes to our garden. Partly because of inexperience, partly because of laziness and partly because of plain old stubbornness (that last one applies to me only). But our loss is your gain and we hope you learn from our mistakes. Today's topic is something we did not fully take into consideration when planning our garden. Trellises. A trellis is a structure made of metal, wood, bamboo, plastic, or even rope used to support vines or climbing plants. Trellises come in many shapes and sizes. What you choose will ultimately depend on your garden space and needs.

When planning your garden take into consideration the growing habits and final size of your plants. Common plants such as tomatoes, cucumbers, grapes, beans, climbing roses, and peas require a trellis for proper growth. Vines require a trellis for growth but also to support its fruits. How a vine climbs will determine the type of trellis you use. Some vines, such as cucumber, use tendrils to secure itself to any structure. Other vines use its leaves or stems to wrap around structures. As a general rule of thumb thicker structures are needed for "wrapping" vines while thinner materials may be used for "twiners". For our cucumbers (a "twiner") we used a net tied to our balcony posts for support (see picture above). We helped the plant by loosely wrapping the tendrils around the net. After a few hours the tendrils will coil and wrap themselves tighter thus securing itself.

Bamboo fence used as a tomato trellis

Tomatoes, on the other hand, are not a true vine. However, their stems are extremely weak and require a trellis or a cage to hold the plant (and fruits) in place. If you don't provide a trellis your tomatoes will grow on the ground or, as we can attest to (see the classic Man Down! post), your plant may break. We eventually learned our lesson and bought a retractable bamboo fence for our tomatoes. We tied the fence to our balcony posts using plain old tie wraps. Then we tied the stem and branches to the trellis using garden training wire.

It is always recommended that you secure your trellis to your pot or to a strong structure. Otherwise it may shift during strong winds, heavy rain, or under heavy weight. Also, metal trellises are not ideal to use in Puerto Rico because they tend to get hot and burn your plants.

Almost any material can be modified into a trellis. This post barely scratches the surface on trellises. The only limit is your imagination. So share with us what you've used to provide support for your plants and join us next time for more on container gardening in Puerto Rico.