First cross attempts

Examples of very different pistil morphologies:  BFT (Black from Tula) is short and stubby.  Note lobate ovule.  IR (Indigo Rose) is long and thin. These are after fertilization attempts. (maybe those are specks of pollen on the ends?)  Photos taken with iPhone 4s with macro lens.

6/29/14 update

Good rain every few days lately so there's been no need to water yet. I picked a small flamme and one HC this week;   a few others are turning.   Won't be long now.   Today I forgot to bring the twine, but instead I did 5 cross attempts. Collected pollen on cut wedges of black paper plates - that worked ok for collecting.  I am pretty good now at talking apart the flowers by hand without damaging the pistil - 5 for 5 today.  So I did the following. All are recorded in format female x male.  1 & 2: IR X BFT.  not really sure if I got BFT pollen or just tiny dust? 3&4: IR X CP.  here I know I got a good pollen shake from CP.  5. BFT x IR, good pollen.  Not using bags or anything to cover the pistils as I think they are more trouble than they are worth .  

6/22/14 Update: almost harvest time

Another Sunday trip to the garden.  It's all growing well mostly- lots of tomatoes on the way.  And, the first fruit coloring up (a Flamme).  I weeded, and put up twine now up to my belly on rows 1-4.   I was going to stake row 5 - where mainly indigo rose plants are flopping around - but I forgot my stepstool and couldn't pound in the 8 foot stakes!! Maybe next time.

Generally, the Florida weave is keeping the rows 1-4 open and workable, and the plants are growing well - so far so good.

June 15 Update

Happy Fathers' Day...an enjoyable morning spent with more staking & twining.   Got 4 rows staked now.  Weeds under control. Lots of green fruit set.   

June 7/8 update

Yesterday & today I spent another 2 hrs each day: finally weeded the last 2 rows - really, it was more like hacking down waist high weeds with a grass blade tool.  Then I got weed control mat on the last of the 6 rows.  Florida weave poles and string are now up on rows 2 & 3.  I still need to string up rows 4 & 5.  Feeling like I am closer to a maintenance phase rather than "preparation".

  As for carrots in row 6, a few are up but the weeds really overshadowed them. If I want to sow more I will have to really re-till that row I think.

  Fruit set is underway on several plants.

Summer gets under way

Today I got in a good 2+ hours of morning work at the comm garden.  Before I called it quits I weeded 4 rows and got weed mat down on 3 of them. Plus, I got the first row trellised with Florida weave.  The poles are 8ft "2x1" wood poles/lumber from home depot; about a buck each. These are pretty much the cheapest 8 ft pole you can get.   I trimmed one end to sharpen it a bit for driving, then marked each 10 inches and put in wood screws for twine tying.   I tried to get each stake in ~10 inches deep.  Only got twine up to the first 2 levels yet.  I hope these poles are in deep enough to stay up...

I still haven't really weeded row 6 at all, and row 5 just around the tomatoes a bit.  It's just a lot to weed at once.  But at least things are starting to get under control. Also I found some potato beetle larvae on a few plants, which I picked off.  Pics:  before & after;  first fruit set.  (BFT).