Recommended Tomato Short-List

Tomato Recommendations by Color

I've created a short-list of indeterminate tomato cultivars that are good bets for growing on Pohnpei. With the exception of the last four, all of the varieties on this list are disease-resistant. I also selected types that tend to be small to medium, as larger tomatoes take longer to develop and are thus more prone to problems.

RED

Clermon (F1)
Round medium-sized red tomato with resistance to Tobacco Mosaic Virus, Fusarium Crown and Root Rot, Fusarium Wilt 1 & 2, Leaf Molds A-E, and Verticillium Wilt.
70 days to maturity.
15 seeds = $10.00

Geronimo (F1)
Round medium to large-sized red tomato with resistance to Tobacco Mosaic Virus, Fusarium Wilt 1 & 2, Leaf Molds A-E, and Verticillium Wilt.
78 days to maturity.
15 seeds = $10.00

Granadero (F1)
Oblong medium-sized red sauce tomato with resistance to Tobacco Mosaic Virus, Fusarium Wilt 1 & 2, Powdery Mildew, Nematodes, Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus, and Verticillium Wilt.
75 days to maturity.
15 seeds = $6.00

San Marzano 168 (F1)
Oblong medium-sized red sauce tomato with resistance to Fusarium Wilt 1 & 2 and Verticillium Wilt.
78 days to maturity.
40 seeds = $4.00

PINK

Sunpeach (F1)
Deep pink cherry tomato with resistance to Tobacco Mosaic Virus, Leaf Molds A-E, and Fusarium Wilt 1.
60 days to maturity.
40 seeds = $5.00

Chiquita (F1)
Small oblong-shaped rose-pink tomato with resistance to Fusarium Wilt 1.
63 days to maturity.
40 seeds = $6.00

YELLOW / ORANGE

Yellow Mini (F1)
Sweet yellow cherry tomato with resistance to Tobacco Mosaic Virus and Fusarium Wilt 1.
57 days to maturity.
40 seeds = $6.00



Golden Sweet (F1)
Small oblong yellow tomato with resistance to Leaf Mold A-E, Late Blight, and Fusarium Wilt 1.
60 days to maturity.


Beorange (F1)
Round medium-sized yellow tomato with resistance to Tobacco Mosaic Virus, Leaf Mold A-E, Verticillium Wilt, Fusarium Wilt 1 & 2, and Fusarium Crown and Root Rot.
75 days to maturity.
15 seeds = $20.00

Sun Gold (F1)
Sweet tangerine-orange cherry tomato with resistance to Tobacco Mosaic Virus and Fusarium Wilt 1.
57 days to maturity.
40 seeds = $4.00

Golden Rave (F1)
Small oblong yellow tomato with resistance to Fusarium Wilt 1.
67 days to maturity.
15 seeds = $4.00

GREEN

Green Zebra (OG)
Medium light and dark green-striped tomato. No disease resistance.
72 days to maturity.
40 seeds = $4.00


Aunt Ruby's German Green
Medium light green tomato sometimes marbled with pink. No disease resistance.
85 days to maturity.
25 seeds = $2.50

PURPLE / BROWN

Black Krim (OG)
Medium to large deep brown/purple tomato. No disease resistance.
80 days to maturity.
40 seeds = $4.00


Cherokee Purple (OG)
Medium to large deep brown/purple tomato. No disease resistance.
72 days to maturity.
40 seeds = $4.00

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Salad-Slicer Cucumbers

MY STATUS: Unsuccessful   

What I Did

DAY 1 - SOWING

I sowed Burpee Salad-Slicer Cucumber seeds in a wide but fairly shallow pot with gravel on the bottom and regular potting soil. The soil was gathered into two large mounds and a few pairs of seeds were pushed into the soil of each mound at a depth of about 1 inch. Seeds were purchased at Pohnpei Ace Hardware a few days before planting and kept refridgerated. From the package it looks like they ship these seeds in from Walmart?? Funny.

DAY 3 - GERMINATION

I've kept my container in direct sun every since Day 1, and, boy, have we had sun! These plants seem to like it. They were among the fastest to germinate. Virtually all the seeds I planted came up.

DAY 6 - THINNING

Seedlings were thinned to two per mound, so that I have a total of four plants in one container. They are about 1 inch tall and look healthy, already with their first true leaves. I will put in a scaffolding of bailing wire soon before the plants get much bigger. Cucumber plants aren't self-supporting and will fall over once they have some size unless you put a cage or some other support around them.

DAY 18

I have to say that I am loving these plants! First, they are incredibly rapid growers. Secondly, I am fascinated by a particular feature of the plant's physiology--the clinging tendrils. These things are amazing! They're like prehensile monkey tails. They grow out from the stem and search for anything to latch onto and then wrap themselves tightly around it like a boa constrictor. I used heavy wire about a week ago to create a trio of simple hoops over the plants. The tendrils grabbed onto the wires in an couple of hours. The plants are now well-supported. As they get taller, I'll add some larger hoops and then run some twine up to the roof of my garden shelter so they can climb as high as they like. Everything seems great in the shelter where these guys live. They are loving all the sun we've been having for about two weeks. I have had to water more frequently because of the heat, watering deeply so that the soil at the surface stays moist.

DAY 22

I continue to find my cucumber plants charming. The way the little tendrils reach out and twist around stuff is so cool! I just added another trio of larger wire hoops to accommodate the height of the plants Also, today I found a new plant that had just germinated three weeks after the others. Odd.

DAY 27 - FLOWERING

These plants' growth has been off the charts. I had to add more wire supports a few days ago and then a network of twine going to the ceiling so they'd have something to hold onto as they climbed. They are now all the way to the 5-foot roof and starting to grow horizontally along the top. Today beautiful yellow flowers opened all over the plants. Hopefully cucumbers will be developing fairly soon!

DAY 32 - CUCUMBERS!

Six days after flowers first opened on the cucumber plants, I have my first developing cucumbers. They're about a half-inch long. Super cute. There are quite a few of them and the plants show no signs of slowing down. Having reached the vertical limit of the garden structure, they continued out the space on the side and have grown another foot in two days. All I can say is--cucumbers rock! You can tell that my variety is the pickling type. They look like miniature dill pickles. Love it.

DAY 45 - FIRST CUCUMBER

A month and a half after sowing, I have my first cuc. What a cutie. It's a perfect three-inch long pickler. What actually surprised me was how fast it grew from a baby to picking size. Pretty cool. What's not cool is how many babies I lost to this heat wave. Despite watering sometimes twice daily, the intense heat has withered any cucs that weren't shaded by the plant's leaves. Grrr. On the bright side, the plants show no signs of slowing down, so there should be more where this first one came from. Time to throw some chicken manure on there and feed these guys. In my second batch I'll probably see if I can rig up some shade cloth over these guys. Full Pohnpei sun might not be necessary.

DAY 53 - APHIDS

I wasn't sure if aphids were found on Pohnpei. Now I know they're here. The cucumbers have quickly developed a sizable infestation. What tipped me off were the large numbers of ants crawling around on the plants (ants farm aphids and protect them from predators) and the presence of a sticky substance on the leaves that grew a blackish mold. The sticky stuff is called honeydew, and it is secreted by the aphids. Mold, in turn, grows on the honeydew. Now, the strange thing is that the aphid infestation doesn't seem to be adversely affecting the plants much. They are still producing cucumbers. I should get a nice batch before I pull these guys up and replant. I think I may try planting them in the open next time, where the rain will fall on them. They seem to love water (one long section of the plant has grown out of the shelter along the top of the roof and is completely exposed to rain, and yet this strand has produced the most cucumbers), and the aphids would be washed off by regular deluges. I've also noticed that the aphids haven't spread to any other species of plant, even though they are in close proximity to everything in the garden shelter. It seems the aphids don't like tomatoes or all the herbs I have (yet).

DAY 61 - TERMINATION

I decided to take an axe to the cucumber plants today (metaphorically). Though they have been productive, there were several issues and I can't chalk them up to a win:

1. The aphid infestation was becoming problematic and I was afraid the beasts would travel from the cucumbers to other plants in my garden. They were also causing the growth of mold which had spread from infected leaves to parts of the shelter they were touching. Again, I didn't want mold on any other plants.
2. The extremely hot weather has not been good for the cucumbers, stressing the plants and making the fruit bitter. These guys need more shade the next time around and less blazing hot days. One type of weather benefits a particular plant (like the tomatoes), while stressing another (cucumbers). These plants grew fast, so I'm not too broken up over their destruction. I'll find a new location to plant with partial shade and probably also wait for a shift in the weather.

3. Though the plants seemed not to mind being in a fairly small container, watering was an issue. They are thirsty plants, cucumbers, and the soil in my pot was drying out too quickly in this heat. If I forgot to water right on schedule, the plants wilted in the sun. I'm thinking pig feed bags for these guys on the second run, since they've worked so well with the tomatoes.

ATTEMPT 2 / DAY 1 - SOWING (12/23)

I sowed my cucumber seeds much in the same way as the first time, except that this time they were planted in a large, deep pig feed bags with about three times as much soil and depth. The soil was gathered into a single mound and a few pairs of seeds were pushed into the soil at a depth of about 1 inch. The seed variety sowed this time are a little different than before. I used a type ideal for pickling. As the weather has cooled down considerably since the early fall with many more overcast days, I'm hoping I'll have more success and my cucumbers won't go bitter.

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Powdery Mildew-Resistant Tomato Cultivars

The following tomato varieties have been bred to be resistant to powdery mildew, a fungal disease that affects tomatoes and many other plants. The primary symptom is powdery white spots on the leaves that get progressively bigger. The disease usually begins on the lower branches and moves up. The fungus likes cool, humid conditions and is more likely to become a problem during cloudy weather. The best way to prevent the occurrence of this disease is by planting cultivars that are resistant to it. I've listed four tomato varieties here.

Geronimo F1
Granadero F1
Massada F1
Striped Stuffer

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Leaf Mold-Resistant Tomato Cultivars

The following tomato varieties have been bred to be resistant to Leaf Mold, a common tomato plant disease.

Agatha
Apero F1
Bigdena
Favorita F1
First Blish
Geronimo F1
Golden Sweet F1
Growdena
Massada F1
Olivade F1
Panzer
Rapsodie
Sapho F1
Sweet Hearts
Toronjina F1
Trust

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Verticillium-Resistant Tomato Cultivars

Though not entirely immune, the following tomato varieties have been bred to be resistant to the verticillium fungus. Pictured: Big Beef F1.

Abe Lincoln Abuelo Ace 55 Agatha Agriset 8279 F1 Amelia VR F1 Andino NUN3149 Angelina F1 Applause Applegate F1 Arbason Ariset 334 Atomic Bambino F1 Basket Vee Beaufort F1 Beefmaster Better Boy F1 Better Bush BHN-1021 F1 BHN-189 BHN-268 BHN-410 BHN-444 BHN-543 BHN-585 BHN-586 BHN-589 BHN-602 BHN-640 BHN-762 BHN-768 BHN-783 BHN-826 F1 BHN-871 BHN-876 BHN-882 BHN-901 BHN-961 BHN-968 Big Beef F1 Big Bite Biltmore Bobcat Bush Celebrity Bush Champion II Bush Early Girl Bush Goliath Cabernet F1 Cambell's 33 Capaya Carnival Caruso Celebrity F1 Celebrity Supreme Champion Champion II Cherry Blossom Classica Clermon Cluster Goliath Cobra F1 Cordova F1 Corona Ps Cortez Country Tast Crista F1 Dafel Debut Defiant PhR F1 Delicious Early Cherry Early Girl F1 Early Goliath El Cid F1 El Patron El Senor Emperador F1 Empire Estiva Fabulous Fantastic F1 Fantom Finishline First Blish First Pik Five Star Grape F1 Floralina Florida 47 F1 Follia Geronimo F1 Giant Valentine Glamour Gold Nugget Golden Girl Golden Honey Bunch Golden Milano Granadero F1 Grandeur Grandma's Garden Grandma's Pick Granny Smith Gremlin F1 Growdena Halcon Hard Rock Health Kick Heartland Heinz 1439 VFA

Heinz 2653 Hermosa HM 8849 Homesweet Husky Cherry Red Husky Red F1 Hy-Beef 9904 Hybrid 46 Impacto Incas Italian Goliath Jelly Bean Red Jelly Bean Yellow Jet Star F1 Jetsetter Joker Jolly Elf F1 JTO-99197 Jumbo VF Kada Keepsake Lemon Boy Linda Lunchbox Manitoba Margherita Marglobe Select VFA Margo Mariana Marmande Marmara Massada F1 Maxifort Medfo Mini Charm MiReina Miroma Monica F1 Moreton Mr. Ugly Mt. Crest Mt. Delight Mt. Fresh Plus F1 Mt. Glory Mt. Magic Mt. Pride Mt. Spring Murie NC 50-7 New Girl F1 Northern Delight Ofri Old Fashioned Goliath Olivade Orange Sunshine Oregon Spring P418 APT 533 Panzer Paragon Park's Beefy Boy Park's Whopper Pear Goliath Picus Pik Red F1 Pik Rite Pilavy Pilgrim Pink Brandymaster Pink Girl F1 Pitenza Plum Crimson F1 Plum Regal Polbig F1 Primo Red F1 Puebla Qualit 21 Qualit 23 F1 Rapsodie Ravello Reba Red Brandymaster Red Candy Red Defender Red Delight Red Pride Redline RFT 6153 Rocky Top Roma Royal Mountie Rutgers 39 Sahel Samurai F1 San Marzano 168 F1 Sapho F1 Scarlet Red F1 Scout Show Girl Siletz Silverado F1 Small Fry Smarty Solar Fire F1 Solar Set R Sophya F1 Spitfire Springfield STM 0225 STM 5811 Sun Gold F1

Sun King Sun Leaper Sun Pride Sunbeam Sunbrite F1 Sunchief Sunguard Sunkist F1 Sunmaster Sunoma Sunray Sunrise Sunsation F1 Sunshine Sunstart Super Bush Super Marzano F1 Super Sioux Super Sweet 100 Supersonic F1 Supersteak Sweet Chelsea F1 Talladega Tolsoi Tomande Tomosa Torbay Torero F1 Tormenta Toro F1 Tough Boy 8 F1 Tough Boy 93 F1 Tribeca Trinity F1 Tropic Boy F1 Trust TY-40 F1 TY-75 F1 Ultimate Opener Ultra Girl Valley Girl F1 Valleycat Veeroma Veronica Victoria Supreme Viva Italia F1 Window Box Roma Wolverine Yellow Brandymaster Yellow Pear

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Verticillium Wilt

An Intro to Verticillium Wilt

Verticillium Wilt is a fungal disease affecting the vascular system of host plants. It is caused by three species of the Verticillium genus. Tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, and peppers are most vulnerable. The disease obstructs the flow of nutrients through the xylem, resulting in wilting of the leaves and stem and eventually the death of the plant. Symptoms look very similar to Fusarium Wilt, but verticillium can kill small plants very quickly. Tissue discoloration will be evident if the stem of an infected plant is cut.

CONDITIONS

Verticillium is even hardier than Fusarium and thrives at cooler temperatures. It can survive very cold--even freezing--conditions.

TRANSMISSION

The fungus is transmitted through contact with infected soil or water and through root-to-root contact. Some types of insects can also spread the disease from plant to plant.

MANAGEMENT

Like Fusarium Wilt, there is no practical cure for an infected plant. The fungus continues to live in the soil after a plant is dead and can infect any new plants it makes contact with. Farmers often use crop-rotation as a strategy for minimizing the spread of verticillium. Verticillium does not tolerate long periods of flooding, and continued drowning of soil over a long period of time might be one way of ridding it of the fungus.

AVOIDING VERTICILLIUM

The best way to avoid verticillium is to plant cultivars that have been bred to resist it. CLICK HERE for a complete list of Verticillium-Resistant Tomato Cultivars.

NOTABLE VERTICILLIUM SPECIES

V. dahliae, V. albo-atrum, and V. longisporum are the three well-known species.

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Aphids

Aphids are a common garden pest on Pohnpei related to whiteflies. They prey on cucumbers, squash, and other vegetable crops. Though they are said to like tomatoes, too, I have never had aphids on my tomato plants even when there were other heavily-infested plants nearby. The tiny creatures are larger than whiteflies and have a greenish, brownish coloration. Unlike whiteflies, they have no wings. They congregate in huge numbers all over a plant, but particularly on the undersides of the leaves, where they suck the plant's sap. Like whiteflies, aphids produce a clear, sticky substance called honeydew that coats the leaves and stems where they are feasting. The presence of the honeydew tends to result in mold growth on the plants leaves. Aphids will not kill a plant as quickly as whiteflies, but if there are enough of them, you'll start to get leaf die-off. The stress of the attack will also cause other problems with many vegetable crops, such as cucumbers (which get bitter when under stress).

THE ANT-APHID RELATIONSHIP

Though it may sound strange, ants farm aphids. Yes, that's right. They treat them like livestock, the way we keep cows for milk. The presence of a large number of ants on a plant is usually a strong sign that there are aphids there as well. Ants will protect aphids from predators so that they can milk them for their honeydew. Ants even herd the aphids and take them back to their nests live, so they can be kept and milked in captivity. Weird, eh? Normally, getting rid of the ants would be one step in the process of erradicating the aphids, because the aphids would then be more susceptible to attacks by predators. But since there are no natural aphid predators on Pohnpei, killing the ants won't help.

FIGHTING THEM

I haven't found any good, practical methods to eliminating aphids on my Pohnpei plants, other than using toxic chemicals.

INSECTICIDAL SOAP SPRAY

Special soap sprays are available in the garden section of the hardware store that are said to kill aphids and whiteflies, but you have to spray every part of the plant carefully every few days to make an impact. I did not have success with this at all when trying to fight whiteflies. The problem is that the soap causes cellular damage of the plant's leaves, killing or weakening some of them. It also just doesn't kill off the whole population of bugs.

MANUAL REMOVAL

Spraying off all surfaces of the plant with a high-pressure hose can remove many of the pests, but the effect is temporary. Most of the aphids will merely return to the plant. Removing heavily infested leaves just causes the buggies to move to some other part. Plants that are out in Pohnpei's rain seem to fair better than those that are protected. Perhaps the regular downpours hamper the growth of aphid populations.


BIOLOGICAL CONTROL

Ladybugs (ladybirds), green lacewings, and types of wasps prey on aphids. Unfortunately none of the right species are found on Pohnpei. In 2012, 50,000 Encarsia formsa wasps were released on Pohnpei to attack the whitefly population, but this species is not known to affect aphids.

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Fusarium-Resistant Tomato Cultivars

Though not immune, the following tomato varieties have been bred to be resistant to the Fusarium fungus, giving them an edge in Pohnpei's hot, ultra-humid climate. Pictured: Golden Rave F1

Abe Lincoln Ace 55 Agatha Apero F1 Arbason F1 Bambino F1 Basket Vee Beefmaster Better Bush Big Girl Bush Goliath Caruso Celebrity Champion Conestoga F1 Cupid F1 Dafel Emperador F1 Fantastic F1 Geronimo F1 Giant Valentine Golden Milano Cherry Golden Rave F1 Granny Smith Grapette Hybrid Hardrock Heinz Homestead Imperial Jet Star F1 Jubilee Jumbo VF Lemon Boy Lunch Box

Manalucie FST Margherita Marglobe Select VFA Marion Marmande Marmara Monarca Montesino F1 Mountain Belle Mountain Delight Mountain Gold Mt. Pride Olivade F1 Palenque Picus Pitenza Polbig F1 Red Candy Roma Sapho F1 Smarty Sun Cherry Extra Sun King Sunkist F1 Sunny Goliath Sunray Sunrise Super Fantastic Super Sioux Super Sweet 100 Supersonic F1 Supersteak Suzanne F1 Sweet Chelsea F1

Sweet Hearts Sweet Million Sweet Mojo Sweet Orange Toronjina F1 Ultimate Opener Ultra Girl Veeroma Viva Italia

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Fusarium Wilt

An Intro to Fusarium Wilt

Fusarium Wilt is a fungal disease affecting the vascular system of host plants. It is caused by the Fusarium oxysporum fungus. Tomatoes, beans, sweet potatoes and bananas are particularly susceptible. The disease causes wilting and eventually death of the plants leaves, starting near the bottom and moving up. The plant becomes stunted, the leaves yellow and fall off, and eventually the entire plant may die.

CONDITIONS

Fusarium oxysporum can survive most climates, but is particularly active in warm, moist conditions.

TRANSMISSION

The fungus is transmitted to the plant through contact with soil and can spread to other plants on gardening tools and fingers and by splashing water. The disease starts at the roots and moves up through the plant.

MANAGEMENT

On a small gardener's scale, there are few practical solutions to the problem of a Fusarium infection. The fungus can live in soil for a long time and that soil should not be used again. There are fungicides that can eradicate the disease from the soil, but they may be difficult or impossible to acquire in a small place like Pohnpei. Diseased plants can infect nearby plants, spreading the fungus throughout your garden. Affected plants will have decreased fruit yield if they survive at all.

AVOIDING FUSARIUM

It may not be completely avoidable, but you can minimize the risk by planting in quick-draining soils, keeping plants out of the elements, and not over-watering. Even better, use plant cultivars that have been bred to be resistant to the pathogen. CLICK HERE for a complete list of Fusarium-Resistant Tomato Cultivars.

NOTABLE FUSARIUM SUB-SPECIES

F. oxysporum lycopersici is the sub-species that affects tomato plants.

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Florence Fennel

An Intro to Fennel

MY STATUS: Grown Successfully to Harvest   

Fennel is a perennial umbelliferous herb that can grow quite tall and has fine feathery leaves and a strong smell. The pale bulb-like stem is often eaten as a vegetable, the leaves are used in salads, and the licorice-flavored seeds are eaten particularly in Middle Eastern and South Asian cultures.

SOIL REQUIREMENTS

Fennel likes loose well-drained soil.

SUN

Fennel is said to like full sun in temperate climes, but we'll see if it can handle direct sun on Pohnpei.

CROSS-POLLINATION ALERT

Fennel, dill, and members of the coriander family will cross-pollinate if grown nearby each other, ruining the taste of all the plants involved. Fennel can also have some allelopathic affects on other plants, inhibiting their growth. Fennel should be kept well away from all other plants and especially from cilantro, culantro, dill, and caraway.

CONTAINER ISSUES

Fennel isn't really well-suited to containers because it grows such a large deep root, but reportedly you can grow it successfully if your pots are large enough (5 gallon). If you plant it in something smaller or too close together, the edible bulb-stem doesn't develop properly . . . though you can still harvest it for seeds.

PESTS

Fennel doesn't usually have pest problems. Whiteflies will go after it, but not usually to a degree that the plant will be harmed.

What I Did

DAY 1 - SOWING

Nothing particularly special to report here. I prepared a pot with some gravel on the bottom and potting soil, watered it, planted a pinch of seeds in several 1/4-inch deep holes, and covered them over. Fennel is reportedly averse to transplantation; it was widely suggested that seeding happen in the plant's final destination. Although it is not recommended that you try to grow fennel in a container at all, that's what I have to work with and since I didn't have a huge container on-hand, I may try transplanting it once the seedlings are established. Double no-no. We'll see what happens. I used Ferry-Morse StartSmart seeds purchased at Home Depot in Southern California. They were refrigerated for about 3 months prior to sowing.

DAY 7 - GERMINATION

The first seedlings are beginning to poke up through the soil. They look very similar to cilantro seedlings and identical to dill.

DAY 16

I thinned out my seedlings to about five or six, which will be transplanted later. All the seedlings are now about 2-3 inches tall and have their first feathery true leaves. Leaves resembled dill at first, but then they started to look a little different. This plant loves being in the sun all day.

DAY 23

Seedlings are about 3 1/2 inches tall now and are developing their second true leaves.

DAY 36

Four of the seedlings were transplanted a few days ago and have recovered nicely. The plants so far have not seemed to be as hardy in full sun as the dill, but they are still quite tough. I give them a little shade in the hottest part of the day.

DAY 44 - MASSIVE GROWTH

So far, I think fennel has been the second easiest plant to maintain after rosemary. I really haven't paid much attention to my two pots. They are kept on a side porch far from all my other plants (on purpose), where they get a lot of direct sun and are also slapped with quite a lot of rain. These are the least protected of any plants I've tried to grow, but they don't seem to have been adversely affected. They are huge--all four plants! They smell wonderfully of licorice. The stems have thickened up nicely (right), so they are quite stable despite their height. But, really . . . when you look at what these plants were like 8 days ago, it's shocking. They've increased in height by a factor of five in just over a week.

DAY 59 - FLOWERING

I grew plants in two different containers, in hopes that one set would develop bulbs, while the other would go to seed. Both the seeds and bulb are edible, but you can't get them from the same plant. Sure enough, the plants in the smaller container have begun to flower (as they don't have enough room to grow the bulb). The plants in the larger container were developing nice little bulbs, but the container wasn't large enough to really get the best out of the plants and I was afraid they would go to seed, too, (in which case the bulb becomes bitter), so I harvested the largest one and grilled up. It had a strong but pleasant licorice flavor and an artichoke-like texture. There are now yellow flowers all over the smaller plants. Once the flowers dry up, I'll harvest the seeds. For my second run of this plant, I think I'll try a larger container.

DAY 102 (9/5) - SEED HARVESTING & BULB

The seeds on my small-pot set of plants are now ready to harvest. Boy, are they delicious! Nice, strong licorice flavor. I love to nibble them. One of our little girls does, too. I need to come up with some recipes to use them in and convert the whole family (there are two fennel non-believers in the bunch). On the other larger plant, the bulb is developing nicely. I've been keeping the soil heaped up around the bulb to protect it from the sun as it develops. I'm thinking this guy is going to go on a homemade pizza. Mmmm....

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Garlic Chives

An Intro to Garlic Chives

MY STATUS: Grown Successfully to Harvest   

Garlic chives (Allium Tuberosum), also known as Asian garlic or Chinese leeks, are related to onions but have different shaped leaves and grow taller. The plant grows in perennial clumps that slowly spread, producing grassy leaves up to 15 inches tall. Leaves and stalks are used in cooking, particularly in East Asian cuisine.

SUN CITY

Garlic chives like full sun or partial shade.

KEEP THEM MOIST

Though you'll want to keep your garlic chives out of the rain like most plants non-native to Pohnpei, they do like moist soil. They can survive periods of dryness, but they won't produce many leaves if they aren't getting regular water. Watering deeply but infrequently will encourage root growth.

FERTILIZE IT

This plants likes nutrients, so you'll have better results if you fertilize regularly with something mild like fish emulsion.

HARVESTING

Like many herbs, harvesting actually stimulates growth. You can start cutting leaves for use as soon as they are about 4 inches tall. Cut them an inch above the soil.

REMOVE THE BUDS

Snip off any flower buds that develop to keep the plant focused on leaf production and prevent it from going to seed.

What I Did

DAY 1 - SOWING

Chives can be started in a seed tray, but I just didn't see the point in that, since we don't have issues with cool weather here. I had a long, rectangular container that was perfect for them, so I sowed directly into it. I didn't do anything fancy with the soil mix. I just put some gravel on the bottom of the pot and filled the rest up with potting soil. Seeds were sprinkled over the surface and covered with a thin layer of dirt. The pot was then carefully watered. I used Ferry-Morse StartSmart seeds purchased at Home Depot in Southern California. They were kept in the fridge for about 3 months before I got around to sowing.

DAY 8 - GERMINATION

About 11-12 seeds have germinated.

DAY 60 - SLOW GROWTH

With the arrival of the wet season, the sun has been scarce and it has been rainy and humid most days until about 1 week ago. My chives have grown very slowly, but they don't seem unhealthy so I hold out hope. Two months after sowing, however, they are still quite small. I'm going to try cutting leaves to see if that stimulates growth the way it has with basil and some of the other herbs.

DAY 87 - PARTIAL SHADE WORKS BETTER THAN FULL SUN

These damn plants have developed at a snail's pace, and I'm now convinced it was because they were getting too much hot, direct sun. I moved them into the shade of another plant about a week ago, and things have picked up dramatically. Also, I cut all the plants down to an inch above the soil. In a couple of days they were thicker and bushier and as tall as before. Cutting certainly stimulates growth. They have nice, mild onion flavor when chewed. I had some on my baked potato last night. :)

DAY 126 (9/5) - GOOD GROWTH, FINALLY

After all this time, finally, the chives look good. They are filling out the container and growing nicely. A little shade has helped. Cutting them also results in lots of new growth. The flavor is excellent! Very garlicy. Great on baked potatoes.

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Bush Beans

MY STATUS: Unsuccessful 

What I Did 

DAY 1 - SOWING

I purchased Ferry-Morse Tendergreen Improved Bush Bean seeds at Home Depot in California and kept them in the fridge for about five months, while I focused on other things.

Today, I put a thin layer of gravel on the bottom of a wide but shallow pot (I'll be attempting to grow 5-6 plants in one container) and filled the rest with a standard mix of potting soil. Seeds were pressed into the soil in pairs at a depth of about 1 inch--three pairs in total. This variety of beans aren't climbers, but I set up a network of twine strands running up to the roof of my garden shelter to give the growing plants some support. As they develop, I'll gently wrap the plants around the twine to keep them from falling over.

DAY 5 - GERMINATION

Five of the six beans have sprouted and grown in 24 hours to a height of about 1/2 inch. I've kept the container in full sun and water deeply often enough to keep the soil moist at the surface--which is to say they get a lot more water than the herbs.

DAY 19 - QUICK GROWTH

The plants have grown relatively quickly, putting out true leaves only 48 hours after germinating. They are now about ten inches tall with lots of leaves, and seem to like the light they get in the roof-top garden shelter.

DAY 32 - CHUGGING RIGHT ALONG

I think the fennel and cucumbers are still the winners when it comes to speed, but the beans are close behind. My plants have tripled in height in just under two weeks.

There have been some mystifying issues: three of the six plants inexplicably shriveled while the others growing right next to them thrived. I can't figure out why. It wasn't the water or the soil, since those factors were the same with all the plants. I don't think the sun was different either, because I keep these plants in my garden shelter, which has a clear roof.

Six in one container was probably over-kill anyway, but it was odd--this shriveling. I wondered if it might be whitefly related, but it hasn't happened again and I haven't seen whiteflies on these plants, even though they are on some of the basil plants. The point is, the conditions were identical for all 6 plants.

Whatever the reasons, the remaining three are thriving. Despite these being bush beans--not pole beans--they have demonstrated huge climbing potential. They seem very comfortable scaling the twine I rigged up. Not only that, but I'm already see flower buds. There should be open blossoms in a couple of days.

DAY 44 - YOUNG BEANS

These plants have been in full bloom for more than a week now, but I wasn't sure if anything was really happening until today. I'd noticed some blossom drop, even though the plants are well-watered. Today I saw that many of the original flowers and turned into tiny, cute little bean pods about a 1/2 inch long!

DAY 75 - SUN SCALD & TERMINATION

These plants started so strong, so it was surprising what ended up happening. Beans quickly developed all over the plants shortly after they flowered. A lot of beans. Scores and scores of beans. But, then everything just stopped. The beans never got larger than a 1/2 inch--clearly immature. No new flowers opened either, and the plants stayed the same size. One obvious culprit, since there was no evidence of disease or pests on these plants. Sun. Too much. I didn't set these plants up with shade, because at the time I started them, we'd had a long period of cloudy weather. But then an unusual summer came and we had hot dry days every day all summer. Temps in the 90s. No rain. Few cloudy days. And the beans baked on the vine. The leaves turned brown and got dry and crinkly. All four plants went dormant. And that was that. Lesson learned. Like the cucumbers, these guys need more shade, so finding another place to grow them is essential before I start again.

ATTEMPT 2 / DAY 1 - SOWING (12/23)

This time my bush beans were sown in huge pig feed bags. One of the issues last time was the amount of soil available for the growing plants. Now they have 3 to 4 times as much room. Sun was also an issue, but with the cooler weather of the last month or so, hopefully they won't scald this time. I'll probably also employ some shade cloth. Beans were sown in the same manner as the first attempt.

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