More On Corn

Ok, more about the corn plants.  The largest one has been growing at amazing speed, and it seems the plant grows remarkably on hot days.

In this picture, the plant is close to 4-ft-tall.

Look!  This must be the female flower bud(?)!

The corn baby looks like Bert from Sesame Street!

The silk is still soft and fuzzy.

Now, they are looking more like the corns I see in stores.  When I touched it, I didn't feel there were any kernels inside.  It was not firm, and it was kind of spongey.

I have only 2 ears of corn so far.  I will wait until they are firm, but I can't wait!

Kandy Korn

I've got to try growing corn!  I have no idea how easy or difficult it is to grow and harvest corns in my backyard, but I would not know unless I try, right?

The seeds.  They are, er, just super-dried corn kernels. 

4 days after seeding, seedlings emerged; however, I forgot to take pictures of them, sigh (they were little spikes).  A day later, the spikes already grew this big as you see in the picture above.

6 days after seeding, corn seedlings were about 2-inches tall. 

11 days after seeding, and 5 days after the above picture, my corn plants got even taller.  In this picture, the plants are about 3 inches tall.

A few days later, I planted them in the ground because the roots were showing from the bottom of the cell tray.  I felt kinda guilty to leave them in small spaces.

Once they were planted in the ground, corn plants started to grow rapidly.  They must like the nutrients in the soil and full sun.

37 days after seeding.  Leaves were getting long and starting to spread.

12 days after the above picture, the leaves are large, and the stalk started to get thick.  The stalk in this picture is about 1/2-inch in diameter.

Look how tall it is getting!  In this picture, the largest one is about 2-ft tall.  You can also see a smaller one in behind.  Maybe the sun is blocked by the large plant?

Next day (60 days after seeding), flower buds started to show.  I found out that these are 'male' flowers, and 'female' flowers should emerge at the base of leaves soon.  I don't know how the female flowers look like, so I will pay attention to find them.

SEED INFORMATION:

Seeds I bought: Ferry Morse's SWEET CORN - Kandy Korn Hybrid

Seeds bought from: Home Depot

Origination of the seeds: USA

According to the package:

*  Days to germination: 7-10 days - Mine took about 7 days to germinate

*  Days to Harvest: 89 days

*  Plant height: 8 feet

*  Grows best: N/A

*  Recommended planting season for San Diego: March - August - I planted in March.

Picking the First Poona Keera

Brown cucumbers??  I have been curious about this cucumber ever since I found it in a mail order catalogue.  Yes, indeed; these cucumbers are turning into brown as they are supposed to.

On 5/23, the largest cucumber started to become yellow.

Next day, the color changed to even more brown.

So, I picked it.  Does it look like a cucumber to you?

When I peeled it, inside of it was light green, just like any other cucumbers.  Taste?  It was pretty pleasant.

Grean Beans, Harvest Time!

The time has come!  Some of the beans on the plants are ready to be picked, and I was very excited to harvest my grean beans for the first time.

I boiled these and served them with butter - oh, were they good!  I am looking forward to picking more of these.

Ready To Be Served?

Some of the green beans seem like they are ready to be harvested.  Click here and see the picture of these beans 4 days before.  Isn't it amazing how fast they have grown in such a short time?

They look just like the ones sold in stores.  I think they will be a part of my dinner tomorrow :)

Amazingly Fast.

I have just posted a picture of this cucumber 3 days ago, and the same cucumber now looks like this.

 The entire plant is prickly!  Cucumbers used to have painful thorns when they were small, but not anymore.

Two cukes from another plant.  They are growing fast, and they will definitely be in my salad!

How Many More Days?

My green beans are growing without a problem so far.  They look healthy, and they haven't been eaten by bugs or birds (do they eat green beans?).

I think I need to wait a few more days until they get as big as the ones sold in stores.  Mmmm... I am excited :)

Looking More Like A Cucumber.

My Poona Keera Cucumbers are growing!

The flower has finished, but the cucumber is looking better each day.

Cuke Flowers Opened.

Some cucumber (Poona Keera) flowers started to open. 

Both plants are about one-foot-tall.

 Can you see the 'cucumber' at the base of the flower? 

Cucumber flowers are large!

Will They Really Provide?

Besides tomatoes and cucumbers, I am growing green beans, too!  I chose a "Bush" type beans (not the kind in cans!) because they don't require supports.  Actually, I was drawn by the name, PROVIDER.  The package describes the beans are "old time very prolific," but I don't know if this is a heirloom kind.

The seeds look just like regular dry beans.  I planted 3 of these in a cell pack and  used Miracle Gro(R) Potting Soil. Cell packs are placed at a sunny spot that receives full sun.

Just in 19 days after seeding, large seedlings started to emerge.  Isn't it amazing that true leaves already grew underground?

And look how fast they grew!  Within a couple days after germination, they already look this big.  What's more, long roots were growing out of the bottom of the cell packs by this time!

I procrastinated (what's new, right?), but finally, I transplanted the seedlings to a planter.  I used Miracle Gro(R) Potting Soil and placed the planter at the spot that receives full sun through the day.  This picture was taken about a month after seeding.

About 2 weeks after I transplanted the seedlings, growth seemed to be slowing down.  Hmm...do they not like the soil or the size of the planter?  I continue to give lots of water in the morning.

All 3 of them have more new leaves, but they are not much taller than 10 days ago.  Although, supposedly, plants don't need support, I put some poles in case they were looking for something to cling.

2 more weeks have passed, but the plants are not much taller.  However, I found soft lavender colored buds!  Can you see them??

This is how the plants look in 2 months.  Not tall, but bushier, and leaves are much larger.  Will they grow more, or will they just stop at this height?  I hope they really 'provide' many beans!

In a couple of days, flowers started to open.  I tried to smell the flowers to see if they smell similar to Sweet Peas but no scent.  BORING!

Baby beans, baby beans!  They are about toothpick size in this picture, but they look just like the beans I see in supermarkets; they are just micro.

Then, I noticed some curly, browned leaves.  It's been very hot in San Diego, so maybe they dried out?

More beans are visible on each plant, and they are growing :) 

SEED INFORMATION:

Seeds I bought: Pinetree Garden Seeds' PROVIDER GREEN BUSH BEAN

Seeds bought from: Pinetree Garden Seeds

Origination of the seeds: N/A

According to the package:

*  Days to germination: N/A - Mine took about 19 days to germinate

*  Days to fruit: 50 days - Mine took 87 days to fruit

*  Plant height: N/A - Mine were about 12" high

*  Grows best: N/A

*  Recommended planting season for San Diego: Unknown - I planted in February.

Poona Keera Update

3 weeks after germination, Poona Keera showed its first true leaf, and roots started to grow out of the bottom of the cell packs, so I transplanted 2 survived seedlings into larger pots.  I read somewhere that a cucumber plant needs at least 12 inches across for the roots, but all I had were 9-inch pots :(  I hope my cucumbers grow in these pots without any problem!

I used Miracle Gro(R) Potting Soil and used some compost from my composter.

In a few days after being transplanted into a larger pot, the true leaf grew this much.

I can't believe it!  I didn't take any picture for one whole month - gah!  Anyway, one month has passed since the above picture, and both plants already have many buds.  Look at the base of the flowers - can  you see baby cucumbers?!  I thought they would fruit after flowers bloom, but I guess, it's not the case for cucumbers.

Cucumber flower which is about to open.

What's Poona Keera?

What do you imagine if I tell you I am growing Poona Keera?  It is a kind of cucumbers.  This variety originally came from Inida, and it is supposedly super delicious, crisp, juicy, sweet and mild - so why not try grow it? 

These are the seeds.  They look like cantalope seeds, but it makes sense since cucumbers and melons are in the same family, huh?  I planted 4 seeds.

12  days later, the first seedling sprouted, and its leaves opened up in a couple days after...I am very excited! Stay tuned for futher report on this cucumber!

SEED INFORMATION:

Seeds I bought: Pinetree Garden Seed's Cucumber Poona Keera

Seeds bought from: Pinetree Garden Seeds

Origination of the seeds: N/A

According to the package:

*  Days to germination: N/A - Mine took about 12 days to germinate

*  Days to fruit: 53 days - Mine took 92 days to fruit (first harvest)

*  Plant height: N/A - Mine are about 12-inches tall

*  Grows best: N/A

*  Recommended planting season for San Diego: Unknown - I planted in February.