I have had a curry leaf plant for about 7 years and it has really struggled. It’s very dry here in winter, and I probably do not water enough. At one point it was quite full and leafy, but all the leaves fell off and I had a bare ‘trunk’ for months. Then
I had an umbrella, with leaves only at the top of a 40cm plant. This summer I cut it twice, leaving one stump and the top bit. I dipped in rooting hormone, hoping for the best, and stuck it in soil. The picture is poor, but both have little sprouts on them. Hoping it survives, as the nursery where I got it doesn’t seem to carry them any longer.
They look hopeful! I’d go after that little shamrock-like weed, Oxalis, once the plants are more stable. It’s a bad actor. Aside from some making underground stolons, most have seed pods which pop and throw seeds all over the place. We fight it constantly.
Curry leaf loves very warm weather and hates drying out. If the latter is an issue, try growing it in a larger pot so the plant doesn’t suck it dry. To prevent mineral salt buildup, grow it in a plastic pot with something to elevate it from any water in a saucer. Mineral buildup can be an issue in any potted plant. Water and fertilizers deposit deadly amounts of salts and dissolved minerals. Periodic leaching of the soil, and washing of saucers is essential.
If you don’t like the look of plastic pots, hide them inside a clay pot. Clay pots evaporate water faster and accumulate minerals faster as a result. I soak used clay pots in water with a healthy pour of white vinegar, to help dissolve calcium and other. “scale” buildup. Then, they’re left where the rain will leach them for a while.
Thank you for the very helpful advice. Yes that weed seems to have blown into all my balcony plants. I will try harder to get rid of it—I thought it was harmless. I also have rogue tomato seedlings in all my plants from my worm compost.
My spinach is done, butterhead lettuce done, half the beets are up, and my shishito pepper plants are producing quickly. I’ve had several lunches of blistered shishitos already, and will again tomorrow I bought a second round of “red sail” lettuce seedlings to grow in containers on the deck, where I can keep them mostly in the shade, and am enjoying having salads from them for supper; in previous years, seedlings planted in mid-summer bolted quickly, so I know not to hoard this lettuce, but to enjoy it while I can.
The poblano and bell pepper plants have peppers on them, but none yet ready.
The real story is the two tomatillo plants I impulsively bought and planted, which are enormous, crowding everything, exploding, and generally loosing their goddamned minds. There are eleventy hundred fruits on them; the husks appear first, initially empty, then the fruits grow inside to fill them out. No clue how long it’ll be til they are ready to harvest, but it’s been fascinating watching the plants grow.
My heirloom tomato plants are similarly exploding, but I haven’t harvested the first mature tomato yet. There are many absolutely enormous green tomatoes on them. The single prized black cherry plant is also heavy with clusters of small green fruits.
I spent the evening tying up various branches of tomato plants and trying to contain the tomatillo branches. I feel like this is the calm before the storm: the last days before we are buried in tomatoes.
poblanos: i’ll probably stuff one or two and make rajas with the rest. There won’t be that many - i just have two plants and they’re not that big. i don’t remember what variety they are - will have to check the little tag. I was so surprised to see them on offer at the nursery that i snapped them up without even looking at the details.
We have a concrete jungle in our backyard. Baltimore container gardening in Federal Hill can be a challenge because there is almost no green space or yards for blocks and blocks. We do not have a lot of pollinators. Second is our neighbor 2 houses over has a huge tree with makes full sun a challenge. But we persevere.
Today, our count of green tomatoes doubled over just a couple of days ago. And we finally have some heirlooms starting to fruit. We will be burried in cherry tomatoes shortly. So on a per tomato basis, we are at $6/tomato or so. We are getting quite good fruiting on several peppers but not others. Cukes and Eggplant are just starting to do their thing. The zucchini are not showing any fruit nor flowers.
Photo is of today’s pick. The situation here is deteriorating into one of those lackluster-for-gardeners PNW summers. Temps are rarely breaking into the 70’s, with plenty of overcast days. Everything grows, but nothing thrives.
We’re accustomed to this phenomenon, always planting more than we need, thus not wanting in the veg department per se. However, in a good year, we’d be swimming in tomatoes, cukes, summer squash and berries at this stage and hauling off stuff to the food bank. As it is … well you see in the basket. Not the bountiful harvest or juicy fruits of summer we’d rather be eating at this point.
I truly doubt we’ll see any peppers at all this year at all, and cukes and tomatoes are weeks and weeks out. The strawberry yield was pathetic, and the concord grapes didn’t set in any meaningful numbers at all.
If we’re lucky, there will be corn in about 10 days, and we still have beans and winter squashes to go. I spent the last two days seeding our fall crops: carrots, peas, cabbages, leafy greens.
Back home and here are some of today’s pictures.
Fingerling potatoes
Hoping La Ratte, but I put a few other sprouting potatoes in some grow bags in February.
That’s quite the bounty! Looks like the shallots escaped the dreaded onion fly. I’m afraid there was no time this year to replant shallots. A lot of annual plantings got sidelined this year. The poblanos look great!
I bought a second round of “red sail” lettuce seedlings to grow in containers on the deck, where I can keep them mostly in the shade, and am enjoying having salads from them for supper; in previous years, seedlings planted in mid-summer bolted quickly, so I know not to hoard this lettuce, but to enjoy it while I can.
