Ann's Air Gardens

Bush Baby Surviving the Heat

This zucchini is growing in a small planter attached to the railing on my front porch.  I only got one to germinate from the seed pack I bought from MzTizzys on Etsy.  

 

She doesn't sell these any more, but in its place shows one called Astia, which is a dwarf patio squash without the lovely Cocozelle stripes.  She does have one called Cocozelle di Napoli which appears to be similar with a straighter shape.  See also Territorial Seeds, White Flower Farms, West Coast Bush Baby Marrow,

 Plant World, and more.  

 

Apparently, what we call zucchini is better known as baby marrow in Europe, where the green marrow squash we call zucchini is known as courgette.  

Can you imagine a 100 pound zucchini?

For a while seeds for spineless yellow early zucchini (Gold Rush, for example) were completely unavailable and most of the summer the few vendors who offered them were charging up to $25 for just a few seeds.  After a long search I found an Amazon vendor selling 250 seeds for $13.90.   I bought them fast, and plan to grow some indoors over the winter.

I harvested another 8-ball type zucchini today, too, and blogged about it here.

 

Purple Petunia Flanked by Jute Cuttings

Until now I had been planting full sized petunias in my AeroGardens in the winter, but this spring my new planter came with petunia pods that feature a miniature variety.

The leaves in the foreground are Jute (aka Egyptian Spinach) which may be better known for making rope than for cooking.  It is, however, a delicious, nutritious and attractive plant that is easy to grow, especially in hot dry areas. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These leaves, removed from the stem cuttings now ready to root, will go in the soup.

These are the parent plants, about one foot tall .

 

 

 

 

These are stem cuttings. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are healthy roots growing in a vial of water.