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What’s growing in my crop tanks?

Since I kinda/sorta photographed the driveway crop tanks for my then and now post last Friday (that’s a new name I thought of for the stock tanks, and I love it), and this week I wrote about all the edible and “cuttable” crops growing in Linda’s garden, well I figured it was time to look at what I’m growing this year in this space just outside our back door…

In the large black pot on the far right (above), basil. A summer without fresh basil isn’t really a summer at all.

In the cutting garden tank (one for veg, one for vases) is a crazy assortment of things…

I’ve never cut a stem from this Russelia equisetiformis for a vase, I wonder how it would do?

I just enjoy it here, since it’s not reliably hardy in the garden. Common name, firecracker plant.

I was frustrated some seeds I’d sown in the tank hadn’t gone anywhere (more on that below), so when I saw starter plants of these ‘Mermaid Blue’ Lisianthus (Eustoma russellianus) for cheap I thought what the heck, I’ll try them! Kris at Late to the Garden Party has been using Lisianthus in her vase combinations for years and I’ve always been intrigued by them.

What I didn’t realize is that I’d bought dwarf Lisianthus. Yep. These plants max out at 8″… that means really small vases.

So it turns out there’s a theme at work in my cutting garden tank. Seeds that went nowhere, plants I bought that I didn’t realize were dwarf… 

And this! These Zinnia were supposed to be Zinnia elegans ‘Queen Orange and Lime’—which look like this. Not mine, mine look like this…
The others were supposed to be Zinnia elegans ‘Queen Lime’—which look like this. I had hope, I willed those buds to open into something sweet and varied. 
Nope. This is what I got…
The last flower that I’m waiting on to open is this, SunFill™ Green, a “novel green sunflower”—which is supposed to look like this. My fingers are crossed.
Meanwhile I’m also using this tank as a catch-all for an assortment of sun-lovers that have yet to be planted out in the ground. 
And there are a few of those seeds I mentioned just now sprouting (there were others that got larger and kind of sort of bloomed at about 3-4″ tall). They are Moluccella laevis, Bells-of-Ireland, and should be 24-36″ tall. Such a dissapointment!
Moving on…
The sarracenia assortment loves the summer sun and heat…
As does this crazy tangle.
I bought two 4″ pots of Mexican sour gherkins (Melothria scabra) and they’ve exploded!
So far I’ve just been snacking on them while I garden, but soon I’ll need to harvest them and work them into dinners. Maybe I’ll even have enough for a batch of quick-pickles.
This is my first time growing ground cherries (after trying one last summer at Secret Garden Growers).
Physalis pruinosa ‘Aunt Molly’s’
They’re ripe when the husk turns yellow and falls from the vine. Small ones are starting to ripen for me now, but there are larger ones ahead, lots of them.
As you might have guessed, if I’m going to devote time, space, and water to growing edibles they should be things that are not readily available at the local market, so I’m also trying a Toma Verde Tomatillo (Physalis philadelphica). This variety is supposed to mature early and taste like “a cross between a lemon, a pineapple and a tomato. This dependable, prolific variety also produces larger size fruit than others, up to 2” in diameter”… not so much here though. I have lots of blooms, but only 3 fruits that are maturing. 
Earlier in the year I had this tank filled with rat-tail radishes, Raphanus sativus, var. caudatus, I grew from seed. That experiment was a huge success and I will definitely grow them again. We ate the long, seed-filled pods for weeks, I took them to gatherings and made radish pickles too.
One other seasonal planting to show, Datura meteloides ‘Double Lavender’. It’s taking a little break at the moment but has been blooming non-stop since I bought it just after Memorial Day weekend (yes, those bumpy things are seed pods).
Here are flower photos taken on a sunnier day…

That’s the driveway crop tanks for 2025, along with several spiky plant friends…

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All material © 2009-2025 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

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Which way will the wind blow? Decision day looms for planned windfarm on Tasmania’s Robbins Island

Bird lovers and business leaders await verdict on a long-fought proposal to build up to 100 turbines

More people have heard of Robbins Island than have seen it. Separated from Tasmania’s north-western tip by a stretch of water that can be navigated only at low tide, the island is nearly 10,000 hectares of heathland and woodlands, paddocks, unusual geology and wetlands, all ringed by pristine beaches.

The island has been owned by the Hammond family, who use it to run Wagyu cattle, since the 1960s. Further back it was home to the Pirilyunya people for tens of thousands of years.

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The surprising ant strategy that could transform robotics

Weaver ants have cracked a teamwork puzzle that humans have struggled with for over a century — instead of slacking off as their group grows, they work harder. These tiny architects not only build elaborate leaf nests but also double their pulling power when more ants join in. Using a “force ratchet” system where some pull while others anchor, they outperform the efficiency of human teams and could inspire revolutionary advances in robotics cooperation.

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