- I did make a container teepee for my peas this March. They did well, but for some reason didn't train to the teepee. It is defintely something I will do again though, mostly likely in September.
- My lemon balm actually came back! I am making sure to water it regularly.
- DH helped me build nice boxes for my raised beds, including one new one. So, now I have three nice ones. I'm still finishing up the layering of my new bed, but I should be ready this week to start my fall garden in it. I want to plant carrots, scallions, collards and romaine this week.
- I planted my potatoes in April. I didn't cut them up, just planted the whole potatoes. The plants were very vigorous, and I hilled them up twice with straw. Now the plants have pretty much died back, and I did find at least one potato in feeling around. I will probably dig them up this week. I also bought some Kennebec potatoes at the Chattanooga Market yesterday. I want to try a second crop of potatoes for fall this week as well.
- With the potatoes, I currently have a row of okra, a hill of sugar baby watermelon, two roma plants (one is a San Marzano), a tiburion hot pepper, an eggplant, three bell peppers (King Arthur, Golden Bell, & Red Beauty), a half row of cucumbers, two yellow squash, and a zucchini. I have already harvested a bunch of cucumbers and squash. The zucchini is still producing, but it looks wilty and generally sad. I'm wondering if it is a bit crowded by the squash plant next door. The peppers are slow, but I think they're finally growing. They did look a bit yellow. The romas have lots of green tomatoes on them. I think the San Marzanos are very close to turning red. The eggplant is very sad, just three leaves, not really growing. Okra and watermelon are looking good. Today I fertilized and mulched the peppers, tomatoes, and eggplant with grass clippings. I hope this will give them a boost.
- I added new soil in hills to the oldest bed for my three sisters patch. I was really late on this, I think I planted the corn at the end of May. It is now about 18 inches high. The pole beans are about 6 inches tall. I just planted the winter squash last week, but it is mostly up, and a couple of plants are starting to produce a third leaf. All the plants look great!
- In front of the office I have cantelope that I started from seed inside. They hardened off pretty well, but the soil isn't great and that end of the house has probably way too much sun. I started with 6 plants. I lost one to a cutworm in the first week. I almost lost all of them when I was sick a couple of weeks ago and didn't water. But all but one seem to be making it. I also have sunflowers struggling with them. I also fertilized and mulched with grass clippings here today.
- I also started honeydew inside from seed. It is in a huge container on the front porch and vining like crazy. No flowers yet though.
- In the rose bed I planted brandywine, moskovich, red zebra, and early girl tomatoes. The moskovich has had green tomatoes for several weeks now and aren't turning red. This is what inspired my fertilizer craze. Again, I fertilized and mulched with grass clippings.
- The garlic came up great on the left rose bed and not at all on the right one. (???) I pulled it up last week, and probably should have a couple of weeks sooner. The cloves are small, but from what I've been reading clay soil is very bad for garlic. I want to order some Spanish Rosa for this fall, and I will also spread a bunch of bone meal before I plant this time.
- On the back porch I used a lot of the soil from last year that was already in the containers. Big mistake! All those plants came up, but very weakly. I also have two cherry tomatoes (sugar snack and sweet 100) which look close to being ready. There is a new rosemary plant and a very happy sage plant. I just planted basil today. (again very late)
- DH tried an experiment of planting sweet potatoes on our steep front hill. I'm not sure how well it's going. They're not dead, but most of them aren't growing very much. Maybe their growth will pick up more this month.
Well, I think that's about caught up. I will try to get back to more regular posts. I also will try to post pictures this week.
