Mulch, Mulch, Mulch!

If there is one mantra that I have not followed this summer and regret, it is to mulch everything. Leave no garden ground naked! I spent a little time weeding crab grass from around the cantaloupe plants this evening, and there is so much more to be done.

On the upside, the roma tomatoes are coming in massive numbers now. I picked up some jalapeno peppers at the farmer's market today, and hopefully this week I will try my hand at making and canning some salsa. Tasty!

Cucumber Beetle Attack Plans

Here are some ideas I've gleaned:

• Plant tansy as a companion.
• Use straw mulch.
• Put up the bat house.
• Put a trench of moistened wood ashes.
• Spread onion skins around plants.
• Use row cover until the plants are too big.
• To fool cuke beetles: flatten a square of aluminum foil around the base of plants to bounce light on the undersides of leaves. This also helps the plants in giving them more light.
• Cultivate in the fall to expose the eggs.
• Benificial nematodes.

Tomatoes & Potatoes

Look what I found today! It's very cracked, but it is the first brandywine of summer! The romas are really starting to come in now as well. Also, in harvesting news, we have dug up all the potatoes, and I think we have about 20 lbs. (including the ones we've already eaten). The potatoes are being stored in the same way as we stored the sweet potatoes last year, a cat litter box with holes drilled all around for circulation. Hopefully, they will last this way.

Unfortunately, I'm afraid the squash may be a losing battle. The carnival squash that had three fruits on it and was huge, is all but dead now. I must research efforts against the cucumber beetle for next year.

However, one can't be too sad when the sunflower sunshine has come to the garden. Enjoy!

July Pictures

It is hotter than Hades out there. I believe the heat index got to 118 degrees this afternoon, so needless to say the only thing accomplished was to deeply water late this evening. I apologize for the pictures. It was too hot to take them before it got dark.

Here we have my herbs in buckets. The sage and thyme didn't make it, but the rest are doing well. In the front are cucumbers and to the right are watermelon (not in pic). In the middle are the squashes. The zucchini which started terrible, is doing fabulous now as is my carnival squash. The butternut is catching up, but the yellow has some issues. The leaves are turning yellow and the stems are pretty chewed. I'm pretty sure it's a cucumber beetle problem, but it could be squash vine borer too. I may try to replant some yellow squash this week or next. Behind that are the eggplant and peppers which are doing quite well and a basil plant that is struggling after being planted too late. At the very back are the tomatoes. The romas and sungold cherry are producing nicely. The brandywine seems to be doing good with several green tomatoes, but the Moskivich is a goner, I believe. I may not get that type again as I think I've had a problem with it before.

Here you can see that the potatoes are pretty much died back and ready to dig up. Behind that is corn that is very close to being ready as well.

In the front are little okra seedlings next to a ton of swiss chard ready to eat. In the middle are sweet potato seedlings, then leeks and carrots. There are also a few onions left, but most have been harvested and are curing on the kitchen table (away from dog who would like to play with them). This bed needs a lot of weeding as you can see.

The brassica bed is just about done for the year. In the middle are the biggest sunflowers I've ever grown, much less seen. The dill is flowering and smells lovely. There are two survivor cantelope plants among the weeds and secondary cabbage leaves in front. I fertilized them today, and maybe they will start to grow better. In the back is kale and collards that are close to bolting and lettuce that is way past bolting. This bed will need a lot of clean up once I can catch up with the current crops.

On the other side of the potato bed is the great pole bean takeover. We have harvested a bunch already, and there is more picking to be done. In the front are lima beans that are wondering where there trellis went.

Recovery

This summer has been a terrible relapse as far as my health is concerned. I have spent at least two weeks in the hospital, and am hopeful that we are finally on the right track as to what is going on. I am fearful that the parasite, cryptosporidium, that was discovered in May might be due to the very fresh mushroom soil that we put in this year. Anyway, I am making my best effort at recovery before school starts, and I am trying to make a recovery of the garden at the same time. I will do my best to have detailed pictures tomorrow, but for today it was all I could do to harvest a bit (cabbage, corn, sungold tomatoes, and a zucchini) and deeply water.

For now I will post a rough to do list in my effort to catch up:

1. Weed, weed, weed! Especially in the root bed and the strawberry bed.
2. Fertilize tomatoes, eggplant, squash, and cantaloupe.
3. Mount an attack on the squash bugs!
4. Harvest potatoes.
5. Pull up bolted lettuce and replant.
6. Water every day while heat index is over 100 degrees.
7. Find good storage for the onions that are pretty much harvested.

Tomato Issues

I am very troubled by the state of my tomatoes. The top half is curled, flowers are few and hardly any are producing fruit. One plant has some yellowing on the older leaves. It started a few weeks ago when the temperatures shot up and there was much less rain, but it's not getting better now that things have stabilized a bit. As I investigated, it seems that there are a lot of aphids. So, is this aphid damage, or have they transmitted a disease (possibly cucumber mosaic virus or tobacco mosaic virus)?

My zucchini are struggling with the cucumber bugs also. I sprayed pyrethrin on everything, but I just don't know if it's too late.

June Pictures...Finally

These pictures were taken last week, but they are just now making it to the blog.

I've already been digging up a few potatoes as I've needed them, but I think they are just about ready for general harvest now. This week they appear to be dieing off. The early corn has started to tassle, and the pole beans have started to flower. The lima beans are now about 4 inches high.

The lettuce is starting to bolt, and I may have to harvest most all of it soon. I'm so excited that my lettuce did well this year. I also have tons of turnip greens, dill, and a few sunflowers. The broccoli and half my cabbages have been harvested, and the other half of the cabbages appear to be about ready now. I planted four canteloupes where the broccoli was this last week. It remains to be seen if they will do okay or not.

After a few hail storms, the onions are about ready for harvest. I've already gotten a few carrots, and I am pleased that they are doing well this year also. I can't say the same for the scallions. I have a few leeks that I think are still fighting among the weeds in the middle as well as a ton of swiss chard. I am still having trouble getting my beets to bulb though.

The remaining strawberries have done super well, producing a ton of runners. Unfortunately, I have let the weeds take over. That needs to be taken care of this week.

My herbs have done well for the most part. Here we have Italian parsley, chamomile, sage, chives, oregano, a salad mix, rosemary and spearmint. I also have thyme and cilantro that isn't pictured here. Unfortunately, the cilantro didn't germinate that well. I may need new seed for next year.

Here are the cucumbers, watermelon, squash, peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes. I'm having some trouble with the tomatoes and squash. Some I think from cucumber beetles, and some I'm not sure about. (I will post more on that later.) The peppers and eggplant seem to be doing super well though.

Freezing in the Heat

This year is the first year that I have actually had enough vegies to be able to freeze some extra for later. Yesterday I was able to process about a quart of peas, and today I processed almost a gallon of broccoli. Of course, I might have been able to process more if I had stayed on top of the garden these last few weeks, but I'm still pretty pleased.

Freezing produce is super easy. And for vegetables, it's easier than canning because most vegies require pressure canning to be safe for preservation. (Tomatoes being the exception.) Although, I have been known to just through peppers, onions, and tomatoes in the freezer, there is a technical process called blanching. This requires minimal cooking in boiling water to stop the growing enzymes and then an ice water bath to stop the cooking process. Other than being sure that your vegetables are washed well with no bugs, that's it. Process time varies, although it's generally the same time for boiling as ice bathing. Pick Your Own is my go to resource for food preservation, both canning and freezing.

Other accomplishments for today: I also picked four cabbages and weeded/pulled up bolting plants from the brassica bed. The broccoli is basically finished, so I'm pondering planting cantaloupe in its place. I replanted some butternut squash, although a couple just sprouted today. I also resprayed the eggplant. I think it's going to make it this year, but I need to figure out why the flowers are falling off. Is this the same as calcium deficiency in tomatoes and peppers?

Pictures tomorrow...

The Legumes that Went Out of Control

The Great Bean Takeover

May is always a busy time in the garden, but as always it is a crazy time at school as well. Crazy stress of finishing up = Crazy sickness as well... I am finally in the full recovery...err...relaxation of June. Huzzah! In that time, I have managed to finish planting peppers, squash, cucumbers and watermelon, although I still need to put in some basil plants and a yellow pepper. I have also picked a ton of broccoli and peas.

Unfortunately though, the garden has had to mostly fend for itself. That has led to some bolting of cooler plants such as lettuce and broccoli, but the worst problem as been with my green beans. I got them planted about three weeks ago, but did not get around to creating a trellis for them to climb. Those beans took fending for themselves literally! They just cozied up with the peas, and you could hardly tell which kind of plant was on the pea trellis. Today, I set about to fix the problem, and it was no small task. I untangled and pulled and unwove until I finally got the beans back in their row and the peas all pulled up. (In the process I picked and froze about a quart of shelled peas.) After the great untangle and fixing everyone's place nicely, I tried to set the beans up on their own trellis and planted lima beans in the peas' place. Overall, my new trellis method is rather nice; I just have to never underestimate the speed of pole bean growth.

It has become super hot, so that it is impossible to just set aside a day for gardening. I have to work for a few hours in the morning each day. So, tomorrow's goal is to take care of the brassica bed. Several cabbages are ready to be picked, as well as lots of broccoli. Some broccoli is flowering as is some other greens and stuff, so that's all ready to be pulled up. I will also try to add some grass clippings as mulch in that bed, and I may freeze some broccoli. It really depends on how I assess things tomorrow. I also need to replant some butternut squash, as that didn't really come up for some reason.

Until tomorrow....hopefully...

Tomatoes

First off, we had an epic storm this last week! Praise God the worst damage to our property was some minor hail damage to our cars and to the garden (a couple of broken plants). Many people in our area lost their homes and some lost their loved ones as well. I don't think this area has experienced tornadoes in such a capacity.

Because of the storm, I really didn't get to plant the tomatoes as soon as I would like. I did weed and plant some fill in seeds of various things on Friday, but we finally made a trip to the nursery and got mushroom soil to fill in the curcubit bed on Sunday. Today I planted a brandywine, moskivich (that was broken by the hail), sungold cherry, 2 san marzano romas, and a viva Italia roma. I didn't have myself together, so out of the list of things I would usually plant with them, I only used eggshells, aspirin, and a handful of Miracle Grow slow release. (I'm trying to use up what I have.) I wanted to plant more today, but that's really all that got done.

I have harvested the broccoli crowns, and it appears that the leaf lettuce and the peas are about ready to go. Also, the corn and beans are starting to come up. Now we have gotten to where I will attempt to eat out of the garden more often than not. Yay!

April Summary

What a crazy month! I guess I will just summarize the garden's progress bed by bed. To start with though, Brigitta pulled up all the raspberry plants, so unfortunately that is something we'll have to try again next year /behind/ the electric fence.

To start with, the strawberries have done fairly well. Several of them have wilted off, but most are flowering now. The dying ones are mostly around the edges, so I think they just aren't getting enough water and the soil may not have been as tilled, etc. I also have something eating some of the leaves. I will probably add some straw around them in the next day or two to preserve some moisture.

The root bed is doing okay. The onions look fabulous, and I have seedlings up for carrots, scallions, leeks, chard, a couple beets, spinach, and maybe a celery plant. I'm not sure why I'm never successful with beets and celery. Otherwise, there are lots of weeds, and some space for sweet potatoes later.

The brassica bed is doing fabulous. I've already harvested radishes and mustard greens. The turnips need to be thined, so we are gung ho into greens season. I bought new romaine lettuce seed, and it is up as well as the other lettuce and dill. I only have a few parsnip seedlings, so I'm pretty sure I need to buy new seeds for next year. The broccoli and cabbage plants I bought are now so big that the row cover doesn't fit over them completely. I'm still leaving it for now since it mostly covers and should hopefully prevent haphazard moths. I also planted some sunflowers in this bed, but they aren't up yet. I spent a while weeding in this bed today, and need to get more grass clippings on as mulch.

In the legume bed, the peas are growing like crazy and now have tons of blooms on them. I planted green beans and corn today, and put a layer of straw on the potatoes, which are now also up.

I weeded the fourth bed today, and we finally got the truck out of the mud. (It's been raining and raining all spring.) So, tomorrow I plan to go to the nursery to get mushroom soil to fill it up. I got tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant at Crabtree Farms spring plant sale, and the tomatoes are so tall they need to get in the ground ASAP.

I also have a ton of herbs in containers: chives, rosemary, thyme, oregano, chammomile, cilantro, parsley, and mint, as well as a salad mix. They are mostly doing pretty well. I need to find some sage and plant basil very soon.

Raspberries and Strawberries

Today was a big day of hard work in the garden. I started by planting most of the root bed: a row each of early and main carrots, beets, swiss chard, and scallions, as well as a container of parsley. Then most of the day was spent in prepping and planting 25 earliglow strawberry plants and 5 heritage raspberry plants.

The new strawberry patch is in the old railroad tie bed. We dug out most of the old soil, rototilled and then added in mushroom soil. My intent was to plant the raspberries as a beginning hedge next to our fence. However, with all this rain we've been having, it has been too muddy and slick to get the truck around. I figured it would be bad for the roots to be in that much water as well, so we ended up tilling right next to the garden fence. I had also wanted to layer in fall leaves and mushroom soil, but again with not being able to move the truck, that didn't work out. So in the end, we rototilled the soil, planted the canes, and then watered in some Miracle Grow organic liquid fertilizer. It is only 8-0-0 instead of 10-10-10, so I will try to add some bonemeal and stuff in a few weeks.

Brassicas

Thursday, I planted most of the rest of the brassica bed on another freezing, rainy day. Almost everything I had planted previously is up, except the romaine. I think I'm definitely throwing out the romaine seed as it didn't come up last year either.

This day I planted turnips, collards, parsnips, and more radishes and lettuce, as well as 4 packman broccoli plants and 6 stonehead cabbage plants.I have been hardening off the brussel sprouts and broccoli that I planted from seed, so they should go in sometime this week.

Brrr....

Thursday, I started filling the legume bed with mushroom soil, but didn't quite get finished. Friday I up onion, broccoli, and cabbage plants at Ace. Well... this weekend sure took over. A big cold front with major storms came through Saturday, and today it was FREEZING! We actually had rain from Friday night through this morning nonstop. It's very flooded all over this area.

Because of the soaking ground, we were unable to get the truck moved where it needed to be with the mushroom soil. The good thing is that it didn't slide into the neighbor's fence as David tried. Anyway, with that not an option, I decided to start planting what I could. I was able to get a double row of peas planted and all of the onions. In the meantime, David dug out the old railroad tie bed for the strawberries. That's all we could do before we were just too cold. Hopefully, it will dry out enough for us to move the truck over, and we will put the rest of the mushroom soil in the strawberry bed.

On a side note, the mustard and radishes are just coming up. The mustard sprouts look a little sad, and I think that seed may be a bit too old too. I will probably throw that away and start fresh next year.

Garden Fence

All Protected from the Puppy

We finished the garden fence today. After debating back and forth, we decided to go with electric, one reason being it's much cheaper. I think it looks nicer too. We released the hound and after three shocks, I think she's got the idea to stay away.

Once that was finished I planted spinach, radishes, lettuce, kale, and mustard. I was hoping to get the peas going today, but I need to put in some mushroom soil in the bed that will hold the legumes this year. Since the nursery was closed today, that didn't happen, but hopefully we will get it started this week.

On another note, the indoor seeds have mostly sprouted over the week. I don't have an ideal light setup yet, but I have been keeping the light on in the kitchen all night. I even brought them outside this afternoon for a little while since it was cloudy and warm.

The seedlings are taking off.

Only half the broccoli and the leeks came up. Since that is very old seed, I am throwing it away and getting new next year. The peppers and celery aren't up yet, but I'm not too concerned about that yet.

Getting Started

I finally got seeds started inside today. I started Roma tomatoes, Brandywine tomatoes, Anaheim peppers, yellow doe peppers, celery, leeks, broccoli, and brussel sprouts. I also ordered 25 Earliglow strawberry plants and 5 Heritage raspberry plants from Nourse seeds. They are due to arrive the second week of March. I'm so excited to be starting fruit this year!

New Year - New Compost

This couldn't possibly be a garden hindrance, could it?

So it is a new year, and I'm very excited about where the garden is headed. Unfortunately, before I can get started, we have to dog proof the garden. Last year, we had to put a hold on the compost bin as Brigitta discovered how to get snacks out. Eww... Anyway, our first order of buisness this year was to build a new bin. We used the base from the potato bin from last year and just added fencing around it. So far, so good...

Brigitta checking for weak spots.

Our next project is to fence the garden.