What's Growing?

It's a jungle in there so I've switched my plot photo standpoint to the other side. Now the strawberries, leeks, carrots, and basil are in the front and the squash, monster bean plants, and tomatoes are in the rear. Everything is doing great except the squash- I had a huge squash bug infestation last week that may wind up killing the plants. Sigh. I can never seem to grow squash. It's always something. I can only hope that the baby praying mantis I keep spotting on the carrots goes two doors down and feasts on the bugs. 

If he does, I just might get to eat this butternut. 

Otherwise, I'll just have to be content with lots of yellow pear tomatoes- I've got three volunteer plants from last year. 

This was the final lettuce harvest. I pulled the plants and put in more seeds in their place. I'm trying for a fall crop. 

Carrots, the kale that won't quit, and my first muncher cucumber made a delicious chopped salad. Lettuce? Who needs it!  

More carrots, more kale, and a mint plant that snuck into my plot came home last week. 

 

And more!  Just waiting for the tomatoes and more cucumbers to come now. 

Here's a view of the jungle this week. 

Today it's 68

Now that it seems like Mother Nature is pushing fall weather upon us, I'm starting to reflect on this season's gardening exploits. It was a funny year (again) with an early summer, a VERY hot July, and almost no rain. Now we're near the end of August and it feels more like the end of September. It's been rainy, windy, and no warmer than 70 the past two days. I can't help but think about pumpkins. In fact, I think they're going to come sooner than expected this year as well. When we were out and about looking for cars last week (actually two weeks ago) we passed several pumpkin fields and in all of them I saw orange peeking out from beneath the leaves.

My own squash pursuits failed again this year. First the squash vine borers chewed up my plants and then an army of pill bugs took over the destruction. I pulled out my last plant last week and called it quits. No home grown squash for me. I will need to move my operation to some fresh land for that dream to come true.

Tomatoes have also proven to be a struggle this year. Hot and dry conditions in July really beat up my plants. I got a few Mortgage Lifters a month ago and then the plants began dropping their buds. Now everything is rebounding slightly, but the cool weather may prevent them from doing very much. And once again, the cherry tomato situation has been a disappointment: very few buds have survived and when they do turn into a tomato, they ripen so sporadically that my harvest is usually 1 or 2 half inch fruits at a time. I should also mention that a nice Boxcar Willie tomato that I was waiting for to ripen was stolen at some point. Since I'm doing a little complaining, I mind as well mention that I have some late blight popping up now with a couple green fruits rotting from the bottom up. Two years ago I had more cherry tomatoes than I knew what to do with. Those were the days.

I should mention that the eggplant gave me two delicious little eggplants last week that we cooked up for dinner so it isn't all bad news. The hot peppers are also doing fine and I've managed to give away many of the ultra hot specimens. I've got a happy looking escarole and two happy musk melon plants. Last week I threw in a row of cucumber seeds and peas under the trellis. Maybe I'll get something out of them before frost. Another round of radish and bush beans also went in. I might try some more lettuce if this cool rain continues.

My plans for the fall are to amend the soil and to see if I can't find a way to treat the pill bug situation. I will try to plant garlic at the end of November for next season but other than that, the soil will be thoroughly worked and improved in time to rest over winter. Next year I might do all flowers over the summer. I seem to have the most luck with spring vegetables anyway. We'll see. If I get an impressive late season harvest of tomatoes I might change my tune.

Cha Cha Hard at Work

Eggplants, Peppers, Greens, and Basil

Squash Vine Borers Attack!

While at the garden this morning, I happened to notice that the vine on my largest squash plant (the volunteer from the compost heap) looked more like swiss cheese than a healthy plant stem. The damage was so bad I was actually surprised the plant appeared as healthy as it did with large green leaves, five or six blossoms, and plenty of buds. Right away I knew the culprit: the squash vine borer. Based on a couple of things I've read, I got to work opening up the vine using a combination of my thumb nail and some clippers (probably not the best tools) to hunt down the pest. I found lots of little borers (tiny white grubs) and some other bugs and a sawdust like substance running down the damaged area. I dug out a lot of junk, took the hose and cleaned away the mess, and hoped for the best.

I figured I better take a look at the other plants too. Sure enough, the acorn squash was almost destroyed. I yanked it out and just threw it in the garbage. The stem was holding on by a thread.

One of the crookneck squashes had a big hole in the vine but it wasn't too bad. I opened up the stem and dug out some similar contents. Then I hit the jackpot: a big, inch long, white worm. This must be it! The dreaded vine borer is a big, white, grub-like thing. It tunnels through the vine, munching all the way until the plant's connection to the rootsystem is severed.

I went back to the big plant, determined to find a big, healthy borer further up the vine. I dug around some more and came up with a half inch long borer. Could that be it? I probed a bit longer but didn't find anything else.

Hopefully the plants recover enough to produce a couple fruits. Now that I know what I'm looking for, I'll be more diligent about monitoring them. I'm certain that the borers will eventually win. There were too many babies in the large plant to safely assume I got them all. Also, every other squash plant in the garden has died at this point and I'm imagining they all succumb to the hungry borers.

I know. This is kinda gross. I'm sitting here feeling a little creepy crawly.

Happy Garden

Earlier in the season, I was a little annoyed at these sunflowers for blocking the early morning light needed by my Brown Berry tomato plant. When they finally bloomed I forgave them. They've seduced me with their rich red colors. And anyway, the Brown Berries are a little funky tasting.

Things are finally perking up in the plot. We've had on and off soaking rains for the past few days and the plants are all a little greener and putting out new growth in most cases. The eggplant is finally starting to branch out and at least two blossoms are starting to form.

The compost squash has grown large enough to begin fruiting. We'll see if any of the latest blossoms turn into mystery squashes. I say mystery because they are notorious open pollinators. One never knows what other squash blossoms may have been visited by the bee who made this one possible. It could be some crazy hybrid decorative gourd. I'm crossing my fingers for something edible.

The garden hot pepper is doing just fine. I'm waiting for these to ripen on the vine and may use them for our famous summertime treat: Asian Gazpacho!

These two are always entertaining to watch while watering and weeding in the garden. Sometimes they overwhelm me with cuteness.

Hot Pepper, I see you!

My first hot pepper appeared yesterday. I can't locate the tag so I'm not sure what variety it is. Josh and I have been building up our tolerance at home with an extra spicy jalapeno salsa that we've been eating. Yes, we're a little wimpy with the spicy stuff.

Two Crookneck Squashes are growing and even making tiny blossoms. The plants need more sun and I might remove some bush beans in a week or two if it doesn't get any bigger. The leaves should be about 8 inches across, not 3.

Our lettuce supply is dwindling and just in time for the summer heat. We'll move to farmer's market leafy greens by July. Although I planted less this year, it turned out to be just the right amount. I shared some during the height of the season and now we're down to the last few heads just as it's starting to toughen.

As usual, there are about 15 marigolds too many in this picture. In addition to the row at the bottom, several stragglers popped up between the beets, in the center of the plot, and even under some of the bush beans. Last week I ruthlessly removed volunteer tomato plants. Next week I'll find a home for marigolds.

Salad Season Has Begun!

Yesterday I harvested the first of the lettuce thinnings for a dinnertime salad. Two White Icicle radishes and a Cherry Belle also joined the mix. Everything was delicious, of course. Alas, I did not have my camera at home to document it.

Thinning the lettuce is such a win win situation: we get to enjoy many tender green salads and the remaining lettuce gets more sun and soil and grows even bigger. Bigger lettuce then means bigger salads for us.

Plot News:
I can now confirm that the cucumber, squash, and four varieties of tomato seeds are sprouting. I know the cucumber will have no trouble catching up once the weather is a little more sunny. I think the squash should do well also. I planted three of the tomato seed types because I've had such lousy luck with growing things indoors and figured I'd try a new approach this time. Knowing I'd be getting tomato seedlings regardless of what happened, I just threw the seeds in the soil instead of going through the minor agony of starting them indoors. The fourth variety of tomato has sprouted from the droppings of the rather unsuccessful cherry variety I planted last year. Although I never had the chance to harvest more than a handful of the little orange tomatoes, there were always plenty all over the ground that I just missed. We'll see what happens.

The spinach is sloooowly getting larger. The bush beans may surpass them and could even cover them. Timing and space allocation is something I am still mastering!

The carrots are all short and frondy. I wish I planted more! After the huge rainstorms last month and the seeds getting washed everywhere, it doesn't look like I'll have as big a crop as last year. The beet area is a different story. I may have gone overboard but I'm really looking forward to stealing their leaves from time to time for some braised greens. Last year we accidentally pulled most of all the leaves off the beets thinking they were chard and the beets seemed totally unfazed. They are a hardy bunch.

The peas are also slooooowly getting bigger. It may be somewhat of a struggle to keep them from using the baby tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash as a trellis. I'm adding lots of other stick options whenever I can get to the garden.

The Plot Thickens

I visited the garden last Friday and took some update photos as well as some Pretty Spring Flower photos. I didn't have my camera wire at home last week so they never made it up here. Yesterday I also spent some time at the garden snapping photos, planting more seeds, and even doing a little Spring Harvesting! First we have two Before and After photos with the pics I took last Friday and the ones I snapped yesterday.

You can see the cabbages are a little bigger and there are a few more green things showing up around the plot. At this point, I can locate peas, lettuce, beets, radishes, and carrots. I cannot tell which sprouts are the spinach. There are some other volunteer seeds poking up that may or may not be something from last year. A couple sprouts look like chard and there may even be a sugar baby watermelon but I won't hold my breath.

The peach tree in the garden is in full bloom now and the bee population is very busy with all the blossoms it has produced. We'll have to do some thinning if each of these turns into a little peach.

I'm hoping the peas survive this heat wave we're having (they're predicting 88 tomorrow). They haven't changed much over the past few days so I'm guessing they would prefer cooler weather. They have been joined by some squash seeds, cucumber seeds, and tomato seeds just in case.

My Big Plan included replacing the peas with some trellised vining vegetables. I'm hoping to get a cucumber plant out of the seeds I planted but if that doesn't happen I'll buy a seedling. The same goes for the tomato seeds. Last summer I saved seeds from some particularly tasty tomatoes and decided I'd give direct planting a try. The squash seeds were a mixture of acorn, crookneck, and summer. I would be very happy if one of the vines took off and made a couple of fruits.

The radish section of the plot must have turned into a lake last week during the storm. The seedlings are sprouting up in clumps rather than the tidy rows I had created for them. I filled in the gaps yesterday with additional seed.

A green leaf lettuce is sprouting. Again, the row was in disarray so I filled in areas with additional seed. I guess we're doing a little sussession planting.

The Gourmet Blend lettuce is sprouting. Three or four different leaf lettuces make up the mix. Somehow this row remained intact so between it and the next I put in additional carrots. The plan is to have the carrot tops shade the lettuce in early summer.

In other areas around the plot I put in mixed red sunflower seeds and more marigold seeds. I noticed the snapdragon plant from last year is springing to life and I added some new snapdragon seeds around it for company.

Around the garden everything is blooming. Big clumps of this white flowering stuff are everywhere!

I harvested the three chinese cabbages! I'm pretty sure the florets were a sign that it was bolting so I took action, cut it down, sauteed it with some garlic and ginger, and called it a success. It tasted good and now there's more room for other stuff like the bush beans I planted.