Ignore It and It will Grow?

Mom's gone back home from her visit, so "touristing" is over and there's gardening to be done! During her visit, we were gone most days, so the garden didn't get much attention. I usually had time to give it a once-over most days. I picked a few peas & cut some lettuce (and one actual head of broccoli - a small one, but still a head), and tried to keep the spaghetti squash contained.

Here's the photo overview...

Not much apparent change in the potato bin - hopefully that means something is happening underneath the straw.

I have two little zucchini that should be big enough to pick soon!

The flying saucer squash grew quite a lot this week. Only problem is, it seems to be a bush plant not a vine plant (like I THOUGHT it was). I guess it's good that I put it at the end of the bed. Since the watermelon don't look too promising, the Green Dragon cucumber will have plenty of space on the new trellis I built a couple weeks ago for these three!

When I saw the bush form, I thought I just wasn't paying attention to the seed packet (I did the same thing last year with the zucchini) but I looked at the package today and it actually doesn't say if it's bush or vine. If I had looked really closely at the picture on the package, I might have noticed it looked a bit like a bush plant, but it wasn't so obvious. This makes me feel a little better knowing it's not just that I didn't READ the package but that doesn't change anything. I hope there's going to be enough space for all the plants I have there. I wouldn't have planted so close if I had realized they wouldn't grow UP!

The spaghetti squash and corn both put on lots of growth while I wasn't looking. It's a little hard to see in the photo, but the squash has actually about reached the top of the ladder! The corn has fully recovered from it's hail damage it seems.

The green beans are looking much, much better. There's still some yellow in there, but there's lots more green now. I'm thinking they looked so bad because they were too wet. We had .7" of rain on Sunday, but it's been mostly dry since and we've had some hot, sunny weather. I did sprinkle some coffee grounds around the worst of the plants but I can't see that it made much difference since that spot isn't greener than the rest. I'm really leaning toward too much water having caused the problems.

Look under this very pale leaf and you'll even seem some blooms!!

I am a bit concerned about my potatoes though. I have a few batches that aren't looking so good right now. These are Red Pontiac which are a late variety. I tried to peek around the stems but I'm not seeing signs of tubers. The straw seems to stay really really wet, so I hope they don't just rot away. I will be so sad if none of my potatoes grow! Not all of them are looking bad though, so there's still hope. I'll just let these be and see what they end up doing.

To end on a positive note, look what appeared this week! These are Thessaloniki tomatoes. I do have baby toms on some of the other plants as well, but these are the largest ones I've found so far. You can see some of the hail damage from the earlier storms but other than making my plants less pretty, it doesn't seem to have caused any real harm.

That's all for now, but I'll be back soon!

Then & Now - June Review

When we see our gardens every day, sometimes it's easy to lose sight of just how much has happened over the past few weeks. I decided to post some comparison photos to show growth for the month of June. I don't have photos from exactly one month ago, but I got as close as possible. Some photos were taken May 29 and some were taken June 5.

Note the black hoop for reference-

I don't think I'll end up adding the top board as they look about ready to bloom and foliage growth seems to have slowed.

The milk jugs are barely visible anymore.

This milk jug will soon be covered as well.

These were overflow potatoes. This is really supposed to be the grape area but I just planted it this year so the potatoes should not be in the way. The grape is in the middle.

Harvest totals so far:

MAY:
Salad Greens- 7 oz
Radishes- 3 oz
May total- 10 oz

JUNE:
Salad Greens- 30 oz
Radishes - 4 oz
Peas- 31 oz
Strawberries - 8 (~1 oz)
Broccoli- ~3 oz
June total- 69 oz = 4 lb 5 oz

Total: 79 oz = 4 lb 15 oz

I have to estimate a little on the radishes, broccoli & berries as I'm only picking a small amount at a time. They weigh less than 1 oz, so I have added several together to estimate weight.

Wow, this is the first time I've added up the harvest list. I didn't realize that I had harvested quite that much. I'm also amazed sometimes just how much the garden has grown so far. I start to get impatient sometimes and there are days it seems like nothing has changed out there. Guess the proof is in the pics!!

Back to the Drawing Board

The time is fast approaching that I will need to have all my trellis work completed. That also means I'd better make up my mind what I'm going to build! I have 3 beds that require some form of support. I thought I had two of the three figured out. Two of three has turned into ZERO of three. I was using the sticks for the rattlesnake beans and pickling cukes, up until I discovered the tree branches were rooting. For the other pole beans and tomatoes, I was planning to use a stack of 2x2's I have on hand (a freebie from last summer). It seemed so simple, too simple in fact. The plan was to build 4 sets of these...

This is not going to work. It's completely unstable and when there are plants on it, I think it could come crashing down during a good windstorm. Unlike some fellow gardeners who very much enjoy overengineering these types of projects (I'm sure this post will make at least one man in Alabama cringe) I tend to go with more of a "wing it with what you've got until you really know what you want" sort of method. Sometimes, it doesn't work out so well, so back to the drawing board it is. I also still need to decide how I'm going to support the vining plants. I've really got to get crackin', the pumpkin is starting to grow.

The potatoes are growing well it seems. I'll be adding the second board on my bin before too long now. I'm curious to see the differences in production between the potatoes in the containers, the bin and the ones in the ground.

Most of the tomatoes are doing well. I lost the one Roma, but the others are all hanging in. I have one little guy in here who's lagging behind but it was not looking well when I planted it, so it's at least an improvement.

The Galinas Gold Cherry which was the early leader in growth before transplanting isn't doing as well as it was. It has a little leaf curl and just isn't thriving like some of the others. It is still growing and is about to bloom again. Hopefully, it straightens itself out.

The black cherry (not pictured) which looked bad after transplanting seems to be doing well now.

These are the remaining Rattlesnake beans (since the bunny dug in behind them). I'm going to wait a bit longer to see if more sprout before I fill in the blank spots. I had them planted around the sticks that I had to pull out. Crazy trees.

On a positive note, the Sugar Snaps are SO close! Not much longer now- I can hardly wait!!

To those of you who use Blogger, I can't drag & drop anything in compose mode anymore (for the past few weeks) for some reason. Anyone else having this problem?

Now We're Growing!

After a few days of beautiful weather this past week, we've had some noticeable growth around the yard and garden. This is one of the lilacs (all the photos were taken yesterday-Thursday). This one is out front, and hasn't been moved (yet) like the others. The ones in back are doing well and are just a smidge behind this one with their blooms. I did have to water the transplants with the hot weather (mid-80's) we had. When I felt under the mulch, it felt wet, so I wasn't sure at first if they were wilted because of a lack of water or too much. I watered just a little and they perked back up, so they must have been dry in their reduced root area.


Look at the peas!! I can't believe how they've grown in just a week! This photo was taken 5-21. The photo in my last post was taken 5-15. They are starting to bloom so I should be eating Sugar Snaps soon!

I was able to harvest a little from the salad greens this week. The baby lettuces I set out are being a little slow but I expect they'll take off soon.

These are the potatoes in my bin. I added a little straw around them today. I think I'll be adding the first board later next week.

These are the tomatoes in ring#4. When I planted the tomatoes, I messed up my planting plan a little. There were supposed to be two Galinas Gold Cherries. One of the cherries didn't make it so I just had the one toward the back/left to plant here. When I planted the rest, I separated the plants by type - cherry, slicer or paste. After I planted all the slicers (using all the available space for them) I realized I had mis-categorized one plant. I had confused the Imur Prior Beta as a paste instead of a slicer. I had started Roma and Paquebot Roma for paste, so I knew there were 2 kinds but I forgot the Paquebot start didn't make it. I plunked the Imur Prior Beta in with the Galinas Gold Cherry. So much for being organized...

The plastic is to help create a little bit of a microclimate for the plants. The day I planted them was really windy and our nights are still pretty cool (40's mostly) so I figured a little extra protection might do them well. All of my more tender plants have some sort of protection, it varies from bed to bed right now. I uncover some plants more often than others but none require daily attention . So far, so good. The Galinas was starting to flower but I pinched the blossoms. I'll leave the next ones, I just felt like they should be in the ground just a little longer before trying to set fruit.

These are the slicers, well, they're at least not cherries or pastes... I couldn't say for sure that slicer is the correct term for all of them, but it works for me. The 2 on the left are Kellogg's Breakfast, a yellow variety. The center 2 (one must be hiding behind the jug) are Thessaloniki (Red) and the right front is Rutgers (red) and back right is Neves Azorian (red).

The poor little Black Cherry was really looking bad last week. I didn't think it was going to make it but it is looking much better this week. It might survive after all!

This is the same potato I posted the picture of last week. I added some straw around this guy today too. This is one of the "overflow" patches. If you look closely toward the center, you can see the stick that is the grape- the intended resident for this space. It is also showing signs of life. You can see one of the posts I put in this week for the trellis. I set posts for the grape and the blackberries. I used wood from a split rail fence my neighbor removed. I used the posts for the grape and the rails for the blackberry. I still have to install the raspberry poles but I 'm using T-posts, so while I'll have to install more of them, the installation will be less involved. It was a little tricky for me to cut off the excess height on the tall ones (alone). I got it done though.

The zucchini I transplanted isn't looking so great. I removed two very yellow leaves before I brought the camera outside. I think it is too wet. I spread the straw mulch away a bit more and I think it looks like it might recover . I have started some more seed just in case. While most things really needed the rain we got today (almost an inch), the zucchini probably wasn't one of them... The grass should be much happier though.

I'm also seeing signs of life in the raspberry patch. This is one of the Canby Raspberries. I have growth on 2/3 of the Canby and 2/3 of the Caroline. The Anne that looked so impressive when they came in, aren't doing anything yet. One of the Triple Crown Blackberries has sprouted as well and leaves are starting on the apples and peaches. The asparagus is finally starting to appear and the Honeoye Strawberries are still looking good. They are starting to bloom. I have read mixed advice about letting June-bearing strawberries produce the first year (some even said they won't). I plucked the blooms from half. I'm going to let the other half do what they want.

So, that's the update for this week. I started moving the phlox and tulips today but was interrupted by a rather nasty thunderstorm. I have a graduation to attend tomorrow north of Denver, so the rest will have to wait until Sunday.

About a month later -Aug 2008

Here's how the garden grows by August. As you can see, I planted just a little too much in that west bed. The red onions have been pretty completely overrun by the cukes, tomato and zucchini. Notice the pile of straw in front of the potato bin. While I was out of town for a couple weeks, my husband was caring for the garden. He didn't realize that the potato bin was watered every time the sprinklers ran in for the lawn above. As they started to yellow, he thought they were dry, so he watered them some more... I tried to salvage them, but most were too far gone. Next time, the potatoes go to the other side of the garden!

I started tracking yields in August. Before I kept track, the bulk of my green beans and sugar snap peas came in (I'd guess a few pounds, it's when I was gone & DH was picking). Lettuce, spinach, and radishes weren't measured either.

In August, Sept & Oct, I harvested (approximately):

6.5# yellow and green beans (mostly yellow)

30 cucumbers 6-8" about 13#

20 zuchinni 6-8" about 11#, and about 4# baby ones before the freeze

2 dozen ears of corn (varying quality though - need to work on those a little...)

3# carrots (not very sweet though)

20 tomatoes, not so great ones, we're trying some other varieties next year.

6# onions

about a dozen (3 1/2# I think) peppers (immature/green & purple)

and one unripe watermelon, plus a tiny almost ripe one...

I am going to make a real effort to keep track of both my costs and my yields next year, to see how it pencils out.

Although there were some flaws in my planning, and a couple of mishaps along the way, all in all I felt it was a successful garden. By the end of summer, I decided to plan an expansion...