First Frost

We had our first frost two nights ago. Nothing was totally killed, but I took out the basil and peas, both of which looked pretty sad.

The celery experiment is amazing. New leaves emerged within a couple of days, and they are now several inches tall.

When I took out the tomatoes, I saved about six of them to use as green tomatoes. I still haven't cooked them, but one by one they have ripened on the counter, even though they were totally green with no color showing.

An Experiment

I planted a long row of garlic today, as well as three large shallots. Recently I've been planting the root ends of scallions and they've sprouted and produced more leaves. So I thought I'd try it with leeks. I have three large leek roots, which I put in the bed, about an inch down, and covered them with soil. They each had some short roots that had been cut off. I also have a celery base, which I've read will sprout. However, it doesn't have any roots, so I put it in a dish of water to see if it will sprout.

Winter Garden

With our recent decision to sell our cottage in Tucson and stay home this winter, I've decided to try to plant some winter vegetables. It's a bit late, but I thought I'd try anyway, just in case we have a delayed winter.

I sowed mesclun mix lettuce, Red Kitten and Matador spinach, mache, and more bok choi and kohlrabi.

Starting Fall Cleanup

The weather has turned very fall-like with no prospects for any more warm weather. Today may be our last day in the 70s. So I pulled out the tomatoes, after picking any that were close to being ripe. I also pulled the aubergine, the cucumbers, and the peppers except for the Mad Hatter. The Mad Hatter peppers are still green, so I'm going to give them a little longer in the ground before I pull the plant up and hang it upside down in the garage. I'd really like to get some to turn red.

Last week I pulled up the melons and dug up the rhubarb. We just don't use enough of it to justify the space it takes. We've also pulled out all the strawberry plants. I'll start new ones next year in a different bed.

I've left the zucchini for now, as it still has some squash coming. But without much heat they may not make it. The plant really looks ugly, covered with mildew.

I still have snap peas, lettuce, and bok choi, which has been a great success.

Melon!

Yesterday I picked our first Athena melon. We had it for breakfast today. Boy, was it good! I had waited until it came off easily. If anything, it was almost overripe. Maybe the next one I'll try to get it a little earlier.

Chickpea Thief

I've been noticing that there are not a lot of pods on my chickpea plants. Now I know why. Something has been stealing them and eating the peas inside. I found the evidence. Several piles of empty pods under the plants. I just hope there will be enough left to harvest. Obviously, I won't plant them again.

Notes for Next Year 2019

Three tomatoes worked fine. One cherry, one Stupice, and one Cherokee Purple, although I'd like to try Old German instead.

One aubergine and two peppers, plus maybe a Mad Hatter pepper as well. One cucumber.

Bush beans - only six plants in a short row.

One melon, against the house. One zucchini, also against the house.

Potatoes

Try spinach and chard again.

August Status Report

The blueberries are finished (much earlier than usual) and the strawberries have started producing again. We've been getting a few raspberries from the new plants. We had a few nice pears from the Ubileen and lots of small ones from the Orcas.

The tomatoes and peppers are still not looking great, except for the Cherokee Purple, which is finally ripening lots of tomatoes. I've picked one aubergine so far, with a few more coming.

The cucumbers are producing nicely, as is the zucchini. I pruned lots of leaves out of the zucchini, and so far there hasn't been any mildew. I also thinned out the melon leaves and cut off the growing tips. They had started to develop some mildew.

I've taken out the first row of bush beans. The second planting are ready to pick. I've sowed more lettuce, as well as kohlrabi, bok choi, and something called golden celery, with seeds from Grow Journey.

The big project now is removing most of the roses, one side of the lilies, and most of the herbs and lavender from the rose bed. I've decided I want more vegetable space and not so many flowers. Next year I'll plant a few new herbs and use the current herb bed for something else.

Status Update

Today we picked the first cherry tomato (Lizzano) and the first strawberry after the early summer break. There are several green beans ready to pick, as well as several more zucchinis.

The peaches (four) are just beginning to get some color. And I picked the first Ubileen pear.

Big Mistake!

About a month ago I thought it would be a good idea to get some compost to top up the vegetable beds. Instead of getting compost from Highway Fuel I ordered three yards from Terra Gardens. Big mistake. What they sell as compost is something they call organic mulch. Unfortunately, it is coarse unfinished compost. I realized this when I started to spread it, so in my infinite wisdom I dug it into the top six inches or so of the beds. Second big mistake. The plants have really struggled and some look like they're not going to make it. Then I realized that by digging the mulch into the soil, I was encouraging it to break down. But when it does that, it steals nitrogen from the soil. Duh!

In order to try to remedy this situation, I've fertilized everything with fish emulsion. The plants seem to be getting better, or at least they've stopped their downhill slide.


The aubergine and Mad Hatter pepper look terrible.

The two bell peppers also look sad. I've never had an insect problem on them until now. I guess it proves that insects are attracted to sickly plants.

These are both Athena melons. The first one is in the raised bed, the second one is in the ground. They were the same size when I planted them.

First Blueberries

Yesterday I picked the first blueberry (Earliblue).  They're ripening quickly now. The timing is perfect, because the strawberries are about to take their early summer vacation. There are still some ripe ones, but there are no flowers.