Status of Fall Garden

The fall brassicas have been moved into the potato bed, with a net cover over them. They're growing nicely now.

In the box with the leeks I've planted some rainbow chard and sowed some spinach. They're all small, but coming along. 

We've had some really hot weather (and now lots of wildfire smoke!) The tomatoes are happy. I picked 4 1/2 pounds yesterday and canned them today (3 jars plus a smaller one). The melons are getting close. They also love the heat. 

I pulled out all the cranberry beans that were planted among the tomatoes. The other dry beans aren't ready to pull yet. 

More Tomatoes

Today I picked the first Cherokee Purple tomatoes and the first bell pepper. We had one tomato for lunch. Yummy! I picked the second aubergine, with several more smaller ones to be ready soon. The Boothby's Blonde cucumbers have been producing nicely. Two more today.

I've started some pak choi, which is now up, as is the chard. The broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage that I started in the ground had not been doing well, so I moved them into small pots. I think the problem has been the roots of the arbor vitae hedge next door. The ground is almost solid tiny roots. 

I've cut all the growing tips off the melons and pulled off anything smaller than one inch. I'm not sure if the smallest ones will ripen, but we'll find out. 

Late June Garden Status

After a rather cool spring, things are finally warming up. There are small green tomatoes on all the plants. No peppers or aubergines yet. After the snap peas fell over in a strong wind, I removed them yesterday. There were lots that were huge and fat, so I shelled them and froze them. Next year I think I'll try short ones. And now the cucumbers will be happy because they've been living in the shadow of the peas.

The potatoes are blooming. We've had some strawberries, but now they're taking a break. We've been picking blueberries for about two weeks, but most of them are still coming. I guess they liked the fertilizer I gave them, because they're huge. Even the new one that I just planted this spring to replace the Chandler has a nice crop. After we found a couple of stink bugs on the raspberries, I've pulled them all out. We haven't seen any since. In their place I planted some melons. They should like the heat against the house.

Both pear trees have a modest crop. The peaches are a washout again. Maybe it's time to give up on it.

The broccoli and cauliflower were a disappointment, but the cabbage is nice. I've cut one head and will cut another soon for sauerkraut. I will try them all again in the fall.

I've been doing a lot of interplanting. I've planted lots of dry beans among the roses and tomatoes, and lettuce as well. I've also just sowed some bok choi in shady spots to see if they'll work in the summer.

I pulled most of the chard, since I was spending a lot of time patrolling them for leaf miners. I have one of each color, much more manageable.

Lots of Veggies In

We've had a few days in the mid-80s, so I was anxious to get things into the ground. I've planted eight tomato plants, eight pepper plants, and two aubergines, all in the rose bed. I've planted zucchini and delicata squash and cucumbers in a raised bed, all ones I had started. Two melon plants went into the bed along the back of the house, in front of the raspberries.

I sowed some pole beans along the trellis on the deck where I killed the clematis montana by pruning it too late. I hope the ground is warm enough for them to sprout. And I sowed another row of carrots. Something is eating the first row, but I put Sluggo Plus down, so I hope that stops whatever it is.

The blueberries have lots of fruit coming, as do the new strawberries and the raspberries. And both the asparagus and potato beds are looking good. The pear trees has lots of fruit, and even the peach tree, which looks totally butchered, has quite a bit of fruit. And the mandarin is loaded with flower buds.

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.

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.

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.

Some Fall Vegetables

We just plain got tired of all the melons.  After having it every day on our cruise, we just couldn't face any more.  So out they came.  The winter squash is still there, doing amazingly well.

I sowed some chard and kale in an empty bed, but only the chard came up really well.  There are a few curly kale plants, but the Tuscan kale never came up at all.  So I found a six pack of starts at 13th Street Nursery and stuck them in. 

I also found a six pack of Brussels sprouts, which I tucked in a couple of other beds.

We're Back!

We've returned from our cruise, and boy, have things changed in six weeks. There must be dozens of melons ripe or almost ripe.  And there are about thirty butternut squash.

The tomatoes and peppers are doing well, although I'm not impressed with the Berkeley Tie-Dye tomato.  It tastes pretty good, although no better than Cherokee Purple.  It has some blossom end rot and is nowhere near as prolific as the CP.

I sowed some kale and chard in the bed that had greens previously.  And I pulled the strawberries (because they looked terrible) and sowed carrots and Romaine lettuce.  I'll put garlic in there as well.

It's All In!

We've been having consistent night time temperatures in the upper 40s and lower 50s, so I decided it was time to plant the rest of my vegetables.  But first, I had to remove the overwintered spinach and parsnips.  I had planted the parsnips in September, knowing that they really wouldn't amount to anything.  And I was right.  I saved four to put in my next pot of stock.  Most of them were the size of small, very long carrots. 

I planted four tomato plants and six peppers.

I planted two black zucchini and two Cube of Butter yellow squash. 

I planted five types of melons and one hill of butternut squash in the area where we took out three raised beds.

Lastly, I sowed another row of carrots and a row of gourmet blend beets.

The strawberries are loaded with fruit.  Now we just need some nice warm weather to ripen them.

One More Day

After several really nice days, we have a week of showery weather coming in.  So...

I put compost and fertilizer in the melon bed.

I also turned fertilizer into the squash bed.

The ground is getting hard already, so I'll wait until after the rain to finish weeding.

First Melon!

Yesterday I picked our first melon, an Artemis.  It's a charantais type.  It was very good. 

The Ambrosias are still a way off.

New Fountain

Today we got a new fountain for the deck. 

I started melons and cucumbers and sowed leeks in the onion/garlic bed.

If it Isn't One Thing It's Another

I've covered all my broccoli plants to keep out the white butterflies, and I've been monitoring them just in case.  However the latest threat is from below.  One of our little subterranean rascals (Mole? Vole?) has chewed the roots off several plants.  I couldn't figure out why they kept wilting, even though I gave them extra water.  Now I know.

The last two melons have been harvested, thank goodness.  They've been very good and we've really enjoyed them.  But enough is enough.  Surely it must be almost grapefruit season.

This morning we walked in Minto Brown Park.  It's starting to feel more and more like fall, although most of the trees still have all their leaves.  I found a mushroom that I can't identify, as well as a wildflower I can't identify.

End of the Melons

The melons are finally winding down, thank goodness.  We've gotten pretty tired of them.  There are still three in the refrigerator, and six in the bed.  I've given them away to everyone I know, including the FedEx guy.  But now I've cleaned out most of the vines, leaving only the few that have an unripe melon.

I plan to sow lots of lettuce for winter salads.

Now for my next project.  I'm going to pull out all the basil on this side of the tomato bed. It grew beautifully, but with the sweet potatoes and squash in the bed beside it, The path is impossible to get through.  I think I'll make lots of pesto to freeze.