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.

Mulch

After doing a pretty thorough weeding on the whole yard, we ordered three yards of dark hemlock mulch from Highway Fuel.  We were able to cover the front yard, the new bed along the back fence, and the bed along the back of the house.  It took us three days to disperse it.  Then we ordered another two yards, which we spread in the two small beds behind the deck, the rose bed, and the long bed along the west fence.  This was easier, done in one day.

We're hoping this will take care of the huge weed problem we have when we return from Tucson.  Stay tuned.