Garden Update for the End of June

Growing Strong like the Tyrells.

Beefsteak tomatoes on the vine.

Squash and Zucchini plants, getting huge!

Crowder pea vines. Some pods have as many as 20 peas.

I've picked about 6.0 lbs of squash and zucchini from my four plants, and I've almost gathered a pound of cherry tomatoes from a single cherry tomato plant.

It seems like the more bounty I gather in from the garden, the more problems I encounter. I've gotten the mildew under control in the squash/zucs, but now half my yellow pear tomato decided to die. I've got black spot on the roses, and my strawberry plants, which have been under a net and really haven't been getting close attention, are full of ants and aphids.

I cut out the dead parts of the yellow pear and gathered the green tomatoes for frying. And while I haven't sprayed the roses yet, I did get the strawberries uncovered, watered, cleaned for dead leaves and branches, and sprayed for bugs. 

Work work work.

Discoveries after the Rain

Some good, some bad.

Oriental Lily starting to open!

First bloom visible on Bell Pepper.

First strawberry runner reaching out.

Yellow pear tomato stem broken from wind.

Sometimes the Best Solutions are the Redneck Ones - Fixing the Strawberries

I purchased some bird netting from Amazon for around $11, and I was in a hurry to get it up as more and more strawberries were starting to turn. Last year the birds feasted and I starved, so this year I was determined it was going to be different.

The first step was to move the strawberries from the ground to containers. They've been on the move since that, bugging out whenever the front lines shifted (read: blue jays started hanging around).

Next step was to get them covered. I figured I could drape the netting over them, but I still didn't want the birds getting under the netting or being able to reach the fruit through it. It took a few days to come up with a solution. Wire coat hangars. I'm telling you - those things are useful for just about everything.

Strawberry plants covered with bird netting. You can see the wire coat hangars in between the plants. I alternated the direction they were hung so that they would keep the netting off the leaves.

Ripening strawberries

Garden Update for the last part of May

One of those quick summer showers just passed through, so I went out to snap some pics of the garden. Things are slow; we're in the wait-and-watch phase. The only work left to do at this point is to set out my Cherokee Purple and my bell pepper plant, which I am to do this weekend.

The squash are taking over my garden. Both of my hands are smaller than some of those leaves.

After a rough start, my peas have jumped! I keep expecting to see vines any day now...

The carrots, several weeks after their final thinning. There are 7. ... yes. 7.

Look! Tomatoes!

Tons of blooms on the Roma tomato.

Snapshot of the whole garden in all it's ramshackle glory.

Remember the onion bottoms? They're sprouting! And pecan tassels. They're everywhere.

Strawberry blooms!

The strawberries in their new home hanging from the banister on the back deck.

I don't mind picking strawberries one at a time. They're delicious!

I now officially have a vegetable garden

The garden is planted!

Saturday, May 4th, mom and I set out my tomatoes at long last. I realize I had the peas, squash, and zucs already planted, but really. The tomatoes are my favorites. I was not going to be happy until they were set out. Have a look:

Five tomato plants in 5 gallon buckets. As of this writing, all of the tomatoes have flowers on them except the Yellow Pear, front right. In the background, you can see my buckets of peas. They're actually not doing so hot, and I'm afraid my seed wasn't very good after being stored for several years.

Closeup of the biggest flower buds on the Kimberly Cherry tomato.

 Also on the 4th, I potted up my seedling Cherokee tomato, at the top, and moved my bell pepper plant into a new pot as well, at the bottom.



Here is also a picture of the carrots, looking huge. Although I didn't snap a picture, I have thinned them out once more. I believe 7 carrots are now left in my container. But that's just fine with me. If they are 7 carrot-sized and carrot-shaped carrots, then I will call this experiment a success.

Squash palnts putting on new leaves. As of this writing, all four of my squash plants have the beginnings of flower buds.

I don't know if I've written about the onion. This is an onion that mom bought from the store. She cut the roots off, and I stuck the bottom with roots into a pot. That was last summer. I honestly don't know what it's doing. I'm wondering if it might bloom soon...

Last but not least, fresh strawberries from the garden! The first strawberry didn't survive long enough to have its picture taken. It straight from the plant to my mouth in a fit of glee. Oh well. Here's the second and third strawberries, to make up for that.

M is for Mobile

The M*A*S*H* 4077 Mobile Garden

So this year I'm doing my entire garden in containers. Last year's garden was a complete fiasco; along with some family problems that kept me away from the garden weeks at a time and drought, I had every kind of pest, mold, and fungus one could develop. Black-turning leaves, white fly, worms, stunted growth, nematodes... The only way I got tomatoes at all was by purchasing some 5 gallon buckets and some starts from the garden center late in the season.

But I accidentally stumbled onto something good.  This year all the garden is mobile. So far just the peas and squash/zucs are planted, but have a look:

Crowder Peas

Squash and Zucchini, two to a box

Personally I think the idea of using tomato cages in with my peas was ingenious. I've used the stake and twine method to make rows for two years now, and I've found it tedious but do-able. This year is an experiment, but I already like the direction it's heading. In both pictures you can see my little sprouts!

Also mobile is my strawberry patch. They're looking much better than they did in February.

And finally, an update on the tomatoes and pepper plants. Look how big they're getting! I topped them off with some fresh dirt today, and I'm aiming to set them out in their own mobile containers about the first of May.

Strawberries and Roses and Other Things Too

So, an update! I've had several days off work, and I'll have a few more, and mom and I have taken the time to get our ornamentals planted this year.

We can't plant the garden for another two weeks according to the Almanac and the weather patterns we're experiencing, but we were determined to plant something. So we picked up some vincas, impatiens, pansies, and a very fragrant dianthus from the garden center to bring home some color to the flower bench.

I also grabbed a pack of 12 assorted oriental lily bulbs from the store. I love the oriental lilies, and I was going to pick some up from The Lily Garden, but I just couldn't bite the bullet on those prices. Perhaps in the future if there are one or two varieties I'm missing or I particularly like, I'll grab some from there. Nevertheless, that's a great site to browse for identification purposes.

As for other garden updates:

The tomatoes are up and growing strong! At the lower right, the pepper plant has made an appearance at 2 wks 3 days.

The strawberries are blooming! I'm honeslty surprised to see them do so, as I was certain transplanting messed them up for this year.

We've added a hummingbird feeder to the garden! It's standing next to my beloved Don Juan rose. We've had one brief visitor to it in the 24 hrs it's been up.

And finally, the roses are making roses! Pictured here is the biggest rosebush in my yard, a Sarah Van Fleet.

Strawberries!

So, it's been a few weekends. Everything has sprouted at long last, and some of the first tomatoes are putting on tiny little leaf buds which shall, in time, become their first true leaves. Even the pepper and the carrots are showing ontop of the soil. But really, there's not a great deal to report yet on those. Perhaps when the sprouts get their first true leaves, I'll stick some pictures up here.

Until that time, how about some pictures of other things in my garden?

The other half of my gardening efforts include... strawberries!

These strawberries are approximately one to two year old plants. The story is this: One year I think it's a good idea to buy two strawberry plants from the store and plant them on the side of the garden, to see what happens. They're guaranteed by the sticker to make strawberries in the same year. Time passes. No strawberries. Boo. But, the little suckers start spreading - EVERYWHERE.
Winter comes, garden is covered in leaves and dead grass. Spring arrives... and the first thing to show up outside are strawberry plants. I neglect them anyway. They didn't do anything for me the first time, why should I take care of them this time. And behold - strawberries begin to appear, bright red strawberries. Then rollie pollies. THen slugs. Then birds. Needless to say, they feasted and I starved. I threw up my hands again.
Winter comes.
And this year, I see strawberries, strawberry plants everywhere. So this year, I'm putting my foot down. I got the shovel, dug them up, and I now have four hanging pots of strawberries like the one pictured. We'll see who wins this year - me or the birds.
Today when I was out in the garden, I noticed a solitary strawberry plant growing in the middle of where I dug all these up. I must have left some roots behind, and it came up again! I'll be adding that sturdy little shoot to my collection this weekend, I hope.

More to come later.