End of June Garden Update

Wow, lots to update, just on the garden.

1. Carrots. I've thinned them, but there are still a few that are clumping. I pulled one today (smallest of a large clump), and it was 4.5in long! They are growing well. (Somedays, you have to take a measuring tape with you to photograph stuff).

2. Tomatoes. Wow, they are growing great. I had to use bamboo stakes to extend the height of my tomato cages! The tallest, a Red Plum Variety, measures in at 6ft, 1 in. It's the tallest member of our family. The vines all are making green tomatoes, and I hope they will wait to ripen until I get back in town a week from Tuesday.

3.Beans. I think I am close to 1.7gallons of snap beans collected. That's a lot. Maybe I planted too many.

4. Summer Squash. The battle is on, and I am much more on the winning side than I was last year. That's right. Squash bugs. Or, at least what I am calling squash bugs. (I think there are about ten+ kinds of bugs that all do the same thing to squash vines - kill them. Last year, I lost all my vines after only a few squash. This year, I have already harvested that many squash (Did you see my harvest counter to the left?) and the vines are still healthy! I am going out 2-3 times per week, picking off all the bugs I can find, and then killing them with my foot. Spraying water laced with pepper and garlic helps deter them, and this week I started putting small containers with a mixture of 2 tbsp molasses, a splash of cider vinegar, and a pint of water out. It attracts some of them, and then they get stuck in the water. But, we have squash growing!

5. Berries. I have a few berry plants, and my wife and I have been enjoying the occasional fresh raspberry, blackberry, or strawberry. There's never enough at once to make anything, but they taste good. But, since they are young plants, the berries are all small...

6. Peppers. The bell pepper plants are slowly growing, and maybe starting to show signs of peppers. One of the cayenne pepper plants is amazing. It must have 50 baby peppers on it... yum, spicy goodness.

7. Herbs. Well, the herbs are growing. The large amount of basil I planted seems to be sprouting and doing well. Rosemary, parsley, oregano... They will go well with those tomatoes!

Well, there is bound to be a huge harvest soon. I'll keep you posted!

Big Updates (It's been a while, sorry!)

Update 1:

I caught a varmint in the basement. It was a small female rat who now lives a mile away in a forest-y creek. She no longer eats my plants. My picture did not come out. However, Little Ms Bandit seems to have had a companion. I had the no-kill trap to hopefully catch them, but alas, he (or she) decided that the rat poison looked good, and ate about 6-8 packs of poison. I am sure Little Ms Bandit's partner in crime (the crime being eating my seedlings) is no longer around, but several traps are set to hopefully catch any more critters who eat my pepper plants, flowers, and tomatoes.

While in the pursuit of Bandit, I put clear plastic around the planters of seedlings, making them small greenhouses. Upside: Bandit didn't eat my sprouting tomatoes. Downside: A little bit of white mold growing on the newspaper pots...

Real upside: A lot of baby plants which will hopefully grow quickly so I can put them outside in the garden in a few weeks. I've brought the largest ones inside to get sunlight in the south-side window and stay away from the critters.

Yay, tomatoes growing... it makes me happy.

Update Number 2.

I've began planting things in the garden. I bought a bunch of red onions and sweet onions to plant (a brown lunch bag full) for $2. They are outlining the major perimeter of the garden, in three rows. I have moved the scallions outside to the garden, and planted some more scallion seeds with the row. I've also planted some carrot seed, radish seed, and flax seed. YUM!

The onions, which I planted a few weeks ago are thriving. I saw one that was starting to sprout out of the ground, and so I went to re-plant it this morning (I may have missed it the first time). The roots were over 3 inches long!

Update 3: Berries!

A colleague of mine moved to Chile last year and gave me raspberry and blackberry plants. He told me to keep them outside in pots/ inside with the grow light until spring. I did, and I planted them outside. The raspberries are doing well. The blackberries aren't far behind.

Also, I planted that strawberry pot I blogged about before with those strawberries I got at Lowes or Home Depot. The berries are all doing well, except for one little plant. It should be ok - strawberries spread a lot.

Oh, right - strawberry pots are difficult to maintain because of multiple holes in the side, and it is so deep that it can be hard to water. The solution is to put a PVC pipe, that you drill a lot of holes into the side of, in the middle, and fill it with rocks. The result is a watering tube to keep the center moist.

Update 4 (Random leftover stuff):

I got compost for the whole garden. It is between 1 and two inches thick and at least the onions love it thus far.

The neighbors trimmed their rosemary. I took some trimmings and dried it, and made some of Urbanbreadmachine's Famous Rosemary Bread, and stuck some of the trimmings in some dirt, and they seem to still be alive.

Lastly, the peas sprouted. They are all growing quickly and starting to cling to the trellises. Yay! (And you can also see the blackberries (left) and raspberries (right) in this photo.

That's all for now. I'll try to post a picture of the onions (and my new design for a tomato cage) tomorrow.