Early August Veggies Ripening

Just a few notes today.  First, there are several small cucumbers growing, including one that is trying to defy gravity.  As it tries to grow up it becomes increasingly round rather than elongated.  You can also see a clump of small ones in the upper right.  (Click the pics to see them bigger.)

Some grape tomatoes are starting to ripen.  This plant grew bigger than we expected.  If it stood upright it would probably be almost as tall as me!  So another gardening lesson learned, if we plant these again we'll need a taller cage.

And here you can see some big sweet peppers in front and some jalapenos growing in the background. There are a lot more jalapenos growing on that plant than you can see here, maybe 15 or more, but I tried to get some of each in this shot.

The weather finally turned a bit milder so the plants aren't baking during the day anymore, but it has also turned dry so I have been watering the garden a bit every day.  I try to wait for evening but since I'm off work I'm pretty bored so I usually do it when they say not to - in the middle of the day.  Oh well, it's just a bit of water.  We've been talking about getting a sprinkler but it certainly isn't urgent.  Until next time, Happy Gardening! 

End Of July, More Bounty

Last night Kate thinned out the carrots some more.  In the Spring the seeds got all moved around due to wet weather and were growing very close together.  She also picked the lettuce. 

So everything is going well now in the west garden.  Some grape tomatoes are starting to turn red, jalapenos are sprouting all over the plant, and we've already had a few big sweet peppers.  I found out the cucumber plant is a white cucumber plant so I would be waiting quite a while for them to turn green.  We've brought the biggest one in already that either fell off or was removed by a squirrel.  Well, it was just a free packet of seeds we received.

There is nothing new to report about the strawberry bed other than some of the older plants seem to be being replaced with new growth.  That's probably all that will happen until we trim it this fall so I may not show it in all future updates.

And below is just a side view of the east garden.  Can you believe it it going to be August already tomorrow?

All pics are from this morning except the top one with the carrots.

Garlic!

Kate harvested the garlic last night.  Like last year, the bulbs are in nice shape yet small.  This fall she is going to plant the garlic for next spring, so maybe that will make a difference.  Maybe then we can replant and get two crops of it next year, too.  The only other change in the garden is the small thyme plant that was getting lost in the middle has been replanted in the lower corner where the radishes were earlier.  The tomatoe plants are still wilty and the cucumber leaves have been looking like damp rags a lot lately.  We have been watering them in the evenings and now we have rain much of today and some tomorrow so hopefully everything pulls through well.

Growth of July

  The west garden has evolved a bit since the last post.  About a week ago Kate picked the last of the peas and pulled the plants along the top.  The small trellis I made to contain them remains, however, as the cucumber plants have grown up, over and through it.  Also, she picked the radishes in the lower right corner.  This was the second try for radishes and like last time they failed to bulb up underground even as the tops were huge and going to seed.  Oh well, I don't really like radishes anyway.  More on this garden with the side view pic below.

  In the east garden the strawberrys are done for the season and the plants look like they have seen better days.  I'm not exactly sure, but I think we should pretty much leave it be until fall when we can cut down the plants and cover it with hay again.

Here I can point out more things with the side view.  Starting at left, the carrots (top left in this pic) are growing well.  Below that the lettuce is ready to eat.  We have already eaten some in salads and I'm sure we'll have more soon.  Next, the Jalepenos and sweet peppers are growing very well.  There are many small peppers started and even a few that need to be picked very soon.  Then there's the garlic.  It layed down last year too and it made me nervous enough that Kate finally picked it.  She assures me that the bulbs are still growing so I will believe her.  The huge tomato plants have been looking sickly lately, withering up in the heat of the past week, but hopefully with water and more reasonable temperatures they will bounce back.  In front of those are the two basil plants, a large leaf one and a small leaf one.  Then  there are the cucumbers, one up top to the right of the tomatoes that's hard to see in this pic, and the monster long one growing down the length of the garden.  It is a lot of stuff in a small area but we seem to be making it work! 

Monster Cucumber Plant

I took pictures two days ago but didn't post them so I went out this morning for an updated pic to post today.  The last post was 9 days ago and you can see the growth!  There are now small peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers starting to grow.  The cucumber next to the path has become a monster, growing up the small trellis into the peas and down the side of the garden.  I'm posting the garden side view below so it is easier to compare to the last post.  Pics from 2 days ago, including the strawberry bed, are after the break.

Full Garden Rundown

The west garden is so full of growing bounty that you can't see it all the way I usually photograph it.  So in the interest of our documentation of the garden I chose to shoot it in sections from the side, standing in between the beds.  Let's see how this works out...

Starting at the top of the garden, on the right here, the peas have become quite the tangled plants.  They just keep growing and need a bigger trellis to climb.  We may add about a 4-5 foot trellis up the garage side next year, see if that helps.  Next to the tiny trellis I put in earlier, the cucumber plants that Kate started from seed inside have started to take off.  This is one of our biggest space concerns.

Moving left, further down the garden we have a rough row of cherry tomatoes at the top, regular tomatoes in the middle, and a small basil plant that we may have to move or put in a pot due to the encroaching cucumbers.  To the left of that is another rough row of sage, a tiny but healthy thyme plant and a larger leaf basil than the smaller one next to it.  Further down are 2 rows of garlic (still not enough :)).

Just this side of the good looking garlic are hot and sweet pepper plants, the one lower in the pic, the sweet, was laying a bit the other day so is now staked.  Then at the bottom of the garden, in thirds, are carrots up top, then lettuce and finally the radishes.  The squirrels dug up part of a row where you see the bare spot.  We might move the basil there later, we'll see.

And finally, the calendar has turned to July and the June-bearing strawberry plants must have known as they have finished giving up their delightful berries.  In all, we got around 7 quarts of berries this Spring.  It doesn't seem like a lot, certainly not too much, but it's kind of sad that they're done now until next Spring.

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New Gate For The Gardens

Yesterday I added a front rail and gate to the gardens.  I'm actually pretty proud of how it turned out.  It looks nicer, I think, and the easier access to the path in between the gardens is just soooo convenient!  Check out my regular blog post here for lots more pics and commentary!

Things Getting Big and Picking Strawberries

Just a quick post to show the growth of all the plants.  No rundown of every single one this time, but I will point out the sprouting lettuce and radishes at the bottom, and the peas have gotten big!  We've never grown peas before, now we know.  Still, they won't last all Summer so we may pull them once they are done producing to make more room for the cucumber plants.

The strawberries have been producing for over a week now.  We have to pick them daily.  We are getting a fairly good yield, but many are small.  I wrote a little more about the strawberries over at my regular blog today, you can read that here.

More Planting, Space Worries

After yesterday's post, my wife chastised me for forgetting to mention the basil, planted in an east-west row along with the tomato plants (it's the one by the trowel).  Today she planted another basil, seen by her left hand, in the row with the sage and thyme thereby filling, or over-filling, all the space in the top of the garden.  We'll see how big things get, the cucumbers have me a bit worried if they happen to actually grow well.  Ah well, nothing ventured - nothing gained, right?

The lower part of the garden is divided into thirds under the pepper plants.  The left third still has the carrots, the middle third is now 3 short rows of leaf lettuce, and the right third is another round of  3 short rows of radishes.  Hopefully we won't get pummelled with rain anytime soon so the rows stay where planted.  As you can see, the carrots look pretty random and low, but I'm sure we'll get something from them.

Also this morning, we picked our first 10 (or so) ripe strawberries - they tasted great!  Just a sign of things to come!

June-Bearing Strawberries

The peas are getting very large at the top of the garden, with first pea pods starting to grow.  Just this side of the small trellis several of the cucumber plants seem to be doing very well.  I don't know if they will have much room if they all do well, but I guess we'll take that chance.  We put the tomato cages on the plants while we still can.  They have gotten stronger since we planted them and are starting to grow nicely.  Below that, the sage is growing well and the thyme is still small but growing well.  It is hidden by the 2 rows of garlic.  Then there are the hot and sweet pepper plants.  Kate pulled the radishes, they weren't developing well since the seeds got washed too close together.  The same happened to the carrots in the lower left but she has tried to thin them as they grow to give them a chance.  We still have space to plant more things yet.  Stay tuned, I guess.

A few days ago I notice the first berries starting to turn red so it was time to cover them with netting.  Since then, it seems a squirrel got in and tried one or two so now we think we have it secured enough to discourage future poaching.  But hey, if they're that determined there's not a lot we can do.  Check out the close up pic below!