I planted carrots, radish, lettuce, and beets in the 2 new raised beds.
The tomatoes I planted from seed are taking off and growing quickly now. I planted these 1/7, which is probably too early. I transplanted the tiny seedlings before they grew their true leaves into larger cups with holes poked in the bottom. They are under led grow lights that stay on 16 hours per day. I water with a weak fertilizer solution from the bottom.
I planted 2 sq-ft of carrot and 2 sq-ft of radish this morning. I planned on duplicating this to a second bed where I have new soil, just as a A/B test to see how different the 2 soils performed. …But I ran out of time, so only one bed planted so far.
Amber pulled up the onions. Some of there were huge. I think onions are year-to-year the easiest crop we grow. She rigged up some wire fence across a few saw horses and hung the onions on the wire fence to dry for a week or so. He plans on freezing some and storing the rest.
We also harvested broccoli, as the weather is getting too hot. The bugs are eating it up quickly and most of it has already bolted. Good eats though!
The tomatoes are getting really close to being ripe. We picked a few that are starting to turn red because we don’t trust the local wildlife to leave them alone. The bushes are getting really tall, to the point we are going to need to top them to keep them from falling over.
The melons in the backyard are growing well. Sweet corn seems to be doing well too. Okra, not so much. I sprayed it all with a foliar fertilizer (Hasta Grow) and I hope that helps. A big mistake from last year was letting the wild non-edible melon continue to grow. The seed it released is now germinating and I have hundreds of those plants growing, in and among my useful plants. Lesson learned: stay on top of the weeding!
We also harvested a few carrots (meh). The blackberries are starting to get ripe, but they are absolutely covered with moths and wasps. Some of the plums are starting to ripen, but they are all infested with bugs because I didn’t spray insecticide at the right time. And our chickens have been naughty and are hanging out and laying eggs in our raised beds. The local rat snake found the eggs and had a nice meal.
raised bed #1: dwarf gray pea, sugar daddy pea, sugar snap pea, imperator 56 carrot, Parisian carrot, red cord chanty carrot, long imperator 58 carrot.
raised bed #2: Oregon sugar pod 2 pea, gurneys sugar Anne pea, top-notch pea, green magic broccoli
raised bed #3: melting sugar snow pea, Cascadia sugar snap pea, sugar daddy pea, black seeded simpson lettuce, mandarin spinach, french dressing radish, cherry bell radish, purple top white globe turnip
raised bed #4: snowball cauliflower, long island brussels sprouts, Catskills brussels sprouts
raised bed #5: Waltham 29 broccoli, calabrese broccoli
I’m trying once again to direct-seed cool weather plants in the heat of summer. The ‘feels like’ temperature was 105°F today because of the high humidity due to the 2.8″ of rain this morning. Nice to have the rain though! I was unsuccessful in direct-seeding plants like this last year.
Earlier this weekend before it had rained, I was able to move a lot of top soil out of the “pond” area and place it on the eastern part of the Hügelkultur bed #1. Just before dark I added straw mulch and planted about 50 bean plants, then distributed a packet of buckwheat cover crop to a lot of the bed. The plants I’ve had growing in this bed haven’t done very well. I think it is a combination of not enough soil, the typical first-year poor performance of a hugelkultur bed, and not enough water. I added more soil to this part of the bed compared to the part I already have plants growing in– hope that helps. I’m eager to have plants growing in it to hold the steeply-sloped soil in place. I figure beans are a good choice.
It’s was warm most of last week and has rained all this week. Lots of new green growth in the garden. Most of the fruit trees are flowering.
The rabbits left us a few carrots. Five to be precise. Adjusted for size, it amounted to one and a half. They were very tender and delicious though. I hope I have more room next fall for a lot more. And I need a fence!
I pulled up a sick looking pepper plant and seeded some snow peas in one bed. In the bed with okra, I cut back some of the low leaves and put in another row of snow peas and some carrots. I notice the comfrey that is under the okra (shaded mostly) is growing much better than the comfrey that has full sun. I’m hoping the snow peas and carrot will benefit in the same way. I’m a little concerned that none of the seeds (broccoli, brussels sprouts, and spinach have sprouted yet. It may have just been too hot lately. If I don’t see anything by the end of the week, I’ll reseed it all.
Aiden helped me pick tomatoes, peppers, and a few okra. The okra are just starting to produce. We found hornworms on the tomatoes, so we need to check those daily. I cut the tomato plants way back because they were so overgrown and intertwined. When planted as close as they are, you are supposed to keep the suckers cut, which I have failed to do. I had some carrots that should have been harvested months ago. They were not too tasty.
