July 17, 2012 - The Garden Mid July




I must say this year's garden, with the exception of the carrot fail, has so far been the best ever.  As far as pounds harvested, it's way ahead of 2009, 2010 and 2011.  In fact, I've already harvested about half of 2011's entire year's total.  Potatoes and onions have been the big producers, and beans are on their way to being more abundant than any previous year.  Last year was an off year for zucchini and summer squash.  This year I'm begging family and neighbors to take the extras off my hands.  The winter squash looks like it might produce enough to feed an army.   The butternuts have taken over about a third of the garden, the vines are growing through the fence and threatening to take over the lawn, and they are absolutely loaded with squash.  Cantaloupe vines run rampant, although the only melon I've seen so far is on a rather sickly looking plant in a pot.  I thought the peppers were slow, but looking at pictures from previous years, they are right about where they should be.  Now that the bush beans have been removed from both sides of the pepper row, they have more room to grow.

All of the sweet onions have been pulled from the east garden, and as the potatoes are dug, I've been prepping all available areas for planting the fall garden.  I've never planted a fall garden before, as we've always left for our AZ home by mid-October.  Now that we've sold that property, and will be staying right here for the winter, I'm ready to give it a try.  I won't attempt to over winter anything other than spinach, and maybe a few carrots, but I do hope to have an abundant fall harvest.  So far I've planted lettuce, carrots, cabbages and bush beans.  Beets were planted a few weeks ago, and are well on their way to producing what looks to be a lovely crop.  Another bed of carrots will be sown today.

I'll apologize in advance for having so many pictures in this post, but I find the information valuable for my future gardens.  I'm constantly referring back to previous years to see what worked, what didn't and how I might improve the gardening experience.


 Cantaloupe vines growing up the garden ladder.

 Cantaloupe vines overtaking the garden path.

 My small planting of storage onions.  I grew these from seed, and didn't think they were even going to survive.  They were planted way too close together to size up decently.   One of several late plantings of carrots in front of the onions.

 Two more plantings of carrots on the other side of the onions.  Germination was pretty good in this bed, but I don't yet know if this area is infested with the nematodes that ruined my earlier carrot crop.

 A hill of Honey Bear acorn squash.

 Conjoined  Honey Bear twins!

 The bush beans have been pulled from each side of the sweet pepper row, giving them the room they need to grow and produce.  There are quite a few peppers on the plants, and many blossoms.

Two nice sized Waltham Butternut squash, hanging over the side of their container.

The beet bed is covered with tulle to protect the leaves from miners.  So far, so good!

 Are my Brussels sprouting?  They're not half as big as Sue's (pout, pout).

 The Honey Select corn stands tall.

It won't be long now!

Silver Queen went down in the wind again.

I set it straight and hog tied it to the fence post.

 The sweet potatoes are beginning to vine.

 The morning glories are....well, glorious!

 North garden tomatoes are almost to the roof of the shed.  Two of the four are beginning to produce ripe tomatoes,  Marglobe Supreme and Isis Candy.  So far, the Marglobe is mealy and bland, but the Isis Candy are sweet and juicy.  The volunteer Cherokee Purple tomato, in the tepee structure in the foreground, has blossomed and still has time to set and ripen fruits.

 The hollyhocks and Shasta daisies have passed their prime and need to be cut back.  It's not a job I look forward to, especially since they are crawling with earwigs.  Fortex pole beans, on the back fence, are in full production.  In fact, I have three pounds of them in the refrigerator, waiting to be blanched and frozen.  I was going to do that last night, but I was just too tired to fool with them.

I had to bring in some concrete blocks to set the garden sprinkler on, as it was being eaten alive by butternut squash plants.  I think one more block will be needed real soon.  I got the old raspberry canes pruned out this week, but now I have to go in and do some selective pruning of the new canes.  I'll remove all but about 20-24 of the sturdiest.

 The east garden is "under construction" for fall.  Carrots, bush beans and cabbages have been planted, peas and more carrots will be next, as the remaining potatoes are removed from their beds.

 One lone pot of Spacemaster slicing cucumbers, but a productive plant that provides Mr. Granny with all the cucumbers he can eat. 

 The monster Waltham Butternut squash plants are busting through the fencing and headed toward the lawn.

Can you just imagine how many squash are under those vines where I can't see them?

Then there's the summer squash.  I can barely get out the back door of the garden shed, where the zucchini (left) and yellow crookneck (right) have taken over.

 The two plants occupy (crowd) a 10' x 12' area behind the shed.

 This leaf, on the crookneck, is 20" long.

 The zucchini have been just lovely, and I've only missed one that grew too large.  It was grated and frozen for future loaves of zucchini bread.  The crooknecks are harder to find, and three big ones have gone into the compost.

I'll end this post here, and we'll visit "Tomato Alley" another time.

 PS: This is my second post of the day.  Be sure to get thyself to the first one and wish me a "Happy Blogiversary"!!  Come on, you know you want to....  ;-)


47 comments:

  1. Wow Granny! I think you are the only gardener having an exceptional year! So no more complaining about your cool wet Spring and early Summer!

    Did you direct sow your fall cabbages? I have starts of broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage growing under cover on the back porch. Do you believe something was nibbling on them??

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    1. Robin, I direct seeded the cabbages. some are about 6" high and need to be thinned (I planted 3 seeds every 12", these are the mini variety) and the others were just planted yesterday. I think earwigs are chewing on my seedlings.

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    2. I forgot to ask you...what about cold frames? I thought you were going to put one or two in.

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    3. I don't know, Robin. Sometimes I think I will and other times I'm so darned tired I think maybe I'll be ready to sit in the recliner in front of the fireplace all winter, and just relax. I've been trying to drag a big bag of compost to the garden for two days now. I got it as far as the patio :-( I guess I'll resort to opening it and hauling it out there a bucket at a time. Sometimes it's just not worth it.

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    4. You have plenty of time to think about that. I just know that winter will start and you'll be itching to garden.

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  2. It all looks so amazingly abundant! It looks lovely, and I can bet that you're having trouble keeping up.

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    1. Stefaneener, not quite in full gear yet, just wait until the tomatoes come on! NOW...I am going to do those beans I told you about last night. The water is boiling for them!

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  3. I see you hogtie the corn.......do you ever do that to Mr. Granny?
    Good grief, you're always whining about the weather and you have the most EXCELLENT garden on earth. Take a bow---you deserve it.

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    1. Sue, I haven't had to hogtie Mr. Granny yet. He's still upright. ;-)

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  4. Your garden is gorgeous! I love how it is both functional and beautiful. Not to mention how much you have already harvested...

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  5. It all looks so good! I have planted a few carrots and radishes for the fall garden but I am still trying to clear out some space for the rest of it. :)

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    1. Thanks, Christy. I think I'm going to enjoy a fall garden, it won't be so hot harvesting things.

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  6. Your garden looks so green and lush. Mine is getting so crispy. The onions dried themselves right in the garden. I found some under the volunteer squash plant already dried and ready to go. I just went ahead and pulled all the onions to clean, chop, and freeze. They aren't going anywhere without the rain anyway. Our grass is actually crunchy! All that to say, your "green" looks so refreshing and alive.

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    1. Langela, so many are suffering from drought, others from floods. Luckily, we're right in the middle...plenty of water but not too much.

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  7. Oh how I'm going to envy your zucchini as my plants die. I'm hoping they hold out for some more. I've only picked three so far. Such a sad zucchini year.

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    1. Daphne, I'm going to have to access your zucchini recipes real soon. So far it hasn't been too hard to use, freeze or give them away, but if they keep up like this I'll soon have a glut of them.

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  8. Woot! Happy Blogoversary!!! The garden is looking fabulous, even if you had a carrot fail... I am in serious envy of all the space you have... sigh... Someday I will have room to grow!

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  9. Oh, I have serious garden envy now! I'm starting from scratch and in the dreaming stage. :-) I LOVE lots of pics!

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    1. Audacious, it's a good thing you like a lot of pictures, because I like taking them! Dream big, and good gardening in the future :-)

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  10. The pictures look great granny! I am glad you are having a bumper crop of a season. You certainly deserve it more than anyone I know. I can't imagine anyone working harder than you in their garden at your age. (Your 38 right? :) )

    I am excited to see your corn harvests.

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    1. Yes, Kris, I'm 38 years old. I'm also a multi-billionaire and have a house full of servants who wait on me while I play in the garden. LOL!!

      Although there won't be very many ears, I hope my small corn plot gives me some good corn. Yesterday I bought 6 ears from the local stand near our house. They've always had good corn, but the price goes up every year. I had to pay $2.40 for the six ears, and it wasn't even very good...it was picked way too old!

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    2. No kidding, I can't even think about eating store bought corn anymore. It is always starchy tasting to me now.

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    3. Kris, that's what was so upsetting. This was at a stand at the farm where it is grown and picked fresh daily. Usually several times a day, as they only pick two bins full and replace as needed through the day. The corn hadn't been out of the field for more than a few hours!

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  11. Beautiful garden and pictures! Does your fencing along the squash keep bunnies out? Or is that Annie's job? I expect rabbits don't like squash but am trying to consider how best to keep out the rabbit who has adopted my garden.

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    1. Thank you, Gracie! Living in town as we do, I don't have any rabbits around to bother the garden. Just birds and bugs. Lots of squirrels too, but they prefer the neighbor's walnut trees. The fence is to keep Annie and Otto out, but as the veggies get large enough to take it, I let them go into the garden with me. That's just the greatest fun for them, but somebody's in trouble today. There was a pile of dog poop next to the carrots. We do NOT poop in Granny's garden!!! (I'll bet it was Otto)

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  12. Great that you are having a good gardening year! Love the ladder. Think my husband has a wooden one in the garage about that size! Do you think he would miss it! Nancy

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    1. Nancy, I think I should have taken out the 10' ladder instead of the 4' ladder! The vines are already over the top :-)

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  13. wow your garden is just doing awesome this year!!

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    1. Thanks, Mrs. P. I'm quite happy with it so far.

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  14. Wow! I'm glad that you are having such a great gardening year. Your garden looks so healthy and lush.

    Those morning glories look great. What is that that you have them growing up under the fence?

    Happy Blogoversary! I've been following it faithfully since day one.

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    1. Ed, I just took some of the old wire fencing I had and bent it at one end to hang over the top of the cedar fence. I bowed it just a bit so it wasn't tight against the boards, and held it on the sides with a couple of large fence staples.

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  15. Beautiful garden and such dark rich looking soil. What type of compost do you use? Do you add any other amendments? Thanks for taking the time to post such lovely photos. Shoba

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    1. Thank you, Shoba. I buy a pickup load of "dairy compost" every spring at a nearby nursery. I also buy the least expensive brand I can find of pelleted organic fertilizer to use for side dressing things as needed, and occasionally give most everything a foliar spray and/or soil drench of fish fertilizer. I make my own compost, but I'm such a failure at it, it usually just sits in the compost barrel and then ends up getting piled into a small hill someplace with a few seeds tossed in. Last year's compost is under my zucchini and yellow summer squash, so I guess it was good stuff...'cause those plants are HUGE!

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  16. Looks wonderful as always! I'm amazed how well your butternuts and acorn squash is doing. Mine has couple of fruits but nothing "loaded".

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    1. Jenny, I need to wade through the vines and count just how many butternuts are out there. I think there are a lot! The last time I grew Walthams I harvested 24 squash weighing a total of 79 1/2 pounds from only one hill. This year I have four hills :-O

      http://annieskitchengarden.blogspot.com/2010/09/september-20-2010-harvest-monday.html

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  17. Great job in the garden! That is simply amazing. There are lots of them waiting for you to harvest. Excellent job!

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    1. Thank you, garden shed nz! Thank you for visiting my blog.

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  18. Sweet potatoes!
    I'm growing a whole BUNCH of them this year.
    Jeff (yes, YOUR Jeff) gave me the idea to do them in containers and they're all over the place. I'm growing 5 varieties and one: Ga Jets have already set some roots and I'm debating on whether I'm going to raid the plot.
    I put them in on May 3rd and this is super-duper early...but it's SO hard to resist. Only thing holding me back is knowing that I'd need at least 2 weeks to cure them....

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    1. Barbee, I have never grown them before. I just put two slips in the barrel, and hope to harvest enough for myself. Mr. Granny won't eat them.

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    2. Wuuut....
      Mr Granny won't EAT them?
      For heaven's sake why not? They're wonderful!

      Did he maybe sink his teeth into so 'ole yucky, starchy un-cured taters and that ruin it all for him?

      Well-whatever the reason. That's a shame, a real shame.
      or...now Mrs Granny won't be expected to share! Bwa Ha Ha Ha!

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    3. Barbee, he loves butternut squash, but hates sweet potatoes. Go figure! They taste so much the same, it makes no sense. Of course, he also refused to eat the "pumpkin" pie that I made from a butternut squash, even though it was sooooo much better than pumpkin. If I hadn't told him, he would never have known.

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  19. Wow your garden looks wonderful! I am so jealous of your healthy summer squash and zucchini!

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    1. Thanks, Vanessa. I'm jealous of your garlic ;-)

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  20. Really you have got good job on your garden. I can realize your hard work from your garden photo. Successive harvest is not easy, it will get only by garden maintenance and god bless. I am happy when see your garden.

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    1. Thank you for the kind words, Garden Techniques.

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