Plant, plant again.
Early Sunglow corn had great germination.
Honey Select corn not so much. You can see how much I had to reseed, and both beds were like this.
Although the sugar snap peas are doing great (even with the 97F heat of yesterday)...
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The shelling peas were a bust and, unfortunately, it's too late for reseeding. One pea plant from a double 12' row, an entire large packet of Burpee Garden Sweet seeds, is nothing to blog home about.
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A small packet of Thomas Laxton peas from Mike the Gardener fared a tiny bit better, giving me three shoots. Thankfully Costco sells frozen organic sweet peas for a decent price.
The Gonzales cabbages, although looking a bit chewed, are all surviving. The Golden Acre cabbages are keeling over and dying, one right after the other.
Only two broccoli plants survived a possible cutworm attack, so 3 tiny seedlings have been planted in another area of the garden, along with 2 Golden Acre cabbage seedlings (I know you can't see them, but they are there). Fingers are crossed, but I do have a few backups.
I did have quite a nice showing of parsnips, a 6' double row, but it looks like they have come under bird attack. I had already seeded the open areas, and those seeds have not yet germinated, so now I have no idea where to fill in the missing plants. I guess I'll just have to leave this bed alone. Since the radishes in this bed have been chewed by wireworms, I suppose the surviving parsnips will also get attacked.
These carrots, in the kennel garden, are growing fine. Too bad all I planted was one small square. I've already complained enough about the entire missing carrot bed, so I'll say no more about that.
It doesn't look like it's going to be a real great gardening year by the way it has begun. The sweet onions are not nearly as nice as in past years, the bean seedlings are being decapitated, and the rasperrries are about a month late. I picked two of the first three ripe strawberries last night, but the pill bugs got the third. On the bright side, the lettuce and spinach plants have been thriving, as are the pepper and tomato plants. The potatoes are looking like the best ever, some are even beginning to blossom! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the critters stay away from the tiny squash, cucumber and melon seedlings.
Is your garden doing better or worse this year? Am I alone in my bitching misery?
Love,
Debbie Downer
I can understand! My early planting of sweet corn had a 50% success rate (or 50% failure). My snow peas that survived the rabbit attack are not doing much. And with the wet weather and birds, our strawberries so far are a disappointment.
ReplyDeleteAs they say, "Such is life"!
Ray, 50% germination was lucky! I think mine was closer to 10%. I think the Early Sunglow did better because it is more cold tolerant, and we got that sudden late frost which could have wiped out the Honey Select. Who knows, odd that I lost (or had lousy germination) of both corn and peas.
DeleteHi Annie, I've been browsing your blog for years. Hello! My garden is going great so far, but we are in California and had an early spring. I love how you make sure to harvest once a week, this is a habit I intend to pick up this year, since in the past I have been guilty of letting food mature on the vine.
ReplyDeleteKate, I'm happy to hear your garden is doing well! Mine looked pretty good last week, not so great today, but maybe better next week when our unseasonable heat wave is over. I usually keep up quite well with the harvesting. Later in the season I'll probably be picking something every single day, but the zucchini will always hide from me and need to be tossed at passing cars (just kidding!).
DeleteMy raspberries are about a month behind this year too. I didn't do much in the way of starting my own seeds this year but what I have done seems to be doing OK but a bit slow. Lets hope things get better.
ReplyDeleteHave a Happy Mothers Day!
We can only hope, Liisa!
DeleteIt's such a disappointment when crops don't come up or get eaten. And then the reseeding and replanting is just such a chore. I have to think it's the strange weather and lots of insects this year. I found corn maggots in the bush bean bed feeding on the newly planted seeds, makes me wonder if that is the cause of the low germination rate.
ReplyDeletePhuong, oh dear, don't say that .....no corn maggots, please! I planted all early corn, because the corn ear worms hit right at the end of the Honey Select crop. I had a later variety last year that was inedible due to the worm damage.
DeleteWell I did have to make another asparagus bed this year. I hope it works out I do love asparagus. Gardeners really do try things again and again when they don't work the first time don't they? I've tried Brussels sprouts again and again. So far I've never eaten the from my garden, but I do have plans to seed some this coming week. My big problem for the garden this year is timing though. I'm going to Alaska for two weeks in the middle of the summer. I have to time the planting of things like corn and cukes to ripen after I get back.
ReplyDeleteOne of my better gardens didn't even get planted until July (2008)! It would be hard to leave for that length of time right in the middle of the season. I'm leaving for a few days this month, but with my granddaughter here and automatic sprinklers, I think mine should do just fine. Last year was my last try on Brussels sprouts and cauliflower. The sprouts took 7 months to develop, then they were tiny and filled with aphids. I think cauliflower just hates me, and our weather is too hot for it.
DeleteOh My Goodness! If your gardening season is going poorly what will mine be like!!! Nancy
ReplyDeleteLOL, Nancy! I'm sure your sweet gardener will keep yours in tip-top shape :-)
DeleteThis year has been terrible for gardening in VA so far. I planted a little later than normal and still got slammed by cold nights and had to start seeds inside all over again. and now, right when I should be planting my summer crops, and days have been in the 80s, there is one night this week forecast to get down to freezing! This is nuts. At least my snow peas are growing now!
ReplyDeleteRenee....freezing again? What a bummer! I think my plants are confused from the weather going from a low of 27F one week to a high of 97F the next. I know I am!
DeleteMy sugar snap peas are doing great. They even survived the snow last week. It's been so wet that nothing else has gotten in the ground except a single row of potatoes that I think have died due to too much moisture. I bought a couple of tomatoes today to plant, so we'll see. This week I'm planning my annual trip to the greenhouse for heirloom tomatoes, peppers, etc. So, you are way ahead of us here in Iowa, even with your pests.
ReplyDeleteLangela, as much as I've complained, there are some good things going on in the garden. Many of the peppers and tomatoes are blossoming, and some of the potted peppers on the patio actually have teeny baby peppers on them! The lettuce is looking fantastic, and the spinach I steamed for dinner the other night was delicious. I had to hill all of the potatoes, they are getting so tall. It won't be long before I'll have to fence them in.
DeleteYeesh! 97 degrees? Ok, I won't complain about the heat over on the west side of the mountains. My potatoes are incredible this year too! I hope your reseeded corn takes off well! Cheers, Jenni
ReplyDeleteJenni, that was in the shade! Officially it was 96, but we're always a degree or two above the airport temp. It's supposed to begin cooling down this week, back into the normal 70s by tomorrow. Yes, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the corn. I loved that variety last year, so planted twice as much of it this spring.
DeleteIt seems the pests have found your garden this year. I get crops each year that just do badly in germination. Frustrating when it happens because usually I have missed my window to reseed by the time I realize what is happening.
ReplyDeleteKitsap, it's spring weather again this week, so replanting will take place, except for peas...too late for those. I didn't have any luck with fall peas last year, either. They froze before they set pods.
DeleteYou're not alone! My garden has been doing better as far as weather and pests go, but thanks to my many distractions it is suffering a bit from lack of care. I was late getting things in the ground! And i'm seriously considering skipping the brassicas for the next year or two, I've already spotted several cabbage worms so it's time to fool them into going elsewhere for their snacks. Is there any good way to discourage the wireworms and cutworms and salvage some of the ruins they've made of your garden?
ReplyDeleteAnywhere, short of using drastic measures (poisoning the ground) there's nothing I can do for the wireworms. I've tried the old tricks like burying a potato chunk on a stick, then pulling it out and disposing of the worms. Doesn't work. Luckily on most veggies I can just cut out the damage. Radishes are just so small, by the time I cut off damaged areas there's not much radish left! Cutworms, of course, can be deterred with collars around the seedlings. I just hadn't had a problem with them for the past couple of years, so I didn't take precautions this year.
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