August 2, 2013 - Today in the Garden

Finally!  We got a day when it began in the 60s and didn't get out of the 70s!  I headed out to the garden first thing this morning, with plans of getting an entire day of work accomplished.  I came right back in and donned a sweatshirt!  It's been a long time since that was needed.

 I began in the east garden.  I pulled all the weeds.  There weren't very many, mostly some small crabgrass and some type of invasive flowers creeping over from the neighbor's side of the fence.  Three small beds were prepped, which will probably be where the Walla Walla onions will be planted next year.  After the peppers (along the fence on the left) are all harvested, and those plants removed, the beds in this section of the garden will all be extended over to the fence line on the left.  I'll keep the path on the right, so I can hopefully control the weeds that come over from the neighbor's.


The cucumbers I planted in the middle of the new beds all germinated, so I thinned them out to four seedlings.  I'll probably pull out one more when they get a bit larger.


 The garden twine on the pepper fence was sagging, so that was tightened.  I took the loppers and cut off the corn stalks that had already had their ears harvested.  The stalks were all cut in half and bundled for garbage pickup.  I do wish I had a small chipper-shredder, I'd love to be able to turn those stalks back into the soil.


 I had to stop to admire this (I think) Lavender Pepper.  It's loaded with 10 medium sized peppers, and they are turning from lavender to dark purple.  If they are indeed Lavender Pepper, they are supposed to eventually turn red.  


 The paths around the carrot patch were weeded and raked.  The cage with the bird netting was moved to this area of the garden, amended with compost, and planted with Anuenue lettuce seedlings.  Two short rows of bunching onions were also planted, as well as a very small cabbage seedling.  The entire bed was watered, then mulched with chopped, partially decomposed leaves. Cleanup around the cage was done....weeding and raking.


The path to the compost area was weeded and raked clean.  Several volunteer nasturtiums were removed to open up the pathway.  There is a tomato plant on the left that was overgrown and blocking both entrances to the kennel garden, so some selective pruning was done on it, as well as clearing out excess foliage at the bottom of the plant.  Notice how empty my leaf bin is becoming!  The leaf mulch used to be to the top of the brown board fence, and it's now only halfway up the lattice side.  I'm finding some lovely finished compost in the center!


 The next job was weeding, mulching and adding a good layer of compost to the fall corn bed.  There are still a few immature carrots there, so they were left to continue growing.


 The fall bed of Fortex pole beans was weeded and mulched.  The path was weeded and raked.  These beans are really growing nicely.  I know you can't really see it in the photo, but many of the vines have grown a foot above the 6' chain link!  They have also begun to blossom, so I can be pretty certain of getting a nice fall crop.


 Then I went to work inside the kennel garden.  I removed the netting from the bed, added manure and leaf mulch around the cabbages and beets, then dug some of that good compost I'd found in the leaf bin into three of the empty squares and planted fall spinach.  There was room for 24 seeds in each of the three squares.  I pulled maybe two small clumps of crabgrass from the carrot squares, then covered the raised bed back up and began working on the area around outside.   I pulled out and composted two tiny cabbages that had been completely chewed by slugs, trimmed a few bottom leaves from the two broccoli plants (one has been harvested and is beginning to put out side shoots, the other is forming a really nice main head).  The older planting of Fortex beans, on the right side of the kennel, had sent some vines into the pathway and over the raised bed, so they were given a bit of trimming.  Then the path in front of them was weeded, raked clean, and it's now much easier to access the beans for picking.  The entire perimeter was then weeded and raked clean.


 Outside of the kennel garden, the parsnip bed was weeded.


 The small pepper bed was weeded, manured and mulched.  Then the paths were weeded and raked clean.


I rounded up some flower pots to support them, and lifted the canteloup up off the ground.


The leek bed was then weeded.  I notice a few of them are going to seed, so I guess I'll just let it happen. *Note to self: butternut vine encroaching on the leeks.  Must be stopped.


 Oh, I should have got a "before" picture of this section of the garden, the hardest job of the day!  The squash vines had grown completely across the path, making it extremely difficult to get from one side of the garden to the other.  Although I know it will make some of you, who have problems growing squash, weep....I pulled out two of the three yellow crookneck squash plants, cut back a few more butternut squash vines, and removed a few more large leaves from the zucchini.  Then I weeded and raked the newly cleared path (that little pile of weeds in the foreground were all I could find....I'm pretty good at staying ahead of the weeds in the garden). 


 Looking back the other direction, you can see the nice wide path.  It's so nice to be able to walk through the garden now, without getting my legs chewed up with squash vine stickers!


 My single row of bush beans, planted for fall harvest, might be a bit early.  They are already blooming.  I might just have to plant another row for eating in October!


 The fall sugar snap peas have germinated, and are growing thickly and vigorously.  Carrots in the same bed are also peeking out of the soil.  The bunching onions have not yet made an appearance.


Most of my tomatoes are coming from the four plants in this jungle.  It's really hard to find the ripe ones, I have to literally get on my hands and knees and stick my head right into those vines!  Next year they go behind the shed, where I can get on two sides of them to harvest.


 This tomato, next to the back fence, is not looking very healthy.  It has, however, been producing quite a few nice fruits.  I think it is due for some selective pruning to rid it of the dying foliage.


 Anothe tomato, same variety, same fence, is looking great....but hasn't given me a single ripe tomato.


 Same fence, same variety, looking terrible.  I pulled the one on the right, after picking off all the tomatoes, and discarded it in the garbage.  The top of the one on the left is looking pretty good, so this one is also going to get some hard pruning.


 Same fence, same variety (by the way....these were all nursery purchased plants, all VFNT resistant!).  Again, this one has enough healthy foliage to make it worth my time to try to save it.  I hope it's cool again tomorrow, I have a lot of work ahead of me!  


My final garden chore of the day was to trim some mildewed leaves from the cucumbers, and tie them up where they were nearly on the ground.  Then I gave them 2" of composted manure, a big drink of fish fertilizer, and a thick layer of leaf mulch.  I'd like to keep them healthy and producing until the fall planted hill begins to produce.  I hope those leaves look better by morning, after they get used to their new upright positions!


 I love the sound and the sight of so many bees in the garden!  I've not seen very many for several years, but they've been quite active this year.

Today I was as busy as those bees.  Tonight it's nice and cool, 71 degrees, and beginning to rain lightly.  I'm exhausted, but I think the garden is happy.  

18 comments:

  1. It's wonderful you've had some cool weather. Your garden is so neat-as-a-pin. I just love it.
    If you do get a chipper, make it a GOOD one. I wasted my money TWICE (yea, slow learner!) on cheap ones. They can't handle "stalky" things like corn, etc. I have a big, MEAN one now and I LOVE it. In fall , I just grind up everything and put it straight back into the beds. No more composting it for me. Why move it twice!!
    Have a good day in the garden and enjoy that cool weather.

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    1. Ugh, Sue...I just checked out the electric models on Amazon, and they do have some pretty bad reviews. No way am I spending $900 and up for something to grind up a few corn stalks! I'd be better off to just rent one. Or do without. I was thinking of something like the Greenworks for $143.

      Looks like our cool weather was short lived, it was already 70 degrees when I got up this morning :-( Oh well, I have to make salsa again today. The kids loved it, said they'd take it in quart jars.

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    2. I think MR GRANNY should get you one--and you can tell him WE SAID SO--LOL!! All the things you do for him. Heck--that's a small price to pay for all that good food you're always shoveling in him.

      Wish we were neighbors. I'd let ya borrow mine.

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    3. I wish we were neighbors too....I'd even share my spinach and carrots.

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  2. I think Granny is happy. Tired, but happy to have worked in the garden and accomplished so much. Everything looks so good. Well, except for some of the tomato plants. Strange how some are affected and others are not. Seems like you are getting some nice tomatoes from those plants though so all is not lost.

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    1. Haha, Rachel, Granny can't hardly move this morning. My entire body aches, and I lost a whole pound with all that work!

      I've always had a problem with growing tomatoes in this soil, which is one reason I went to growing them in the buckets in previous years. I'm up in the air on whether to use buckets next year, leaning toward not but keeping them away from that back fence. I have had some success with them in-ground behind the shed, and they always do well in that little raised bed next to the shed. I don't need so darned many plants, anyway. If I had six it would probably be four too many!

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  3. You have been busy. I've noticed a lot more bees this year too. Especially the wild bees. I have a tiny bee that is just a quarter of an inch long that seems to like it here. And some black bee that love my corn pollen, but also goes for the squash.

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    1. Daphne, I almost pulled out those coneflowers, as they didn't even bloom last year, and it didn't look like they would this year...then they just exploded with blossoms! The bees really love them, and there were also gazillions of them on my raspberries this spring. I'm going to let my basil and some of the leeks blossom, just for the bees.

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  4. You are the busy one! What a day! I am impressed with your organization and second plantings and all.

    Hard to believe that you donned a sweatshirt in Pasco in August! It's raining here today and messing up my plans.

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    1. Ray, our cool day was just that....one day. Our "rain" turned into 1/10 inch. Now we're heading back into the mid-90s again.

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  5. OMG, your garden is ah-mah-zing! Those purple peppers? Ah-mah-zing! It's funny about the bees. Last year all I saw were bumble bees. This year, I see a few kinds, including apparently a mason bee. I had to google it, cos this one bee kept collecting mud, instead of pollen! They're the reason I keep my borage growing, too, even though it's really getting too wild. It almost occupies the entire 4 by 4 bed, and scratches me each time I try to pick some Senposai leaves.

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    1. Oh, I grew borage one year and it almost took over my entire garden! It volunteered for the next three years. I learned to just let one plant grow! I never did use it for anything, just let the bees enjoy it.

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  6. I'm amazed at how you stay ahead of the weeds! I can never do that. Are those cages one piece or do you assemble them when required? Also how often do you have to replace the tulle netting on them? They look really nice. I always look for ideas from you :)

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  7. Random, the large tulle covered one is metal, my son John brought it over from his work. Something was shipped in it, and they were going to junk it. It's about 3 1/2' wide by about 7' long. Once it's empty, I'm going to make that bed smaller so that the frame sits right on top of the wood. Right now, I have to tuck in the tulle, and the frame isn't quite high enough for some of the stuff I have planted there. This is the third year, I think, for that piece of tulle. It's in quite a shady area of the garden, I suppose sunlight would rot it quicker. The wood cage is one piece, covered with plastic netting. It's only 2' wide, but the length and height are perfect. We're going to make more of those over the winter (probably 2 or 3 more) and cover them with stapled on screen fabric. We'll also add tops to them that can be esily removed for planting and harvesting. I think 3' wide by 8' long would be a good size. This one is very light weight, so I can move it around to wherever I need it. The cages, with screen or tulle, will be great for spinach, beets, cabbages and lettuce, which are the things most bothered by birds, leaf miners and cabbage moths.

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  8. Your garden always makes me smile! So beautiful!! Do you know where your Lavender Pepper seeds came from? They are stunning and I'd love to try growing one or two plants next year.

    KK
    www.preppypinkcrocodile.com

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    1. KK, those were from a 25-cent packet of Grand Bell Mix by American Seed! I knew they weren't Purple Beauty, because they began as a pale cream color, then changed to a lavender, now they are dark purple. I Googled, and what I found were Lilac Sweet Peppers (http://www.reimerseeds.com/lilac-sweet-peppers.aspx) I'm guessing that's what I have here.

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  9. This was one of my first check-in's on your garden posts for the whole season and WOW. It looks absolutely incredible and the purple peppers are super cool looking! Is that a flower on top of the leek or a garlic scape or ? I tried to grow leeks last year but we pulled them out way early. We'll have to start in february again planting in the rain if we want a full season of any onions or similar.
    Your blog is truly an inspiration. Happy Blog-a-versary! Keep it up. All the work and great food is keeping you super young and healthy! I like it! What to do with that giant zucchini! And your cantaloupes look great. You're making me want to move on the other side of the mountains!

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    1. Amy, that's a leek going to seed. This is my first try at growing leeks, and I had the first one in my soup yesterday! I was impressed, and will grow them again next year.

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