June 13 - Wednesday's Walk Around the Garden


Jackpot Zucchini on the left, Early Yellow Crookneck squash on the right.  I've picked my first zucchini, and at least four others are coming on fast.  There are a couple of baby crooknecks, so it won't be long before they are ready to harvest.


I decided to dig the last of the garlic.  It didn't take well to being  transplanted this spring, and the tops were beginning to die and flop over.  I didn't get a great crop this year, but considering the way they were uprooted, it was better than I expected.  Lettuce, caged to protect it from the birds, is nearly ready to harvest.


 The lilies have finished blooming, and are ready to be cut back.  I'll miss their cheerful blossoms and their heavenly aroma.  Earwigs chewed up the zinnias. I tried cutting them back to a healthy leaf....wherever I could find a healthy leaf.


 And here they are, with all but a few late blossoms removed.  I took the wheelbarrow full of blossoms into the garden shed, and it smells delightful in there!  I think I'll just leave them where they are until the aroma fades.


 The lower leaves of the hollyhocks have also been ravaged by insects.  I think it's earwigs doing all the damage.  I'll have to cut off the bad leaves, they're sure not pretty to look at, and the flowers are beginning to blossom.


 Pretty little Johnny Jump Ups, from seed sent by Debbie Clegg.



 The garden shed tomatoes are growing beautifully.


 This is what leaf miners do to my beets if they aren't covered by tulle.  These were planted about the same time as the beautiful, protected ones I've been harvesting, but they are just a fraction of the size.  I'm tempted to just pull them up and throw them away, they are such an ugly spot in the garden.


 The first shelling peas were picked Tuesday afternoon, and eaten for dinner.  Most of the pods still have a few days to go.  I wish they would hurry, as there is a Cherokee Purple tomato volunteer right in the middle of them.  I'm sure it would like a bit of sunlight!  The Carpet of Snow alyssum is also from volunteers.


 Bush beans are blossoming, and the peppers are finally getting some leaves.  It's been a rough, cold, windy spring for them.


 Honey Bear squash from Ed.


 The same lettuce bed as in the earlier photo, sans the cage.  The morning glories along the fence are beginning their climb.  There is one flower on them already, right down at ground level!


 The North Garden is filling in fast.  Most of the bare spots have been planted with carrots, beets and cabbages, and the entire center area (the grass clippings around the half-barrel) will soon be covered by butternut squash vines.  Most of the corn is as high as my legs are long.


 Tomato Alley is a very happy place.  Two of the seven plants are fruiting.


The tomatoes along the West fence aren't as lush looking as the others, but all are blossoming.  The rhubarb is looking rather scraggly, but it was just picked.  The strawberry plants look big and healthy, but no decent berries yet.


33 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks, Sustainably! BTW, I've not been able to follow your blog, as your profile is set to "private", so I couldn't find it! I wised up this morning and did a Google search....AHA! I'm now a follower :-)

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  2. Granny, your garden is looking so wonderful! Except for the beet greens. I just noticed leaf miner damage on my beets yesterday. This is my first time growing beets. I've only ever seen leaf miners on columbine foliage. Do they also damage the beet under the soil?

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    1. Alison it doesn't hurt the beet root, but it does set them back quite a bit. This batch should have been ready to harvest by now, as they were planted just before the ones we've already eaten. They are only about the size of a walnut, and should be more than twice that big. I've heard columbine is a good trap for them, but they never touch my columbine. They sure do ravage the beets ans spinach though, and sometimes I see some damage on the beans.

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    2. yummy garden picked beets. Hey, Granny. How long can you continue to sow new batches of them? Do they hold up in the heat or is there a few months in summer when you do not have beets and then plant them again in Fall?

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    3. Stay @ Home, I can plant beets any time from March 15 until the end of July. I just planted more yesterday, and as soon as they are 4-6" high I'll plant again. They are a great succession crop! I am only planting mine under netting though, to protect from the leaf miners.

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  3. Your garden is so much farther along than mine is right now. My peas are ahead but that is it I think. We need a bit of non cold and rainy weather. Heck I'm OK with 70s and sunny.

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    1. Daphne, I was thinking yours was way ahead. Mine is about the same as last year, except for the raspberries which are at least two weeks behind. We are now finally into the low 80s, which is perfect.

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    2. Daphne, it's a good thing I have a blog, and Harvest Mondays, to keep me on track. My raspberries are actually earlier this year than last! I've already picked twice as many as my first picking on June 20 of 2011.

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  4. Everything looks great as usual, except for the bugs. They are definitely more active this year than last and alot of damage everywhere. :(

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    1. Jenny, yes the bugs are really bad. I'm seeing more damage this year than before.

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  5. It looks lush and lovely. That's one reason I only grow spinach in the winter, beets almost never, and chard only by volunteers. Those leaf miners are awful. You'll have a lot of Johnny Jump ups next year : )

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    1. Stefaneener, cheap tulle from the fabric store (less than $1 yard for 72 inch wide at Walmart) works great to keep those leaf miners away. I have just resigned myself to the fact that spinach and beets will forever have to be covered.

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  6. Your garden looks great. Not a weed in sight! Those pea vines are just loaded, but I agree they need to make room for the Cherokee purple. It is my 2nd favorite tomato. My favorite is Cherokee green.

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    1. Thanks, Coral. The CP volunteer is kind of small, so I might not get any fruits on it.

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  7. It wasn't long ago that all your space was brown dirt!!! :) Pretty. I had almost given up on peppers as well. The first round of course died with the last freeze. Hmm, perhaps one survived. Then I planted an entire flat of them. Say, 48 plants. Of those a few didn't work out. The remaining looked healthy and well off enough. Planting those into the beds... They simply sat there. Doing absolutely nothing with themselves. Hrmf. V and I were thinking we were going to have to actually purchase plants. Which is a shame because they wouldn't end up being the varieties that ultimately was wanted. After going to the stores, however, looking at the size of transplants I felt better because they really were not any further along than the ones in the garden. Coming back. Feeling better. Today all the peppers are now starting to produce more leaves and grow into themselves.

    Guess the lesson is to wait. :)

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    1. Stay @ Home, I think I fuss about the peppers every year, but they always end up being big and beautiful! Once the weather warms and they start growing, they recover really fast. These are in the newly dug area of garden, but most things seem to be growing fairy well.

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  8. wow everything looks great!!!! The flowers are all so pretty!

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  9. Wow, your garden is looking wonderful!!! And I have to admit, I'm a bit envious of all that sunshine I see in your photos. We've had a wet, gloomy couple of weeks here.

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    1. Nutmeg, that was the first day we've had sunshine in a week or so, and it was only intermittent! Today it's sunny and warm, and the garden is growing before my eyes ;-)

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  10. So, THAT is what's happening to my beet leaves!! I have the same issue. I'll go get some netting for the next round! I didn't notice them in my spinach but the spinach is growing too slowly for some reason in the ground. I wondered what that was on my beet leaves and we thought it was some type of sun or rain reaction since we've had intermittant extremes of both.
    Do you just lay it over the top of the plants or staple it to the ground or ? I like the idea of the tulle netting b/c it's really reusable too and love the transparency so you can see how things are growing.
    The lilies in the shed sounds lovely. I encountered so many lilies at the garden show back in January that they were making me sneeze. lol
    Your tomatoes are killing me! I have little Charlie Brown tomato trees compared to yours! I guess the risking planting early was a smart idea! Though in our climate they'd probably have been frozen charlie brown trees. lol The peas, and honeybear squash are just gorgeous pictures. I'm hoping my peas hurry up. They are slower this year I think. I seem to be constantly two weeks or so behind your development so I can only pray my tomatoes take off AND the peas start making actual peas. I've got tons of flowers, and maybe one pea thus far. Oh and one batch of peas in the raised bed is not even flowering. Maybe too much nitrogen in the newer soil plus starter fertilizer (though I thought I left out the fert in that end of the box. Not sure)

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    1. Amy T., I built The Thing II just for the beets and spinach, so the netting is stapled to it with the top piece of netting clamped on for easy access. It's working so well, I may have to build The Thing III next year, so I can cover the entire 4'x8' bed!

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  11. Granny, I don't think anybody has a prettier garden then you do!!! It's picture perfect....except for those couple of buggy issues. I just love the new layout this year.

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    1. Thank you, Robin! Just wait until I can't even find a path through the garden :-)

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  12. I hope that was a 'Grandpa Ott' morning glory that bloomed! Mine are now over 6ft tall.

    Everything looks great! I wish my garden looked as good as yours does right now. I'm hoping with some cooler, sunny weather everything will perk up.

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    1. Ed, I don't know if that one was Grandpa or not. I had some star of Yalta from Debbie Clegg and Grandpa Ott all started at the same time. Grandpa alone went in the kennel garden, but a mix went behind the shed. They are very close in color, I think. I'll probably be able to tell the difference once the ones in the kennel bloom.

      I think my corn grew six inches today! We finally got some warm sunshine.

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  13. It is really looking fantastic. Your garden never fails to amaze me. :-D

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  14. Do you know if too much or too little rain effects the taste of tomatoes? My first two were so sweet and we have been so dry this year.

    I finally had to mow the weeds in the yard after almost a month of not mowing. The only thing growing was the weeds except around the gardens. I suppose that grass grew because of being watered with the gardens. At least now all the weeds are as short as the grass.

    Please send some of your rainy weather. It is so much better for the gardens than watering them with the hose.

    Love your flowers!

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    1. Langela, I wonder the same thing. My tomatoes are never as sweet and tasty as some say theirs are. My Cherokee Purples were actually rather bland and watery, and the Matt's Wild Cherry were actually sour. Even Sungold wasn't all that sweet. I keep mine really well watered. It's possible I water them too much, and dryer conditions might make for sweeter tomatoes.

      Sorry, but you're too late. Our rainy weather has turned to sunny and windy. We've already had more rain than we normally get in an entire year.

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  15. My hollyhocks are completely done in by rust, but at least I had a few blooms. All your stuff looks great! I have one of those shelf units in my shed, looks like that is a great use for it out in the garden!

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    1. Erin, I get rust on my hollyhocks too. I end up cutting most of the leaves off of the poor things.

      I gave away so many of those white wire grids when we left AZ, because we just ran out of room to haul stuff north. I wish I had them now! They were never used as shelves, but snapped together as a giant bunny condo for a dwarf bunny.

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