May 30th, 2012

This weekend we raked back the old straw and the weeds and we put down some weed blocking cloth in between the rows.   I then laid some fresh straw.  Looks nice and organized again.

Have been munching on peas this past week.  There are not really enough to cook with, but there are always enough to snack on while I'm outside.   

The first beans started coming in this weekend.  We each had 2 tiny beans on Monday.  Yum.  

While at Home Depot this weekend, I picked up an acorn squash plant, which I had been thinking about doing.  Then, on an impulse, I grabbed a Cantaloupe plant as well.   

Last night I cut the entire row of Asian mixed greens at about an inch high.  It was ready to eat, and starting to really shade the tiny pepper transplants.   We ate half last night, and washed and bagged the rest.  

 

Slug update

So far so good.  The cucumbers, Pole Beans, and Summer Squash that were sowed last Thursday, germinated and broke the surface on Monday and Tuesday, and they are still in one piece.   A few nibbles here and there, but all an all, pretty good. The Butternut squash on the side of the house is also in tact.

Butternut squash on the north side of the house

About 10 summer squash.  Hoping that even if I lose some, I will have a few that can make it. 

Instead of planting more pole beans here, I decided to try a bunch of cucumbers this time.  

I was running out of Selma Zesta pole beans, the ones I bought this year, so I used the Deans Purple Pole beans I bought last year for this attempt.   The purple beans look really nice, and they tasted good, but not amazing, which is why I wanted to try the Selma Zesta this year.  I think I will sow the last dozen SZ seeds this weekend.  

As for the Dahlias, they also are getting nibbled a little bit, but all but one of them have recovered and are growing now.

These guys are still protected by the cages, but the Dahlias that are not in cages are doing just fine also!  Go Sluggo!

Slug/Dahlia update

A quick update on the stuff growing in the front of the house.  The slug bait came in the mail yesterday, and it was perfect timing.  It had just rained for two days straight, and when I went out to apply it, I actually saw a slug wrapped around one of the butternut squash seedlings.   Caught red handed.   So I applied the pellets, and now it is time to wait.  

Other good news is that a few of the Dahlias sent up additional shoots.   Of course they were eaten, but if this stuff works, it gives me hope that the next round of shoots can make it.   Not sure how much energy those tubers have left, but maybe we will get lucky!  I am going to plant some more beans and summer squash soon.  This will be the 5 planting I think.  Never give up, right? :)

Mid-week update

The spinach started to flower this past weekend (5/19), so we harvested it all at once.   We used half of it for a Chinese stir-fry, and we are going to use the rest tonight or tomorrow.   As of now, this half of the bed is empty. I cut the lettuce and left the roots, because I read that is helps the soil to have them decompose in place, rather than just putting them in the compost bin.  

Here is a shot of the onion/lettuce/pepper patch.  If you look closely, you can see two pepper plants.  The Asian stir-fry mix is growing a lot faster than the Red and Green mix, and is ready to harvest at this point.   We planted another batch of stir-fry mix last week, so this patch should keep producing for quite a while.   The pepper plants are still small now, but as they grow, we'll be pulling all of the onions that are close to the pepper plants.  

The tomato plants are growing pretty quickly now. I've trimmed back the suckers a few times at this point, and I think I'm ready to let them flower.  

The bean patch is finally looking full, which will really help with the leaves.  It has also started to flower, so we should have beans within the next few weeks.  

The collard patch is also filling in really nicely now.   It is ready to harvest now, but there are not enough plants to make a meal out of it yet.  Might wait another week or two to use the first batch of greens.    

The Bibb lettuce is also finally taking off.  We definitely have to start using the lettuce more.

The Kale looks great.  We have used some in a salad, and will definitely use some of this with the collards or maybe freeze it or something.   The sweet potato slips are coming soon, so they are getting close to their expiration date :)

The basil finally looks healthy and green.   The stuff in the pot (with non organic potting soil) still looks better, but I have a feeling this group will be better in a few months. 

The parsley is also finally supporting itself and not flopping over on the dirt every time it gets wet.  

The squirrels have been exonerated

So a day after putting the cages around the pole beans and the dahlias, all of the 2 & 3 day old beans were completely eaten, even though the cages were still in place.  I guess the squirrels have a pretty good alibi.

Additionally, we only have one Dahlia left.   They were all eaten before I got the cages on, but it doesn't look like any more shoots are coming up.  The one Dahlia that still lives on is the one all the way in the front, and it makes things more confusing.  Why just one?.  

So either:

1. It is the squirrels that ate the dahlia's, but something else that ate the beans and squash, or
2. The squirrels are not to blame at all, and that dahlia in the front survived because it is the only one in full sun.   I'll get to the full sun theory next. 

Who was it?  I hit the web, and it seems that these are all potential culprits:

• Slugs
• Earwigs 
• Pill bugs (Roly Polys)

One thing that resonated when I was reading about what could be eating the dahlias, is the sun/shade issue.  I read that often, the shady places make a very habitable environment for all three of the critters listed above.  The slugs in particular, I read, will eat the dahlia shoots before they even reach the surface.  

So while some would throw in the towel at this point, I bought 3 more dahlia plants online, and this stuff called Sluggo.  It is basically Iron Phosphate, and it is organic and pet/bird friendly.  The reviews on amazon and around the web were really good, so I'm giving it a try.  As soon as it arrives, I'll lay it down and then sow another set of pole beans and squash.  I will not give up (yet)!

It has been a busy week in the garden...

On Wednesday, I skipped dinner and stayed out in the garden for a few hours.    I sowed:

• Dill and Cilantro into the herb garden
• Butternut squash along the North Fence.   I'm not sure it will get enough light, as the house is blocking all light except from directly above.  I sowed it in 4 spots, about 6 seeds per spot.  
• A row of Radishes along the north side of the middle bed
• Another half-dozen Bush beans to continue to thicken up that patch
• Another row of the Asian stir fry mix, and another row of the Red and Green lettuce mix.  

On Thursday, I actually spend another whole evening outside.  A few more Dahlia plants broke the surface, making 6 in all.   I am pretty sure it is the squirrels eating the leaves as soon as they come up, but I'm not positive.  To rule out the squirrels, I made cylindrical cages out of 1 inch hex chicken wire and put a cage around each Dahlia.   I really think that is going to work, but I won't rule out the possibility of some other culprit  until I see the plants start to grow.    

While I had the chicken wire out, I noticed that some of the Pole beans and Summer Squash seeds that I sowed 6 days ago were already breaking the surface.   I cut some additional chicken wire and make some makeshift cages to protect them as well.   I am really curious to see if this will work or not.  The good news is that within a week, I should have my answer!  

Hi Emily!

May 15th ,2012

Garden Bounty

In the last week and a half we had two really good salads from the garden.   The Bibb lettuce is exactly what I hoped it would be.  Super soft, and tasty.    

Last night, we also used some of green onions for the first time.  It was a good feeling, pulling 6 onions and not even being able to tell where I pulled them from.   Still have at least 80 in there!    

Also last night, we had the first two snap peas!  There are about 10 peas that I can see, but with everything so green, it is hard to find all of the peas.  

Updates

On Sunday, I finally transplanted the pepper plants into the ground.   I put about 10 transplants in the lettuce/onion patch in the front, and put two or three more in the Bibb lettuce patch in the back.  

The last planting of bush beans has broken the surface. There are about 15 plants in total now.  

Two or three of the Dahlia plants broke the surface this weekend, but it looks like the squirrels are eating the tender first leaves, just like the beans.  We might need to make some mesh baskets to protect them.  

Oops

A few days after the pole beans came up, something started munching on the leaves.   Within another day or two, most of the leaves had been eaten.  Some looked like they were turned into lace, others were completely decimated, and only a stub remained.

After some searching online last week, it sounds like the lace-like leaves point the finger at some type of bug, but the decimated plants implicate squirrels (which we have many) or some other animal.  

From my reading, it looks like the two best organic pesticides options for this particular option are Neem oil and  a cayenne pepper solution.  I have neem oil, but before work on Thursday, I figured I would try the cayenne, water, dish soap combo.  I used some last year for the tomatoes, and while it didn't help keep away the squirrels, it also did not hurt the leaves.     

The problem is that in rushing, I either forgot to add the water, or added way, way to little.  So essentially, I doused the seedlings with mostly vinegar and cayenne, and pretty much killed all of the remaining pole beans and squash seedlings.

On Friday, before we left for Indiana, I sowed some more pole beans and squash.   

May 8th, 2012

It has been a busy week and weekend.  Emily's parents are here and brought over a dozen perennials from their garden in Genoa, NY.  We planted a few during the week, and got the rest in over the weekend.   On top of that, we finally put some mulch down, and the beds look SOOOO much better.  Being able to isolate the plants we like (and cover the weeds) is a big help.   Here are some pictures of the front and back beds.    They are both looking a hundred times better than last year, and a thousand times better than two weeks ago!

While I'm at it, now that things are starting to look better, here are some other pictures from around the house:

This is a bed to the right of the front door.  There used to be Hostas here, but over the last year  we ripped them all out so we could use the space for veggies.  The droopy plant in the middle is a lilac bush that Emily's parents brought.   Hopefully it perks up and takes.  It would be really nice to have the lilac grow up the brick column.    In front of the lilac is the summer squash, and all around the brick column and against the fence are Pole Beans (Selma Zesta).  In the very front is a Dahlia.  

The Herb garden in the back

Now on to the garden updates!

The biggest update (to me), is that the the pole beans in the front of the house finally took off.  They all came up at once, between May 4th and 5th.  Unfortunately, I don't know when they were planted.  I am pretty sure I planted one last group within the past 2 weeks, but I can't remember.   At this point, I don't even really care.   I was worried that it was just not going to work, but now those worries are behind me.  

In related news, I planted a few more of the straight neck summer squash seeds at the same time, and they have also started to come up.  I'll only need one, but I'm glad that a few are going to start:

Here is a shot of the crookneck squash which is really doing well:

The first planting of peas is starting to flower.  Can't wait for those peas!

On Saturday, I put the peppers out to harden.   I took them in Saturday night, but then left them out Sunday and Monday night.  At some point this week, I'll transfer them to their bed.   They look great!

Mid-week update -- Squash, Lettuce, Beans, and Peas

Summer Squash -- On Tuesday I transplanted the crookneck summer squash we picked up.  The straight neck growing from seed is still doing alright.   I found an interesting place for the crookneck plant, in the front, right at the edge of our property line.   

Lettuce -- Broadcast some new bib lettuce seed, to fill in the gaps from the last sowing.  There are about 10 or so little plants that have sprung up from the seed that was broadcast on April 1st.  

Bush Beans -- Sowed about 8 more bush bean seeds to fill in some gaps around the others.

Peas --  Sowed the last of the peas, maybe about 40 more, again to fill in the gaps in the pea patch.  This time I made no effort to section off the varieties.  Should be fun to see how they all do.