Summer Update #2

The rain has eased up a little, but still enough to keep the garden and lawn (and me!) happy.

Broc/Caulifower: Pulled 'em up mid-summer. Got a couple of small broc heads, but nothing worth putting in extra energy towards maintaining. The cauliflower was forming one big head, which ended up almost "mealy" underneath. The plants were otherwise healthy, and took up much more room than I was expecting.

Beans/Peas: Goodness all around. The sugar snap peas made it to about 7' tall (thanks to the tomato cage twin trellis), and are about burned-out now. Will pull everything, reseed and see how it likes the cooler weather of fall. Yellow beans were the best bush beans ever, due I think to the support (1' and 2'). Picking a nice handful every 2-3 days from just 6 plants! The green beans on the antenna trellis are also productive (and 6'+), but they did take a hit from the Japanese Beetles, and I didn't apply any herbicide... just hand-picked the critters every day during the worst of it.

Tomatoes: Had the expected "Blossom End Rot" on the earliest Viva Italias due to torrents of rain; main crop unaffected. Have the biggest Amish Paste I've ever grown, seems to like being sheltered by the sunflowers. All the 'maters are doing well. We've had grape tomatoes coming in for a few weeks now, the Early Girl came in last week, and the first Romas and Viva Italias are ready for this week as well. Was worried when I saw just how much shading the sunflowers caused, but the tomatoes seem to be OK despite (because of?) it. Certainly less of an issue with sunscald! Tomatoes were mulched with grass, which was ~~~. Will make a point to lay shredded leaf mulch next year.

Sunflowers: The 6 Mammoth are still screaming for the sky, the tallest hitting the 10' mark. One has already decided "it's time" and bowed its head to work on the seeds... others are just opening their faces now. The bees (of all sizes) went nuts with these guys, and I think I'll have to include sunflowers as a regular feature in future gardens. One of the Mammoths is serving as the natural trellis for a cuke plant, and appears to be unfazed. Plus of course the cukes are clean, straight and yummy. The other two "volunteer" sunflowers are most of the way to ripe already, and 2 pickle-cuke vines are about 3' up on their journey. Planted these cukes a bit late in the season... have to see how they fare.

Ribes: The gooseberries are still doing great. Never did the mid-season trim... should still get that done. The red currants in containers also doing great, still plugging along and appearing to like about ½-day of sun. Black currant progress is going very slow but it is positive. One in the ground for several weeks is "leaving" well (looks healthy at least). The other (still in container) that was baking on the s. side of the house has recovered in the mostly-shade, but sending up leaves S-L-O-W-L-Y!

Squash: Zucs were fine and harvested several until the wine borers got to them. Never saw so many in one plant before! Delicata died out about a week later. Still believe they prefered full sun, or more-sun throughout the day as opposed to ½-sun and ½-shade. Planted some yellow squash in the barrel... see if we get anything in the fall. Started another delicata around the time the borers first hit, and have it now in the s. bed. Squash did GREAT there last year; hope to get at least SOME Delicata this year. The Butternut in the barrel is still hangin'-in there, but the dynamic growth just isn't there.

Jerusalem Artichoke: 5-gallon bucket with a fairly rich organic mixture. Planted one whole tuber. Now about 3' tall. Not expecting much because of the late start but will learn from it regardless.

Berry patch: Great! The blackberries are really coming into their own... a little too much actually considering that I provided minimal direction for their growth directions. Will have to be a stern taskmaster when the leaves drop. Cleared out about a third of this season's raspberry canes already and will get the rest... sometime. The newer raspberries have incorporated very well.

Onions/Garlic: Onions are loving every minute of it. Will probably pull the Cippolinnis this week. The LT Storage onions are not far behind. Ran out of room for the Red Torpedos; tried a couple bewteen the tomatoes and the peppers in the middle bed... they didn't like one of their neighbors evidently. With bigger beds next year shouldn't be a problem.

Garlic: Crashed and burned. Really must focus on getting a good fall planting accomplished!

Greens: Going great in the portable window box. Shaded under the trampoline on the hottest days. From ebay got some mini Siberian Kale, and have 4 starts. Will transplant to the beds in about 2 weeks. Also got some New Zealand Spinach seeds; first attempt in pot in garage was no-go; suspect ambient temps were too warm. Will re-seed and move to basement. Swiss Chard going bananas! Have to decide if to replant one or two from seed or just give a Marine Corps close trim.

Blueberries: Healthy, but growing slowly, especially the one solidly under the grape trellis. Will have to do some strategic prunning next year. Have a 4th in a pot (survived the winter outdoors in a pot), doing better with more leg-room now. Haven't figured a permanent home for it yet.

Grapes: The S. vine has been ripening about 2-3 weeks ahead of the n. vine, and has already been getting raided. Thinking of getting a trap from Rick's. Flavor is great!

Cabbage: Two growing well on e. side of s. bed. Getting a feel for growth habits, size, etc. Sauerkraut here we come!

Roots: P;anted Turnips, beets, radishes and parsnips in the longest bed where the coles were. Just in time for the summer heat wave. Probably much to warm for the parsnip to germinate... we'll see. Others OK.

Peppers. Great growth but low production in the middle bed. Production but not much grow from small finger bed. Whaszzup wit dat?

Container growing: Snap Peas, J. Artichokes, Blueberry, Red Currants. Getting the hang of it! Biggest difference between now and the past (failure!) has been proper mulching. Containers don't dry out as quickly with a goo top coat of organic mulch!

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I REALLY need to expand the raised bed area for next year.

Excalibur dehydrator came in last week... time to fire-it-up and start preserving some produce!