Successes and Failures

It happens to the best of us and those of us who are usually pretty good at gardening.  I think I have been beat this year and will not enjoy my own garden beans.  I did everything the way I usually do, but I have a few miserable sprouts coming up.  I have them fenced to protect them from the big critters and covered them for the little.  Still there are a few lousy plants and some that look like they were eaten by something.  This is unprecedented in my gardening years.  I will put more in, bush beans that are short season.  I hope to enjoy some fresh beans before the growing season runs out.  My pole beans and the elaborate growing structure appear to be a futile attempt at gardening.

Instead of tender sprouts, I have a bed full of purslane.  Purslane is edible, but they aren't beans.  On the other hand, peas were very successful.  I grew both sugar snap and garden shelling beans.  I enjoyed cooking up three different meals from the last picking of shelling beans alone.

I went out and picked again before work this morning and got almost a full pail of both types.  They are starting to dwindle in number so there is probably just a meal left to grow in on the vines.  I am leaving some on to try and get some for next year's crop.

I am also pretty happy with the onion crop.  The tops are starting to get brown tips so they should be starting to shut down and start hardening up for harvest.  We have enjoyed several pullings of fresh onions that I have cooked or used fresh.  Garlic is also starting to brown at the top. The leeks also look pretty good, but those are still growing.  I put in carrots, but only those shaded by the adjacent plants actually germinated.  I think they got too dry when they needed it most.  We have not been getting timely rains this month.
I also enjoyed the first four blueberries on my bush today.  It is not going to be much of a crop.  I just bought the plants last year.  They were in pots all last year and through the winter.  I have them in a large above ground planter now that is filled with peat and compost.  In our alkaline soils, we can only grow blueberries in an artificial environment like this.
Fencing of some type still needs to go up.  I did get down soaker hoses around the tomatoes and peppers last week.  I am also going to put some around the squash just to cover my bases since I do have a few left.  I haven't peeked at the corn coming up under the floating row cover, but I can see some shoots pushing up the fabric.  Okra is small and in desperate need of weeding.  I do have to get busy in the weeding department as I know they will need it again when we come back from our first vacation.
I try not to linger on the failures and enjoy eating the food that is coming from the garden.  Lettuce is at it's end, so I need to enjoy salads this weekend rather than send it to the compost pile for lack of interest.  It is also time to forage for berries.  Enjoy summer as it is short.

Putting up walls to keep out the weeds

It is the first day of summer, and I am just getting some major crops in the ground.  I have had little time and energy which has coincided with dry soil.  This weekend became do or die time for me.  I worked this week on tomatoes and peppers during a couple evening hours.  Friday was dedicated to getting my daughter started on her own garden.  Saturday dawned early for me and I got out there.
Rain was a threat all day, so I determined I would work as quickly as I could for as long as it would allow.  In the end, time ran out and still no rain when we had to leave for a party invitation.  I was feeling pretty good about getting so much done even with so much still to do.  I made the garden space the size I did so I could do crops like pumpkins and squash this year  
My biggest obstacle is the prior occupants lack of interest in this garden space.  The fence was harboring all kinds of weeds and the interior was a solid mass 3' and taller with all kinds of weeds indicative of poor soil.  The seed bank in this garden is enormous.  I got busy early and got a fence up.  Potatoes, onions and peas are all flourishing.  I was eating the first ripe peas while burning weeds around the fence perimeter that the tiller can not reach.  Delicious!  My husband ran the tiller around the second half of the fenced portion for me yesterday so the beans could finally get in the ground.  I covered about half of the square footage with pieces of old weed barrier.  I cut holes, added compost and then planted each hole with a pepper or tomato.  Today I came on to a new solution.  The Weed Dragon.  I purposely singed the edge of the plastic based barrier yesterday to keep it from fraying.  I like the way it looked.  

This is my old method of creating planting holes in the weed fabric.  Effective but time consuming and requires a lot of time on the knees.
















This is the new method of a quick touch of the Weed Dragon to create fray-free planting holes.  I shoveled the compost on to the top of the hole, lifted at the edge and scooped all the compost under the fabric.  The hole is easy enough to access the soil underneath to work it with a trowel and add the plant.  I am hoping that the fabric will minimize the amount of weeding that I have to do.  In a garden this size with the weed seed waiting to sprout, it would be a full-time job just keeping my vegetable patch.  Time will tell if this method will be effective or not.

The last big job was setting up for my pole beans.  I purchased netting for trellising six feet high and 12 feet long.  With two of these, I am able to provide enough netting for all my pole beans.  The support structure for the netting is two old ladders held in place with T-posts on each side of both ladder legs.  This will be great for reaching the late season tall vines.  I am putting in the filet beans as well as Romano pole beans which are left over from last year.  I also have the Lazy Housewife which  can be eaten fresh or ripened for dry beans.  Expanded metal pieces which I used at home to keep my seeds in the ground and out of the chipmunks' cheeks are being used here as well.  The population of chippies is pretty high. and they can get in just about anywhere.  After germination and true leaves appear, I can remove the metal and work around the base of the plants as needed.  Floating row cover will have to be sufficient for the rows of bush beans since I ran out of metal pieces before I ran out of seed.

The spinach was starting to bolt earlier this week, so the remainder was cut.  This made a nice spot open for carrot seeds.  The soil that I mounded with the cow manure last fall is quite sandy.  I added some compost before seeding and covered the plot with a piece of wood to keep the soil moist.  This method has been the most reliable way that I have found for carrot seed germination.  I will have to check under the board every day and remove it at the first sign of green.

I am not done yet.  I still have sweet corn to be planted.  Mine will not be knee high by the 4th of July.  I plan on tilling the area a third time as the weeds have started coming up thick in this area.  The corn will be in blocks to encourage the best germination possible.  I will under-plant the corn with pumpkins in hopes of deterring the raccoon that makes its way to the bird feeders every night to pick up what has fallen down.  I haven't dismissed the thought of using electric fence to surround the entire garden both high and low to try and fight hungry wildlife.  I want to make sure that the price is right before making the commitment to power up.  Okra plants went in over the weekend.  I have never grown this before and think I may have planted enough for a crowd.

I hope to enjoy a good variety of plants and have plenty to share.  I am lucky to have the space to try so many new plants.

First basket of tomatoes

I happily went to the tomato bed and FINALLY picked a full basket of tomatoes.  Yes, they aren't all rosy red ripe, but they also do not have chipmunk or squirrel teeth marks in them.  I was able to get some fresh cilantro from the West Allis Farm Market, so fresh salsa will become a reality.  The jalapenos are also starting to produce peppers of harvest size.  The long wait has come to an end.
I got the tomato plants in late this year to allow for room in the driveway with our graduation party taking place during normal planting time.  With all the heat we had, I was sure the tomatoes would be earlier any way. Not so.  The nights have cooled off quite a bit and have slowed progress.  I still have to get my first celebrity tomato this year.  My farmer friend from college was in town for Irish Fest this weekend.  She told me her sister-in-law lost their garden to a storm when one of the nearby trees landed on the garden in June.  It is still there among  the weeds.  I guess I should count my blessings that it is just a wait and not a total loss.
Even the cherry tomatoes have been slow to start.  Today was the first picking that I didn't put directly into my mouth. There are more to come.

I am planning on putting more into canning jars than the freezer this fall to save on freezer space.  We have half of a steer coming in October which will take up all we have.  Another freezer is in the near future, hopefully and upright to save on the digging and lost items in the bottom of the chest.  I have done dilly beans and cut beans which put several jars on the shelf.  I also have sweet corn canned this year (a first for me) which put nine pint jars in store.  There would have been 10, but one went "ping" and spilled into the pressure cooker water.  I was not happy to start everything over to get the corn out of the water.  More beans are ready for picking, so I think french beans are next.  Fall is an exciting time of year for a gardener.