The garden is almost in full bloom and production mode. Some plants have already begun, I suspect within the week we will begin harvesting zucchini and green beans.
Potatoes sprouted from the pantry. If they make anything I will be thrilled. Learning about how the plant operates here is valuable for years to come. Bell pepper is at least green this year, though still not very tall or looking very vigorous. One of these years I will figure it out. I've been feeding with blood meal every other week and fish emulsion on the opposite weeks. I will be happy if the plant produces anything. I expect better results next year once the soil is happier.
Watermelon and Sunflower. The watermelon this year is already much happier than last year. I've been feeding both of these plants abundantly with blood meal, which is high in nitrogen, to encourage their leafy growth, when it is time for flower and fruit, I will apply bone meal, which is high in potassium. The mulch is proving to be an excellent addition to the garden, the soil is staying damp and the plants are really happy about it.
Same story for the cantaloupes. Much more vigorous than last year, though not growing aggressively fast.
I had some concerns that I didn't plant enough field peas around the corn, but they are finally ramping up and generating biomass. The peas really seem to appreciate the shade from the corn. The corn really seems to need to be mounded up again as they get taller they are leaning a bit. I may add some mulch in soon to help this if the peas don't go to flower soon. I am feeding the corn heavily on blood meal and fish emulsion. I can tell where I haven't fertilized as heavily, the stalks are light green instead of rich deep green.
Green beans have already started flowering, the tiny little fruits will start expanding soon. I have only fed these plants an occasional feeding of fish emulsion. They seem to do great on their own.
The first flowers of the zucchini opened just a day after our Relief Society gardening class. The two flowers at the bottom are females and the one just above is a male. Zucchini grows super fast. I expect to eat some on Friday. Last year i had issues with the fruit only developing on the plant end, the blossom end wouldn't expand and grow, but instead, shrunk and shriveled. I spread a little bone meal and cottonseed meal hoping this might help with more even fruit development.
The tomatoes are well on their way. I've made it a point to NOT point out where the green tomatoes are on the plant to DS as last year he kept picking them all before they had even started to blush. Pollination rate has been exceptional this year. I just spread some bone meal here to encourage good fruit development. Smashed two stink bugs today. I didn't see any nymphs so they must have flown in from the neighbors to lay their eggs. I hope I destroyed them before they laid, but only time will tell.
The cucumbers have been pretty unhappy about the cold snaps, but I think that is good because I usually have so many cucumbers ready well before the tomatoes and I love to eat them together. Some of the plants have just started flowering but I hope they will come on fully at about the same time as the tomatoes. One of my happiest memories is eating tomato and cucumber salad with Italian dressing at my grandparent's home as a kid. You just can't beat that fresh home grown, sun ripened taste.
Thanks to the Thyme flowering at just the right time, there have been tons of bees in the garden. In the fall I always let some broccoli go to flower because the bees love those bright yellow flowers. It seems they have quite the preference for the tiny abundant flowers. Bees always welcome here so I don't have to hand pollinate.
0 comments:
Post a Comment