Knee high by the fourth of July

When I retired, I had this vision of my entire yard being pristine and perfect. Well, HA, HA, HA. The vegetable garden is not half bad, though. We nudged the beds apart a bit, to make it easier to navigate the pathways. Instead of trying to keep those paths weedfree, I've been weed whacking them every two weeks. This strategy makes for a trimmed look.

Within the beds, I've been diligent about weeding and mulching, so they look nice and tidy, full of the intended plants, more or less. The one BIG FAIL has been the pea/bean beds. The sparrows nibble on the pea plants, ruining the crop, so I hung bird netting over the support structure. The results were predictable: the peas became hopelessly entangled in the netting, unreachable weeds took over the edges, the pole beans could not compete. And then a big storm came through and blew the whole mess down. So I cleaned out the beds completely. The plan is to reinforce the bean poles, then replant the pole beans. I've not had much luck with fall peas, but if I do plant them, I'll need to come up with a new strategy for besting the birds.

Blue plate special

Here is dinner from last week: meatloaf, corn on the cob, and a baked Adirondack Blue potato. The potato tastes fine, if not as creamy and buttery as the Eva potatoes I grew last year, but I am having trouble getting past the color.

I later boiled some of the Adirondack Blue with the Adirondack Red; when I checked the leftovers a couple of days later, I thought they had turned into a science experiment. I fried the leftovers, and the red ones looked like chunks of ham. Again, taste was fine, just having trouble with the visuals.

What about you? Do colored potatoes put you off?

Must be August

In June, the gardener knows it will be a while before she reaps. In July, the harvest begins. In August, more of the long-awaited crops come to fruition, plus the fall plantings start to grow.

Onion harvest - Copra and Red Zeplin

Burpless Beauty cucumber, growing vertically

Matt's Wild Cherry and Black Cherry tomatoes

Honey and Cream sweet corn

The pumpkin in the tomato bed keeps getting bigger and more orange

Pumpkin vine trying to escape the confines of the garden

Purple Pod pole beans, for fall harvest (fingers crossed)

I love mixing some flowers in amongst the veggies. The bees friend finally bloomed, so now we know what they look like. The zinnias will add color through the rest of the season.

Bee's Friend

Lilliput Mix zinnias

Garden roundup for June

We had a little dry spell, but otherwise the rainfall has been plentiful, resulting in a burst of garden growth that is filling the raised beds and beyond. Despite the rodent damage (I fluctuate between blaming rabbits or woodchucks) and accompanying avian damage, there will be plenty to harvest (knock on wood).

Two of the three sisters, pumpkin and corn, are waiting for the germination of the pole beans. The corn is barely getting above the pumpkin, which is sprawling out of its bed. I've never had much luck with pumpkin or winter squash because of squash pests, but things look healthy so far (more knocking on wood). I don't know why I continue to plant marigolds - they always get overshadowed.

The potatoes are starting to bloom, which means they should be making potatoes. I was hoping to get more dirt into their beds but life intervenes. Maybe it's not too late?

There will be sauce. There are twelve Roma tomato plants in this bed (and four overshadowed marigolds). I'm dreaming of Eric's marinara (from Poor Man's Feast) and pizza sauce (from Preserving by the Pint).

So far, only male blossoms on the zucchini. A friend posted this recipe for zucchini chips that I am anxious to try. Soon, hopefully.

I was extremely pleased with the storage capability of last year's 'Big Daddy' onions, but tried some new varieties this year, including this 'Red Zeppelin'. It's pretty, if nothing else.

I'm still a newbie when it comes to growing raspberries. When I pruned and thinned them after last year's harvest, I thought I did an admirable job. Now the little bed is just bursting at the seams and the plants so loaded with fruit, they are bending under the weight. I'm a little concerned that the berries themselves will be small and seedy from the plants being too dense, but there definitely will be lots. Must protect them from the birds.

In the future, I will also have to protect the peas from the birds. Sparrows and finches ravaged the plants this year, presumably because their spring food supplies were scarce after last winter. I did not realize just how badly they were damaging the plants, especially the blossoms, so few pea pods developed. BUT the ones that did appear are wonderful.

I've been looking for a good pod pea and I think I have found it in this 'Green Arrow' variety.

Despite the rodent damage, my poor broccoli plants are trying to make heads. I am not holding out much hope that they will develop to any meaningful size, but I will be happy to be surprised.

I do not even remember ordering hops last year. The rhizomes simply appeared in the mail one day. I stuck them in a big pot because I did not know what else to do with them, and they grew. I forgot to move the pot into the garage last fall, so did not expect them to survive the winter, but they did. Someday I will find them a more permanent home. Meanwhile, I am not having much luck getting them to climb. This funky trellis, assembled with my SO's help, is the latest attempt.

The Meyer lemon tree continues to recover from my neglect. We recently added manure to the asparagus beds, and some manure tea is being used here and there, especially here. I want to keep this plant healthy.

I recently harvested scapes from the garlic, making a garlic scape pesto with some and putting the rest into a stir fry. One secret I learned to harvesting the scapes is to snap them off, sort of like trimming asparagus, to avoid the hard, unchewable parts.

It helps to have a garden cat guarding the garden.