Monday, July 11, 2016

Good News and Bad News

In the spirit of optimism, I will start with the good news.  The winter squash is going really well.  Every morning, when I go out to check on the garden, there are so many more flowers than before, and they all have bees in them, busily pollinating.  As a result, both kinds of winter squash are full of squashes in all sizes.

Spaghetti Squash
 This is the biggest of the squashes so far.  This will certainly be ready before September!


Spaghetti Squash

The spaghetti squash plants are covered with these tiny squashes!  Good thing they store well.

Butternut squash
 Even the butternut squash is covered with tiny fruit.  And even this tiny, they already look like butternut squash!  Good thing they store well also.


Spaghetti Squash
 This afternoon, I found this guy growing inside the garden...I swear he wasn't there yesterday!

On the bad news side of things is the zucchini.  Most all of the leaves have dried up and turned brown.  Most of the flowers are not pollinating - I'm not sure if I have all male or all female flowers, but I only had 1 small zucchini, which has since rotted.  I have pulled off most of the bad leaves and treated the rest with Neems, so maybe they can come back.  I'm going to give them a week or 2, but I'm not holding out much hope.


Sick Zucchinis

I do have quite a few Brandywine tomatoes that are looking good so far.


Brandywine Tomatoes

And a lot of yellow grape tomatoes

Grape Tomatoes

And a final bit of good news....beans!  Tonight's dinner will include fresh beans from the garden.
Green Beans

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Progress

Amazingly, it is July already.  This is coming into the time where I begin to lose control of the garden.  It's usually very hot and humid so I am less likely to go out to spend much time weeding.  And, of course, Oracle business picks up, trips begin to happen, life in general begins to happen.

This year, I am looking pretty good so far.

Herbs

I went away for a 3 day trip the end of June - expecting the worst when I got back - but things were doing really well.  The cucumbers and zucchini had really taken off, but were staying somewhat contained.  Not much need to weed in that box now, about all that can survive is the cukes and zukes!

Cukes and Zukes
 Notice the ground around the boxes is relatively weed free. This is where the real progress is evident.  The garden is still pretty neat and tidy, only things growing that I want to grow.  The secret has been vinegar, believe it or not.  I found on the internet - keeper of all the knowledge, true and untrue - that spraying weeds with a mixture of white vinegar and salt, with a little dish soap to make it stick will kill the weeds.  And it is more natural and cheaper than Roundup.

I even have about a dozen of these cute little tiny cucumbers starting.  I am expecting quite a lot of cucumbers and have been stalking Pinterest for recipes for salads and pickles.  I expect to be visiting family bearing gifts!!!
Baby cucumbers
 I also have some tiny beans starting.  I only have 3 bean bushes so I really don't think I will get very many, maybe just enough for a meal of 2.


Baby beans


This looks like an interesting battle shaping up:  the mint verses the spaghetti squash. Either way, I think I win.

Mint vs. squash

When I planted the spaghetti squash, I expected it to climb the back fence, which it has, a little.  But mostly, it began to escape out into the garden and the yard.  It has been going crazy.  So this week, Bill helped me put of a fence for it to climb on, just to contain it a bit.


Squash fence

Seems that the plant likes the fence because shortly after that, it began blooming.