It’s the end of the month, so just a quick update on gardening progress for June.
Things are doing really well! Gardening is turning out to be very rewarding.
The basil plants are certainly earning their keep. Here’s a photo from yesterday:
I know they look a little wimpy, but that’s because right before this photo was taken I harvested this:
That’s a TON of basil!
I used some, but the rest I laid out on the dehydrator for later.
The purple podded pole beans are a force to be reckoned with.
One day last week I happened to notice that the very top of one plant was lined up with the top of the trellis. I looked up later that night and saw that it had grown at least 3 inches in just a few hours! Yowza!
I have a feeling I’ll be able to can enough pole beans to feed an army, once the actual beans start coming in. Though, I’m sort of wondering when that might actually be.
The cucumbers are likewise growing beautifully. The variety I planted is supposed to be able to climb, though it took a bit of coaxing to get it climbing at first. I had to weave the shoots in and out of the trellis once they were long enough.
After that, though, they got the idea and took off! They aren’t nearly as high as the pole beans (my HOUSE is barely taller than my pole beans at this point), but they’re fuller and have a ton of blossoms.
We will definitely do a cucumber trial this summer!
The loofahs are growing, but not nearly as fast as the other climbers. Oh, well. That was just for fun, anyway.
The potatos needed another board added to the towers, and another liberal coating of DE.
We’ve been getting so much rain here that I haven’t been able to keep DE on the plants, but after the first application I didn’t have nearly the bug problems.
We had a nice two day break with no rain, and some buggies ate on the potatos again, so they got a nice coat of DE for their efforts.
I’m happy to report that it worked again, and I’ve seen no further bug damage on the potatos.
Despite a somewhat slow start, the carrots are really taking off! It’s about time to plant another 3 rows of them, I think.
Even though the carrots are growing nicely, we won’t use them as a trial for Zac this summer. There’s just no way I’ll grow enough to keep him on carrots all year long. I really had no idea what kind of yield I would get off these, but now that I know, I can plant many, many more next year.
That’s okay. It’s a learning experience, right?
Sadly, the Swiss chard and collard greens were saved from bug damage by the DE, but critters have decided to take over decimating my crops.
This is definitely not big damage! Whole leaves are obviously munched on. I guess if I want to grow delicious, leafy greens, I’ll have to invest in some sort of fencing to keep bunnies and other varmints out of the garden.
The tomato seedlings are doing rather well, considering that I, A. didn’t start them soon enough and, B. have basically continuously forgotten about them and left them to fend for themselves. Oops.
I may or may not actually get these seedlings into the ground in time to get any tomatos this year, but at least now I know to start them much sooner next year.
Other than that, my backyard has transformed into a pleasant place to be thanks to the addition of the kids swing set and kiddie pool.
I think back on what the yard looked like in March or April and am blown away by just how ugly and unwelcoming it was.
Now, I’m fantasizing about pergolas and outdoor furniture to make it even more inviting! I finally have a nice backyard! Yay!
Speaking of the swing set, I noticed the kids sandbox was just crawling with ants! Not good.
Rather than dig out nasty chemicals to spray, I remembered reading that DE worked on ants, too. So I applied a thick coating of DE all along the edges of their sandbox…and the next day – NO ANTS!
I just love that stuff!
How is your garden growing this month? Have you been able to harvest any foods yet?
