Things tall and small in July

The garden is looking tall and lush, despite my benign neglect.

I'm even contemplating ripping out things like cornichons just because I'm tired of the daily search for tiny cucumbers to make into tiny pickles. Does that make me a bad gardener?

One of my worst nemeses is back -- why do I have leaf miners in my peppers? It's bad enough that they decimate spinach, beets, and chard. So far, I'm picking and destroying. I suppose if I were not heavy into the summer doldrums, I'd be monitoring leaves for eggs. Head 'em off at the pass, and all that.

One thing I finally have done something about is the bizarre, spotty, aphid infestations in my popcorn. I'm keeping a spray bottle of soap out there and hitting each colony a couple of times a day. Their activity level (and that of their attendant ants) seems to drop off dramatically. I'm also wiping the bigger clusters off, although the ones tangled in the silks are just plain nasty. I'm hoping that they will not be an issue when the ears are dry. But. . . yuck.

I can't knit lace, but the cucumber beetles have made lace of my bean plants. It doesn't seem to affect their vigor, and the pole and bush varieties in the big bed are getting ready to dry, so I'm not worried about them either. But still, I figure I ought to be out there with a cup of soapy water catching them as they fall, since they eat the just-blooming sunflowers too. I'm not.

Finally, and this one's for Granny, my hand fully spread out is 8". That makes this leaf. . . at least 32" across? Zucchini is just crazy.

Up up and away

If I wait a few more weeks, maybe there would be a goose and some golden eggs at the top of these? The Rattlesnake pole beans are shorter, but these saved Italian Fagioli Stregoni are heading for the sky.

The bush beans are already bearing. I may, despite my commitment to dry beans, have to eat some green.

Also, in high-altitude gardening, the asparagus is over my head. (I'm not at all pregnant; I was trying to cover my nice skirt up with an apron so I wouldn't get dirt on it.)

There are exciting things happening close to the ground, too. It's a good time in the garden.

April overview

This is post #2 today. Not fair to put this many pictures and the videos in the first up in one post, methinks. Speaking of which -- can anyone SEE the videos in the earlier post??

Garden overview -- from left to right, which is west to east from the house, and then south to north.

First bed has pole beans and bush beans, and still needs yellow wax beans and Romano bush beans. Must go buy some seeds. . . and something is already eating the babies. Must buy more snail and slug stuff.

Bed of brassicas going by and ruby chard volunteering. If I knew what was supposed to go there, I'd plant it. Guess that's why I should look at the pictures.

Kale, the indispensable vegetable. I'm going to start a flat of that inside, because in six weeks, there's going to be more room somewhere!

Brassicas flowering (I'm going to put up a sign about allowing that for the bees, and maybe something about how/why/when to save seeds -- this is not the method!) and some lettuce. This bed is almost done and therefore open.

Spinach and some space. Back to the drawing board! I think it's winter and summer squash slated for this spot.

Bed full of onions. My onions are making thick necks, and I think they're all as done as they're going to be. Especially the cippolini. I'm going to harvest and chop and freeze, I think. But after the tour.

The crowded apiary. The one to go is third from the front on the right hand side.

Transplanted persimmon tree. Seems we hit the rain perfectly and it's settled in. Red clover as a cover crop underneath.

Volunteer sunflowers with lacy leaves:

 And eek! There's something wrong with the Anna apple tree. Ideas?

The asparagus jungle:

Fava beans left too long for a cover crop but it's the way it goes. Hairy vetch underneath:

Tristar strawberries -- hoping to increase to another bed this summer, but they seem slow-starting to me.

The cucumber bed, with maybe six varieties and trellises:

Hot and Padron peppers in this bed. Each pepper has either a commercial cone-shaped wire cage or a trio of poles stuck straight in. I figure I can wind twine around if they need actual caging. Otherwise, they are sort of "hugged" in place.

Looking up the long bed on the east, black popcorn in the front, tomatoes in the back. I'm using the long running fences as cages again.

Back half of the garden, behind the tomatoes -- artichokes and some oregano that won't stop coming. Need to make more spaghetti sauce, I guess! I bought three more artichokes today to fill that bed in.

Empty beds along the east fence. I'm thinking bell peppers or squash. Can't quite decide. Back to the drawings.

This is technically Ellie's bed. I was hoping to have it full of flowers by now, but my zinnias and sunflowers and breadseed poppies weren't terribly cooperative. I may go to a nursery and seek out flowers. There is a very happy clump of Lemon Balm in this bed.

And that's it. I had hoped to have more art in the garden before Saturday, but it's mulched and I still have quite a bit to do, so art may have to wait another year. Copper words, a mural. .  . something.

Just Pay Attention

Tuesday morning started with a wander around the garden. Most mornings, if I'm really lucky, start like that. Everywhere I look, if I pay attention, interesting things peep back at me.

So from thirsty chickens to volunteer pumpkins to pernicious weeds, from galumphing nasturtiums to less-enthusiastic flowers, beans ready to harvest entwined with spontaneous Sour Gherkins, it all ended up with a large box of goods for the community food bank.


















Mornings like that give me strength to face my days.

Lush

I feel guilty for resting on the garden's laurels -- only because I know I should be making the next season happen already. Maybe I'll get some done this evening. It's been warm, after an unseasonable rain storm. The garden has reacted with raging growth:



Except for the pitiful peppers, of course. Every year, it seems that there is one plant which does much better than expected. Last year it was bell peppers. Next year, I'm going to plan them much more carefully -- I loved those peppers. Oh well. Guess I'll haunt half-off sales this summer so we have enough to grill, because I'm not going to harvest enough. But some thought-dead Padrons have greened up, so there will at least be a few of those. Yum.

This year, the unexpected performer was leeks:


I planted them partly as a lark. I love leeks, and hate to buy them. But these puppies really did well. Lisa had some issues with hers this year, so I was afraid that mine must have been bolting. This morning, before the heat hit (how the Victorians dealt with this I do not understand), I was nipping through the garden, eyeing the about-to-bolt-or-get-too-big stuff.

Apparently they weren't bolting. Now I have to sell the family on Vichyssoise as a viable dinner, I think.


The strawberries continue to just crank out berries -- we harvested a pound today with no end in sight. I did nip off runners conscientiously. How do you with strawberry patches deal? Do you transfer the plants via runners and rogueing out the originals? How often? Do you do a Lord of the Flies let 'em rip kind of system? Pull them all and replant new plants? So far, no disease or slug issues, and the birds haven't been bad. In fact, Mikey's been the worst pest so far, and we just watch him now.


The grapes are growing crazily. Some day I'm going to learn how to prune them properly. I hope we get enough for jam again this year. We're running low, and the grape was terrific last time. Reminded me of my pb&j childhood!


In addition to "junglelike growth," this year's theme seems to be "volunteering." My produce isn't bagging itself to give to neighbors and the soup kitchen, but extra bits of plants keep popping up. There's the kale on the brick patio, the squash in the compost and near the chicken coop, and tomatoes everywhere. Tomato alley:


Johnny Jump-ups make me smile. After finally getting some from seed last year, I had hopes of babies this year. They did not disappoint. How many years do you think it will be before I finally preserve some in sugar to put on cupcakes?


This is about how high an elephant's eye is, right? Ellie may actually get some ears of corn this year. Wish we'd planted more!


The Italian soup beans are rampaging. I still feel slightly guilty over not liking green beans enough to grow, pick, and prepare them. Dry beans are more my style. But really, they seem like a crazy use of home gardening space. These earned it by being flown across the Atlantic:


One of the kinds (either Fagioli Stregoni or Pavoni) has luscious apricot flowers.



Other flowers include the ubiquitous (though fortunately less-numerous than last year!) sunflowers, just opening up:


And a few sweet peas. Those fence beds are going to have to be dedicated lettuce beds, I believe. The things there are so far behind for lack of sunlight that it's perfect for a slow-bolt planting of lettuce. Remembering that is key, of course.


Speaking of bolting, I indentured two kids today to prepare and freeze about ten pounds of kale. It's got to get done or the chickens will get it all:


Finally, I assume that either from the planted plants or those multiple volunteers, there will be tomatoes. . . some day.


Sorry about the "everything but the kitchen sink" approach. I'm not blogging regularly and oh how I miss the good camera, but when I do get things photographed, might as well cover as much as possible. Busy times, as you all know.