Update at the bottom!
I gave up the garden plot and yet I think I've had more food from my teeny little edible gardens at home this year than in the past 2 years at the garden plot!
Consistent watering is no joke, people!
Well...before we rejoice in produce, allow me to share that it has come at a price.
As
previously mentioned, this has been the year of pests.
Caterpillars were a constant struggle as they took out my kale and the cauliflower plants I had hopes for. (I could have run down to the local farm stand to buy kale 3 times in the time it takes to wash kale for salads...first after
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| Weeds are a whole other thing I won't mention: the rain this year! |
picking, you lay out the leaves and spray them with the hose at high power to knock off the "loose" little guys, then you soak them in water with a little vinegar, then you rinse them, carefully inspecting every part of every leaf
for little mini caterpillar friends still curled up on the leaves...oh and bonus: they look just like the green veins that run along the leaves. And of course make sure you knock off any remaining egg sacs too. ๐ฃ)
I think (hope?) that I finally got all of them off the plants, though, and my kale is growing back in again.
Between the bugs and rain and heat, I have really kind of neglected the poor gardens.
But strong they stand!
The cucumber plant is doing incredibly!
Here it is in June and has just exploded since then:
This has been another exercise in TLC...there are these
horrid squash bugs I got last year that found their way back.
Problem 1: they look like ladybugs ๐
Took me way longer than I care to admit to realize that yes, that little orangey thing with black spots IS actually causing the holes in your leaves.
Problem 2: they lay their eggs on the underside of leaves
So yes, there I am, on my knees, carefully turning over each individual leaf to crush any eggs I see (after smooshing the parents, of course)
Problem 3: the leaves are really spiky!
Dear cucumber plant: your defense mechanism isn't working...the bugs are still getting to you and it hurts my fingers to help you!
So, finally, after several weeks of very diligent (daily) checking each leaf and hand-smooshing bug control, I have eliminated them and been able to go to a quick check of the plant every few days.
And look!!
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| Not only looks great, but actually tastes pretty darn good too! |
Unfortunately about half have ended up looking like this:
Apparently a combination of not great watering (this bed is pretty sloped) and then suddenly a week of daily rain and possibly poor soil, leaving them on the vine too long, etc., etc.
I'd be more bummed out about the failures, but I'm actually eating cucumbers from my garden for the first time in I can't remember how many years!!
I had a "normal" tomato plant (usually Better Boy or something like that), but I think the cucumber shot up too fast and blocked its sun.
The few little tomatoes shown here were a little rough when I picked them and then the plant withered away.
Part of its demise was also from the cherry tomato plant.
Holy cherry tomatoes, Batman! This thing is going CRAZY!
It blew out of its cage pretty early on, flung its branches over onto its poor struggling cousin's cage and has also apparently been up to some cross-species hanky panky as I have on several occasions had to untangle tomato branches with cucumber vines...mmmmhmmm...I'm watching you, young man!
Well, lusty or not, that plant sure is producing the tomatoes!
Non-stop cherry tomatoes for weeks now!
(Again, though, the rains means you either pick them slightly unripe or they split and fall off...there seems to be no perfect "sweet spot". Well, there probably is and it's when we're at work.)
Also ate one delicious green pepper and have 2 more growing (also probably too shaded behind the cucumber / cherry tomato explosions).
And what is that weed in the front of the plot? Really need to pull that out.
But really the whole thing is a mess, so I'll get to it, I'll get to it.
Oh look, it's flowering...hmmm, that looks familiar...
It's an accidental jalapeลo transplant from the compost bin!
The craziness that is the plant jungle:
And how about the "front yard garden plot"?
Well, within weeks after
last posting, it just continued to explode!
I was constantly trimming off bunches of parsley and basil leaves to dry since I just couldn't keep up with using it fresh!
And the zucchini is alive and well and pulling its way up the middle!
All the cute little habanero peppers!
And then cue a month later and the heat is intense and I am trying my darndest to water it, but apparently did not put enough in the base to hold the water in, so every day I come home from work and it's a little wilty again. ๐
The basil is finally all but gone.
Typically I have basil in pots where it gets afternoon shade...here it is in the blazing sun for the entire, intense afternoon/evening.
Nevertheless, all in all, the plants are huge and keep growing!
SO many habenero peppers!
And hark - what is that I see? Itty bitty, adorably 3" long zucchinis?!
I have absolutely no hope that they will survive and ripen.
The plant has been producing orange flowers non-stop since it got established, but they usually fall off before fruit starts. These are actually growing! But they're also in a confined space shaded by surrounding plants.
It's still been a super fun experiment regardless!
I finally cleaned up the weeds and spent pea stalks and such from the plot in back and yay for cleanness, but what is missing?
Can you spot it?
How about a closer look?
I see moss, twigs, teeny weeds, rocks....but do I see cilantro seedlings? No I do not.
They went to seed probably two whole months ago and I should have raked them in and cleared the ground for them, but as mentioned, it's been busy, then rainy, then hot and just a combination of circumstances making seeds taking a bit challenging.
Please tell me this isn't the end?! Please tell me my crazy, post-apocalyptic, all-seasons cilantro still lives under there?!!!
It is arguable whether or not one could call 1 pepper, 4 cucumbers and a bunch of cherry tomatoes a success, but by golly, I'm taking what I can get!
Go, little garden!
8/21 Update:
Look what I found poking up after I posted?!!
And also this ๐ You are done...I'm ripping the lot of them out, roots and all and taking machete action to the soil below to kill any larvae that may have been laid there.
