Gardeners: how's it looking?

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

The landlords have opened another raised bed for me. What on earth will I put in it?

A bean trellis?

[Harlow2]

My cherry tomatoes have set fruit but the longed for bigger ones don't seem to have yet. 

I'm envious of the extra raised bed, EPW. Beans do sound awfully good if you are so inclined. They are not a pain in the butt.

[Parasaurolophus]

The landlords have opened another raised bed for me. What on earth will I put in it?

A bean trellis?

Could do, but had no bean seeds on hand. Instead, I went for snap peas, sunflowers, corn, butternut squash, scallopini, and zucchini. And a small corner for my last empress tree seeds, just in case (I'm getting more)

[apl68]

The abundant rains have created an abundance of spring blooms.  Unfortunately the constant rain and overcast has reached the point of ruining the blossoms on the plants.  The magnolia blossoms, gardenias, and roses are all looking pretty sad right now.  If we can ever get less rain and more sun, they might perk up and create a good secondary blossoming.

[AmLitHist]

Kid #1 and I cut all the spinach, buttercrunch lettuce, and kale this morning. I blanched and froze some spinach (having forgotten just how little it yields), and she'll use some of the other spinach and a small head of buttercruch or two for salads.  The rest will go to juice and smoothies. 

After the trimming and bone meal, the peas are blooming.  There are several small tomatoes on the plants, and more blooms. The peppers have lots of buds but not much in the way of blooms yet.  Getting the lettuces out will free up some ground (and nutrients) for them, so that plus some epsom salts and a good watering in a day or two should help.

[mamselle]

You guys should definitely be running a farm stand.

I'd come!

M.

[Parasaurolophus]

Had to trim back the kale and potatoes today, before they could choke everything else out.

Looks like the late-planted sunflowers and corn are doing well, and some peas have sprouted up, too. Maybe there's a squash or zucchini in there? I can't tell.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

I transplanted some okra from a member's plot (planted it way too close together) and it took! Yard long beans are growing well. I do need to spray the cucumber vines with some kind of deer repellent since those boogers are eating them again. Maybe I'll mix some garlic and hot peppers as my mix. Not sure yet. Oh, and we have blueberries!

I'll check out what Tuesday's group did tomorrow morning. Hopefully, we have some new plots that have been built.

[mamselle]

Do marigolds repel deer?

Or maybe that's some other critter.

I forget.

M.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Do marigolds repel deer?

Or maybe that's some other critter.

I forget.

M.

Yep. And I think nasturtium do as well.

[AmLitHist]

The peas apparently heard me tell ALHS the other day that since they weren't blooming and it's getting late and hot, I'd probably pull the vines this weekend.  When I watered this morning, I had to lift the bloom-laden vines out of the way to get between the beds with the hose!  (I need to put in a couple of stakes and twine to neaten them up, but even by 8 a.m. it was too damned hot to mess with.)

After watering, I did tie up a few tomato branches (need to put in a better trellis system after payday at month's end).  The peppers, tomatoes, squash and zucchini are all responding to the bone meal, bat guano, and epsom salts (the peas, too!)--all are blooming heavily. 

The squash bed has leaves as high as my shoulders! But the plants are all loaded with blooms.

And the kale and spinach that Kid *1 and I cut last week look like they've never been touched--everything has regrown nice new leaves already.

I have three hollyhocks all planted last year:  one is about a foot tall; one got rust and after spraying got trimmed to about 2 feet tall; and one is about 8' tall and loaded with buds, about a third of which popped into huge white blooms this week.

There's no real chance of rain in the next 10 days' forecast, so I'm going to be doing a lot of watering to try to keep everybody alive in the heat.

[San Joaquin]

No rain till November or so here, so the twice daily water inspections continue. 

Have had radishes, peas, mustards, kale, and yellow squash.  Got beets & tomatoes nearly ready. 

I also have the weirdest aphids on the planet, eating the things that are supposed to repel them and ignoring the usual tastiness.

[mamselle]

Ladybugs eat aphids.

M.

[lightning]

I give up. I've stopped watering the lawn and flowers. Hello brown grass and dead flowerbeds of shame.

I can't keep up with the heat & dryness of my climate.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

I give up. I've stopped watering the lawn and flowers. Hello brown grass and dead flowerbeds of shame.

I can't keep up with the heat & dryness of my climate.

:(