Beet Tops for Lunch

My beets were supposed to be pulled yesterday but I know they didn't turn out well. I lost five of the nine and the other four have nice tops but the root were smaller than my radishes. I ate the tops of one at lunch time just to see how they taste and they were so sweet. I think my problem was that I planted them late and didn't water them enough to grow a nice bulb for the root. I think when I plant them for the fall, I will mulch and also try and amend the soil with some boron. I have read that beets like that micronutrient.

Planted more bush beans

I planted some more bush beans. I planted some stringless green beans and some waxbeans. The first time I planted them, they did not produce very well and they were planted four to a square so I tried planting 9 to a square so I may be able to harvest a little more. I beleive they will still have enough room. There are still some beans on my plants but not that many. My pole beans are a different story. I will have plenty of those.

Squash Vine Borer's Attack!!!

I went out to the garden last night armed with a spray bottle with bt and a syringe to hopefully give the little larvae something good to eat. On further inspection of my zucchini plants, I went ahead and yanked them out of the ground. Only one stem/branch had wilted but many more had holes in them. At this point I was still planning on trying to get rid of the pests until I unburied the top part of the main stem. It was pretty bad with frass and didn't look good. At that point, I pulled the three Zucchini because they didn't have any fruit yet. I cut them open with a razor blade and found a few worms in each main stem. I then cut the branches off and slit them open. Almost everyone had a small worm in it. I am afraid my four squash plants are going to have the same fate but I sprayed them with Thuricide anyway in hopes I could prolong them a little so I could have at least a few squash since they are getting bigger. I also filled the syringe and injected Thuricide into the main stem because I could tell they were already in there. I was pretty upset over all of this because squash and zucchini are two of the only things that I wanted from my first garden. Live and learn. Next year, I will be hand pollinating and covering the bed with row covers.

On a lighter note, I will now have more room for my edamame (soybeans) and my next round of radishes sprouted.

In Bloom

Louisiana Purple Pole Beans in bloom


Cucumbers in bloom

Squash Bloom

Memorial Day Update

I had my first squash blossom. The next day there was another and it looks like there are many more to come. They have all been female which is strange to me because I have read that the first ones are usually male and then the female start a little later. What is also strange is the blossom is closed up and it seems that the fruit is growing now. I'm not sure how it was pollinated since I have no male flowers. I did walk over to the neighbors house and look at some of the squash and zucchini that I gave him. His plants had a lot of ripe fruit on them and multiple male flowers. Mine could have been pollinated by his. I dug up my thyme because it was not doing well. I planted some more radishes in it's place. Over the weekend, I cut out a piece of 12" 1X12 so I had a square foot piece of board. I then drilled holes so in the board so I would have the correct spacing for my plants when I planted the seeds. I then marked a dowel that I can stick in the holes to make the seeds be planted at the proper depth. I will have to take a picture of it later and post. It really isn't necessary but I was bored and my OCD kicked in. I had actually been thinking about making it for a while.

What is this?

What is this white spec on the leaves of my tomato plant? They don't have legs but there are a few of them on one of my plants. You actually have to pop them off with your finger tip. I have seen aphids on my plants but this is more like an egg case of some sort. If any of you have any clue what this could be, please let me know.

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