Wednesday, June 6, 2007
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.
Monday, June 4, 2007
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.
Friday, June 1, 2007
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.
On a lighter note, I will now have more room for my edamame (soybeans) and my next round of radishes sprouted.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
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.
Friday, May 25, 2007
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.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Past History
So far, I have kept a loose diary of the events and put it a word document. Here are the contents:
March 3rd - Sowed all of my seeds. Tomatos, Squash, Zucchini, Cucumber, Peppers, Cilantro, Basil, Tarragon, Parsley, Thyme, Sage, Chives
March 7th – Squash, Zucchini, and Cucumber sprouted. I left the Jiffy pots in the closet in the office and spritzed with water every other day or so.
March 10th – Almost all of the seeds had germinated except for the peppers. The Squash, Zucchini, and Cucumber were very tall and leggy because they had been left without light. I started leaving the trays out in the sun on the ironing board.
March 17th – The peppers still had not germinated. I put them on top of the cable box to give them some heat. All of the other plants were looking good except for the rosemary which only one had germinated. I repotted the squash, zucchini, and cucumbers to Styrofoam cups because the roots were growing outside of the jiffy pods.
March 24th – The peppers just began germinating. I left them on the DVD until the rest of the seeds germinated. I repotted the tomatos. I probably should have used some better potting mix because the top soil I used caused them to turn some of the yellow and some of them to turn purple.
March 31st – I put my squash, zucchini, and cucumber in the ground because they were just taking up to much room. I began hardening off my trays.
April 6th – My plants were doing well except for my tomato’s were starting to look a little sickly. I bought some fertilizer and put it on the top and watered them. I repotted my peppers and basil in cups with miracle grow potting soil. I wanted to put my plants in the ground but we had a cold snap so I had to bring my plants in and cover my Squash and Cucumbers. I forgot or didn’t know any better and left them covered during the day and wilted/parboiled them all. Oh well, I’ll just plant more when the temperature is right.
April 10th – I sowed my carrots, onions, bush beans, and beets.
April 12th – I planted my Parsley and Chives.
April 15th - I transplanted my Rosemary.
April 17th – I transplanted my Thyme and Tarragon and sowed some radishes.
April 21st – My onions, bush beans, and beets had sprouted. I transplanted all of my tomatos, peppers, and eggplant.
April 26th – We had a big storm come through and I protected my plants with a covered wagon style setup. Everything survived great. All of my seeds that I have sowed sprouted and were doing well. I plan on transplanting the basil this weekend. I took all of the rest of my plants in to work and gave them away. I also sowed my other cucumber, squash, zucchini, pole beans, and cantaloupe.
May 1st – My carrots have sprouted and everything has been thinned out. The new cucumber, squash, and zucchini have sprouted as well. Everything is doing well. My pole beans are beginning to break the ground.
May 7th – The cantaloupes have sprouted and the pole beans are getting tall and about to start putting off runners. The radishes aren’t close to being ready to eat.
May 14th – The garden is thriving. Everything is getting bigger and I am even beginning to see a couple of buds on all of my pepper plants except for the Karma. The trellises are up and the pole beans are sending off runners. I pulled a radish and it was kind of small but I ate it anyway. The thyme is not growing at all and the chives planted in the newspaper pots aren’t doing very good.
May 21st- The Squash bed is looking great. You can see little flowers on the summer squash. The bush beans are starting to grow beans. Jalapeño’s are forming. Anaheim’s are flowering. Radishes are getting ready to eat. Some are still far behind but coming on. The carrots are finally starting to get some growth to them. The onions don’t seem to be doing much, but I hope they will start coming on. I made a batch of pesto with my basil and parsley. Natalie said it was the best yet! The tomatos are beginning to enter the trellis and I am trying to keep the suckers pruned. The pole beans have reached about 5 feet high on the trellis and are almost as tall on the ladder. I tied the cucumbers to the ladder and they are developing vines now. The tarragon is just now getting some good growth and is about 8” tall.
May 23rd – I brewed up a batch of compost tea with some of the mushroom compost I had left. I let it steep for about 18 hours in the shed and poured it on the roots this morning. I tried to dilute it about 50/50 with water but towards the end it was pretty dark. I will have to stir it next time so I can get a better blend.
May 24th – I pulled some suckers today from my tomato plants. Some of them were fairly large. I also discovered that two of my plants had begun to split into two branches. I’m not sure what I will do but I need to cut them to make them a single stem. I also pulled off the lower branches off of the plant. I tied one of the cucumbers to the ladder so his tendril would let go of the pole beans. I plan on cutting two of the cucumbers off at ground level because I just don’t have the room for them. That will leave four cucumber plants on the ladder.
March 3rd - Sowed all of my seeds. Tomatos, Squash, Zucchini, Cucumber, Peppers, Cilantro, Basil, Tarragon, Parsley, Thyme, Sage, Chives
March 7th – Squash, Zucchini, and Cucumber sprouted. I left the Jiffy pots in the closet in the office and spritzed with water every other day or so.
March 10th – Almost all of the seeds had germinated except for the peppers. The Squash, Zucchini, and Cucumber were very tall and leggy because they had been left without light. I started leaving the trays out in the sun on the ironing board.
March 17th – The peppers still had not germinated. I put them on top of the cable box to give them some heat. All of the other plants were looking good except for the rosemary which only one had germinated. I repotted the squash, zucchini, and cucumbers to Styrofoam cups because the roots were growing outside of the jiffy pods.
March 24th – The peppers just began germinating. I left them on the DVD until the rest of the seeds germinated. I repotted the tomatos. I probably should have used some better potting mix because the top soil I used caused them to turn some of the yellow and some of them to turn purple.
March 31st – I put my squash, zucchini, and cucumber in the ground because they were just taking up to much room. I began hardening off my trays.
April 6th – My plants were doing well except for my tomato’s were starting to look a little sickly. I bought some fertilizer and put it on the top and watered them. I repotted my peppers and basil in cups with miracle grow potting soil. I wanted to put my plants in the ground but we had a cold snap so I had to bring my plants in and cover my Squash and Cucumbers. I forgot or didn’t know any better and left them covered during the day and wilted/parboiled them all. Oh well, I’ll just plant more when the temperature is right.
April 10th – I sowed my carrots, onions, bush beans, and beets.
April 12th – I planted my Parsley and Chives.
April 15th - I transplanted my Rosemary.
April 17th – I transplanted my Thyme and Tarragon and sowed some radishes.
April 21st – My onions, bush beans, and beets had sprouted. I transplanted all of my tomatos, peppers, and eggplant.
April 26th – We had a big storm come through and I protected my plants with a covered wagon style setup. Everything survived great. All of my seeds that I have sowed sprouted and were doing well. I plan on transplanting the basil this weekend. I took all of the rest of my plants in to work and gave them away. I also sowed my other cucumber, squash, zucchini, pole beans, and cantaloupe.
May 1st – My carrots have sprouted and everything has been thinned out. The new cucumber, squash, and zucchini have sprouted as well. Everything is doing well. My pole beans are beginning to break the ground.
May 7th – The cantaloupes have sprouted and the pole beans are getting tall and about to start putting off runners. The radishes aren’t close to being ready to eat.
May 14th – The garden is thriving. Everything is getting bigger and I am even beginning to see a couple of buds on all of my pepper plants except for the Karma. The trellises are up and the pole beans are sending off runners. I pulled a radish and it was kind of small but I ate it anyway. The thyme is not growing at all and the chives planted in the newspaper pots aren’t doing very good.
May 21st- The Squash bed is looking great. You can see little flowers on the summer squash. The bush beans are starting to grow beans. Jalapeño’s are forming. Anaheim’s are flowering. Radishes are getting ready to eat. Some are still far behind but coming on. The carrots are finally starting to get some growth to them. The onions don’t seem to be doing much, but I hope they will start coming on. I made a batch of pesto with my basil and parsley. Natalie said it was the best yet! The tomatos are beginning to enter the trellis and I am trying to keep the suckers pruned. The pole beans have reached about 5 feet high on the trellis and are almost as tall on the ladder. I tied the cucumbers to the ladder and they are developing vines now. The tarragon is just now getting some good growth and is about 8” tall.
May 23rd – I brewed up a batch of compost tea with some of the mushroom compost I had left. I let it steep for about 18 hours in the shed and poured it on the roots this morning. I tried to dilute it about 50/50 with water but towards the end it was pretty dark. I will have to stir it next time so I can get a better blend.
May 24th – I pulled some suckers today from my tomato plants. Some of them were fairly large. I also discovered that two of my plants had begun to split into two branches. I’m not sure what I will do but I need to cut them to make them a single stem. I also pulled off the lower branches off of the plant. I tied one of the cucumbers to the ladder so his tendril would let go of the pole beans. I plan on cutting two of the cucumbers off at ground level because I just don’t have the room for them. That will leave four cucumber plants on the ladder.
New Blog.
I'm going to start posting all of my garden info in this blog from now on because I am about to start working on my mandolin again and don't want to keep posting non related things in the mandolin blog.
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