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.