The Crop Report – Week Six

I can’t believe it’s been two weeks since I’ve posted!  We’ve been traveling.  I’ve been helping others with their gardens, and I’ve been working on the new patio, which has left me feeling VERY tired at the end of the day. 

My garden helper is still around – he asked if he could weed two boulevard gardens AND the west hill while we were gone – I didn’t say no!  I can't remember a time when all the garden beds have been weed free at the same time!  Neighbors and passers-by have noticed, too! And, he’s been a GREAT help on the patio project.  We took a break yesterday for the July 4^th holiday, but I’m sure he will be here shortly – ready to finish off the project.

The crops are doing well.  We pulled an onion last night for our July 4^th picnic dinner and it was plump – almost the size of a leek.  We are still harvesting kale on a daily basis and the chard got big enough for smoothies earlier this week.  All of the tomato plants have tomatoes and all of the pepper plants have blossoms!  The vining spinach is coming up now, too, but has not started to vine.

The cukes and squash have begun to “jump the box” and are starting to creep into the front yard, which is fine with me!

I don’t know what’s been going on with the berries, however.  The strawberry crop looked so promising, but we haven’t gotten ONE berry!  Not one!  The creatures must have been very busy.  And, last night when we took our evening walk through the gardens, we noticed that the blueberries looked skimpy and scant.  So, a fence or some cages may be in order.  Luckily, the raspberries are both plentiful and ripening!  We’ve gotten a handful now for the last several days.  Yummy!

It rained almost two inches last weekend while we were gone and then “spritzed” a little bit on Tuesday afternoon.  But, it’s been dry since then.  So, for the first time since the week we planted, we’re going to water.

My neighbor has hatched three Monarchs, but I haven’t seen the caterpillars that were in my boulevard gardens for a few weeks.  Two nights ago, I saw a wasp eating a Monarch – possibly newly emerged.  Nature isn’t always beautiful or serene.

The neighbor I “stay-cation” with commented this week on the lack of bumblebees.  She hasn’t seen any in her garden this year.  I’ve seen several, and now that she’s brought it to my attention, I’m keeping an eye out for them.

There’s so much more to write about – a couple of field trips, the patio project, the continued work of the garden helper.  I will do that later – possibly from the new patio!