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!

The Crop Report – Week Three

The crops are really taking off!  The Riverman is disappointed that there are no blossoms on the Celebrity tomatoes, but he’s pleased with how much they’ve grown since last week.  He “ruthlessly” thinned out the carrots last night.  And, we’ve been using the kale in our smoothies all week!  The onions and peppers are all very healthy.

The cukes and the squash haven’t yet set blossoms, but I can see the tiny little cucumbers where the blossoms will form!  They are much more robust than the plants we had last year.

I haven’t yet gotten the fence around the vining spinach, so the creatures are still having a field day chomping off the newly sprouted plants.

All the berries are doing well.  They seem to be in a race to see which one will bear fruit first.  I don’t remember them all starting to show fruit at the same time last year.  Last week I predicted we’d have raspberries by now.  Sadly, that prediction did not come to fruition.  Maybe next week!

Two of the Monarch caterpillars are still around.  I saw four earlier in the week, but when I checked this morning I could find only two.  My neighbor says she’s seen some on the coneflower plants instead of on the milkweed and says I shouldn’t worry too much.

Mother Nature is doing the watering again this week.  We’re expecting 2 – 3 inches over the weekend.  We’re having additional gutters put on the house and the guy finished the east side of the house yesterday.  So, we’ll see if the additional gutters help to keep the water away from the foundation!

 

That’s the crop report for this week.  What’s happening in your garden?!

The Crop Report – Two Weeks from Planting

It’s been two weeks since we got the veggies planted.  And, so far so good!  Well, mostly.  The creatures seem to have gotten into the vining spinach.  I see new sprouts in the morning and then later in the day, they’re gone.  I might have to put a little fence around this one until the plants have a chance to vine up.

The kale is doing great, and so are the onions.  We actually harvested kale yesterday and this morning for our smoothies!  We’re starting to see carrots (and a rogue sunflower, courtesy of the squirrels or chipmunks). 

The tomatoes are flowering and the cukes and squash are just getting ready to send out vines.  I used the cilantro Friday night in a batch of guacamole.  Was it my imagination, or did the guac really taste better for having some home grown ingredients?

Flowers on the fruit plants have faded and the fruit is forming!  Could there be raspberries by next weekend?!  I hope so!  The strawberries seem to be out-pacing the raspberries this year.  It’s been an odd year for bloom times.  Everything seems to be late this year – except for the strawberries. 

We won’t have to water for a few days thanks to Mother Nature doing that for us.  She provided just over an inch on Friday night into Saturday.  Today promises some sun, a great follow up to the perfect amount of moisture.

Oh!  I almost forgot! The Monarch eggs have hatched!  It’s cool to go out in the morning and see the holes in the milkweed leaves getting bigger.  I’m also seeing some new eggs on different plants. I hope some of these guys survive to adulthood. 

That’s the crop report for this week.  What’s happening in your garden?