I've been neglecting you, blogsot. I've been neglecting you too, garden.
Wasps and hornets and yellow jackets have taken up residence in my garden... not so much residence as daily visits to the huge tomato bush jungle we have towering over everything else. I dare not go out there unless it's early in the morning (yeah right) or after the suns gone down. It makes watering a pain, and I can't truly admire the beauty.

Little tomato plant, with it's only two fruit that have survived protect with netting

Next summer, I'm going to do EVERYTHING differently. It breaks my heart to see my tomato plant put out all of those flowers, only to have them wilt and die. And the few that are pollinated on hot days can't reach full size, and never ripen because of the cold weather... or they are eaten by caterpillars because their on the vine too long.

Cucumbers in front, butterfly shrubs, tomato jungle in back

It's funny; a garden is the ultimate euphemism for life, isn't it? You plant certain seeds; see which take, and which just aren't meant to be. You tend to your seedlings, some get cut down by the weather, taken out by pesky insects, but the few strong grow and thrive. You build them up, water them tenderly, and give them every thought and consideration. You pluck their fruits with the utmost care and then at the end of the season, you cut them all down, only to fertilize next season with the last season’s cherished vines.

A friend of mine, someone I wish I knew better, recently went home to her family in Texas... I must say, it tears my heart out to think of all my family back home in the big great state. I would give anything to visit and have them see Levi, and for him to see everything I see in them. To witness the awesome power the Lord has worked in all of their lives, and what our family feels like.

My chest aches when I see all her happy photos, the precious moments.

I just won’t think about it then, because it drives me crazy.

Swiss chard seedlings are tricky! All but two died here, I had to re-sow

I've torn out the eggplant, and sown kale, brocoli rab, Swiss chard, spinach and pear tomatoes for the fall. I think I'll scrub the tomatoes, because if it didn't get warm enough here in the summer, I think we are in for a more than chilly fall/winter.

I hope I have better luck with the greens, you don’t need bees for that.

Cat mint in front

Swiss chard is suprisingly hard to keep, you can see the aten away bitsof others that have died off here. Also, what is irritaitingly prolific in my garden? Cat mint! I'll have to dig it out and give it it's own corner. It trippled in size within the first week of being in the ground!

But the bean bushes are doing nicely! They are so resiliant! Both were snapped in two by the cat, and I mended them with a bit of nylon hose and two sticks to support them. I've got tons of flowers on one and a bean on another.

And just for fun? My zombie baby! He loves his finger foods, and will not STAND a spoon. On the occasion, he will alow you to give him food off your finger.

eating blackberries here!

suspension

Dealing with this June gloom. I am used to blazing heat and corn fields that tower over me by this time of year. I see southern gardeners posts about their slowing harvests of zucchinis, tomatoes and the like, and I have yet to get one, and I grow rather jealous.

It's like my garden has slowed down in the last few weeks. All the overcast days, I wish it would rain at least - my garden loves it when it rains.

I've sown mustard seeds with the tomatoes. I also created a bricked off area and filled it with rich soil and sown it with swiss chard. The sparrows tried to steal my seeds, so I left Strummer in the back yard for the rest of the afternoon.

My yellow neck squash keeps threatening to bear fruit, but they just shrivel and die. Should I be hand pollinating? We have tons of flying insects in the garden, so I'm not sure its the pollination. The zucchini plant is still trying to recover from the powdery mildew. I had to prune it almost entirely back, and then spray it with a neem oil fungicide which did the trick, but I am afraid I really scarred her. She's all week, and rather wiry.

After moving the tomato patch around, all the plants dropped their flowers, as I predicted. But in the last few days, have set new ones, as well as growing several inches and putting on a few sets of leaves. I am eager to find a little green tomato there one of these days.

My bell pepper is in suspended animation. It's strange. It doesn't really seem to be growing. Maybe it's the cold?

The eggplants are still setting leaves. As with the zucchini, the leaves are getting huge, so I fear there may be too much nitrogen in the soil. 

 cucumber

 

watermelon

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 Strangely enough, the plant I thought was going to suffer the most has done rather well.The cucumber had a bit of a growth spurt, and I had to add another level of twine for it to climb up. I believe it has set a few fruit.  Also, I lay down composted manure around the watermelon, and it had a bit of a growth spurt as well, and is looking much better after a few weeks of looking rather spindly itself.

The potato is growing like some kind of beautiful, mad weed! at least twelve inches tall now. The method seems to be working as planned. It's exciting! Nothing seems to stop it. I moved it away from the strawberries, as I recently read that they retard each other. The strawberries immediately set out fruit.

Also, I planted my chives near the tomatoes, and it is looking good again! They are companion plants

As a bit of a joke, my mom went out and bought me a chamomile plant which is now growing happily betwixt two giant eggplants. I smile every time I see it, and I fear when they leave it will make me very sad.

Powdery Mildew and Potatoes

My zucchini squash has been ravaged this last week by powdery mildew. What once was a thriving, weed like plant has been reduced to just a few weak suckers. I hope it pulls threw, as I'm afraid it is too late in the season to replace it. On top of that, all of my beans died :( It's bad luck for me this week.

I tried a heavy spray of diluted milk to the entire garden A, which is supposed to help. I will use another application next week... I'm not sure though, I may just have to go to Armstrong and see if they have anything organic. I would hate for anything else to get infected. It looks as though my yellow little neck squash had a few infect leaves today, which I pruned and disposed of.

In other news, I finally put my sprouted Peruvian purple potato down in some soil.  I am using the bucket method.


Growing Potatoes - The Bucket Method

• Place 4-5 inches good soil in the bottom of a deep pot, or bucket with holes drilled in it. I chose to use a garden center pot that my blueberry bush came in.

•  Place your seeded potato in the ground. I used a potato I bought organically at a local grocery store. Sometimes these potatoes are unreliable or diseased. For both of the reasons I chose to pre-sprout mine, and use the bucket method as opposed to putting them in my garden. 

• Cover the potatoes with a few inches of soil or mulch (I am choosing to use mulch, in the form of bougainvillea flowers, we have tons of the bushes hanging around). When you see little sprouts peeking out, cover it with a few more. 
• When your potato plant appears to be dieing, you are ready to harvest.

Raised Beds Changed My Life

I was contemplating raised beds for months. Since we moved into our new place, all of the yard space and spring air has made me feel very back to nature. I had been coasting by with a few containers and a obnoxious Topsy Turvy, but it felt incomplete.

With the baby and my busy husband, I never felt I had time to ever put it together. But my parents have been staying with us for the last week, and in their first couple of days here, my father helped me put them together. Here is a quick run down of supplies and cost for 2 very efficient 3x3 raised bed...

• Two 12' x 10" boards, cut into 3" pieces by the good people at the Home Depot - 24$
• Eight 12" stakes - $4.80
• Four bags of 'Rose Grow' 1.5 cu.ft. - acquired at your friendly local Armstrong or nursery - $36
• 1 large bag vermiculite - $13
• 1 bag composted cow manure (not necessary)
• 7 organic starter plants from nursery - $14-$16
• Total cost =  $91 - $93

A raised bed can be done for a considerably smaller amount of money if started pre-season with seeds and if your current soil situation is more favorable than mine.

We broke ground around 2pm, and had our holes dug about 3.30 (about 6 inches down). You must be sure to dig the holes larger than what you need, and fill dirt around the boxes after setting them in. We assembled the boxes in that time with two 1 3/4 inch wood screws on each panel.

After putting them in the ground, we leveled them by eye (nothing fancy here) and staked them in by placing one in each corner and screwing them to the boards. (Important) We then turned a bag of vermiculite and half the cow manure into the dirt dug up to place the boxes in the ground. After evenly distributing the mixture between the two boxes, we put two bags of Rose Grow on the top of each box. I then worked in the plants, being careful to not disturb their roots, most vegetables do not like this.

DO NOT STAMP DOWN THE DIRT! It should be so light and airy, that you can just place your fingers in the soil and push it around a bit to get the plants in.

All of my vine plants were put into one box so I would only have to build one large trellis. The bush beans fell through, as a local cold snap killed my seedlings. The picture above is not an accurate representation of what lays in my garden, it is rough and does not include the Yellow Little Necks and Eggplant I purchased at my last trip to the nursery - after this photo was taken.

Discovering the space in between the two boxes was just a few inches too small for me to get my feet in between, I put bricks on either end, filled the box with left over dirt, and sowed butterfly garden seeds to attract beneficial insects.

I go outside most days and just stare at our garden, or sit on the walkway with Levi, admiring our work, naming all the insects and plants we see. I can't wait until he is older and can grasp what a neat thing this all is.

I am amazed I've lived so long without a garden. I am completed