Eighth of an Acre Bounty

I figured (more for my own edification than anything) it was about time for a garden update. It helps to have a status record that I can go back to for reference to boot. This’ll be heavy with pictures…

We had a good rain last night and early this morning. Everything needed it and it came just in time. We have had to use the hose a few times now since our rainbarrels were empty and it was pretty parched around here. The crocosmia has taken off, I always look forward to it blooming. I’d really like to get ahold of some of the red variety as well – anybody out there looking to trade? I have a ton of the orange

The lemon cucumbers are coming along nicely, we will have a harvestable one in a few days here. Worth noting – I have not had to water the tomato/cucumber bed at all. Everything seems to be doing well without any of the telltale bedraggled-wilty foliage. It would be great if we could go through this entire season without putting any water on the tomatoes – here’s hoping.

As noted below, the green beans are starting to gear up. There are hundreds of little pods just needing a few sunny days to be pickable. This is pretty exciting as I was concerned the plants were going to grow at all after I put them in. They truly do wait for warm weather, you can plant em in April but they will just sit there at 4 inches tall until the climate agrees with them. If we get a good enough harvest from these I hope to can a good portion of the harvest for winter eating.

We discovered that one of the volunteer tomatoes we allowed to straggle on in the main bed isn’t a cherry. We had assumed that the copious volunteers were all either sungold or sweet million cherries due to the abundance of unharvested fruit from last year. But no, I was thrilled to see that this looks like a volunteer Principe Borghese. I neglected to save any seed from this plant last year and found that it was excellent for drying and canning. This year I won’t make the same mistake – even if it only puts out two fruit, those seeds are being saved.

So far all of the broccoli and cabbage starts have survived the transplant, and the onslaught of White Cabbage Butterfly larvae (visible in the gnawed upon leaves). I mixed up a cayenne and garlic topical spray that was recommended for deterring the butterflys from laying their eggs on the plants, but I am not so convinced of it’s effectiveness. The other recommendation from what I have read is Bt. And although I know it is accepted as part of an organic regimen, I am reluctant to introduce it into a garden that – so far – has had little more than soap spray used as a foreign control agent. So for now i inspect the leaves regularly and crush any eggs or worms I find.

The gladiolus are in full bloom, making it apparent where I missed a bulb when attempting to relocate them at the end of last summer. It is kind of curious though – there is a riot of red and yellow plants in the front yard, and all the overlooked stragglers in the backyard are a variegated variety. Tends to suggest some sort of plant intelligence – or the variegated variety rooted much deeper than the others? Strange in either case.

This is our largest squash plant so far. I neglected to make a note of what variety of squash I planted on which side of the bed, but I am betting that this is one of the winter squash I started from seed this year. Either a Sugar Hubbard or a Pink Jumbo Bananna, due to the density of the stalk and the bulbing of female flowers even before pollination. We have a bit of blossom-end-rot on this plant, I had to clip off the first two fruit as they were toast. We are hoping it has more to do with the inconsistent watering than the soil quality. Hopefully we get something out of this that will store for the winter.

We also have our first summer squash just about ready for the picking. This plant is actually pretty small, but is still trying to do its business (and I appreciate it). I think I will save this for tomorrow to take its place in succotash. My parents are coming over for dinner and I’ve got yin yang beans, green beans, onions a couple ears of corn from the farmers market and this bad boy just dreaming of hopping in the pan.

In other news, our spoiled little girl actually started earning her keep around here this past week. Last summer we had a rat issue. Admittedly I planted the tomatoes rather densely and the rat thought it ShangriLa taking a bite here and a bite there of every variety I planted. The most frustrating thing was our lazy cats. We have three cats, and not a single one of them took an interest in actually mousing.

However, Nin has turned over a new leaf it seems. We noticed her stalking something in the garden about a week ago and soon saw her bounding after a mouse. It got away that time but later, when Gary was mowing the lawn he discovered the remains. Ever since she has been rather diligently settling herself in the garden to monitor. This isn’t that great for my cauliflower and broccoli starts as she inevitably plants her butt right on top of one, but I’ll sacrifice it if she can keep the produce patrolled this year.