Heading into the second week of July, and we keep getting yo yo cool hot temps from one day to the next.
Today was my push to weed the square garden again as the plants continue to grow. I circled the area around each basil plants (only three this year survived), and the thyme is starting to pick up. I circled them to make it easier to fertilize them with the manure tea this evening when I water. I just take a bucket of water, put in a few scoops of manure in an old pillow case or tee-shirt, tie it up and let it soak in the bucket over night. Voila, instant water-based fertilizer that won't burn the plants. May sure to use it quickly or the mosquitoes are attracted it in the bucket and will lay eggs. UGH! Thinned carrots, replanted more radishes, pulled one more dill plant since it was situated too close to the beans. Sprinkled another round of slug bait around the outside base of the garden and, Bam.... The garden is back on track, to the best of my ability. Too much rain. Having to use too much slug bait, which I hate doing. I really need to pick up a roll of heavy copper wire to wrap around the garden bed.
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| Square Garden Progress at about 5.5 weeks |
SunGold Cherry tomatoes are coming on strong with lots of fruit. Purple Cherokee Heirloom has two tomatoes but German and Black Chocolate cherry plants have yet to set any fruit. I keep trying to "finger" pollinate since we don't have a lot of bees this year. I did see a little version of a bee today on my Onion Flower.... I took a couple of photos and finally caught it in one of the shots.
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| Walla Walla Sweet Onion Flowering next to Tomato Blossoms |
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| Onion Flower Closer |
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| Close up with little bee bug. |
The potatoes all of a sudden are in the final stages. I had checked on them two days ago, and only one of the three was showing signs of die back. Today, suddenly, the other two caught up. I need to keep these out of the rains now so that they can finish up without rotting the potatoes in the soil.
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| Potato Barrel 2 |
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| Potato Barrel 3 |
Lettuce is all ready to use in salads and on sandwiches. The guys used some on hamburgers last night. There are some new starts popping up for the next phase in a few weeks. This helps to keep a cycle going for the rest of the summer months.
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| L-R Buttercrunch, Red Sails & Grand Rapids Leaf |
The Bell Peppers, albeit somewhat scraggly, have started flowering. The Yellow Bell has the most flowers on it. The Red and Green bells each have a couple of flowers.
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| Green Bell Pepper Plant with Blossom |
And last, but not least, the three buckets of Cucumber plants, preparing to spread and produce pickling cucumbers.
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| Six Cucumber Plants Older and Newer |
