Garden stuff

Here's some of what I'm finding in the garden lately...

I've had to let out some slack on the asian pear covers. After doing some reading, I think next year I'm not going to monkey around with little custom-cut pieces of floating row cover that I have to wrestle with while wrapping a metal tie around the stalks... Instead I'll thin out the trees so there aren't too many Asian pears on each branch (you want to do this so each one remaining gets more energy without overtaxing the tree itself), and then just staple on a sack over each fruit that will be saved on the tree for harvest. Well, HOPEFULLY I'll have so many I have to thin them out...this year I have only a handful of fruits.


This is the first year I've grown cabbage. I feel like these guys are taking forever, but they ARE starting to form their heads. I hope they don't run the risk of bolting before they're fully formed!


The pepper bed's looking really good. MOST of the pepper plants are really starting to show some growth, although some are still really small - not sure what that's all about. And for the record, those leafy things between the pepper plants - the ones with orangey flowers? Emily - those aren't weeds - they're marigolds. ;-)


The peppers are starting to bloom!


The leeks are definitely looking more leek-like! I really need to start mounding up some extra soil around them - that'll keep a longer section of the base "blanched" - tender and white!


The squash and pumpkins are really taking off! The mini-spaghetti squash plant has vines longer than I am tall, and it's barreling through all the other squash plants.


What's this little guy!?


Oh look - there's more!


Those would be baby cucumbers! The cukes and gourds are really starting to take off. Only now, after talking with Dan and George last week, I'm really freaked out that there will be cross-pollination and that the cucumbers won't be very good. Hm. Maybe I can dig out the gourds, pot 'em up briefly, see if they survive, and if so, put them somewhere else - maybe up against the deck railing?


And these are some of the tomatoes. I know it might be a bit premature, but I think this'll be known as my worst year for tomatoes yet!!! We've had so many heavy rains that the plants aren't doing well. Even after all the tilling and ammending I did in the garden, I think the soil's become too packed down and saturated. It seems like just as soon as they perk back up, we get another flooding rain and they're wilting again. And now the crab grass, or whatever the evil grass is that's been here since we moved in, is starting to take over again... I need to get in there and keep trying to weed it out and cover it with more straw/grass clippings.


While these pumpkins are doing great, the beans in the foreground aren't. Just like with the tomatoes, the beans have not done well with all the rain. I have to keep re-seeding because so many have rotted out. Now we're to the point where some of the early crops in the raised beds are finishing up, so I can start planting new bean crops in the raised beds, where they should do much better.


Check it out! Okra!!! (Ok, you're going to have to get closer to the monitor if you really want to see them). Again - these guys are a victim of heavy soil and too much rain - they got washed around a bit I guess? After taking this picture I dug them up and spaced them out better....let's hope I have a good crop of okra this year! (I know okra aren't supposed to like being transplanted, but they weren't going to do well all bunched together)


And finally - something that's LOVING all the rain... I guess it's hard to overwater blueberries...and these guys are very happy. In fact, they're just starting to show hints of blue! Yum!