End of June Update

We’ve survived the back-breaking work of turning the soil, laying out the beds, planting and mulching. We’re fast approaching the drought days, where it’s difficult to find enough waking hours outside of work to move the hoses and get enough water on the soil to keep it from alligatoring. We’ve survived two hail storms, one small and one not-so-small. It’s summertime, and the livin’ is easy.

I've planted corn on four different dates for a staggered harvest.

A couple of the corn plants got broken in the last hail storm, but most just suffered a few shredded leaves. I replaced the broken stalks with new seeds, and they’ve already sprouted. That brings me up to four distinct corn plantings, which will hopefully extend my corn harvest over at least 6-8 weeks. The oldest stalks are now hip high on me and have tassels forming. The smallest stalks look like little brand new blades of grass.

The tomatoes are looking great. The four plants I bought from Echter’s have almost reached the tops of their tomato cages. All of them have green tomatoes forming; the Early Girl has 16 tomatoes, one of which is showing the first rosy blush. The two Black Prince tomatoes I started from seed are about half as tall as the Echter’s tomatoes, but they’re both flowering now. And my little Tigerella, which got a slow start from seed, is finally about 8 inches tall and looking healthy. I’ve put compost and a little bit of fertilizer under all the tomatoes to encourage them to thrive.

The cucumbers are blossoming enthusiastically.

The cucumbers have started to bloom, and so far I see no signs of the mildew that has been a problem for them in years past. I hope the netting I put in will encourage them to grow upward and will increase the air circulation around the leaves.

The beans are bouncing back nicely after the hail storm, the slugs, and what looks like it may be a little bit of rabbit nibbling on a few leaves. The Royalty Purple beans from Baker Creek seem to be a bit more bug resistant. They’re growing taller and faster than the other varieties.

I’m picking lots of fresh herbs: oregano, parsley, cilantro, rosemary, thyme. I love running out to the garden to pick out the seasonings while I’m cooking dinner. We already ate the first round of peas, but it looks like the plants have re-flowered, and I have another bunch of pods fattening up nicely. I planted a few more peas in some of the open areas in the garden for another crop late in the summer.

A beautiful bunch of Cherry Belle radishes.

We’ve been harvesting radishes for several weeks now. Dennis likes to eat them as a snack, but I prefer them thinly sliced in my salads. I’ve learned to stagger the plantings so they don’t all come ripe at one time and go to waste. They’re so small and fast-growing that you can tuck a few seeds between other plants without disrupting the neighboring plants’ growth.

The peppers and eggplants are all growing nicely. The eggplants suffered a lot of shredded leaves in the hail storm, but they’re recovering just fine, and I’m starting to see the first blossoms on the peppers. The onions are also growing well. I picked a small one to use for dinner last week, and the taste was exquisitely fresh. You wouldn’t think you could tell the difference between a home-grown and a store-bought onion, but in fact, you can!

Potatoes put out surprisingly pretty little blossoms.

The potatoes have started blossoming like crazy. Hopefully that means the little spuds are growing under the dirt.

The zucchini and yellow squash are taking off in the heat, as are the pumpkins. The melons, though, have struggled, just as they do every year. I’ve planted the Prescott Fond Blanc melons three times. The seedlings are slow growers, which means the bugs can easily do more damage than the plants can repair. I think I finally have a batch that will survive; now they just need to get moving and start fruiting  before the short summer ends. I planted four cantaloupe seedlings from Echter’s, and I had to replace two of them with an early honeydew variety. I did see a first flower there this weekend, also.

The asparagus bed, which caused me such anxiety and anticipation this spring, has finally come into its own. All twelve of the roots I planted finally sprouted, and several of them are now sending up secondary shoots. The smallest shoots are as thin as a barbecue skewer, and the thickest are about as thick as a pencil. I think once the bed gets established the delicate frondy plants will be one of my favorites. The biggest challenge will be to keep out the bindweed that keeps trying to creep under the fence from the neighbor’s yard.

The peaches are a little bigger than golf balls, and the plum tree is dripping with plums. The first few cherries are turning red, so in just another week or two it should be cherry pie time.

It’s a beautiful, satisfying time in my little garden world.