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To read about our garden from the beginning check out :
Potatoes-
Since Garden Journal Volume 5 was published we went away for a few days. While we were gone we received the first rain in a long time. According to my neighbors it rained hard for two days. That turned out to be a bad combo for our potatoes. We got home and they were suffering from, what I think, is Brown Spot and/or Early Blight. I tried not to panic and did some research. I grabbed my snippers and trimmed all lower and affected leaves. I also bought When we arrived home we also found that the rain created a fairly major slug issue. They were feasting on my zucchini and pole bean seedlings. Interesting though we are only seeing the slugs on our straw bales. I got some cheap beer and set it out each night along with hand picking them off of the plants. We all got a kick out of Mommy going out at night with a beer to stroll the garden. I also heard that coffee grounds help but have found that to not be effective. I continue to find upwards of 15 slugs in the cups of beer and keep picking them off whenever I go out to visit my veggies. I bought this product to try and repel the slugs. We’ll see how it works!
Slugs!
Cucumbers-
We have cukes! I even bought some more jars to make some small batches of pickles. The boys are so excited! I’m on the hunt for a second hand pressure canner or even hot water bath canner. It looks like we’ll have some more to harvest so hopefully I can put them to good use. My neighbor had some old seeds unexpectedly sprout so she shared several plants with us. The 6 or so seedlings are now in the far corner of the raised bed that was sad and pathetic in my last post. The transplanted surprisingly well and seem to like their new home.
Pole Beans-
The pole beans have almost all sprouted. I almost gave up on the seeds in the straw bale. This morning I saw nothing except one seedling the slugs had feasted on and chalked it up to the slugs inside the bale. Well, no more than 6 hours later there are two more plants about 2 inches high and one more on the way. Gardening sure teaches you patience!! We eat a lot of green beans so I really hope we are able to harvest and freeze a lot of green beans as well as can dilly beans. I’m interested to see the difference between the pole and bush varieties as well as how the two plantings will do where one pair is in the raised bed and one set is in the straw bale.
Basil and Parsley-
These little guys are doing well. I’ve been careful to pick and hopefully encourage new growth from early on. I am hoping to make some batches of pesto and either can or freeze it.
Zucchini
OH my poor zucchini. The straw bale they are in was really leaning over (more than the other 3 bales) When I went out after a fairly hard rainstorm they were just a bit away from falling out of the bale. I didn’t know what to do but feared if slugs got a lot of the very exposed base of the plant they would just rip straight out. They are just starting to produce some small zucchini so I know that transplanting now is risky but I really had not other option. I plopped them into some open spots in the raised beds. Giving them plenty of water, saying a prayer and hoping they make it!
Green Onions
In our most recent Misfits Box we received green onions. As I chopped them up I looked at the base and figured I’d try to plant them. I looked up a bit of info, let them dry out for a few days and plopped them in the soil. They are already growing and it’s only been a couple of days!
Tomatoes
The tomatoes are doing well. The Sun Gold are developing their beautiful orange color and have lots of buds and new growth. The Rubelski and Margold are growing a few beautiful pieces of fruit I just hope they start some more buds and fruit. I put some straw at the bases of each tomato plant as another prevention measure against Early Blight and Brown Spot. These are soil born diseases and since the potatoes developed problems and are fairly close to the tomatoes I am trying to be extra careful. I am also taking care to not work on and touch the potatoes and then move to the other plants.
I hope you enjoyed this update and if you have a garden, yours is growing well. Thank you for reading!
So great to see the progress of your garden!
Its been a few years since we’ve had a garden due to construction in our backyard, but we are looking forward to trying again next year! Good luck with yours – there is always so much to learn!
Looks like the garden is coming along! It makes me wish I had a green thumb. I can even kill a cactus…It’s just not in my blood!
Those look delicious! I bet you can’t wait til your harvest!