Clearing and Cleaning

More of a list today, since I haven't taken new pictures and am not entirely in the mood for a long post. I'm thinking I'll do some sewing today.

1. Cleaned out the cantaloupe section, which mostly meant hacking away at the excessively long vines and tendrils that are running rampant. Still no fruit, but I can at least see dirt again and I could have sworn that the nearby corn sighed in relief.

2. The cucumber has powdery mildew. Gonna try to spray it with milk (and wondering it if actually works) before taking more extreme measures. There are about 10 new cucumbers on the plant and I harvested the bludgeoning instrument last night.

3. Planted 5 new squash plants that I managed to score for 1$ (.50 for 2 trays of 4 - I tossed 3 that looked too sickly to try), although they are sadly also home to aphids. I purchased live ladybugs last night, which will hopefully get rid of them when they get here. :)

4. Have to harvest banana peppers again, as they are huge and very abundant.

5. Just harvested 2nd round of bush beans and there are still small beans on the plants. I have a quart-size baggie about 3/4 full, which is somewhat gratifying. In the fall, I plan to try pole beans. I think they'll save on space and make picking easier. A small black spider made her home in between the majority of the plants and I'm none so thrilled about reaching down into her web for my beans.

6. Potatoe stalks have fallen over with the rain. Again, not hoping for much. Maybe they'll surprise me.

7. I've started making plans for a fall garden. Plans may change somewhat, as I may not be here long enough to put in the effort. Its a long and sudden story, but I may be looking to buy a house sooner, rather than later. I'm not sure what it will mean. With all of the effort invested in the box, I'm of the mind to shovel every last bit of dirt and take the whole thing with me if I go. So much is unknown though, so I'm going to take it a day at a time.

For now, I've decided to try to build my fall garden entirely from seed, starting the plants in trays and by making my own seed tape for the really teeny seeds. I found several very cool sites that give directions about making seed tape and plan to make several rolls as gifts. If all systems are go for the fall, this is what I want:

• Beets
• Broccoli
• Spinach & Lettuce
• Carrots
• Onions
• Strawberries
• Cauliflower
• Beans
• Peas 
• Squash 
• Hopefully all of my herbs too - Basil, Parsley, Oregano, Rosemary, Lavendar, Chamomile, Cilantro, Chives etc

April showers bring May flowers

My box has apparently become overrun by flowers. Not a bad thing, I 'spose, since flowers mean fruit. At least, in theory anyway. But literally, the flowers have invaded and threaten to consume all life within my little wooden confines. I'm hoping to at least be drowning in fruit at some point, if the flowers are going to strangle everything around them.

 

So, first with the good?

1. I have a cucumber! It's more akin to some kind of brawny, battle-like, bludgeoning instrument on a stalk, but it's freaking amazing and one of the few fruits of labor so far. Looking forward to picking it. Isn't it so adorable??!

 Cucumber - Bush Pickle

2. Harvested the first round of peas with Jaeden which was both exciting and somewhat pathetic. We had about enough peas after shelling to fit in a small section of one of his plastic dinner plates. It was worth the tiny return to see his extreme glee while plucking them, though. I re-sowed the pea section, even though I'm not holding my breath for a second harvest due to the quickly rising summer temps. They're one of the plants I'm going to redo in the fall, probably with a sugar snap variety instead of shell plants to increase yield.

3. After picking peas, we moved on to the banana peppers that have propagated like rabid bunnies. They are one of the few veggies in the garden that are extremely abundant already. There have to be around 20 peppers still on the plants, even though we picked about 10. Supposedly, they aren't hot either, which rocks since I loathe spicy food.

Melon/Peas

4. I'm convinced that the melon plants have plotted world domination. They are slowly beginning to overrun the garden and my mother is convinced that they will eventually take down the entire thing. I'm trying to avoid pulling plants, but it may be inevitable. So far, I can't find any fruits, but there has to be hundreds of flowers. Lots of bees too.  

5. The corn plants are taller than I am! (Not saying much, I guess, but I'm thrilled.) Most of the stalks have about 2-3 ears on them and appear to be growing rapidly. My brother is most excited about the corn and I'm really hoping for a good harvest of these, even if most of the other stuff tanks. 

Corn Plants - See the silk? :)

  

6. Not sure what to expect from the potatoes. I've hilled them repeatedly with straw several feet above the stupid box I built with extra wood, but they are still flopping pathetically. Their green, leafy tops are weedlike in their upward rise, but I'm doubtful as to how well they're going to produce. I guess only time

will tell with these guys. 

 Potatoes

7. Tomato plants are enormous and also taller than I am, but rather limited in fruit and flowers. I have about 15 plants, but there just doesn't appear to be much action. Not sure how to change that either.

8. I have beans! They are rather prolific as well and I'm hoping for a decent harvest soon. 

 Bush Beans (Pennyroyal on ground)

 

9. I think that the herbs are ready to happily bunker down and persist through any possible obstacle. The basil plants are bushy and enormous and I'm trying to cut them to keep up with their growth, although the chives don't look quite as plentiful as they were.  

Unfortunately, there have been a few casualities already. All of it comes with new knowledge and a proverbial checklist of mistakes that I'm keeping a mental tally of in with the promise of trying again in the fall. So, where should we start?

1. Don't plant more than 1 (2 at the very most) squash plants in a section. I made the mistake of planting 8, which flowered and fruited at an alarming rate, almost as fast as they spread out into everything else. My poor bean plants looked pathetically dwarfed beneath them. I then made the mistake of attempting to move them. Tsk tsk. Which brings me to mistake #2.

 Squash Burial

2. Squash don't transplant well. Their roots appear to be very shallow and easily disturbed. When I tried to seperate them into new locations, they wilted almost immediately and then promptly died. Flowers, fruit and everything. Add insult to injury, I practically sneezed on the 2nd to last plant and it fell over, cracking the stem all the way to the roots and pretty much ended right there. I pulled the last dead plant from the garden today. I mourn the death of my precious little plants. Sigh. I've been unable to bring myself to compost them, as they've been resigned to a lawn burial in the backyard.

All in all, I guess it could be worse for my first time with something to this degree. More to come!