Garden Update Week 8

After a week at the beach, I was eager to check on my garden when we returned home. This is what I found:

The garlic and onion are doing well. There are plenty of sprouts. 

The squash is still blossoming, but I see now signs of any growing fruit .

The green pepper was nickel-sized before we left, but it dropped off while we were done. 

The eggplant is maturing. One dropped off, but there are still plenty to harvest in a few days.

The tomatoes are doing awesome! They've gained their color and more have grown in. 

The peas are still climbing, but are showing signs of being burnt by the sun. I don't know how much more they will be producing.

The cucumbers have exploded. I have to make sure to start to help them climb so they do not cover the carrots.

Here's what we were able to harvest and enjoy!

And here's what we had to harvest and toss.

It was a much better turn out then we've had in years past when we've returned from a week away. Now, to keep up the good work. 

Garden Update - Week 6

So there have been a couple of new additionsto our garden. The first is this automatic water timer for the spigot. Now, everyday at the set time the sprinkler sprays the garden boxes for the amount of time dialed in. 

The next addition, actually many, is garlic! The broccoli plants were questionable at best, so I dug them out and sowed row after row of garlic. The even started to sprout waiting the week.

The green peppers are growing nicely.

 

The eggplants are continuing to grow.

With the consistent watering, the tomato plants are no longer yellowing.

And they are starting to turn red!

The peas are consistently producing pods that we get to enjoy with lunches.

The cucumbers are filling out and growing in height.

And we have a new visitor in our garden. 

Summer ~ Week 1

 Our first week of summer vacation has been awesome! We've started off strong by getting the house into shape after an outrageous spring sports activities schedule and having our family from St. John's over! The cousins hadn't seen each other in almost 3 years, but they continued right where they left off.

 Now that the temperatures are climbing I've started to tend to the garden in the morning and evening. This way I can make sure that the watering is adequate.

The peas are growing and climbing with mucho gusto. Even the transplants are climbing up the bamboo trellis.

The carrots are doing well. The cucumbers finally bloomed, so I am not as anxious now of their well being.

 The tomato plants are staying green with the amount of watering we are currently doing, so I am also calmed that I will have more than a handfull of tomatoes to enjoy this season. They seem to be of size, now I am just waiting for them to turn red. Part of me wants to pick one or two now and make fried green tomatoes, but then I remember that a BLT is higher on my "want to eat" list.

The eggplants are almost ready to harvest. I found out that this variety of eggplant is meant to be 4-5 inches and is more tender the sooner it is picked. Any suggestions on how to enjoy it?

 I have two visible green peppers that are just too cute.

 Both squash plants have grown, but their blossoms have dropped. I am afraid that since most plants' flowers pollinated bloom turn into the edible vegetable or fruit that there will be no squash. I looked on the web and it seems that the stems are the part that transform, so there still might be hope. We'll see!

 

 Out of the 12 broccoli plants that have sprouted there is only one left that has green leaves. All the others have either shriveled up or are covered in white. I'm giving it another week to recoup and if they don't I think I'm going to pull them out and replant with garlic.

And finally, the robins and squirrels have been feuding for a few days. I found this in one of the boxes with one of the squirrels. Now the birds are diving and pooping whenever a squirrel is around. It brings back memories from Sweden when my sister's dog wronged some birds and had to withstand a week of payback.

Garden Week 4

The raised box garden is growing awesomely in some places and not so well in others. We upgraded from a watering can to a hose and sprayer, in hopes of staving off more leaves turning yellow. So, let me take you on a tour of the grounds and show you the progress.

The peas are growing with leaps and bounds. I've had to add more yarn for it to creep up. We've even transplanted some seeds that were brought home from school. 

The rows of carrots are doing well. I see now that I have planted more than one seed in each spot. Whoopsy! 

The cucumbers seem to be the same size as when I planted them. The leaves are still green, but I don't see any buds or flowers. I'll have to research what I should be expecting.

The tomato plants took a turn for a worse, but are on the mend. Last week most of the lower branches were completely yellow. I found that it could be reasons: not enough water, too much water, needs nitrogen. I knew I was using one watering can per raised box garden, so I knew it wasn't too much. So, I started to add more water in the daily routine and added a nitrogen-rich fertilizer to the soil. The plants look a lot better this week. I did remove the branches that stayed yellow, so the plant didn't have to 'struggle' to revive them.

There is at least one tomato on each plant and have plenty of blossoms. 

The cilantro and basil are gaining some height. Not as fast as I think it should, but that's mostly because I have so many ideas of how I want to use them.

The rosemary is growing and smells awesome! I just recently learned that it's a natural mosquito repellent. 

The spinach is touch and go at the moment. Not that much growth since they first emerged out of the soil, so we'll see.

I even have new friends that visit the garden. Here's a frog and I have squirrels that sit on the fence and watch me while I water and weed.

The eggplants are blooming and growing. They are Japanese eggplants, so I need to figure out how large I should let them become.

The bell peppers have bloomed and dropped their petals, leaving what I hope to be the beginning of the vegetable.

THe squash is doing fabulously! It doesn't look like much from these pictures, but after doing a bud inventory I've counted into the high teens for each of the two plants! 

The onions are looking good. I need to figure out how I'm going to know when they are ready to harvest and how to store them. 

I have 12 broccoli plants that are doing well. Not much progress this week, but I have a feeling that this will take longer to grow than any other vegetable in this year's crop.

The chive are still here, but have not gained any height. There is definitely no progress with the lavender in the hanging baskets. Whaaaaa! So I've decided to replant the cloves a head of garlic in each one since I realized my oversight.