right now

right now

May 3, 2011

No seedlings... just SEEDS!

The rest of the garden is finally going in - it's a total mess, I guess I'm going to have that "cottage garden" after all, take a look at my "plans".... I use that term very loosely!  It's nothing but scribbles and names of seeds with no specific place to put them.


I ripped out the broccoli, after only just a few spears, it was showing signs that it was getting ready to bolt in the heat already, so it came out to make room for bush beans.  So the bed below now contains bush beans, peppers, and peas.  A second planting of bush beans will go in after the peas come out.  It looks like I may be harvesting peas in a couple of weeks.


I did another sowing of lettuces, I hope they germinate quickly since all the current ones are mature.  I really need to work on my successive sowing, I tend to plant a whole bed and then am left saying "duh" a few weeks later!

I don't know what the below lettuce is, but I only have one of them.  It must have been in one of the "mixes".  It's so beautiful I hate to pick it, but I will this week.


I sowed a lot more of the below, "Bronze Mignonette" Lettuce, not only is it beautiful and delicious, it is doing really well in the heat!  I'll try and remember to keep you updated on how heat tolerant it becomes as the summer continues to heat up.


I'm harvesting this much lettuce every evening now... sure would like to see some red in these harvests - it's always a battle in our heat to get lettuce to keep producing once the tomatoes start coming in.  For now, we get lettuces, scallions, and basil on a regular basis.


Below is a detailed list of what went down out there today, the idea is to keep a record so I can see if any of these made a noticeable difference good or bad, at the end of the season.

Today's plantings:
  • Chinese Red Noodle Bean - (on arch spanning beds with existing peas, greens, peppers, carrots, scallions, dill, zinnias & pansies)
  • Contender Bush Bean - (bed with existing peas & peppers)
  • Golden Wax Bean -  (bed with existing peas & peppers)
  • Dragon Beans - (bed with existing peas & peppers)
  • Spicy Mix Mesclun - (greens bed)
  • Mizuna Greens - (greens bed)
  • Bronze Mignonette Lettuce - (greens bed)
  • Tango Lettuce - (greens bed)
  • Green Salad Bowl Lettuce - (greens bed)
  • Bunching Onions (Scallions) - (greens bed)
  • Chives - (in tomato bed)
  • Bouquet Dill - (greens bed)
  • Mammoth Dill - (container with cucumbers)
  • Cilantro - (greens bed)
  • Japanese Climbing Cucumber - (in container with dill)
  • Parisian Pickling Cucumber - (in ground on trellis)
  • Solly Beiler Cucumber - (in ground on trellis)
  • Sugar Baby Bush Watermelon - (in containers next to hops)
Still left to plant:
  • Danvers Carrots
  • Perfecto Radish
  • Nasturtium
  • Edamame
  • Gourmet Pie Mix Pumpkin
  • Hokkaido Squash
  • Waltham Butternut Squash
  • Ornamental Gourds
  • Sunflowers
  • Peanuts
A few things I am going to try this year as recommended in the book "Carrots Love Tomatoes"...
  • Sow radishes but do not pull - with cucumbers, squash & melons to repel striped cucumber beetle, let the radishes grow as long as they will, even letting them go to seed, for squash - sow a few radish in each hill and let grow and go to seed
  • Plant nasturtium with squash to repel squash bugs
  • Place basil leaves over tomatoes in a bowl in the kitchen to repel fruit flies
  • Keep growing more lemon balm - there is an old belief that bees will not leave the hive area if Lemon Balm is grown near it
  • There is tons more info in the book, but these are the ones that jumped out at me as immediately useful or pertained to things I had already planned on planting!










16 comments:

  1. Keep these posts comin'! I actually have a feeling of summertime when reading them and looking at your gorgeous pictures. You got a lot done in your planting efforts . . . A LOT! Isn't it funny . . . you're already facing weather that is too warm for some of your crops and we can't get the first inkling of real warmth for the garden to even think of planting the cool weather crops. The only good thing I've seen this spring is that even the weeds aren't growing. Now you KNOW it's cold when that isn't happening!

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  2. Your lettuce is beautiful! And your beds are so neat (inside and out, I bet :o)) I am getting antsy since I know we will be going straight into summer from our so-called spring. My peas just broke the soil.

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  3. Wow what a busy garden you have going. I can testify the nasturtium does not work to repel the squash bug. They still came, and ate, and killed the plant. I don't think there is anything that works on them. Oh, but the shop vac does. That the only means I have of control. I sweep them up.

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  4. Mama Pea, I'm glad you are enjoying the photos, I admit I feel really guilty posting them when your gardens are still snow and mud! We don't have much of a spring at all here, it goes from cold straight to hot and the "spring" is just the random 50ยบ days we get in April here and there!
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    Susan, how did you know I make the bed immediately when waking up LOL? I tell hubby, "get UP!" as I am making it with him still in it sometimes! Congrats on your peas!
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    Jane, thank you! I admit I'm terrified about what it will look like in a month or so since I crammed 8 tomato plants in each of the tomato beds LOL! Our nasturtium doesn't even grow well here, it's kind of lame looking, but maybe if it's shaded in the squash bed it will at least be pretty to look at when I'm out there with my soap sprayer :) I really dread the squash bugs - last year was the first year "they found me", and they were horrible. I can only imagine they will be all nice and wintered over in the beds and worse this year, ugh! I haven't had to deal with SVB YET, but I'm getting prepared for that too...

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  5. I'll have to try the lemon balm if I ever get my act together with hives again this year.

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  6. I'll be eager to see how that lettuce does in the heat too. It's frustrating to get lots of lettuce and no tomatoes.....followed by lots of tomatoes but no lettuce. After all the salmonella scares of the past, I don't buy storebought greens anymore. ANYTHING that we can find to keep the salads coming for a bit longer is always welcome. (Though admittedly-your heat is WAY more intense than what we have to deal with!)

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  7. oh! I love nasturtium. We add the leaves and flowers to our salads. Lemon Balm was SUPER DUPER invasive at our old house. My kids loved it because I would let them pull it and fling it at random: it got the name lemon BOMB!

    I am very jealous of your lettuces. They look PERFECT!

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  8. Stefaneener, I hope you can get some success with those hives, I love your bee posts! I just love lemon balm, but haven't really used it the past couple of years other that to smush it and smell it LOL, I should make soap or something - I'll add it to the bucket list :)
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    Sue, you are right about those salmonella scares, the whole grocery store is really starting to freak me out!
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    Melissa, I'll keep that in mind - I have all my lemon balm in containers with the exception of one spot in a gravel patio where it was planted, but it sure as heck came back strong! It didn't appear to reseed on me but came back as a perennial BUSH LOL!

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  9. Whew that's a lot of planting! As soon as I can get my lazy husband to make my raised beds I'll be planting my plants. I can't wait!

    I bought a basil plant and am going to put him in a pot. I'll move him around the yard to see what spot makes him happy. The last 2 times I planted basil they died. They don't seem to like the intense sun we get here so I'll keep this potted one in a less hot spot and see if he survives. Wish me luck!

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  10. Wow, you have been busy! Amazing. Thanks for the tips. I'll have to try the radish trick this year.
    Judy

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  11. What a great post. Thanks I enjoyed it. And thanks for the tiny peek at "Carrots Love Tomatoes". We've been thinking about buying it.

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  12. Too cold to work in the garden today, so I just mentally helped you plant yours while I cleaned out my shed. ;-)

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  13. Lovely photos Erin! I need to work on my succession planting as well. Keeping a growing calendar needs to become a higher priority for me.

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  14. Everything looks great. Happy planting!

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  15. I suck at succession planting. *sigh*

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  16. Wow! Your lettuce is mouth-watering. No, really! Enjoy your harvest!

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