I'm slowly getting my remaining chores done. Earlier in the spring I would work for hours in the garden to finish things up. Now life is easier. I go out for a short time and do a couple of chores each morning. Nothing takes too long.
The first order of business yesterday was to get my potatoes contained. Potato foliage can get really large and then flop over into my path. My paths here are very narrow to give space for actual growing, but I need to be able to walk down them. So I cut six of my 8' poles in half to get some really sturdy 4' poles. Then I strung some twine around them. I still haven't put the top layer on, but I don't know if I'll need one that high or not.
The next order of business was to stake up the eggplants. Like the stakes near the pepper plants, I'm hoping they become necessary. I really hope they grow. Last night was cold though and not really conducive to those warm weather plants. We hit 45 last night. My melons must be shivering right now.
The last chore was to harvest all the lettuce on one side of my lettuce bed and then replant with my summer lettuce. In a few weeks the other side will be done. I did not follow the pattern I had on the other side. I'm doing a summer lettuce trial and wanted the different lettuces to have about the same conditions. The garlic really does shade a lot of the lettuce bed, but not in the back. So I started each row at the garlic and went out to the edge. As usual I planted way too close together and will pull every other one when they get bigger. Though I planted five types, I'm really only trialing three. The other two are Deer Tongue and Red Sails. Which are my tried and true lettuces. I've got Red Sails going down the hot outer edge of the bed. I hope it grows fast to shade that section. The lettuces in the trial are Jericho, Manoa (from Mac), and Anuenue (from Mac). I was going to trial them last year, but with the house move it never happened. The first is an Israeli lettuce and the last two are Hawaiian lettuces. So far I've found Jericho a very slow germinator and grower. But maybe it grows slow, but well in the heat. I'll find out.
Today's chores are to water the rock wall garden and to reseed the beans that aren't germinating.
Your garden is SO organized! It really looks good.
ReplyDeleteYour potato vegetation supports should work wonderfully. That bamboo you ordered is going to be very handy to have. I was fortunate that one of my volunteers at the Giving Garden I am working with - has a large patch of older bamboo plants, and he brought us a truckload of them on Sunday for us to use as support structure building materials. I was delighted!
ReplyDeleteThe baby lettuces look so fresh and full of promise. I direct seeded my summer crop of lettuces last week and they are all up. They should be well established about the time I need to finish out the spring planted group. For now they are still in good shape and producing nicely.
The support system for your potatoes is a great idea. People don't normally think there is a need to support potato foliage, but in a confined space like yours it is very necessary. And what would we gardeners do without bamboo, eh? I do feel a bit guilty about using it though, as I know that what I buy will have been imported from Thailand or somewhere similar.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteYou gave me great idea for supporting my terrace garden containers. I will use the idea for my tomato plants.
Thanks.
Daphne, i've never seen any tomato cages like the ones in the picture. Did you make them, or buy them already made?
ReplyDeleteEngineeredgarden,
ReplyDeleteThese are the tomato cages I use:
http://www.gardeners.com/Tomato-Support-Cages/VegetableGardening_Supports,15172,default,cp.html
I stack them if necessary and if I do that I hold them together with plastic clothespins. They fold almost flat for storage. Pricey, but they don't rust and I've had them for years.
It is so strange for me to see lettuce plants being planted. We get just one crop per season here and it is direct sowed. If one had cold frames etc. 2 crops would be possible. I am actually growing I guess what you call your spring crop in the greenhouse in porch boxes but they aren't even ready to eat yet. What a difference 250 miles makes.
ReplyDeleteI like the your idea for keeping the potato plants contained! I'm going to have to keep that in mind for next year.
ReplyDelete