Last Friday we had a huge wind and rain storm. It even brought some hail that bruised the pea pods. But the only real damage was to the unsupported plants. The fava beans fell over as did the mustards. The next day I got the favas up, but the mustards didn't get up until later. By then the peas on the other side had grabbed them and it was impossible to walk down my path. Finally I gave them some bamboo and string to keep them up. I hope they stay. But it is nice to have my path back. Now I can actually pick the peas again.
This is the view from the other side of the mustards. You can tell that this side is shorter than the really tall brown mustard on the other side. The yellow mustard really had trouble getting started this year. I wonder if the height is indicative of that or the plants are just a shorter variety. I think the yellow mustard will give me a bit of seed, but the brown will be a great harvest.
Today it is raining again. It isn't supposed to get out of the sixties, but some times they are wrong. I can hope. I looked this morning and have exactly one corn plant up from the group planted eleven days ago. I'll resow once the rain is over and the weather warms up a bit. It hasn't liked these temps one bit.
The cucumbers in the front and the zucchini in the back seem to be doing just fine which is surprising. they sure don't like this kind of weather, but they are growing well even so. One zucchini is growing strangely though. Zucchini usually has a few large leaves to start. This one seems to have twice as many leaves, but they are so tiny. I'm wondering if I should just replant it. The melons in the next section over are alive, but not growing well. They are melons. They love heat and hate wet cold weather. I was thinking early on it would be a hot summer, but maybe not.
The onions on the other hand have just loved this weather. I don't think I've ever had them this big this early before.
The foliage is so heavy it is not standing as straight as usual. The leaves bend more. But the plants are happy.
The coriander that fell over in the previous storms and I propped up, has now fallen over again. It just pushed the string right down and the stems bent over until they touched the path. So I've given up. They wills stay like that until I harvest it all in a month. If it were in another bed I might be able to fix it, but here it is very hard to push the stakes in since the soil isn't as deep. The subsoil is really like concrete.
And today I think I'll stay inside. Rain, rain, rain.
I had a squash plant do the same thing- make tiny leaves and stay really small. The good thing is that it was spared from the vine borers, but it doesn't seem to want to grow.
ReplyDeleteYour garden looks wonderful. I will be interested to see how much mustard seed you get. Those onions look great too!
ReplyDeleteGrowing for seed is very interesting. I may have to try cumin this year. Yum!
ReplyDeleteWOW everything is HUGE
ReplyDeleteMy melon plants are sulking too, and I've had a few just give up the ghost and keel over. Of course, I ran out and planted a bunch more seeds, so they'll probably all decide to grow and I'll have a melon glut. Or more likely, the vines will fill my garden, but the melons won't have time to ripen. My chamomile is flowering, but the plants are really short. Maybe because I have them in a pot, rather than in the ground. I've never grown them before.
ReplyDeleteWe're finally supposed to get into warm spell for next week or so. It will really help garden to grow. Hope yours will enjoy it as well.
ReplyDeleteYesterday it rained all day here. Today the sun shined all day....so, you should have some sunshine tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteMy squash, melons and cucs were direct sown late. They seem to be doing well though. Time will tell.
I can't wait to see how the mustard seed harvest does!
Those onions do look huge. I too will be very interested to see how much mustard seed you get.
ReplyDeleteLovely and lush. The caging idea appealed to me very much.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
Those onions look really good!
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