Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Starting To Run

Today's chores were to weed the whole garden. I try do this at least once a week. I do weed day to day, but I can easily overlook things. If I haven't walked down that row recently it tends to get overrun with weeds very fast.

Cukes in the front and melons in the back

While I was weeding I noticed the melons and cucumbers were just big enough to start training up the trellis. I had been training the melon vines to run toward the outside of the trellis and not towards the cucumbers. For now I'm trying to make them grow up their appropriate trellises, but since they touch I'm guessing at some point they will get away from me and commingle.

And look at this, my melons are starting to bloom. Only males, but the females will come.

My zucchini are getting huge. These each are 2' across now. I have four of two types. I wonder which one will bloom first.

Then I had to water the garden I always think the garden looks best after a soaking rain - or a good watering. We are getting into the nineties today and high nineties tomorrow so I wanted to make sure everything was well watered.

Certain views of my garden are my favorites. Overlooking the pea bed is one of them. A neighbor's friend was in the driveway and telling me how pretty the garden was. I agree. Vegetable gardens are beautiful.

Down the middle of the tomatoes used to be another of my favorite views, but the tomatoes are getting too big and growing together. I can barely see the carrots in the middle. After this the carrots will grow very slowly.

And I love looking down the middle of the trellises. Of course normally the beans are all the same size coming up. This year they didn't germinate as evenly. The part of the bed you see here is pretty nicely even. They are the Cherokee Trail of Tears beans.

23 comments:

  1. Oh Daphne! Look again. I see a baby melon only a day or two from opening a flower there!!! :-D

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  2. Why are you so far away? I want to stroll through your beautiful new garden. You make me want to rip out my entire back yard and start building boxes :-(

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  3. Arial!
    Arial!
    Arial!

    It's been a good month. ;)

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  4. Looking forward to hearing how your Cherokee Trail of Tears beans do. I'm growing some of those for the first time this year, as an experiment.

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  5. Nartaya, thanks

    Barbie, lol I wish. I've never had a melon bloom as quickly for me before. Maybe I'll actually get melons this year. Some years they are pretty iffy, but so far in late spring the heat is overtaking the cold.

    Granny, don't even think about ripping your whole yard up. What would poor Annie think. Unless you give her and Otto the run of the veggie garden. Oh what fun they would have then.

    Ribbit, lol Yup I was thinking we needed another one soon. I hope my husband didn't put the screens in the guest bedroom, but I'm guessing he did.

    Mark, I've grown them for a few years now. They grow very well here and are very prolific. They are a keeper.

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  6. Your garden is so incredible -such an incredible arrangement. I'm enjoying the view too. Thanks for sharing.

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  7. Beautiful gardens! and no weeds either!

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  8. Very nice garden!

    Your system of having melons and cukes going up the same trellis look interesting. Do you worry about powdery mildew since they are so close together? Do you do anything for prevention?

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  9. your garden looks amazing!
    just a thought, don't you need a pollenizer for the green gage plum?

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  10. Jody, thanks

    RandomGardner, lol oh I have weeds, but not very many. I'm really trying to keep them down. This neighborhood has an amazing number of invasives in it. I now of three different vines (two of which I don't know the names of that are very annoying). The other I've been fighting is oriental bitterweet. I know that one since I had it at my old house.

    Sherry, They aren't actually on the same trellis. They are on two trellises that are touching. So we will see how they do. Nope not worried yet. I'll worry when it gets to be that time, which means August here. I often spray worm compost tea on my garden which helps. One year the mildews were so bad I bought some Serenade (a bacteria that helps control fungi). Maybe some year I'll try milk sprays, but haven't yet. I'm lactose intolerant so don't keep it in the house.

    Svetla, no I don't. Green Gage is a European plum. Most European plums are self fertile. Most Japanese plums are not. There are exceptions in both however. I thought about Santa Rose which is a Japanese plum. It is technically self fertile, but often doesn't produce really good crops without a pollinator. Green Gage ought to set fruit better. Which I why I decided on that one.

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  11. Wow Daphne, your garden is filling up nicely. I really do love your trellises. I see you have those fancy tomato cages. I just wish they weren't so expensive. I still have to build mine.

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  12. Wow! Your garden sure is growing fast! I didn't realize the Boston area was so warm. Send some warmth out west!

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  13. Amazing trellis system. That looks like it took a while. I was wondering if you have issues with the cukes being supported by just netting. I tried this last year and the whole thing eventually just sagged back to the earth.

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  14. Funny you should mention milk sprays. I just sprayed diluted milk on my cukes, melons, and squashes yesterday. I read that you would need to do multiple applications for it to be effective. We'll see if I'll keep this up.

    This is my first time trying this spray, too. I usually just cut the leaves, pull up the plants, or let it be if it's not too bad. I'm taking precaution early this year because it's been an extra cooler and wetter year here. I really don't want to pull up my plants.

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  15. Btw, do you have any posts on how you make your worm compost tea?

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  16. Thomas, yeah but I am cheating a bit. I'm only showing the good parts. And I so LOVE those cages (the round ones at least, the square ones are OK). But yes they are expensive. But I decided the ability to have sturdy cages and to fold them was very important to me.

    ellizabeth, being very urban and surrounded by pavement really speeds up the heating process in the spring. At least with all the sum we have gotten. I think on average Boston hits 90F 13 times in a year. This garden is much warmer than my last garden 15 minutes away.

    Lou Altamura, I guess I'll find out. I've always made my own trellis with string in the past and never had an issue. The netting is strung pretty tightly, but I'm sure it will loosen a bit over time as things stretch out.

    Sherry, yes I do. But it is easy enough to say here. For each gallon or water put in half a cup of worm poo and 3/4 tablet of asprin crushed up. Let it sit for a day in an open container. Then strain into your sprayer and make up any water shortfall. BTW you can also make aerated tea, which is better, but I don't do that. I don't have the equipment for it.

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  17. DAphne your garden is just amazing. I usually keep my vegetable gardens pretty clean of weeds but my flower gardens seem to suffer. I really need to dig them all out ad start over.

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  18. Your garden look great and everything look in order. My vegetables never listen to me.

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  19. Your garden looks fantastic, Daphne. You must be having a fun summer figuring out your new space and getting such impressive yields.

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  20. Thanks, Daphne! That sounds easy enough. All the instructions on how to make compost tea that I read on the internet are the aerated version. I never made it because I don't have the equipment. Now I can.

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  21. Things are so lush and beautiful in your garden and it really is filling out now. I rather like your favorite view too. :D

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  22. wilderness, I don't weed my flowers as much, well the ones outside the flower garden. But I do try to get to them once a week or so.

    Diana, mine can be reasoned with when they are young. It is when they get old that I have an issue.

    Kelly, I am. I'm a little overwhelmed by it all though. Some things I've done I've not liked and some I have. I'll have to rethink certain things next year.

    Sherry, you're welcome

    Laura, Every few weeks my favorite view changes. But the row cover really messes it up. It breaks the space up too much. Not much I'm going to do about that though.

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