Cucurbit Family

Patch Market...

I watered everything in PM when I first went out because the weather was hot, in the high 80's. I checked on the radishes and they are about 1/2 an inch tall and then moved into Potagar. 

Potagar Schoultz...

I watered everything with the new hose gun which I absolutely love and then I took the wheelbarrow to fill it up. When I looked inside it was filled with water and algae of some sort so I switched the gun to the power wash setting dump the wheel barrow over and started washing it out. The gun made quick work of it and then I wheeled over to the compost pile to fill. Filling was a lot harder than I thought because of the heat. I was sweating actually bullets that kept attempting to run into my eyes. I filled it about 1/3 of the way then added Perlite and wheel over to the front far right bed and dumped. When I'd finished I went inside to cool off. I was going to stay inside but I decided I wanted to plant the cucurbits; squashes. 

Cucurbit Family...

I went back out after cooling off for a few minutes and filling my Brita water bottle with ice and water. I grabbed the yard stick and 4 foot dowel. I measured out four equal plots of 4x4 square feet. I grabbed the the trellises, the crookneck squash, patty-pan squash, & shovel. I put a square trellis in the middle of the top and bottom two plots. I figured that each plant could climb one side of the trellis. I planted the patty-pan first in the front left plot and the 3 crooknecks around it. I was going to water with the hose gun but I wanted to give them a good start with some sea magic. So I went inside grabbed the concentrate and 1/2 measure cup. I poured in 1/4 a cup of sea magic and filled the watering can with 1 gallon of water. I watered with the sea magic close to the roots then watered the remaining dry compost surrounding the plants with just water. I had to fill the watering can again but it was worth it to keep water off the leaves; prevent burn. 

I was going to go inside and did but while I was in the sun room getting ready to head downstairs I saw the big containers I got from the Dollar Tree and decided to plant another cucurbit, the cucumbers, in the container. I carried the container to the compost pile filled it and added compost. I grabbed the shovel, cucumber in the small 4pk cell and the 2 cucumbers in the clay pot. I thought it would be easier to transfer the clay pot plants but there roots had really grown deep. I basically had to turn the entire pot over and re-plant it in the large plastic container. I then squeezed the small plant out and planted that. I watered with a gallon of sea magic water mix and moved it next to the watermelon recycling bin. It was too heavy to move anywhere else. Then, I finally went inside. I was hot sweaty and getting dehydrated. I needed to cool off but was glad to endure the heat to get all I got done, done.

3 cucumber plants. 

Patty-pan (long stem front) and crooknecks. 

Major Change

Rain Day...1

The weather for the week has luckily changed from all rain everyday but today to no rain except on Thursday when we'll have thunder showers. I'm so glad... My plants need the sun. We've had the rainiest month of May in a long time. I hope July isn't going to be like this too. When we get a rain spring season we usually get a July filled with thunder storms bad enough to take out trees. For now its sunny days ahead, unless it changes again.

Patch Market...

I went straight into PM today and had a look at everything. I wasn't going to water because I thought we were still going to get rain all week, at this point. So I just looked. I noticed that the second rotation of radishes have germinated. They look a little different then the last bunch, darker leaf color, but strong. It may be due to the warmer soil temp or the fact that I plant there before. I should have amended the soil with some compost but didn't. Anyway, I moved over to have a look at the strawberry buckets and noticed that a few of the blooms have berries starting. Not berries like the first one but ones already double the size of the ones produced by the small initial flowers. These will definitely be berries, well hopefully. Then I noticed that most of the blooms and berries on both the buckets and the topsy turvy each had the little dark striped crunchy bugs. There tiny but when you kill them they make a Big Crunch noise. I have no idea what they are but have seen them inside the house all my life and smashed them all my life. I've never once seen them outside. To keep my strawberries safe I went in to get the Cpt. Jack's spray. I sprayed the strawberries then checked the weather. I wanted to make sure the weather still called for rain because it was/is hot and dry. It didn't so I watered everything in Patch, carefully. I didn't want to wash of all the Cpt. Jack's I'd just sprayed. Then I moved into Potagar Schoultz.

First sizable start of a strawberry. Few more but this is the biggest. 

Same bloom in 5G bucket a few days apart. 

Second round of radishes. 

Potagar Watering...

Everything in PS needed to be watered so I hooked up the new hose and hose gun. It was amazing. I watered the entire garden in a matter of a minute. I filled the watering can with the "bucket filler" setting on the hose gun and watered all the potted plants and plants waiting to be planted. Then I grabbed the EcoSmart and sprayed the grass in the far beds, again. I don't recommend EcoSmart for grass it works way too slowly. The party pan and crookneck squash are dying to be transferred they have squash blooms and baby squash starting. The party pan plant bloom basically overnight. They are ready. So I tore the grass up with a large wooden board and mixed it in. We need to get the Corn Gluten preemptive weed killer before it starts growing back and we need to add some compost to the bed to stifle the turned grass and get it to start breaking down. 

It was so hot I came inside but I still have more to do like spray epsom mix and weed. I'll cool off go back out and write a second entry for the one I didn't write yesterday. 

Rain Break for Pictures

No Rain...

So the took a few hours break today and I was able to spray sea magic on everything, build a trellis, and take a few pictures. My neck hurts too much to type. I'm not sure why but it does so this is mostly a picture update entry.

Tiny squash with tiny blossom on crookneck yellow squash plants. 

Bamboo trellis for cantaloupe plant that has double since planting on Thursday. 

Carrots are finally booming, the lettuce seems to grow more if harvested and the onions are about 3 inches taller since last week.

The 5G bucket is fuller, the 8G bucket is fuller and the tomato has doubled in the last 4 days. See comparison below;

Rain Infinity

Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain & More Rain...

Apparently, its going to rain for the next 5 days straight. If my garden doesn't die I'll be shocked. Today was one of the mild rain days predicted and it was dark and drizzling and humid and gross. Even though it was drizzling I went out to plant radish seeds. Sea Magic was scheduled to be applied today but with all the rain watering with it would have been extremely dumb and spray it on the plants foliage would have been as good as not doing it at all because the rain would have washed it all off. 

So I planted the left over seed tape an seeds right from the package. I ended up using the large plot that I was thinking of using for the other peanut plant, for radishes, because my Mom loved the first harvest so much. The small plots only grew 9 radishes between the 3 so I figured why not and if I thin them out early they should be done by mid-June and then I an use the bigger plot for something else or just plant more if we find a place for the second peanut plant. 

On another not I watched some videos of green beans on YouTube and it turns out the type we are growing don't need trellises. They aren't going to get that tall. So when I rain stops, if it ever does, I'll be moving the trellis out and sticking some kabob sticks in to tie the beans off a bit. That's all the green arrow variety really requires. It sucks because the teepee looks so nice but now I have the trellises to make a tepee I the squash or melon bed, instead of between them. I'll probably teepee the cantaloupes since they only need 1x1 sq foot of space if grown vertically. 

I probably won't be doing much gardening for the next few days and the rain will squelch any picture taking but I will try to run out and check on everything quickly to keep you updated on, hopefully, good or bad progress. 

First strawberry flowers I've seen that are placed on one stem divided into 2 shoots with a flower on each end. Just for your viewing pleasure, not relevant to today. 

Pea Trellis, Peanut?

Early Morning...

I woke up very early this morning, around 7am, to spray the grass in the far beds. I realized that the beds get the best sun from when it comes up around 8am to about 12pm so to burn the grass properly I needed to spray before the sun. I grabbed the EcoSmart and sprayed all the grass and for good measure I spray again with the vinegar/detergent mixture I had left in a spray bottle. Then I went back inside. 

Early Afternoon...

I had plans to go to the salon with my Mom today so I wanted to get the watering done before I had to leave at 2pm. I filled the watering can, grabbed a peanut plant, the shovel, and headed over to Patch Market first. I wasn't sure I'd have time for everything before I left but I wanted to get the Peanut plant into my bed before the sun moved. I planted the Peanut, watered everything, and pulled out the jalapeño sign. 

I ran out of time rushed inside to change and left. 

Peanut plant.

Strawberry blooms overnight.

Late Afternoon...

When I got home I changed and went out to do some more watering and planting. I wanted to plant the pepper plants and put the green bean trellises up. Before I did that I went I to Patch Market to show Mike my strawberry flowers. I'd noticed that they'd all bloomed overnight and wanted to show them off. After he left I noticed that there was clover on the left side of my bed. All of the sudden it made sense that I had those red velvet mites that like clover. I didn't know why they'd shown up without the proper food, maybe radishes were a type of clover leaf was one thought, but no there was actual clover. So I went I side to grab the vinegar mix and sprayed the clover until it was soaked. I'm hoping the little red nasties will move on now. The radishes are gone and now the clovers smell bad and will die. 

When I was done spraying I grabbed the pepper plants and looked on the back of there labels to try to figure out the spacing. I couldn't figure out my plan for that box without the Potagar Schoultz diagram from Smart Gardener. I went inside pulled up the diagram/plan and went back out. We'd have one extra pepper plant. I planted the golden bell & jalapeño pepper to the left of the green beans and the red beauty peppers in the 2x2 plot left. I watered the peppers and sprayed them with epsom salt. Now that those were placed and the bed was full I was able to insert the trellises without worrying about the space the legs were taking up in the surrounding spaces. I made a tepee trellis by leaning 2 square wooden trellises against each other for support and aesthetics. 

I was going to plant the remaining pepper plant in a 12x12inch container but the Mosquitos were eating me alive and I'm allergic. I forgot about those pests during my craze and fear over the others. They are actually the bugs in least afraid of but they affect me the most. If I get more than 3-4 bites I get a fever. So I ran inside. 

Once inside I grabbed the nail polish remover and the jalapeño marker I'd brought in and removed the nail polish. I grabbed black and brownish polish and painted the word "peanuts" and pictures of 3 peanuts in there she'll on the tile. I blew on it to dry it and quickly ran back out to switch out the paper marker, that read Have you ever seen a peanut grow?, for the tile one in the bed. 

I ran back in to avoid any bites and I put everything away then of to shower.

Pepper plants; Golden bell (L), Jalapeno (M), Red Beauty (Front R).

Trellises over peas.

Tomato Patch?

Maintaining...

It was supposed to rain today and it did look cloudy and dark but then it would get sunny. So I waited awhile not going out to work in the garden because of the weather and because I didn't want to over water. Finally, I went out and watered everything in Patch. I thinned the spinach in P.S. and 2 bean plants. Now the plots hold exactly what they should. After I thinned those out I went back into Patch, cleaned up and swept the path. 

I grabbed the EcoSmart from inside when I was done cleaning because I noticed that the grass hasn't died and everything else I'd sprayed had only have died. The spray only kills what it directly touches. Somehow the rest of the plant, even if its half burned off, survives. The grass didn't even half burn down it only slightly toasted. I re-sprayed everything from the grass in the beds to the sidewalk cracks. 

I finished spraying the weeds in the cracks in patch Market last then took a closer look at the strawberry buckets and noticed that the 5G bucket had a few new and large flowers and the Topsy Turvy had flowers to match. I was hoping that would happen and it did. 

I took a break then when back out. 

Larger, more likely to become a berry, flower on Topsy.

Cantaloupe Tomato...

When it didn't rain after another hour of being inside I went back out, on my way out the door I noticed another spinach plant had gone to seed. This time i just snipped the flower off. I water everything in Potagar and then decided to fill one of the containers I bought at Dollar Tree and plant something in it. I wasn't sure what I wanted to plant so I went with the extra cantaloupe plant. I poked holes in the bottom of the container, filled it with compost, added Perlite, and organic Vigoro soil. I mixed all of the components together and carried the bin and the plant over to Patch. I only decided to put it there because the container didn't fit on the table and the next best sun was next to the strawberry containers in Patch Market. I took off half of the cardboard pot after soaking it, and planted the cantaloupe plant. Then, I went inside grabbed the seaweed concentrate and mixed half a cup with 2 gallons of water. I watered the container thoroughly and made sure it drained properly. It helps that I placed it on an old tree stump with a hollow in it. I decided to use of the triangle trellises to maximize the space. It looked great. I took pictures and went inside after using the rest of the seaweed water on a few of the plants still in the greenhouse. 

When I got inside I started thinking about it and couldn't help but wanting to have a tomato in that container. I kept thinking, it'll look so nice growing up the trellis and the Atkinson is growing so well and Patch needs a tomato plant. So I went back outside uprooted the cantaloupe, planted it in a smaller container, watered it, and set it on a tile in Patch for the same reasons I'd set the larger container there. Finally, I grabbed the tomato, epsom salt, shovel and watering can to plant the tomato. I as deep as possible into the container added a handful of epsom salt and planted. I watered the tomato thoroughly because the sun had already dried the soil somewhat and took pictures. 

Blue Tomato container with wooden trellis and strawberry containers in Patch Market.

Cantaloupe plant moved into small red container. Lettuce after yesterdays harvest. Still looks big.

Radishes and Spinach...

I was heading for to my Mom's to drop something off so a few hours after planting the tomato I harvested the rest of the radishes and some spinach. I'll plant something new in place of the radishes tomorrow. Maybe more radishes in the thin plots and a peanut plant in the 10x12 plot. I'm not sure yet. After harvesting some spinach I planted a few leftover primed seeds in the container to start some fresh growth. 

My Mom ate the spinach and radishes at dinner an loved them. She said the spinach was exceptionally fresh and delicious and that some of the radishes were peppery and some were just sweet and crisp. She loved them either way. 

All of the radishes harvested, all period.

Spinach harvested.

Spray Crazy

Harvest Two...

This morning before I went out with my mom I went out to water, apply compost tea to the veggies/herbs/fruits that needed it, and harvest what needed harvesting. I applied compost tea to the spinach, basil, onions, strawberries, cucumbers and green beans. The onions needed 1 cup per square foot and the cucumbers needed 1 cup per plant. The rest didn't say what was needed so applied a watering; enough liquid to sufficiently water the plant for the day. Then I watered what needed watering and took a good look at the lettuce and radishes in Patch Market. The lettuce had boomed since my last harvest. It had grown in height by about 5 inches and had grown in width by 6 or 8 full sized leaves. I harvested 6 leaves from 1 head by pinching then off, being sure to leave an inch or so at the base, and 5 from the other. Both heads still looked extremely full afterwards. I put all the lettuce in my basket then moved on to the radishes. Three were ready for harvest the rest weren't because half haven't even 'bulbed' yet and the others had small bulbs about a 1/4 of an inch wide. I don't know if the ones that don't have any bulb will ever bulb but either way the ones harvested were beautiful. I harvested the lettuce and radishes to give to my mom. I knew I'd be heading over to pick her up for lunch a few minutes later so it was the perfect time to harvest them for her. I was about to go inside but decided that since the rain that was supposed to come, wasn't, I'd spray with my new organic Captain Jack's spray. I sprayed the remaining radishes, the strawberry containers, the lettuce, and the carrots. Then I went inside to get dressed for lunch. On my way out I grabbed the unwashed veggies still in the basket and took the whole thing with me.

When I got to my Mom's I gave her the harvest. She was excited to receive them, especially the lettuce, because she didn't have any lettuce or radishes for tonight's salad. She took them out of the basket and put the lettuce in a saved produce bag then put that in the fridge. The lettuce filled the entire bag. She cropped the greens off of the radishes and stuck them in the fridge on a shelf, no plate, nothing. Strange for her but it worked. She said she'd be making a salad with the veggies for dinner and she did. She texted me after dinner and said that she made a salad with the lettuce but didn't add the radishes. She just ate a radish plain; " it was good because it was sweet and crisp but not peppery." I don't know if that means it was better than the store ones or that it was worse because it didn't develop the peppery flavor. I 'll have to ask her if the other 2 had a peppery flavor once she eats them. She liked them, either way, and now I'll try them. What I don't like about radishes is the peppery flavor, these ones are really grown by me. 

       Before second harvest.

       Before.

    Harvested lettuce. 

     Harvested radishes. 

After Lunch...

After lunch my Mom and I came back here and I gave her a tour of Potagar Schoultz and Patch Market, she was thoroughly impressed. We didn't garden because she wasn't feeling well and it was the hottest part of the day; too hot to garden. I pulled off a lemon balm leaf, during our tour, for her to smell and she absolutely loved it. I'd never heard of it before my foray into gardening so I was sure she hadn't before either and I was right about her not knowing  of its mosquito repelling qualities, delicious fragrance, and its existence. On our way out I grabbed the 3 beautiful lemon balm seedlings I germinated in a paper cup and gave them to her for the kitchen. She'll replant them this weekend in a nice large pot, as I instructed her to do. I'm positive she'll use the herb as a natural repellent and fragrance in her kitchen once it's ready to harvest.

Back...

When I got back from dropping her off and running a few errands I changed into gardening clothes and went out to spray the weeds/grass in the far right beds in Potagar Schoultz. At first I didn't know how to attach the nozzle to the EcoSmart bottle but I figured it out and started spraying. I was shocked to smell the contents. The liquid was strong and suffocating. It said it was safe for children and pets so I wasn't worried about my health but my throat felt raw after spraying the first bed. I pushed through, anyway, sprayed the second bed and the weeds growing in the sidewalk cracks in Patch Market and in front of the sun room. I went spray crazy actually. I sprayed the sidewalks, all the dandelion, the grass growing up against all the Potagar beds and all the plants growing through the mulch on the ground in Patch. I only stopped because my throat was extremely raw and I couldn't stand the smell any longer. 

I went out to check a few hours later and so far nothing looks like its dying but it said it would take hours and I sprayed around 5:30 so its only been 3.5 hours. Tomorrow I'll mulch what needs mulching, spray what needs re-spraying and thin what needs thinning, if it doesn't thunder storm as predicted. UGH, the saying isn't MAY showers bring JUNE flowers. It's April showers bring May flowers and veggies?