Victory Garden - Post Five
Hi everyone here in the Agricultural Mindset Community and on Hive. This was another rollercoaster of a week weather wise for the vegetable garden I've got going for the neighborhood. In the last seven days the garden has seen hail on two occasions, windstorms, torrential rain two days straight, 85(29C)degree days with high humidity to a sudden cold spell dropping into 40 (4C) degree weather at night.
There were a few nights where I simply stayed up staring out the window watching pools of standing water an inch or two deep flood the beds wondering how the plants would survive another onslaught. In the mornings I'd check the ground which would have the consistency of tapioca pudding.
Earlier in the week a pack of coyotes gad chased a poor deer up from the creek in the woods you can occasionally see in the background of some of the photos on my blog. The deer bolted across the field and trampled right through the vegetable garden. As did the coyotes in hot pursuit. I came out to check up on the garden in the morning and saw the animal tracks all over it.
Here is a shot of one of the coyote tracks.
And here you can see one of the places the deer bounded across one of the vegetable beds.
The garden was mostly left unhurt by the life or death struggle but at some point either the coyote or the deer must have kicked the cantaloupe and punted it a good six feet from where it had been planted in the bed. I found it shriveled up from being uprooted for just those few hours through the night and replanted it hoping for the best.
Here's the replanted cantaloupe in the upper right corner clinging to life. You can also see where the beds were disturbed in the scuffle.
I figured the little cantaloupe was a gonner as it stayed brown and shriveled up all week but low and behold yesterday I found a lone leaf growing put of it. So there may still be some hope.
Sad cantaloupe with its one living leaf.
As for the rest of the garden? It's doing surprisingly well granted how inconsistent the weather has uncharacteristically been over the last month.
The San Marzano tomatoes is happy and had a growth spurt. Found that all my tomatoes were being attacked by red aphids. Aphids are my bane, so I filled the spray bottle up with soapy water and got to spritzing. Luckily the aphids are out of the picture and I treated those little plant vampires before they could do any damage to the young shoots and growth tips. Aphids need to be eradicated as soon as you see them is my theory.
San Marzano Tomato
With the Better Boy tomatoes one has had a growth spurt, but the other remains a runt. A very thick and healthy runt thats flowering, but its staying short for some reason. Both Better Boys started at the same age and size and are getting the exact same treatment and soil being right next to each other. I just shrug. Every garden always has one.
Better Boys
Nothing needs to be said about the Sweet 100 Cherry tomatoes. They're still growing fast and tall and they have a few little red tomatoes growing on them each.
The Basil has had a run in with a grasshopper. There's not much I can do about the grasshoppers as the garden is located in a giant grassy field. Nonetheless, the basils doing fine and getting bigger.
The Coriander/Cilantro had a spurt this week sending up a bunch of fresh delicate young shoots. They really seem to enjoy the heavy rain and floods and dont bat an eye at it. Earlier in the week i made fajitas from scratch and i harvested sone of the coriander for the marinade for the chicken. Its very pungent and seems much sharper tasting than what I usually get at the market. Its flavour really stood out on the chicken although I didn't use that much.
Coriander with the red onions in the background.
Another vegetable thats loving the rain so far has been the red onions. Normally I'd prefer my onions to dry out a little in between waterings but they seem to be happy as clams with the flooding they've been getting lately. Lots of new growth on them. Near the end of the week ill dig around and see how their bulbs are forming and if the soil needs any loosening around them.
The Boston Cucumber is chugging along, but quickly getting out paced by the zuccinni growing next to it.
The zuccinni have gone into turbo growing mode this week. They will be monsters soon so i need to keep an eye on them. Especially since I'll be planting summer squash next to them in a week or two.
The Swiss Chard and Bronze Romain have also really taken off. I actually plan to harvest a few of the leaves for a garden salad I'm throwing together for dinner tonight. Not alot of the leaves, but enough to get a little colour and flavor into the dish.
Bronze Romaine
Swiss Chard
Shot of the Beets growing. They're just establishing themselves now and perking up. I hope next week they'll look a lot better.
The cabbage is starting to produce little heads. So I'm excited to see them turning into proper cabbage.
The broccoli is getting a lot leafier but still hasnt produced any heads. Hoping it will in the next two weeks.
Here's Mr Jalepeno. Slowed down in growth but has branches now and some little jalepenos starting to form.
The capsicum/bell peppers. They have more going on with them than the phots seem to capture but they too have little bell peppers forming. They are still remaining tiny in stature though. Usually the bell peppers I've grown in the past tended to get fairly gushy. I don't think they've been happy with the weather.
And now for the new addition this week in the garden beds. I've transplanted the radishes from their little seedling trays to the ground. They were pretty root bound when I switched them over. The yellow colours are the cotyledons falling off. The actual radish leaves are healthy as are the young plants. Will be interesting to see how they do in the upcoming week.
The carrot seedlings are still needing another week or two before I transplant them into the beds as do the fancy lettuce seedlings.
Fancy lettuce
And new seedlings for this week the Black Magic squash. Which have sprouted fabulously.
As an aside the Rhododendron that i transplanted as part of the backyard landscaping project are doing quite well in their new home under the birch trees. They've gained almost a foot of growth in two weeks! They haven't griwn that much in four years!
Thats all for this week. Hoping the storms and hail are behind us going forward.
If you'd like to see how the garden started or follow the prior weeks you can check them out at the below links.
https://peakd.com/hive-150280/@hidave/victory-garden-post-one
https://peakd.com/hive-150280/@hidave/victory-garden-post-two
https://peakd.com/hive-150280/@hidave/victory-garden-post-three
https://peakd.com/hive-150280/@hidave/victory-garden-post-four
Wishing everyone happy gardening and a safe and healthy week.
-hidave
All photos by hidave
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