Just got back from two weeks of vacation ... and boy, did I have my work cut out for me in the garden-turned-jungle!
The buckwheat / crimson clover cover crop has come up nicely and is providing good ground cover. It should provide lots of organic matter and nitrogen next spring when I dig it in before planting veggies.
Close-up of the cover crop mix: taller buckwheat and shorter crimson clover.
The snap peas are looking (and tasting) great!
The hot day has got the beets a little wilted, but they perk up in the evening.
The tomatoes were quite the challenge. When I got back, several had flopped over under the weight of the growing fruits. With the tomatoes so entwined in the cages, the best I could come up with was a rather awkward spiderweb-reinforcement in which I anchored the cages (and provided more support for flopping tomato branches) with string tied to the fenceposts. Next year I will use stakes and rope trellising, not use those wimpy tomato cages (even though I got them for free) and be sure to plant the tomatoes further apart and pinch off more of the sucker plants.
Sungolds ripening...yum!
And some gigantic Brandywines setting fruit
The zucchinis and nasturtiums went a little crazy while I was gone, too. The nasturtiums nearly choked my two younger (planted-from-seed) summer squash plants, so I pruned back the flowers (but not without damage to the poor squash plants). Again ... I need to plant the squash further apart next year and prune the nasturtiums more.
The carrots seem to be recovering nicely from the rabbit attacks of early summer. No bunnies allowed!!!
Side view of carrots with squash in the background.
View of the whole big garden.
Produce harvested today ... mint, rosemary, giant zucchinis (I like them smaller), green Brandwine tomatoes (fell off while I was trellising, but they might ripen), snap peas, and Sungold cherry tomatoes.
The buckwheat / crimson clover cover crop has come up nicely and is providing good ground cover. It should provide lots of organic matter and nitrogen next spring when I dig it in before planting veggies.
Close-up of the cover crop mix: taller buckwheat and shorter crimson clover.
The snap peas are looking (and tasting) great!
The hot day has got the beets a little wilted, but they perk up in the evening.
The tomatoes were quite the challenge. When I got back, several had flopped over under the weight of the growing fruits. With the tomatoes so entwined in the cages, the best I could come up with was a rather awkward spiderweb-reinforcement in which I anchored the cages (and provided more support for flopping tomato branches) with string tied to the fenceposts. Next year I will use stakes and rope trellising, not use those wimpy tomato cages (even though I got them for free) and be sure to plant the tomatoes further apart and pinch off more of the sucker plants.
Sungolds ripening...yum!
And some gigantic Brandywines setting fruit
The zucchinis and nasturtiums went a little crazy while I was gone, too. The nasturtiums nearly choked my two younger (planted-from-seed) summer squash plants, so I pruned back the flowers (but not without damage to the poor squash plants). Again ... I need to plant the squash further apart next year and prune the nasturtiums more.
The carrots seem to be recovering nicely from the rabbit attacks of early summer. No bunnies allowed!!!
Side view of carrots with squash in the background.
View of the whole big garden.
Produce harvested today ... mint, rosemary, giant zucchinis (I like them smaller), green Brandwine tomatoes (fell off while I was trellising, but they might ripen), snap peas, and Sungold cherry tomatoes.
They're better smaller!
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