Hey, Green Thumbers! How are those gardens looking and what have you learned this season. My garden is doing fairly well. After losing my peas to fungus, I learned to detect it earlier and control it before it takes over.
All other plants are doing well. I did forget the necessity of flowering plants. I was not attracting enough bees, so my cucumbers and peppers are not producing as well as hoped. I got some marigolds and hanging flowers, and they are slowly bringing the bees back. In the interim, I go to the plants every afternoon and give them a gentle shake to get pollen moving about.
NOTE: Do not do this in the am, when there is still dew on the plants, because if there is any fungus in your garden, that's an easy way to spread it.
Because my yard is small, this is an experiment garden, done in buckets and towers. Once we move to our last place with some land, I'll be applying what I learn to there.
Putting everything on a drip system saves me a buncha time. My potato tower did fairly well. It fell victim to garden pests when I was out of town, so I had to harvest them a month early. I am using the smaller potatoes to try to seed for another tower. I tried doing the tower in layers of four, like one person advised. I think the plants were too crowded, because the potatoes were fairly small. This time I will plant two and add dirt as the plant grows higher.
My herbs are doing well. I have begun cutting and drying dill, thyme, lavender, parsley and basil. I add the mint to ice tea. THAT is good... I made some lavender butter and dill butter THAT was good too. We add the basil to cut up tomatoes, some pickled mozzarella cheese and added some balsamic vinegar salad dressing. Then add it to spinach for an incredible salad. I will be turning basil into pesto this week. Oregano has been slow to grow. I think it was due to so much rain or the variety and a bout of fungus. They seem to be doing better now.
My collard greens are doing well. I have to keep an eye out for caterpillars, but other than that they are doing well with the heat since I have them protected against direct sunlight in the afternoon. The spinach and lettuce did well until it started getting hot. I will plant another batch of those toward the end on SEP.
The carrots did not do well. I forgot to thin them and they came in small. They made enough for a stew.
I am harvesting seeds for the second planting. I will start the seeds when I get back from TX in August. Wish me luck.
All other plants are doing well. I did forget the necessity of flowering plants. I was not attracting enough bees, so my cucumbers and peppers are not producing as well as hoped. I got some marigolds and hanging flowers, and they are slowly bringing the bees back. In the interim, I go to the plants every afternoon and give them a gentle shake to get pollen moving about.
NOTE: Do not do this in the am, when there is still dew on the plants, because if there is any fungus in your garden, that's an easy way to spread it.
Because my yard is small, this is an experiment garden, done in buckets and towers. Once we move to our last place with some land, I'll be applying what I learn to there.
Putting everything on a drip system saves me a buncha time. My potato tower did fairly well. It fell victim to garden pests when I was out of town, so I had to harvest them a month early. I am using the smaller potatoes to try to seed for another tower. I tried doing the tower in layers of four, like one person advised. I think the plants were too crowded, because the potatoes were fairly small. This time I will plant two and add dirt as the plant grows higher.
My herbs are doing well. I have begun cutting and drying dill, thyme, lavender, parsley and basil. I add the mint to ice tea. THAT is good... I made some lavender butter and dill butter THAT was good too. We add the basil to cut up tomatoes, some pickled mozzarella cheese and added some balsamic vinegar salad dressing. Then add it to spinach for an incredible salad. I will be turning basil into pesto this week. Oregano has been slow to grow. I think it was due to so much rain or the variety and a bout of fungus. They seem to be doing better now.
My collard greens are doing well. I have to keep an eye out for caterpillars, but other than that they are doing well with the heat since I have them protected against direct sunlight in the afternoon. The spinach and lettuce did well until it started getting hot. I will plant another batch of those toward the end on SEP.
The carrots did not do well. I forgot to thin them and they came in small. They made enough for a stew.
I am harvesting seeds for the second planting. I will start the seeds when I get back from TX in August. Wish me luck.
