VEG Garden Report -- What did you do today?

[JayPoc]

Purple orache? I was sure that was a villian on the original star trek.

[digitS']

Italian sausage bedded in Purple Orache, with rice ~ lunch today, JayPoc .

DW tried to give me more rice, which was soon purple itself, I resisted. Usually, there is a little bacon in the greens but today, an entire Italian sausage! I did finish the orache in the serving bowl.

Orache could be replaced as a spring crop by spinach, overwintered - I suppose. I haven't done that, altho' the spring-sown spinach will soon be ready for harvest. An entire month of "greens" that were self-seeded from a mother plant in 2013. I do a little moving of the young plants and have to compost quite a few that grow where they shouldn't. Also, one has to be saved to go to seed. Otherwise, orache growing is entirely trouble free.

Let's see, today I transplanted some marigolds and gomphrena globosa (of all things ). In the veggie garden, about 40 tomato plants were set out and some kohlrabi . . . now there's something that looks like it's from outer space! My very own veggie flying saucers, kohlrabi - they go "eurrrrrr!"

digitS'
uh, oh. Photobucket says it is "down for routine maintenance" right after I put that photo up! Tried to edit in picture thru HG but may not be able to do that! I'll have that picture back on here sometime! . . . later, pb still down, let's see if this works.

[applestar]

I thought I lost my two -- yes 2 -- kohlrabi plants whe somebunny got in the greens garden bed and chomped them to the ground, but they came back!

Yes I know two of these isn't going far in terms of harvest, but I had a terrible time starting brassicas from seeds in the late winter. Besides these are Purple Vienna -- very strikingly colored plant and I would grow them for their decorative value alone.

[hendi_alex]

Watered. Planted a few more tomato plants. Up potted several pepper plants. Moved about a dozen tomato plants from community pots to individual pots. Cut grass. Collected eggs and fed chickens. Set cages around 10-12 tomato plants. Moved potted elephant ears into shade garden. Trimmed vines in one naturalized area. Harvested tomatoes, peas and dill. Dug up poison oak planted by birds. Snipped and pulled volunteer oak trees and green briar vine. Snacked on mulberries and raspberries from the yard and garden. Ate strawberries on shortcake covered with vanilla ice cream for desert at lunch.

[lakngulf]

Took a picture of my garden, since I will be gone for a week. Will be interesting to see the change. Garden usually does better when I am not there to fuss over it.

[JayPoc]

Lakngulf -

I'm not sure I ever heard the back story. Why did you go out onto the pier? Simply because of a lack of space elsewhere, or is there some other practical reason for growing stuff out there?

[lakngulf]

For space and Sun

[JayPoc]

For space and Sun

It's probably a few degrees cooler out there as well, might be good for the maters in the heat of the summer...

[lakngulf]

It's probably a few degrees cooler out there as well, might be good for the maters in the heat of the summer...

Well, it is certainly warmer in the springtime, as the pier gets the early morning sun. Most of the garden gets that sun now, but did not back in April, early May. Those trees you see in the right of the picture are just getting larger, and no way am I going to cut them. And they are on the south side of the garden, so takes a while in the spring to get the sun over them.

Not sure about the coolness concept of the pier but on weekends there is lots of water splashing. I have even thought that during the hottest of July and August I need something of a shade over the pier.

[imafan26]

It rained on Tuesday and it has been humid ever since with convection clouds in the afternoons. Mr. Lincoln is showing signs of powdery mildew so the roses, cucumbers, tomatoes, beans, eggplant, and zucchini all got sprayed with 3 in 1 which contains sulfur. For good measure I sprayed the white flies under the leaves of the confederate rose (Hibiscus mutabilis)

[grrlgeek]

I haven't posted in this thread yet, mostly because by the end of the day I'm pretty tired and I don't dare re-visit all the stuff we've been doing in the garden. Lots of work, but the payoff is in sight!

The last couple days have been remarkably non-work-filled compared to the past 4 months. Mostly deadheaded some flowers and stared at the little tomatoes, willing them to ripen faster! But this morning we had a deeply water-soaked yard from a desert thunderstorm yesterday afternoon. Likely the last rain of the season until the monsoons in August. I had had other plans for today, but I went out and weeded the rock garden instead. Even some stubborn old souls gave up easily and came out all the way to the bottom of their bottomless taproots. Then, I cleaned up the side of the house and prepped a few bales of hay and straw for the lawnmower tomorrow. The weather is getting warmer and I have been ignoring the need to mulch for too long.

Before dinner, I hung up the hummingbird feeder that I bought during the week. I've never had one before, but wow, within 30 minutes of it going up, we had our first visitor, that, as I type, is still coming back for sips as the sun begins to set. I hope the little fella hangs around and eats lots of bugs.

[imafan26]

The weather is still muggy and more rain is expected so I sprayed neem on the tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, beans and roses again. Good thing I just pruned my roses. They don't have too many leaves to mildew.

At the herb garden I planted leeks, onions and Haricot Vert bush beans. I started to weed out the gotu cola and pulled out some very ancient leeks. They may still be useable for soup, but much to tough to eat. I also planted a couple of borage and shiso, and fertilized selectively with nitrogen. My sunflowers are blooming so I am enjoying them now. Caught a couple of stink bugs, but a few more of them got away.

More rain is forecast which means more weeds and the grass will need to be whacked again.