Garden Check - 6/15/14

Halfway through June, it's time document the state of the vegetable garden. One of my hopes for this blog is that I will have a record of what I grow each year, how it does, how things fare at different dates, etc. I got the garden in late this year, and the weather is still coolish here, so things are behind a bit compared to previous years. I am linking to my seed sources.

Row 1: parsnips (planted 5/13), carrots (5/13), spinach (5/13), lettuce (5/13), radishes (5/13), curly cress (5/13), and scallions (5/13):

Notes: This being the first time I've grown parsnips, I didn't know what the seedling looked like, and had to google it to find out before I could weed them. They are neat, with a large, round serrated secondary leaf, that looks sort of like parsley. The cress is almost done now, about 5 weeks after it was planted. It was kind of a waste of space. I like the peppery tang, but there's only so much of it you can eat, and most of it is bolted, not eaten. I think I have grown it only for the instant gratification; it's so quick and the first thing ready out of the garden. I picked the first three radishes after I took these pictures. Once I got them inside, washed, and sliced up, I offered them to S, who didn't like them. I am no fan of them myself, but I grew them for my husband. I gave the dish to him, and he said "no thanks, I don't really care for radishes". So, I guess none of us like them! I will give the rest of them to my brother-in-law, who loves them, and I won't bother growing cress or radishes next year.

Row 2: cucumbers (5/29), broccoli (Solstice and Umpqua, planted 5/31), cabbages (5/31), and dill (5/31):

After a couple years early on where our small cucurbits were decimated by striped cucumber beetles before they were very big, I have used Agribon floating row cover for the past several years. I love it. I leave it over the cucumbers and squash plants until they start to flower, and then remove it. We often still have cucumber beetles, but usually by the time the row cover is removed, the plants are large and healthy enough to withstand them. I definitely recommend the Agribon. The broccoli and cabbage seedlings are still very small, and I think I may have planted them too late. They need cool, wet temperatures to thrive, and it may just be too summery for them at this point. If they don't progress, I can pull them and try to start a fall crop there later this summer.

Row 3: Tomatoes, a couple watermelons:

I have ten or eleven tomato plants this year; a mix of cherries, slicers, and pastes. They are in traditional tomato cages. Still fairly small. I bought the plants from Molly at Nettie Fox Farm, since all the seedlings I started died (I think there was just too little sun this spring to successfully start seedlings on a windowsill). There was some space on the end of the row here, so I tossed in a few melon seeds (Diplomat and Petite Yellow, both on 6/10). Not ideal, since they will be right next to a squash mound, but, oh well. Here is the list of tomato varieties: Sweet 100 cherry (2), Sun Gold cherry, New Girl, Rose de Bern, Jet Star, Supersteak, San Marzano paste (3), Amish Paste, Grandma Mary's paste, and 3 super-cherries from Grampy Harold's stock.

Row 4: Potatoes (5/31), beets (5/31), peppers, Kabocha squash:

The potatoes this year are organic Elbas from Fedco. They hadn't surfaced when I took this photo, but as of today (3 days later) there are several plants poking through. Next are the beets, which I have never been successful with. A couple of those seedlings have surfaced. The pepper plants are ones I bought from Molly, and they look great. A friend had two Kabocha squash seedlings left over after planting his garden, so I took them, and stuck them in at the end of this row.

Row 5: Green beans (6/6):

This is a whole row of Provider Bush Beans. Nice crooked row, I know.  You can't see them in the photo, but as of today, the seedlings are a good 2-3 inches tall and look great.

Row 6: Peas (Knight 5/13 and more on 6/1, Progress #9 5/13, Green Arrow 6/1) :

I'm trying a couple new varieties of peas this year that supposedly don't require staking. I hope they work out, because we can never have enough peas. My family could eat an entire garden of nothing but peas.Our old standby section of staked chicken wire is at the end of the row for some peas that require staking. These pea plants look good, but they aren't as tall by now as I would have hoped. Honestly, to me they look like they need to be staked.

Back Left: Winter squash mounds and three rows of dry beans (Jacob's Cattle, 6/8):

As of today, several of the Jacob's Cattle plants have poked through. There is also a long line of sunflowers planted along the edge of the garden to the left of this photo.

 Back Right: Winter and summer squash mounds and three rows of sweet corn (6/8):

A couple of the corn plants have surfaced. I hope many more do.My family loves corn on the cob, and I have never yet been able to grow it to harvest successfully, and I try every year.

Winter squash mound (example):

I love winter squash and always try to grow way too much. This year I have the following squashes planted; Waltham Butternut, Zeppelin Delicata, Potimarron (Red Kuri), Jarrahdale, Autumn Gold Pumpkin, Blue Hubbard, Kabocha. I also have one mound of zucchini planted. All these were planted from seed on 6/8, except the Hubbard and Kabocha seedlings I was given. In this photo, you can also see an example of the garden markers I made this year. In past years I have used popsicle sticks/tongue depressors, only to lose them as the garden grows. This year, I painted tongue depressors with bright colors and patterns, and then sprayed them with an acrylic finish to make them a little more weather-resistant. Hopefully they will last all season. They are marked on the back with the plant and date planted.

Looking back toward the house from the rear of the garden:

Carrots (after I weeded them):

There are also melons planted in tires by the house this year, including Dark Star (5/24), Sweet Freckles (5/24), Sugar Baby (5/24), Small Shining Light (5/24), Golden Gopher (5/24), Sakata Sweet (5/24), Orange Honey (5/24), Jenny Lind (5/24), and Green Nutmeg (5/24).

Mama's little helper: