Beauty in the Garden

Hi Everyone,

Today's Harvest 25 lbs.        YTD 444 lbs.

We had a good day today, getting our work done before it got really hot. Our great crew today consisted of Susan, Jamie, G.A., Karen, and first timer intern Cindy Forman.

Bountiful tomatoes.

We harvested tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, okra, squash, beans and a bouquet of zinnias. Not all of the tomatoes were weighed, as we took the unripe ones home to ripen and will be included in Wednesday's harvest. The tomatoes that are just starting to turn get picked to refrain from tempting the raccoons with red ripe things. All was delivered to the halfway house ministry.

'Jade' bush beans with a few Burgundy beans.

As I said before, the 'Jade' beans are just super...beautiful beans and so prolific. The okra is starting to put out nice little batches, especially for the small size of the plants. Our peppers certainly aren't as bountiful as last year, but I've noticed more blossoms lately, so there is still hope.

Okra, Cavelli zucchini and banana peppers.

Today we experimented with the squash, first spraying Bt on the stems and then dusting the stems and ground area with diatomaceous earth to deter squash vine borers and squash bugs. The squash bugs are not nearly as bothersome this year, and G.A. de-egged the only plant that seemed to have any squash bugs. The vine borers seem to be at a minimum also. 

Quite a few tomatoes on rather sickly vines.

As you can see by the photo above, there are tomatoes on the vines but the foliage on the bottom half of most of the plants has turned brown. There appeared to be something that looked like black spot, so we thought it was a fungus from all the rain. We are hoping for another flush of tomatoes since the tops are nice and green.

Grafted tomato.

Above is a grafted tomato started by intern Al Hayes. It is a 'Big Rainbow' grafted into a 'Celebrity.' You will notice that it has none of the diseased foliage at the bottom. Grafted tomatoes are supposed to better withstand disease. No tomatoes yet, but some blossoms. I hope that with the predicted nighttime temps in the 60's next week, that this and all our tomatoes will set some fruit.

Caterpillars eating the dill.

Other chores that got done today....Jamie weeded and worked on the compost. Karen also weeded, clearing our front entrance and a bed. More pole beans were planted. We have to keep in mind where we will be planting our fall crops, planting things that will be ready to come out when the fall/winter crops are ready to go in. 

Zinnia bouquet was a big hit with the ladies.

Speaking of fall crops, the cabbage and broccoli will be started this week, aiming for a late August transplant date. Kale, mustard and kohlrabi will be direct seeded, but we will have to be diligent in watering when direct seeding while the weather is still hot.

I am looking forward to cooler temps next week to get a lot of garden work done, and hope you can do the same.

'Til later,

Dianne