More Garden update 6-16

These are the Cal White and the red potatoes.  The Cal White were the ones my husband bought that had long sprouts when we planted them.  The red ones were little ones I saved from last years crop.  The red ones have almost caught up with the white ones in size.

The blue potatoes are almost as big as the red.  The Yukon Gold have died.  I have decide that Yukon Gold potatoes do better with less water.  I have dug into the ground around all of the potatoes and the moisture is the same around all of them.  But the Yukon Gold have turned to mush.

These are Yukon Gold in the tote.  They are not doing very well.  I have raised this tote off of the ground so that the water can drain out of the crack in the bottom better.  The littlest one is now dead.  I hope the rest make it.

Planted green (actually purple) beans and a few beets in this bed on June 9.  This is the bed that the dove I was following around and taking picture of likes to dig holes in and sit.  I covered it with window screens to keep the dove out.  I have to cover the warm weather crops like this every year, because the birds eat the newly germinated plants.  Well for the first time the dove went under the edge of the screen and dug a hole to sit in.

The window screens are now on the ground to keep the dove out.

The bell peppers I planted in pots in the front yard the middle of  May look the same as when I planted them.

The chamomile has died.  I planted new seeds about a week ago and they are starting to germinate.  They are too tiny to see here.  What is the problem this year?

I have harvested a dozen or so basil leaves twice.  The plants look terrible and a few are starting to flower.  I picked off the flowers and hope I can keep them alive.  I'm not going to give up.  I probably should, but I am addicted to gardening and will keep trying.  Maybe the warmer weather will help.

Even the cilantro died.  That is a first. This bell pepper is still the same size it was a month ago when I put it in this pot.  I did reseed the cilantro.

The onions are the biggest I have ever grown.  The squash plants in the center died.  I replanted them and the pumpkins (in another bed) today (June 16).

Some of the onions are forming flowers like this one.  I am waiting for them to start to open and then I will break them off.  If they are taken off too soon they will just grow back again.  I want the flower removed so the plant will put its energy back into the bulb.

Garden Update 6-16

This is the lettuce, spinach, carrots and beets from the original planting.  I have planted all but the beets 3 times.  The third time was 6/15.  Harvested right after this picture on 6/9.

Harvested.  Make sure you leave a few leaves in the center of the plant if you want it to keep growing.

Seven days and look at how much has grown back!

Here is a close-up of one of the spinach plants.  It is getting a flower and will soon be going to seed.  I am going to let this one keep growing and will save the seeds from it.

Netted the cabbage yesterday morning.  The bugs should be showing up any day now that it is finally warm.  I used bridal tulle.  It has smaller holes than netting.  It is hard to see because it is green.  I used green, because it was given to me for free.  I secured the tulle under the plants with Velcro plant ties.  Two more left to cover.

Went outside to cover the last two cabbages this afternoon and this is what I found.  Look at all the bugs is just over 24 hours.  This one is next to the 3 in the pictures above.

This another view of the same cabbage.  It is so thick with bugs that I pulled it out of the ground and composted it.

This cabbage is kitty-corner from the others.  It had a few bugs on the bottom row of leaves, so I broke them off and covered the rest of it.

The peas that germinated (about half of them) are growing great.

There are a few pea pods.  They have peas just starting to form in them.

A few more pea pods.

The tomatoes in the tubs are doing good.

Two tomatoes in this tub.

The tomatoes in the ground are not doing very well.  There are 6 of these and this is one of the better ones.  Two are dead.

The strawberry plants are doing good.  The strawberries are tiny.  The rollie pollies AKA sow bugs and/or pill bugs are thick this year.  They are eating the berries.  I had 4 ripe ones and each one had about 1/4 of it eaten and when I picked them up there were 2 to 6 sow bugs in each one.  I lifted all the leaves, runners and berries up on each plant and placed a thick layer of grass clippings under everything over the entire bed.  I am hoping the rollie pollies stay under the grass clippings.

Sick of this weather!

It is June 1st and it is so cold outside.  I went and covered up everything since it will probably get down to freezing again tonight.  I am completely sick of this weather.  The only good thing is that it is so windy that the bugs are staying away.   Ha ha, as if that matters. It is so cold there is nothing for the bugs to eat, because nothing is growing.

It is also so windy that the top 1/2 inch of soil is always dried out.  Even when it is covered.  I have decided that is why none of the cold weather crops that have been planted and replanted are germinating.  I planted squash 3 or 4 weeks ago and it still hasn't germinated.  Wind and cold are both issues for squash.

I am not even keeping my gardening journal anymore.  I have nothing to write except for replanted ____ and ___ is dead.

All of my pumpkin, melons, squash, and gourds in the peat pots are dead too.  I take them outside when the weather allows, but I have been watering them twice a day and they still dry out.

The plants in the Topsy Turvy are mostly dead.  The wind broke the tomatilla that was in the bottom.  I think it also had a problem with 2 people watering and not knowing what the other was doing.  I went outside one day and saw water dripping down the tomatilla pretty fast.

Does anyone else feel like me and just want to let it all die and be done with all the gardening problems this year?  Somebody tell a success story.  I need some good news.

Fighting the critters part 2

Just wanted you to know that red pepper flakes do not work for keeping the cat from using my yard as a bathroom.  I am in the process of putting plastic and gravel down. Got it from my river bed up to where the cat was going.  He just moved a couple of feet over to a new spot.  Went to the store today and bought black pepper in bulk.  I could smell it all the way home and it was double bagged.  I put it everywhere there is sandy soil.  It should smell strong enough to keep him away.  I will let you know.  The fishsticks are still in the cat trap.  The squirrel hasn't come back and the strawberries are dried up in the squirrel trap.  I guess it is too cold for the squirrel.