Saturday, July 12, 2008

Garden Update

The sunny and warm weather we've been having lately has been good for the growing things in my gardens. Although I had been watering them regularly, the inch of rain we've had since Thursday will certainly enable me to roll the hose back up again for a few days. That's the main disadvantage with a raised bed garden--things seem to dry out much quicker than if this was a garden I had actually tilled and planted right in the ground.

Here's a look at the newest garden. Things are growing, but not as quickly and they certainly don't look as hardy as the tomatoes, peppers and squash in my neighbor's garden across the street. Once I've harvested from this garden in the fall, I'm going to have to do a soil test and plan on adding some amendments to make this soil more "veggie friendly" for next summer's growing seaon.
There are 2 squash plants to the left, a couple of zucchini plants right down in front and the others are tomatoes (in the cages). The pepper plants are still only about 6" tall and I don't think there will be any usable broccoli from those plants this year. (BTW, it was bunnies that was eating those broccoli leaves--Mr. Johnson spotted a half-grown bunny in this garden last week--those little buggers were pushing their way in at the bottom of the fence!)

Here's a close-up of a couple tomatoes.
My other garden is looking much better -- I even managed to get some weeds pulled before taking this picture.
I've got all the wire trellises up and the peas, beans, and cucumbers are beginning their vertical climbs.
Right now, we're eating lettuce every day and we even had a few fresh peas for supper one night last week.
Here's a look at the garbage can potatoes. They are also doing well, but I haven't grubbed around in the dirt to check and see if any potatoes have begun forming yet.


I'm pretty happy with the progress of my gardens this year. Other than the bunnies eating the broccoli, there don't seem to be any other problems with pests. I see birds (mainly chipping sparrows) in the garden quite often, so I think they're taking care of a lot of the insect pests. The weather has been pretty good and now it looks as though we'll be getting some regular rain showers again, so my main focus will be back to weed removal.



Today I also want to send a special greeting out to one of my faithful blog readers--my mom's friend & neighbor Elaine, who started her radiation treatments for breast cancer last week. I hope all goes well with your treatments Elaine, and I'll keep you in my prayers!

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

WOW, what a garden you have or should I say gardens. Your eating lettuce and peas, yummy!
Thanks for the message to Elaine, she reads your blog quite regularly, so she will see your message. Elaine had several treatments this week, some are doubles, so she has about 3 weeks left of radiation for her breast cancer. I pray for her daily for a full recovery. Thank you also for your prayers, you can never have to many prayers.
MOM

Jayne said...

I'm soooo impressed Ruthie! I've never grown anything edible (ducking to dodge the rotten tomatoes) and so watching you take this on has been a treat!

Prayers ascend for Elaine. My friend Cindy will have her surgery on Wednesday (BIL mastectomy) and then we'll know what she'll need in terms of treatment. So scary.

Anonymous said...

Looking good! My pepper plants aren't very tall yet either, the ones I planted in the ground. I have one in a pot on my deck, and that's at least twice the size of the others. Peas from the garden are my favorite, right out of the pod.

Windyridge said...

I never heard of garbage can potatoes. I will have to look them up.

LauraHinNJ said...

Looks delicious Ruthie!

Unknown said...

Your veggiegarden is beautiful!

nina at Nature Remains. said...

Ruthie, your garden always puts me to shame!
We manage to get it planted and then turn our backs until the weeds hav taken over.
A garden needs an attentive caretaker--we have too many other yard projects going on to look after it as we should.

Nice work!

Lisa at Greenbow said...

Those peas look so yummy Ruthie. Both of your gardens look good. Ilike the raised bed idea, and those trash can potatoes. I can't wait to see how that experiment turns out.

Elaine will be in my prayers too.

Shelley said...

I love how your garden is organized - everything looks great!

RuthieJ said...

Hi Mom,
It's been a pretty good year for the garden so far.
Be sure to keep me posted on Elaine's progress.

Thanks Jayne. I'll keep Cindy in my prayers also for a speedy and uneventful recovery.

Hi Jan,
Maybe I should take one of those little peppers out of the garden and put it in a pot to see how it does.....

Hi Windyridge,
I learned about them on Robin's Bumblebee blog last summer. You should be able to google "garbage can potatoes" and get lots more information. I don't know if I have any little potatoes in there yet, but it's a nice alternative when you don't have extra room for potatoes in the regular garden.

Thanks Laura, it's nice to have fresh lettuce on my sandwich every day too!

Thanks Maud, it's so nice to just go out in the backyard and pick something for supper!

Thanks Nina, I'm trying to be a better gardener this year. I don't think I'll have as much as I thought to freeze much for winter, but it's nice to know exactly where my produce has come from.

Thanks Lisa, I'll be sure to post an update if I actually get some good potatoes from those cans.

Thanks Shelley, having it in little blocks like that makes it a little easier for me to manage.

Susan Gets Native said...

Those peas look lovely!
(and I don't even LIKE peas)

I have a potato growing in a water-filled dish on the window-sill. You have reminded me that I better put the thing in the ground if I want to get more potatoes.

~Molly~ said...

What a gorgeous crop of goodies!! I have such a black thumb and no place to put a garden, even though I want one.

I do have a sweet potato or two growing in my pantry. I'd love to plant them inside to get them a better start but my cats eat everything but the cactus and I'm afraid they might be poisonous to cats(the sweet potatoes, not the cactus).

Molly

sending prayers for Elaine too!

Mel said...

Blessings, hugs and kisses for Elaine :)

Robin Ripley said...

Ruthie,

Your garden is looking great! You could try the organic fertilizers from Espoma for a boost.

In my prayers too, Elaine.

Robin
Gardening Examiner

Julie said...

I'm growing sweet potatoes out at mom and dads, but hadn't expected that anything until fall or even late fall, maybe I'll poke a finger in there this weekend see!