Lilies, Watermelon, Pawpaws and Rotten Tomatoes

Our Canna Lilies out front around our sidewalk have grown beautifully this year.
Here is our Watermelon that's hiding in the weeds. I need to figure out when to pick it.Jeff started some Pawpaw seeds in Ziploc bags last year. They spent the winter and spring in the refrigerator and he took them out of the fridge this summer and planted some. Here are 3 that have grown from seed. I'm continuously pulling tomato plants out of the garden as they're rotting away from what I believe to be blight that has settled in. The only variety that doesn't appear to be affected by whatever is going on is the 4th of July tomatoes. Here is the most disgusting group of tomatoes that I could find in the garden.

Pulling Plants

Yesterday I pulled the rest of the corn, zucchini, squash, and spaghetti squash plants out. They were finished producing. I also pulled 5 tomato plants that had fully died. I then took the push mower and mowed all of the weeds down as short as I could. I'm trying to figure out if I'd like to try a plot of raised beds in this area for the Fall season. I think I could get some more lettuce, radish, and onions in (onions only if I can find some more sets at the store). I may even be able to plant a few more green beans. I'm still planning this.

We still have a few green beans, a few cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe & peppers.

Jalapenos!

Although we are still getting veggies out of the garden, it just really didn't seem to be a great growing season overall. Tonight I picked some Fourth of July Tomatoes and my first Jalapenos! The Fourth of July Tomatoes seem to be the only tomatoes doing very well this year. This is fine because they're close to the size of a baseball so they're pretty good for sandwiches or snacks.

The weeds have fully taken over the garden now and I'm just letting them go. I've worked very hard to keep them out and it hasn't seemed to matter, so at the end of this season, we'll take down the fence, mow and let it go over the winter. It seems for the past few years the tomatoes have caught a touch of blight, the corn has been tasseling very quickly and not producing and we can't grow peppers or any of the more delicate veggies. Time to start over.

We did get a cantaloupe this evening and cut it. It didn't really have any flavor, but it sure looked good!

Tonight's harvest: 2 cucumbers, tomatoes, and jalapenos!

Mid-July Update

The garden has produced fairly well this year. We still have our normal problems with the corn and I'm beginning to tear it out today. The temp today will be near 90 and the humidity is high, so it's going to be off-and-on work today in the garden. Finally we've overcome our bitter cucumbers this year, but the crabgrass is relentless!!! There isn't any possible way to keep up with it out there. I'm trying to keep it away from the plants themselves and just let it fill in the gaps to walk on. Incredible!

Here are some highlights of where we're at:

• Strawberries - Japanese Beetles took over. Luckily they waited until the fruit was harvested. They seem to be gone now, but they left their ugly trail of brown leaves behind.
• Yellow Squash - Harvested MANY of these. They are ending their growing season since we put them in the ground so early. A few runners are trying to re-root and have blooms. We may see a few more.
• Spaghetti Squash - Vines have died. We didn't get as many this year as next. This may be something to make sure to buy new seed packets for yearly.
• Zucchini - Plants have wilted. Didn't get too many this year.
• Corn - Looks terrible. Today I'm pulling the stalks and picking the tiny ears that are salvageable. It looks as though the raccoons had quite a feast over the past few days.
• Tomatoes - FINALLY RIPENING! There's nothing like a garden-fresh tomato!
• Green Beans - Outstanding as usual. Still picking twice a week and getting a plastic grocery sack full each time.
• Hot Peppers - Starting to form. So far I see Jalapenos and Chili's from the hot pepper mix.
• Watermelon - 1 large one and another few medium ones. I don't know how to tell when they're ripe! I keep "thumping" the big one, but that tells me nothing!
• Cantaloupe - 4 or 5 pretty good sized ones starting to develop their outer rind. This variety we planted is larger than what we've had in the past.
• Broccoli - Never formed, but I left the plants to hopefully keep pests on those and not my other veggies.
• Cucumbers - Finally... a good crop! I've been waiting for about 4 years to eat a non-bitter cucumber from my garden.

And that's my update. Now, I'm off to fight some more crabgrass!

Lettuce Finished, Tomatoes Turning

Over the past few weeks, we've been busy picking about 4 yellow squash for every zucchini we pick. Each evening could give us 3 or 4 squash and 3 or 4 cucumbers. We've had about 2-3 gallons of green beans each week as well. The Spaghetti Squash are doing fairly well, and the vines are beginning to die off. They'll be finished soon.

Our Tomatoes are just now beginning to turn a bright orange so in a few more days we should have ripe tomatoes!

Recipe: Spaghetti Squash

Spaghetti Squash
Pasta Sauce
Salt
Pepper

Thinly cut the ends off of the Spaghetti Squash. Slice the spaghetti squash in half lengthwise (this may be difficult without a very sharp knife). Remove seeds and loose pulp from the center of the squash. Put about 1/4 inch of water in a large glass baking dish. Lightly salt and pepper the water. Carefully place the squash face-down in the water. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.

Remove Spaghetti Squash from the baking dish and scrape the pulp free with a fork. Put pasta sauce over it and enjoy!

Harvests

Below is my harvest from tonight. Two spaghetti squash, 1 yellow squash, and a gallon bag of green beans. I waited to see the snake in the garden tonight to take a picture of him, but he must have been away or cleaning the 5 inches of rain we've had in the past few days out of his home.

Here is my harvest from Sunday after coming home from a weekend away. This is the first of the green beans and spaghetti squash.

A few of the spaghetti squash plants may have died from the standing water that was in the garden yesterday. I went out today and some of the plants are wilted.

Rain and Veggie Total

While continuing to fight weeds and crabgrass, the rain just keeps pouring down in buckets! We've had about 4 inches so far in June and more storms are predicted today. We've lost a few branches from trees and the corn has been knocked over for about 3 days now. I've propped it back up a few times. I placed more straw in the rows last night and picked a sink full of lettuce, 5 cucumbers and 2 zucchini. The spaghetti squash are beginning to get a little larger than softballs, so it won't be long now until they're ready!

Total Veggies Planted:
Green Beans - 2 rows
Tomatoes - 44 plants
Broccoli - 2 plants
Hot Peppers - 5 plants
Bell Peppers - 4 plants
Onions - 1 package of sets
Lettuce - short rows as needed
Radish - short rows as needed (done until fall)
Watermellon - 1 hill
Canteloupe - 1 hill
Corn - 4 rows
Cucumbers - 2 hills
Zucchini - 1 hill
Yellow Squash - 1 hill
Spaghetti Squash - 2 hills
Strawberries (done)

Recipe: Squash Stir-Fry

1 Zucchini
1 Yellow Squash
1 Onion
1-2 Clove(s) Garlic
1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
Cajun Seasoning to taste
Grated Parmesan Cheese (Optional)

Chop Zucchini, Yellow Squash, Onion, Garlic into bite sized pieces. Heat skillet and add all ingredients to pan. Cook until desired tenderness. Add cheese to skillet or sprinkle on top when served.

Cucumber & Zucchini

Tonight I picked the first cucumber and first zucchini of the season! The cucumber tastes pretty good. I have been anxious to get the first one since over the past 3-4 years, they've been very bitter for some reason. I think we depleted the soil of all of the nutrients needed for cucumbers.

The Spaghetti Squash are doing very well and have some as large as golf balls on them. The Strawberries are pretty much finished. I picked 3 days worth and only had about 20 berries yesterday.

Weeds, Weeds, & More Weeds.... and a Snake!

For the past few days, we've been working on the weeds in the garden. We've been able to get a pretty good handle on the larger areas, but now I'm working on up close to the plants.

Tonight's vegetable of choice for weeding was the green beans. As I rounded the corner after the first row, a small snake came at me. Whether it was 2 inches long or 4 feet long, I'm not sure, but it definitely made me jump back and gasp for air. I walked away from the garden and gave it some space to go back wherever it needed to and after catching my breath, I cautiously continued weeding the green beans from the other end. I'm still a little nervous to get back into that corner for now. Maybe in a few days I'll work up the nerve to finish that area.

I've now picked 5 yellow squash. We had a mixture of brats, squash, onions, peppers, & spices in foil on the grill on Friday night and tonight we had chicken quesadillas with squash, onions, peppers, and cheese. We'll probably have zucchini ready to pick over the next 3 days or so.

Mid-80 degrees + humidity

The weather has been perfect for the garden to really take off. The green beans are starting to form flowers and the tomatoes doubled in size over the weekend. We'll be eating yellow squash in the next few days and the spaghetti squash is starting to run across the garden.

The weeds have had a chance to get ahead again since we were away for Memorial Day weekend, so I'll be focusing on controlling the weeds for the next few days. I'll be laying down straw in the walkways as this seemed to work well last year.

Replanted Corn and Spaghetti Squash

Tonight I went through and replanted corn seeds where the mole came through shortly after the initial planting. Hopefully he's finished running around in the garden. I also replanted yet another spaghetti squash seed. I'd like to have 4 spaghetti squash plants and for some reason can only seem to get 3 growing.

Yesterday, we picked a HUGE (That's a bowl) of strawberries. Some are sweet, some are sour, but all are so good! I also have a lot of lettuce and radishes right now.

Temps are in the mid to upper 80's with high humidity so things should start growing pretty rapidly. I'm ready for some squash!

Lettuce, Strawberries, Radishes

Yesterday we picked a heaping LARGE bowl of strawberries and I tried to make myself sick eating them all! :) Tonight, I picked my second round of radishes which had grown larger than any I've ever had and also another round of lettuce. I'm enjoying always having lettuce in the refrigerator and will definitely have to plant some more this fall.

We are seeing tiny yellow squash on the plants and the spaghetti squash plants are blooming. There are now 2 broccoli plants and 2 cilantro plants growing from seed. All of the tomato plants that we transplanted are growing well.

Pictures

Growing

The lettuce and onions are growing faster than I can keep up with, I'm ready to begin picking my second round of radishes, and the strawberries are coming on enough that we can get 10-12 per evening. We were able to get all of the tomato plants planted last weekend despite of the wet and soggy conditions we've had lately.

Broccoli - 1 plant about 4 inches tall, rest are still in seed.
Squash - plants growing rapidly and beginning to spread out.
Melons - still waiting on the warm weather. They're hanging in there though.
Green Beans - growing second set of leaves, about a foot tall.
Corn - plants about 3-4 inches tall (except where the mole went through).
Peppers - seedlings still growing on the porch. Planted a few seeds directly in the garden.

I'll try to get some pictures up tonight.

Lettuce!

Tonight was my first real harvest from the garden with multiple vegetables. I picked lettuce, radishes, green onions, and strawberries.

I planted another row of green beans and we put in the stakes for the tomato plants tonight while the ground was very soft. I pulled, trimmed, and hoed some weeds down and when the bugs started biting, I went inside.

First Strawberries... EVER!

Tonight we picked our first 2 strawberries ever! They sure were good. I can't wait for more to ripen.

The corn has just started to come up as well. All other plants are doing great.

We've had rainy weather for a few days, so I haven't been able to finish planting the entire garden yet. I need to get another row of green beans in and get the tomatoes transplanted. Hopefully this weekend I'll have enough time to do a little work out there and the dirt (mud) will have a chance to dry out enough to work in.

Frost Advisories & WIND

It's been a windy few days and the past 2 nights we've had a patchy frost advisory. We covered all but the strawberries on Saturday night. So, here it is 10:22pm on Sunday and we just realized there is another frost advisory out for tonight. We went out and covered what we could in the dark with wet towels/sheets from last night. Hopefully it'll be enough to save the plants and this will be the last frost!

I replanted a few seeds tonight as well. One of the spaghetti squash plants broke in the high winds we've had, so I planted a seed there. I never did see any cilantro come up, so I replanted all three of those. The broccoli had a tough time as well, so I went ahead and planted 6 more seeds for a total of 8 (I think there are two plants that actually came up, but it's tough to tell if they're broccoli or just weeds right now).

After this weekend, I'll be ready to plant the rest of the garden. Tomatoes and peppers may be ready to go in next weekend.

Garden Planted

Tonight I spent about 3 hours in the garden planting seedlings and corn. I'll hopefully have pictures tomorrow as I ran out of daylight before I could get any taken. The soil looks great since we've received so much rain the past few days.

Transplanted from seed trays to garden:

• Summer Squash
• Zucchini
• Cucumber
• Cantaloupe
• Watermelon
• Spaghetti Squash

I also planted 4 rows of corn and picked more radishes to end the evening. It looks like sometime next week I should have leaf lettuce. I still don't see any broccoli, cilantro, or marigolds. I'll have to replant those.

Storms & Rain

Last nights' storms brought some much-needed rain to our garden. More storms are on their way tonight. The green beans have popped out of the ground and are standing about 2 inches tall now.

The wind blew off many of the strawberry blooms and revealed some pretty nice sized strawberries growing! This will be our first season with strawberries if we can get to them before the birds do.

Green Beans & Pawpaws

Yesterday we went to Nana's and dug up some pawpaw tree starts. We transplanted 2 of them and left the rest in containers for now. Two of the four we planted last year appear to be doing well. One of them has a new leaf on it and the other is hanging on pretty tight so we're assuming it's grown some roots.

I gave the garden a little water tonight and noticed a few green beans starting to pop through the soil.

We Have Radishes!

Tonight I picked the first of the radishes. They still need to grow a little larger, but I'm being very impatient this year with the warmer weather we've been having. I picked 2 anyway, washed them up, and ate them. YUM!

Tonight we're expecting a frost so we covered the strawberries and I brought in the hanging plants. I have heard of a few people in the area that have already planted some tomatoes and peppers. I hope the frost doesn't get them!

The next few days are supposed to bring sunny and warm temperatures. It's going to be even harder to hold off on transplanting. I may have to sneak a few plants into the ground if it stays warm over the weekend.

First Harvest!

I picked 4 green onions today! Our strawberries really loved all of the rain we got yesterday. Temps have been in the mid 60's for a few days and are expected to be in the 70's for the rest of the week. We mowed down the dandelions tonight as well.

April Showers & Storms

We had a little rain yesterday and today is overcast and wet. We're expecting storms later on in the evening. Temps have been steady in the upper 60's for the past few days. The second row of radishes that I planted is beginning to grow. The threat of storms has kept my seedlings indoors for the past few days as well. I've moved my summer squash into larger pots since they were getting too big for the seed trays. Next year, I need to start them in the larger pots.

Planting Schedule & Update

Today was beautiful - sunny and low 70's. If the temps and weather continue to cooperate with us, I plan to get most if not all of my vegetable seeds/seedlings (depending on their size) into the garden no later than May 9th. The average last spring frost that I can find online is around the first week in May.

Update:

Garden:

• GREAT - Onions, Radish, Strawberries
• OK - Lettuce
• NOTHING - Cilantro, Broccoli, Marigolds, Green Beans

Seed Trays:

• All seeds sprouted - Watermelon (6/6), Cucumbers (12/12), Cantaloupe (5/5), SS Beef Tomatoes (18/18), Summer Squash (7/7), Zucchini (6/6)
• Most seeds sprouted - Spaghetti Squash (4/6), Hot Peppers (5/6), SS100 Tomatoes (8/9), 4th of July Tomatoes (16/18)
• Struggling - Bell Peppers (3/12)

Nice Day - mid 60's

I put the seed trays out this morning before leaving for work. Some of the squash are almost too big for the small containers they're in. They are beginning to use up all of the water by the end of the workday when they sit outside. When I got home, some were slightly wilted. I watered them and within 15 minutes or so, they perked right back up. I'll have to transplant them into larger containers before time to plant in the garden. The containers behind the seedling have pawpaw tree seeds in them that we're trying to get to grow. These pawpaw trees have proven to be the most difficult thing we've ever tried to grow.

Onions

Radishes

Lettuce

Chilly Morning

Today we awoke to a frost advisory until 9am. Last week I put my seed trays out in the morning before leaving for work around 7am and they enjoyed the bright sunlight the entire day until it started to get cool around 7pm. Today was a little chilly for them, so they just enjoyed the warmth of the garage. They grow really well in the garage, but don't see full sunlight or get exposed to the wind to make their stems strong.

Below are all of my seedlings resting happily in the garage this evening.

First Blog Post - Start of Gardening Season

Welcome! I'm going to give blogging a try starting with my vegetable garden this year. We have already planted a few seeds in the garden and the seeds that were planted in trays in the garage have developed into some nice looking seedlings.

We've purchased 15 bags of garden soil to work into each area we plant in. Our Indiana soil is more like clay than good growing soil. In the fall last year, we dumped quite a bit of leaves, pine needles, and burn pile waste into the garden hoping to loosen the soil a little this year. I also composted directly into the soil by dumping uncooked kitchen scraps directly into the garden and covering them with dirt. I believe these steps did loosen the soil a little, but it still needs some work.

This year, we plan to plant the following items in our garden:

• Spaghetti Squash
• Radish
• Cucumber
• Zucchini
• Summer Squash
• Sweet Corn
• Cantaloupe
• Watermelon (new for us in 2010)
• Leaf Lettuce
• Cilantro
• Hot Peppers
• Bell Peppers
• Tomatoes
• Green Beans
• Onions
• Broccoli

The timeline of events leading up to today for my veggie garden are as follows:
April 1, 2010
Planted Tomato (Roma, Super Sweet 100 Hybrid, Super Beefsteak, 4th of July), Cantaloupe, Squash, Cucumber (Bush Champion, Early Pride Hybrid), Zucchini, Watermelon, Spaghetti Squash, Bell Peppers (Grand Bell Mix Pepper, California Wonder Pepper), and Hot Pepper Mix seeds in trays in garage.

April 2, 2010
Planted Cherry Belle Radish, Green Ice Lettuce, and Onion sets in garden. I planted some onion sets just below the surface of the dirt and others about 3-4 inches deep. The shallow ones will be regular onions and the deeper ones will be my green onions.

April 11, 2010
Planted Broccoli, Cilantro, & Marigold seeds in the garden.

April 17, 2010
Planted another row of Radishes and Lettuce and one more short row of Onion sets for green onions. This should space out the harvesting dates just enough to enjoy each just a little longer in the season.

April 18, 2010
Taking a chance here - planted a row of Green Beans (Bush Blue Lake 274) seeds in the garden. Last year I planted green beans this early and had to replace a few. We'll see how this year works out. It's been much warmer this year than last so far, so maybe I'll get lucky and all of the plants will grow.