Vegetable Garden Update June 2017

I find it difficult to spend much time in the house so I have not really had the time to blog. I feel most sad about that because I really like to post and I like keeping the historical record of my vegetable garden above most all other posts. These posts really help to refresh my memory. 

Above is a long shot of the vegetable garden. It's looking great this year!

This first bed has been planted with corn, carrots, and squash by my three year old grandson. He simply could not get enough of planting seeds! Prior to planting the corn on Sunday, May 28th, the bed had been planted with potatoes and other cool season crops in and amongst a cover crop of rye and crimson clover. That cover crop was a mistake; or rather the mistake was mine. I made the mistake of planting the cool season crops in the bed while the cover crop was still growing and I underestimated just how tall and thick the cover crop would get. The cover crop totally smothered out the cool season vegetables and as a final insult, never died! I had to physically pull all of the rye and crimson clover. Next year I will use only one kind of seed for a cover crop and I will be sure to till it under prior to planting in the spring. Lesson learned. My corn is a bit late going in but I think it will still be fine.

This end of the bed was planted in onion sets in February and I did pull the cover crop prior to planting the onion sets. As a result, these onions are doing fantastically and will be ready for harvest in a few weeks. I also have interplanted basil among the onion bulbs so once the onions are pulled the basil will be in a good spot to grow.

Bed number two is doing just fine. I have some mums, dahlias, and alliums growing among the crops here. This bed is mainly still full of cool season crops with squash planted in and among the cool season crops. At one end of the bed where I have harvested the cool season crops the peppers are growing well.

The cabbage is looking good. Due to the cabbage worm I will most likely be harvesting these very soon since I saw some of the cabbage moths flying around looking to lay their eggs.

Here we see the peppers growing in their cages in the foreground of this bed. My cats like taking walks with me in the garden. Here Tiger is getting a good look.

We had fun picking a lot of strawberries from the strawberry bed. This year the strawberries were all very good. Last year I had a short harvest due to mold getting on the berries because there was apparently not enough air circulation.

The last two beds are kind of boring. The furthest away is packed with tomatoes. I am growing some that I started from seed in the greenhouse in January. Those cultivars are: San Marzano (paste tomato and I have already picked four of these), 'Cherokee', and 'Pineapple'. I also purchased some cherry tomato plants and a 'Beefmaster' tomato plant. All are doing well and are mulched with cardboard and seasoned straw to keep the weeds down. 

The bed to the right is my cucumber/vining bed. I planted about 25 plants of cucumbers and my grandson planted watermelon and squash. Soon this bed will be a jungle.

When we walk around the vegetable garden we now can see a fence. I found a couple of deer browsing in this garden on the cover crop so I thought it wise to fence it off. The irises in this bed have gone by and all been trimmed down. They will now be replaced with self seeding zinnias.

I am always so happy for self seeding zinnias because they save me so much time. Whenever the ground is very wet I gently pull these seedlings and plant them all around the garden. Most of them are on the edge of the iris bed because the iris leaves were so thick they prevented the sun from reaching the interior of the bed. Butterflies love zinnias and come summer this will be a great way to attract pollinators to the vegetable garden area.

A close up of the self seeding zinnias....

in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden