Mid June Garden Update - 2023

What a difference a bit of rain can make! 

We have been so blessed with some rainfall.  It has allowed the garden to burst forth with growth and promise.  From that which I planted to those things which have grown from seed that fell last year; all of it is beautiful and exciting.  

The other day, a friend of ours, who has a keen eye for medicinal herbs that grow naturally on the land, spotted this plant.  It was so out of place and such a thrill to find!  Any guesses?  Wooly Lamb's Ear!  

You can read more about it here.

Not far from the Wooly Lamb's Ear, we found a beautiful mullein plant which is also medicinal.  We do have mullein growing in the buck's pasture, They don't look near as nice as this one.  For information, read here. 

The sunflowers in the garden are blooming.  Most of them are from seed that fell last year.  They help to draw in pollinators. 

It appears at this time that the battle with squash bugs has subsided for the most part.  I fought them by hand by pulling, squishing, and removing eggs.  There were some eggs I missed, so I had a few young ones on a winter squash vine, but I killed those this morning with soapy water. (castile soap)

My mammoth sunflowers are coming a long, but the sweet corn looks like another failed crop.  I think the ground just isn't fertile enough.  

My favorite part of the garden is the green bean trellis/arch.  It is so gorgeous!  They are beginning to bloom with bright purple-pink blossoms.  It won't be long before I will have so many beans that the pantry will be filled with jars full of these delicious beans. 

So far the experimental watermelon patch is doing well.  There was a bloom on one this morning.  I am thinking that by the time the watermelon is ready to really soak up the rays, the green beans will be dying back. 

The cucumbers are so lush it is insane!  I planted a few types, but don't really have a favorite.  The Beit Alpha don't have spines and have a sweeter taste, which makes them better for salads and snacking.  The other types make better pickles because they are crisp.  

Last year, I purchased some cantaloupe starts from Azure Standard.  I planted six starts into the ground; two in a large bucket and four in the ground.  The four in the ground produced 17 cantaloupe!  The other two plants produced one or two. I ended up saving seed from a melon last year so I could grow it this year.  Look how they are growing!

You may remember in the last post that I pulled out the peas.  I decided to put in some cow peas along one trellis.  Cow peas are a dried bean, but can be used as a fresh eating bean as well (as can all dried beans). The seed has already germinated and popped up through the ground. 

The other trellis was also empty and it took me a while to decide what to grow on it.  I decided to grow more winter squash.  So today, I planted some Lakota, Canada Crookneck, and Red Kuri.  I also put in some Jimmy Nardelo Italian sweet peppers.  It is a new one for me, but it sounds really good.  They can be eaten fresh, cooked, or even dehydrated into paprika! 

Much to my surprise, I noticed today that our apple tree was loaded with apples.  When I say loaded, I mean it has a lot of them.  But in all seriousness, I am comparing that to the fact I haven't had any since we moved here.  This tree will definitely need some pruning in order to make sure I can reach the apples come next year's harvest time. If I can open the canopy, it will allow easier access to the fruit.  This gives me hope that perhaps my pear tree will bloom again next year.  We cut it almost completely down last year after fire blight got to it, but it has grown back this year and so far looks good. 

Yesterday, I took all the runners from my strawberry plants and put them into the other Green Stalk grow towers.  I am hopeful they will root and do well.  If not, then I know what I need to do to get more.  The process I used was more a common sense approach, but it may be that some of the runners were too young to be transplanted.  If so, I will start again, but root them in water first. I should know within a few days if they have indeed taken root.  

I have started harvesting carrots, and yesterday I began fermenting some Mexican hot carrots.  I also used up the beets I harvested and made some beet kraut.  

And...that sums it all up for this week.  I hope you are all doing well.  We are all doing pretty well, enjoying the cooler weather.