May's Garden (2021)

This is the honest truth.  Last night the temperature dropped to 46 degrees (F). Saturday night we went to a Memorial Day cookout where everyone wore coats and huddled around the fire.  This new weather pattern is requiring some adapting. The cool-season plants are thriving, the hot-season plants are disoriented and I am confused.

The potatoes are very happy in the pile of horse manure where they were dumped.  

There are two yellow squash on the front corner of the potato bed eagerly fighting for space.

We are impatiently awaiting the first tiny harvest any day now.  Usually, I only get about three pickings of squash before they die from the squash vine borers.  

This year, I bought enough of the squash vine borer scent traps to last all season; without them, it is impossible to grow summer squash.  Since the borers hatch twice in my garden zone (7a), six months of coverage is required.  It cost $40 and I struggled with spending that much money.  So I asked myself, will I get $40 of squash from my garden if I use the traps? At today's grocery prices, the answer was an easy yes. My plan is to plant an abundance this year and then be able to can enough for two winters.  Maybe next summer there will be fewer borers and I may, hopefully, grow enough to eat fresh.

The first trap went up on May 15th and it has already caught one small adult.

The first row beside the lawn has pepper plants.  It is definitely a ridiculous amount of peppers and there are more still to be planted. This is the year for experimenting with new varieties and I obviously went overboard when buying new seeds.

This past winter we ran out of canned tomatoes because we had eaten too many fresh last summer. This year, that isn't going to happen again - there will be plenty!  There are still more plants waiting to go in the ground.

Medicinal calendulas, beets, endive, and lettuce are squeezed into the extra space between the tomatoes.  Melons are at the beginning of the rows and will spread down the thin space at the side of the paths.  

The center of the garden was the last to be plowed and it is beginning to sprout.

The Swiss Chard at the far end is still bolting wildly.  The small leaves are good but it is tedious picking them.  

The last row which was from the unknown assorted seeds is about finished and will be replaced with sweet potatoes soon.

The back of the garden is amazing.  If I had known trailers of horse manure would make this much difference, I would have bought myself a horse years ago.

The cucumber plants are growing up the support fence in front of the shed but the Sugarbaby watermelon and okra plants are just sitting.  I think the cool nights have slowed them.

This year I bought a package of assorted cabbages for the first time and like that they mature at different times.  Beets are squeezed between the cabbages.

The two winter hoop house beds in the back have been thrilled with the cool spring temperatures. The squash in the middle of the path was a volunteer.  It sprouted and I left it.  It hasn't bloomed so I have no idea what variety or cross it might be. 

The English peas on the back fence have been a huge success...well, a success for me, at least.  For the first time ever, I have gotten more than a few handfuls of peas. They haven't died from the hot weather yet!  A longer spring is much preferred over the quick rush of blazing hot summer heat.

The far back corner is the onion bed.  Vining plants will be planted at the base of the supports...when I can make up my mind what I want.  There are too many choices this year.

The onion bulbs are beginning to form.  

The spinach planted between the onions is almost all gone but the endive is still growing.  It seems to like the cool shade under the trees.

The garden this year is more interesting than ever with all of the new varieties.  The taste tests will be coming soon and that is when the fun really begins.

Last Month's April Garden (2021)

Last Year's May Garden (2020)

Through the Garden Gate