May's Garden (2022)

It is done.  We have worked extremely hard this month and everything but the sweet potato and pepper plants are out. It has not been easy.  

One of my goals has been to focus on saving more seeds.  Scattered throughout the garden are labeled bolting plants. It seems attaching a label and tying them to a stake helps me resist the urge to remove them when they start looking ratty.

The front right corner bed has Early Rogue tomatoes which were advertised by the seed catalog to be the first to ripen. We shall see. Since they are determinate and will probably die after production the melons will be able to takeover this bed. 

In January, a new melon appeared in the grocery store. Unable to contain myself, I bought one at the inflated price of $4.79.  We loved the sweet flavor and saved every seed. A Dino melon is now growing with my other melons but has differently shaped lobed leaves. There isn't much information available but hopefully, it will produce well.

Dino Melon                        Banana Melon

The first row beside the lawn has the remaining cool weather vegetables.  The empty spots will soon get seeds from the squash varieties which have tough stems that can withstand the mighty army of squash vine borers swarming toward my garden.  

The second row has purple hull peas in the front section but the back has been planted with three different varieties of old field pea seeds in hopes something will sprout.  I'm still waiting for some signs of life. 

The sweet potatoes will be in the third row beside the Orange Icicle Tomatoes.  Putting them together should work since the potatoes won't be dug until after the tomatoes die from frost damage or until I angrily rip them up. These are the ones that have trouble with blossom end rot so if they start to suffer, they will be gone. 

Next is row four which held the onions, garlic, and romaine lettuce.  It became a jungle and was all my fault.  The lettuce was from saved seeds and grew so abundantly that I didn't have the heart to thin it.  The onions and garlic were able to reach the sunlight so I didn't worry until it was too late.

When hot weather hit they all bolted fast and developed huge thick stems with big roots. They were impossible to break and digging them out disturbed the onion roots. 

  

Thinning seedlings when they look healthy is difficult for me but this has been a hard lesson learned. Maybe the onions will rebound from my mistake.

The next row to the left is the thin row that held the early maturing vegetables which were to be followed by the peppers.  Hasn't worked. I misjudged their speeds of growth and our ability to consume the large amount. Later varieties are still maturing and are in the way. Some of the peppers have been planted in other rows but the rest will have to be squeezed in.

The Violet De Galmi Onions along the outside edge of this row that I started from seed are doing well. I was surprised by how easy it was and next year will start more varieties earlier. The seeds were sprinkled in a cup and grown in my kitchen window during the dark days of winter. They grew slowly and the green cheered me up.

The middle of the garden is beginning to fill with vegetables.

My unending quest to successfully grow summer squash continues.  Squash vine borers hatched out in my area on May 15th so the plants have been hidden under a row cover.  It was removed when the blooms appeared and a scent trap was placed on the corral fence. 

All of the squash varieties that are susceptible to the borers are planted close to the trap.  They are zucchini, c. pepo; yellow squash, c. pepo; spaghetti, c. pepo; Honeyboat Delicata, c. pepo; and Red Kuri, c. maxima.  The Zucchino Rampicante, c. moschata needs the corral for support.  All of the other moschata varieties will be further away from the trap. This will be the year I get more zucchini than we can eat! I will succeed!

In the back corner of the garden are small sprouting different green bean varieties. They are together so not to be confused with the young shelly bean pods at harvest. They look alike when small but shelly beans are stringy when eaten as a green bean. 

The potatoes don't seem to mind being in the shade.  I don't know if they will produce less because of lower sunlight or if they will live longer due to the coolness of the shade.

The rut between the potatoes and the row of assorted unknowns is almost full of composting weeds. Tossing stuff in the paths looks terrible but saves many steps. Being trampled speeds their decomposition.

The back left corner by the field has pole beans under the supports and bitter melon sprouting below the arch. 

We ate the spinach this month but left a few bolting plants for seeds.  Lettuce and beets seeds have taken their place.

It feels good to have the hardest part over now that the weather is turning hot.  It is time to sit back and maintain: water, weed, harvest, then repeat. 

Last Month's April Garden (2022)

Last Year's May Garden (2021)

Through the Garden Gate