The garden was ignored while we partied and vacationed - absolutely no regrets. Our sons came home for two weeks. Reese dug the potatoes one morning but other than that, our time has been spent trying new recipes, grilling, and enjoying each other. The weeds took no time off.
This morning I braved the heat and inspected.
It looks shaggy and there is much work to be done but it survived our neglect. The empty potato rows will be planted soon with tomatoes, squash, beets, and sweet potatoes.
The fire ants we are trying to evict by harassment has killed a cantaloupe plant as revenge. After watering the garden, the nozzle of the hose is hung on the fence beside the gate over a cantaloupe. It is a convenient way to avoid losing it in the weeds. The fire ants were drawn to the moisture, dug tunnels underneath, and killed the roots.
We drowned them with water again and instead of moving away from the garden and into the yard where we can hit them with poison, they relocated further down the row.
We will continue to flood their colony until they leave but until then we must tread carefully and harvest slowly.
This is how purple hull peas spread if you let them go wild while taking a break. We have two of these rows.
Yesterday we tied up the one in the shade and it was hard. Bill said "never again. Next year the stakes and strings will be up before we put the seeds in the ground."
We have really waited too long to do this. Finding the peas amongst the jungle of vines will not be fun but it will be easier if contained.
Now for the success stories. These are the biggest onions I have ever grown! They were purchased last spring, stored in the refrigerator, planted in the fall, and grew all winter. Thrice they were lightly fertilized with 13-13-13 and being grown in horse manure certainly helped. However, not one red onion grew larger than a half dollar. Why??
After everything went wrong last year with the green beans, switching to the Volunteer half-runner variety was a great decision. We must pick every few days.
There are four green bean plants around three pepper plants. The beans are growing up the fence and along the top. The peppers are supported by the fence and the open space behind them allows afternoon sunshine to peep through.
Back in the early spring I decluttered my old seeds by tossing them into cups of soil. Unexpectedly, three Sugar Baby watermelons sprouted from 2018 seeds. They have never done well for me so this has been a shocker. Two are spreading below this row of tomatoes and will meet in the middle.
Since success has eluded us, we don't know if we will like their flavor; however, taste testing watermelons is a challenge eagerly accepted.
The biggest surprise is that there are still some summer squash alive in my garden! Six are living and four are thriving out of the 12 that were planted. We have gotten five pickings which is more than ever before. We ate squash every day when the boys were here and sent leftover casseroles back with them.
From my experiments on these plants I have learned that putting soil on the stem doesn't work because rain washes it away leaving the unsprayed stem exposed. Running them up a pole allows bug sprays to cover all of the vine but it also puts them at risk of storm damage. The sprinkled wood ash damaged the plants but after adding coffee to the soil, they recovered. It is unclear if it the wood ash really was a borer repellant. Covering them with mesh until they were blooming gave a good head start. I'm not sure if raking the soil and not using a mulch mattered but it will be done again. The experiment is being repeated in every empty space that becomes available in the garden.
When the Chinese vegetables are finished, the net will stay up and squash will be planted underneath.
The only thing sweeter than the taste of success is the taste of a fresh yellow squash slathered in butter and cheese.
This morning the Purple Martins who are nesting in the gourd above the garden were teaching their baby to fly. It was quite clumsy landing on the top of the posts. It was enjoyable watching but it reminded me of when my guys left home. I miss them so much. As they left this weekend, each one filled their trunks full of canned, frozen, or fresh goodies from the garden. It will be six months before we are all together again but at least I can still make them home cooked meals. That makes all the garden work worth while.
