Garden July 15-21, 2018

Garden 

July 15-21, 2018

A good garden week.  We are still staying ahead of the bugs and worms, so I preserved/froze two-gallon freezer bags of greens.  I'm trying to get as many greens frozen before the bugs arrive.

The blackberries have been turning red this week, not all, just a few to give me hope!

You can still see the damage from my experiment with homemade insecticidal soap, but the grapes seem to be doing fine with the loss of those leaves.

The grapes seem to be about the same size as last year, so I think the growing part is concluding, now for the riping stage! Then the eating time!!!

All the potatoes are doing super well.

The Burbank Russet bed, on the other side of the metal fence, which you might not be able to see, is another bed of a red potato variety.

Dd's corn is doing well.  I planted green bean seeds around each corn stalk and hope they can produce before frost.  

This bed, and the two to the right of it, are the beds we built in June.  They have various squash, cucumber, tomato and the Yukon Gold potatoes growing in them.  I'm not sure if they will have enough time to produce this year, but at least the beds will be ready to be planted in early next year.  Due to lots of deer, we put out things deer aren't known to eat---potatoes and squash plants.

Yay, the beans are producing!!

Yukon Gold potatoes

I finally found out what the bugs don't want to eat in this buggy bed---Marigold flowers and tomato plants.  Next year I will just plant those from the start and not waste so many spinach seeds.

The Peony that Giz and Grampy brought up a few weeks, in July, is still doing fine.  Last week when I was weeding the front flower garden I accidentally pulled up a Foxglove.  I've planted it beside the Peony so I'd be sure to give it extra water and attention.  

These are the blackberry transplants that I planted this spring in this spot.

Blackberry bushes, doing really well.

The kales are doing really well.

Swiss Chard

Rhutabega and Turnips

The Japanese Beetles have arrived.  I'm hunting them a few times a day now.  It's begun. Ugh.  I know I'll be fighting them the rest of the summer.  Typically, they only eat the grape leaves and the green bean leaves.

Tomatoes are beginning to turn red!  I bought canola oil this week to prepare for fried green tomatoes...yum.

Green beans, tomatoes, and lettuces

The spinach plants - I've left them in the bed so they could bolt and then I can collect the seeds for next year.

The herb garden is doing really well; especially the basil and asparagus.  I'm planning on making Basil Butter next week.

Mammoth Basil and Purple Basil

Tomatillos are really spreading out.  I finally looked up online how to grow them and just found out I was supposed to use a metal tomato frame to support each plant.  I hope the kale plants can provide the support they need.  

 This bed has a little of everything: Parsley, Carrots, Chives, Tomatillos, Tomatoes, Chard, Lettuce, Marigolds, and Green Beans...

I moved one of our bird baths to the inside of this garden last week.  I read that birds will stick their beak's in veg to get a drink, ruining the veg, to prevent that from happening they suggest putting a bird bath near your garden.

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