Garden Journal

[hrj]

My tomatoes outgrew the little wire cage I set up when I planted them. Today I got a much larger, more extensive expand-as-you-go support cage and managed to tame them a little. I'm almost at the point where I can harvest every day ... and the season's just getting started. Time for a garden survey:

* swiss chard (lots, half a dozen plants seems to be optimum)
* red onions (as many as I can use, but I think I should put in a second wave for later)
* artichokes (half a dozen so far, I think about 4 plants would do me for all I need)
* green beans (never enough for a whole serving, not sure this is a good use of space)
* cantelope (barely surviving, not sure why it's unhappy)
* cucumber (1 so far, several more on the way, I think 3-4 plants would do me)
* zucchini (2 plants, nothing produced yet but some promising flowers, maybe the deluge will come later?)
* bell pepper (4 plants, just starting to set, we'll see what the output is)
* eggplant (2 surviving plants, one has set four fruits but the other has yet to start flowering, I like eggplant so I think the optimum is going to be 4 or 6)
* tomatoes (2 cherry, 2 regular, as noted above, almost at the point of "as many as I want", unless I plan to preserve, this may be the optimum number of plants)

I ran out of space long before I ran out of things I wanted to plant. With the automatic watering system, the upkeep isn't too bad. But I'll need to get a major headstart on building more beds for next year. Not a last-minute scramble like this year.

Comments

[helblonde.livejournal.com]

My canteloupe is slow, too. I have lots of vining, but no fruit.

[kahnegabs.livejournal.com]

Obviously the raccoons have not yet found your garden! Good luck for you that they do not ever find it.

[wulfsdottir.livejournal.com]

I never seem to have enough beds for the things I want to plant. At least I managed to get the compost pile started this year, so perhaps next year's new structures won't cost so much to fill--our poor soil and proximity to a cement plant mean raised beds and importing fill material, at least until I can get the soil actually tested.

Are you lucky enough to be building in-ground with native soil, or are you having to go to the expense of raised beds?

[hrj.livejournal.com]

The native soil is reasonably good (at least in patches) but has annoying amounts of rocks and old building materials scattered throughout. I'm going for raised beds partly for soil quality and partly for the esthetics. I only have 30 square feet going at the moment and have started on a compost pile, but I figure if I get all the beds built that I'd like to, I'll just order in a truckload of starter soil.

[wulfsdottir.livejournal.com]

"Ah, yes. Old building materials," she nodded sagely.

Digging out the tough desert grass before building my new beds this year, I found dozens upon dozens of hand-forged iron nails, a pair of hinge pins of the same origin, and my son found a hand-forged rock drill and a large hand-cut brick from when the property used to be Fort Sanders during the Territory period.

It was all very archaeological.