The mad rush is mostly over. I finally got the carrots, parsnips, beets and rutabagas seeded in my pair of root crop beds. Everything else is planted and in the ground; there’s no more tilling, raking, marking, mulching, seeding and transplanting. Now it’s just weeding, watering, training, trellising, thinning, pulling and picking. I can finally slow down. And get some other yard chores done.
Strawberries: My Lovely Wife is in the middle of picking the strawberries – a good crop of Shuksans, big and juicy but not quite sweet enough due to a bit less sun than needed. Once they’re picked, I’ll be setting up my 50 pots to train new runners into for next year’s bed. I’m always fleeing the strawberry root weevil and I did see some in amongst the berries this year. So every year the strawberries need to be moved to a new location.
Raspberries: The Willamettes will be ready in a week or so. But the new Tullameens are suffering with partly naked lower canes and less top growth than I’m used to. Perhaps the root weevil too but maybe something else. They supposedly suffer from root rot but with my sandy soil that shouldn’t be the problem.
Pole Beans: My last year’s home saved Blue Lake Pole Bean seed had a great germination rate: 100% while my old 2015 seed did well with 89%. They’ve stalled in this weather but soon they’ll need poling and a bit of training.
Cucumbers: We ate our first Socrates yesterday. Last year the single plant in the greenhouse put out 58 half pound slicing cukes until October. The Marketmore plant is looking healthy too. Both are trained up twine at the north end of the greenhouse; the Socrates needs tomato clips but the Marketmore just needs help winding up the twine. All side shoots are removed as they climb until they hit the ceiling, then I let a new shoot nearer the bottom to take over or at least compete as the old leader chugs across the ceiling on the north side.
Peppers: Had an aphid problem with them in the greenhouse. Sprayed with Safers Insecticidal Soap. It worked. A couple days later I found the culprits – there were ants nesting under the landscape fabric on the other bed of melons. They farm the aphids like dairy cows and even keep the lady bugs away.
I scooped up a bunch of the ants with their occupied soil and dumped them in the chicken’s run and then flooded the remains of the little nest a number of times. Out here we don’t get real ant hills, at least not yet. These ants enjoy the dry of the greenhouse and I wasn’t diligent enough in keeping the soil moist before tilling and planting. Next year I’ll be sure to scoop out any small nests before tilling.
Squashes: They’re slow right now like the beans and corn, with our cloudy, cooler weather. I hope they catch up with this better weather coming for this week.
I am enjoying some cycling after hours when the roads are quieter. But I really need to attack the back fence. It needs some major encouragement to keep out the raccoons and keep in the privacy. The plan is to do a semi-rebuild. Of course, that was the plan last year too. But then there was cycling.
Happy Gardening.
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