The Garden Experiment Continues

OK - Update on the garden at Lammas:
Bed 1:

Yellow & Green (Zucchini) Squash -

When the plants started growing they just took off - got to about 3 feet in height and started producing blossoms prolifically. Harvest wise, I have periodically harvested MUCH yellow squash - and a few green. The zucchini plants seem to be a little wilted and at I picked one stunted/rotted squash off of the vine. The last one I harvested, however was gorgeous - it was about 6 inches long and still had the un-wilted closed blossom on the end of it. I'll see if I can get/post a pic of that. The yellow squash - when it has come in every couple of weeks - has been abundant.

Cucumbers - These plants too "took off" at one point and spread and flowered etc...but after picking the first 2 decent sized cukes several weeks ago - the plants have gone downhill and the cukes are yellowing on the vine as small stunted fruits. There are still a lot of flowers and small fruits on the vine, so hopefully things will improve....
This bed is also home to some "volunteers" - one winter squash vine close to the fence and two tomato plants - probably from last years' plants.

Bed 2:

Basil & Cilantro - I've been harvesting for WEEKS - I HAVE to start making some pesto to freeze!! The Cilantro has been less abundant than the basil, but there has been enough to share and to make at least one batch/week of fresh salsas for appetizers/snacks etc - YUMM! The basil has been going into veggie dishes and marinades and has been gifted away..

My Fresh Salsa Recipe:

1 Large ripe tomatoe

1Med vidalia onion

1 Med green pepper

All veggies cut into Large Chop and placed in food processor bowl

a large handful of de-stemmed cilantro

1/2 tsp salt

Dash black pepper

hot pepper sauce/cayenne/or fresh diced chile to taste

juice of 1/2 a lime

Process to desired consistancy

The parsely didn't do well and is gone, the dill seeds never came up, and the beans, though still standing and in flower, lost their leaves a couple of weeks ago. (See pests note at bottom)

I have since added additional cilantro seeds and a "second planting" of broccoli & cabbage plants hopefully for fall harvest

Bed 3:

Tomatoes started indoors - with stunted growth - These plants have gone CRAZY! And, while they are certainly not to the same maturity that the purchased plants are - they have amazed me. I'm not sure what of the multitude of varieties we started have survived, that remains to be seen - hopefully we'll get at least some fruit from these plants.

Jalapeno from the garden center - is also doing well. It currently has a plethora of flowers and a bunch of small fruits.

Pole beans - were nibbled a bit - (see pests note at bottom) - but have continued to grow. Not sure how much I'll harvest from them, but they were more of an experiment this year.

Bed 4:

Purchased tomatoes - are like small trees - completely filling the tomato cages and producing abundant fruit - none have started ripening yet, but we can't wait.

I have harvested garlic and shallots from this bed and planted some chard seed in their place - we'll see how that does.

Purchased peppers - not doing so well - immediately after they were planted something nibbled most of the leaves off of the stalks. So the tomatoes grew faster and are now shadowing the peppers - which have made a small come-back - so, we'll see.

Sweet potatoe starts - gifted from a gardening friend were nibbled unmercifully (see pests note at bottom) but are still alive - who knows what'll happen with them.

PESTS:

About 3 weeks ago something started nibbling SOME of my plants. The squash and cuke plants didn't seem to be touched, however ALL of the leaves were eaten off of the bush bean plants - leaves and shoots were eaten from some of the long bean plants, the sweet potato plants were decimated, the purslane growing in the path was attacked, and there was some nibbling of tomato leaves, but not enough, thankfully, to stunt the plants.The fencing around the garden had not been damaged, nor had it been burrowed under. So, my first thought was that it was a small bunny that made it through the chicken-wire fence without damaging it. So I used a roll of deer fencing over top of the chicken wire fencing and ancored it together. BUT, there has continued to be some damage - the cabages and broccoli I planted for autumn have been nibbled. And there are now some small holes on some of the basil leaves, and some of the pepper leaves....So, maybe it's catapillars of some sort, but I have been unable to find any to confirm this.

I keep calling this the "Garden Experiment" because I certainly do not have the time to devote to it that one of my friends has (she does have a full-time job,like me, but no kids)....or that my mom had when I was growing up (she stayed at home with my brother and I).

So, I have to approach it with less intensity than I would if I was trying to produce a greater portion of our food. This is really to supplement what we get from our CSA(community supported agriculture) farm share and to show the boys where food comes from and how it grows.

So far I've had three summers of "Garden Experiments". Each one has given us more success.We keep learning, experimenting and trying new things.And as a bonus, we get to enjoy the freshness only a home garden can give.