Bye Bye Squash and Corn

Well, I finally did it. I finally got some of the backlogged gardening caught up. Not all of it mind you but on Sunday, Pooka and I took the chance of being home alone to get some work done. The squash was easily dead. Honestly, we didn't get anything off the corn, but the 2 ears we had rotted before they were able to be harvested. It looks like if we want to do corn again next year, we need to get our act together.

Dead and deader

We ended up with a bunch of empty pots when all was said and done. Mostly for giggles, Pooka planted some more pea plants in the pots. This variety should be fairly cold tolerant, and now that Pooka takes lunches to school daily, she loves being able to take the veggies she is growing in her lunch box. 

Not empty for long

Now to see if we get anything off these peas. Hopefully they handle the cold as well as they say they should, as well as their short growing time. But no matter what, Pooka will be happy to see things going and I will just say if we don't get any peas off the plant, I planted the seeds to put some nitrogen back in the dirt. The beans and peas in the corn pot were still quite happy and healthy and producing, so we left them alone the best we could.

The Green beans are doing okay

 As for the nastiness that was pulled out of those pots, it went out to the curb with the rest of the yard waste for the city to dispose of. I don't see us composting anytime soon.

That is alot of dead plant material

Better late then never - August Overview

I promised these pictures are from the first, even if life has kept us busy of late. The temperatures have been milder this year then most. The garden is certainly loving it tho.

Garlic bed

The old garlic bed has been replanted twice with new annuals and Pooka's new plants. Those will be in a post later. Almost everything in this bed we will have no problem tearing up in the fall to replant garlic. Until then, we will see what we get.

Front yard beds

 The rest of the front bed is filling in nicely. We have been harvesting herbs not only for meals, but we have been drying plenty of herbs as well. It will be so nice come all winter to cook with.

sunflowers

 The Sunflowers are growing. Some of them have reached over 10 feet tall, and the Pooka a few of the Pooka sunflowers have multiple heads. Pooka loves to have Daddy go stand next to them so she can see how tall they are. We have yet to see the velvet sunflowers bloom, but they have started to form buds so their bloom is not too far off.

deck view one

The back deck is covered yet again in plants. The eggplants are getting ready to produce and we are getting some very nice strawberries. Our second set of green onions is growing and we plan are starting to get squash off the squash plants.

Pot stand

The lilac is doing well and the celery plants are doing much better in this slightly shadier spot. The snapdragons are even starting to bloom which gives this little spot some color as well as the lavender sitting on the table between the two chairs. I will say the zinnias died as well as the snapdragons in the easter baskets. At least we know now that easter basket don't work. Good to know.

Deck View 2

Around the table the lettuce and the strawberries are doing okay. The zucchini is going okay. We have yet to get much from it, but it is trying. The pots on the table have all sprouted but are not ready to transplant just yet.

Broccoli and nothing

The bed next to the house is still holding on. The broccoli is still fighting no matter how much the cabbage worms are trying to kill it. The bok choy seeds I planted do not seem to be doing much, but that is why we also started some in a pot. Hopefully in a few days we will be able to transplant the little bok choy

Sugar Snap Peas, Green beans, and Basil

 The peas are still producing no matter how sad they appear. They are holding on but the heat spell we had a week did put some stress on them. The green beans are doing well in their spot. We never seem to have enough for the meals, but the kids are enjoying having green beans as a snack occasionally. The basil is doing very well and is in need of being cut back again. More herbs to dry.

Sweet peppers, Tomatillos, Red onion and romaine

 The Peppers are doing okay. We are finally starting to see some real production out of these and it is making us all very happy. The tomatillos are loaded down with and should be ready soon. Pooka is so excited to have her green salsa. The sweet onions are doing well and some are even flowering. The reds have been pulled, but the lettuce seeds we planted there are sprouted. Maybe the romaine will do better in this setting then the hanging pots

corn squash and peas

The sisters for the corn didn't take. The corn is doing well, if suffering a bit from needing more nitrogen.  I am going to try putting more peas in the container and seeing if it helps. The squash has produced a few times, but it seems to be having its own issue. The dirt from the potatoes is in the black bucket in the back with pea sprouts starting.

Cucumbers and broccoli

The cucumbers are climbing and producing while the regular broccoli is doing well. The geometric broccoli is starting to take off. We have had a couple of broccoli harvests already, but as long as the plants don't bolt, we should be able to get many more.

Tomatoes

The tomatoes look smaller if anything. What happened was that the tomatoes actually fell over. We have already harvested over 180 oz or almost 11.5 lbs of tomatoes. Pooka has already asked to see if we can make homemade ketchup. Brother agreed, but has started to worry maybe he shouldn't have. The tomatoes have become a giant mess I will have to untangle soon.

Spicy peppers and cherry tomatoes

The hot peppers are taking off. We have harvested over 9 oz of jalapeno. The poblano peppers are finally flowering, but we haven't seen any yet. The cherry tomatoes are taking off although we have only seen yellow and orange tomatoes. Pooka is looking desperately for a purple tomato. Hopefully she finds one this year.


As you can see, the garden is doing very well. Pooka has harvested over 421 oz or 26+ lbs of food. Pooka says this total "is the best news ever." I am glad she is happy being her and happy with what she is growing. If we are growing plants that make food, that makes Daddy happy the grocery bill is lower.

Signs of progress

A walk into the garden shows the fact we are getting close to really producing food. We have tomatillos that are starting to look like tomatillos.

Tomatillos

 We have a second broccoli head appearing on the plants.

Brocolli

 And the blue corn looks to be starting to get there as well.

blue corn

Maybe soon I can stop going to the store. Maybe

All the seeds are done

I am officially calling it. I think I finally have all the seeds in dirt. If I don't we don't need whatever I forgot.

First I really needed to get the Blue Corn in the ground on Sunday morning. That's right, I said blue corn.

Blue corn

 Aunt Pooka gave us these seeds since she knew both kids would love them. Brother is nominally responsible for them. He loved seeing what the corn would look like once we pulled the seeds out of the packet. There were only 7 in there, so we won't get much, but this should be a good indicator on if it works and if we like it. If both hold true, I can buy more next year.

the corn

I was worried I wouldn't have anything the right size to pot them in, until I remembered that the city gave us this GIANT new recycling bin, so our old ones are empty (and they didn't cost anything), so we repurposed it into a corn pot. This will also give us room to plant some green beans in the 3 sisters method of planting. I don't think I will be putting any squash in it, but 2 out of 3 sisters isn't too bad.

Free pot holding our corn

On Sunday we also had to get the romaine lettuce going. I Know it may be a bit past the start date for the romaine, but its worth at try. The packet didn't have a planting date on it, so we are going to plant and see what happens. I would really like some lettuce I don't have to convince the kids they like. Since I didn't have any space in the ground (and I wanted to make sure it lived) we put the romaine in baskets that I have hung on hooks around the planting beds. I bet the neighbors think they will finally see flowers. They will be very confused later.


Hopefully we will get romaine

Lastly, I thought I was done, but with the front bed nearing completion, I realized I didn't have any dill plants or cumin. I guess it all died off when I wasn't looking. I swear my brain is useless lately. Pooka and I replanted those into these red pots to go on the front porch until I find a better home.  In the little red watering can are some marigold seeds I promised Pooka she could plant after her egg plants died. And really, marigolds can be eaten in salads and things, so who knows, maybe we will try that this summer.

Cumin, dill, and marigolds