Vegetable Garden - July 23, 2012

Despite sever drought conditions, the garden is doing fairly well.  I know that it would be doing much better if I watered it every night, but with recommended water restrictions, I know that it doesn't make sense for me to risk running our well dry to water the garden.  All I can do is keep my fingers crossed that things get better.  And be thankful that the lack of rain doesn't effect my income.  And of course, I am praying for all the farmers who are going to be tragically affected by this.

So, here is the status of the garden veggies.  Onions and carrots are doing pretty well, the few carrots that were accidentally pulled while weeding yesterday are a little smaller than usual at this time of year, but not dramatically smaller.  Zucchini are a little disappointing so far, there are tons of flowers every day, but no zucchini yet.  Tomatoes have lots of blossoms and lots of fruit.  Unfortunately the romas are already showing signs of blossom end rot.  The peppers plants have lots of little peppers which are growing very quickly.  Lettuce, swiss chard, kale and beets are very slow.  As are the English cucumbers.  The other two kind of cucumbers are flowering like crazy and have a few tiny cucumbers.  Potatoes are covered in blossoms and I can see the ground starting to push up at the base of the plants.  Looking like it might be a good year for potatoes!

Onions and carrots.                                     Zucchini and tomatoes.

Cucumbers.                                                Peppers.

     Peppers and Beets.                                 Lettuce, swiss chard and kale.

What are these little ball things on my potatoes?  I have seen them on potatoes before, but don't know what they are or why they are there.

Really hoping that these little guys start ripening before they are all consumed by blossom end rot.

The potato jungle!  They are growing like crazy!

The Vegetable Garden - July 8, 2012

The vegetable garden is doing quite well considering that the weeds are trying to take over.  So far, I am winning the battle, but only time will tell who wins the war.  Another challenge this year is a huge lack of rain.  It is only the first week of July and I am already having to put the sprinklers on the garden ever night, hoping that it will be enough.  The final challenge that has reared it's head since I last posted is woolly aphids on the potatoes.  But I will do a separate post on these little critters.

Take a look at how things are growing!

Zucchini flowers and a baby zucchini!

There are lots of tomato flowers and every plant has little tomatoes!

Pepper flowers and a jalapeno pepper!  No sweet peppers yet, but they were later to start flowering.

Carrots and Onions.

Potato plants and potato flowers!  

Cucumber flowers, but no baby cucumbers yet.

Soon it will be fresh lettuce from the garden for salads!

The Vegetable Garden - June 19, 2012

Despite being full of weeds when we got home from our weekend of camping, the vegetable garden is doing well.

Lettuce and beets are coming a little more slowly than some years, but they are both in the shadier end of the garden.  The shade doesn't seem to be bothering the swiss chard and kale though!

Cucumbers and zucchini are growing like crazy, even the cucumbers that were slow to come up are catching up with the rest.

Tomatoes and peppers all seem to have had a huge growth spurt recently!

Carrots and onions are continuing to grow steadily.

And the potatoes are growing like mad!  I can not believe how big they are getting and how quickly!  I can almost taste fresh fried potatoes! 

Don't look at the weeds, but you can see the little rows of soon to be salad!

Jalapeno Pepper flower!

Roma Tomato.

Tomato Flower.

Potatoes . . . if they keep growing like this they won't be plants, they will be trees!

Vegetable Garden - August 6/7

I have to admit that I am getting a little discouraged with the vegetable garden.  We haven't had hardly any rain in weeks and it is really taking it's toll.  I actually broke down and bought more hose and a sprinkler this week so that I could water the garden.  This is the ninth year that I've had a garden here and it is the first time I've ever needed to water it.  

The red potatoes have all died back to nothing, so I decided to dig some today.  They are small and very few.  I dug 4 hills, which is half the row and barley got enough for a meal.  The cucumbers are very slow and the lettuce is already starting to get bitter.  And today I noticed what appears to be blossom end rot on my Roma tomatoes.

I have my fingers crossed that watering helps in time to still have a plentiful garden.

On a brighter note, we did have grilled zucchini for dinner last night and it was very yummy, the few cucumbers that we have had have been delicious and there are beets that are ready to be used.  So, it's not a complete failure!  

The Vegetable Garden

Nice looking beets that will make some yummy "purple pickles".

Zucchini.

The peppers are doing well!

I had one ripe tomato earlier this week that with this lettuce and cucumber made a very yummy salad.

Roma Tomatoes were looking good until I looked closely . . . 

Many of them, including all the ones that were starting to ripen seem to be suffering from blossom end rot.  Hope some of them make it!

Disappointing red potatoes, four hills and only enough for one meal.  Hopefully the white ones are better.