2008  Garden  Journal

Thursday, June 19, 2008

....June 14 - Click on the thumbnail to the left to see the corn rows, or here to see the other area.   The Early Jersey Wakerfield cabbage continues to grow.   Triangular leaves indicate the  Melody spinach is close to bolting (turns bitter as it goes to seed). 

Also today the pepper & egg plant were set out.  Only the Italian Roaster peppers were purchased as plants.
      The egg plants varieties are:
             Black Beauty - Park Seed #5850 - classic large purple fruit - 2 plants
             Rosa Blanca - Park Seed #5774 - smaller, lavender color; an heirloom from Italy - 4 plants
       Pepper plants varieties are:
             Italian Roaster  - unknown producer, plants purchased at White's Mill - medium hot pepper - 3 plants
             Boynton - Harris Seeds #6470001 - heavy yields of green to red - 4 plants
             Carmen - Park Seed #5609 - sweet cone shaped, green to red, AAS winner - 1 plant
             Jackpot - Park Seed #5278 - sweet pepper (no longer offered) - 4 plants
             Whopper - Park Seed #5261 - giant green 4x4 inch - 6 plants

Two of the original 11 Celebrity tomatoes were eaten by deer and replaced by Early Girl plants purchased from White's Mill.

...click on this image to see the garden's tomatoes, or click here to see peppers & egg plants. 

June 10 - King of the Garden lima beans can grow 12 foot tall.  Here is a trellis that uses bailing twine wrapped around roofing nails for the bean's vines to climb.  

June 7 - Seeds become plants such as lima beans & Ambrosia corn poke their heads out of the ground following a few days of rain.  The cucumbers & squash take-off too.   The tomato plants, like this Sugary plant, are beginning their accent toward.  The Bok Choi looks nice too.

June 4 - First harvest in the garden was Jade Pagoda & Bok Choi cabbage, and Melody spinach.

June 1 - Zucchini was added to the cucumber plot.  The variety is called Romanesco from  Renee's Garden company.

      Also 10 sunflower seeds were mixed into the corn rows.  This is Burpee's Del Sol Hybrid. 

      King of the garden lima beans were also planted (unknown seed company), but their lattice hasn't been assembled yet.

May 31 - This has been a very busy, few days.  Compost, fertilizer (12-12-12, 0-45-0 & 0-0-61), calcium (aka concrete) were tilled in. 
     Three 35' long rows of Ambrosia bicolor sweet corn (unknown seed company) were placed 5' apart (took less than 1/4 pound of seed).  The corn was planted along a string, with the tip of a broom handle being pressed into the soil beside the seed, permitting the seed to fall into the hole.

This year's  cucumber patch  has:
     Diva - Park Seed #5516 - burpless, AAS winner in 2002
     Diva - Harris Seeds #4440001
     All-Season Burpless - Park Seed #5129 - said to be their best seller
 

May 30 - The rest of the tomato plants were set out today and all but three cages were placed.
    A total of 28 plants were arranged in 2 rows (8' between rows) with 29" between plants.
    All seeds were unused from last year.

This year's tomato varieties are:
      Sugar Sweet 100 - Harris Seeds #8510001 - prolific, sweet, cherry - 2 plants
      Sugary - Park Seed #5403 - very prolific, very sweet, cherry, AAS winner - 1 plant
      Better Boy - Park Seed #5323 - classic, large, AAS winner - 4 plants + 1 additional plant purchased
     Golden Gem - Park Seed #5409 - yellow cherry, very prolific, very sweet - 1 plant
     Golden Jubilee - Harris Seeds #888 - low acid yellow - 1 plant
     Viva Italia - Park Seed #5827 - Determinate, prolific,  pear-shaped - 4 plants
     Juliet - Park Seed #5345 - grape, AAS winner - 3 plants
     Celebrity - Harris Seeds #8580001 - determinate, large, AAS winner, personal favorite - 11 plants
 

..May 27 - The Chinese cabbage is doing very well but the Tyee spinach isn't, Melody is doing better. 
Also today the first six tomato plants were set out; just before a thunderstorm moved in.  Most of these tomato plants were started from seed.

May 13 - Early Jersey Wakefield cabbage was planted today.  I purchased these plants last Friday from White's Mill in Athens.  There were multiple plants in each pot.   Also the  Jade Pagoda & Bok Choi cabbage have grown quickly. 

May 10 -  Melody & Tyee spinach are doing well thanks to the recent cool wet weather.

May 3 -  Jade Pagoda & Bok Choi cabbage are planted, along with seeds sown for Melody & Tyee spinach.

...April 12 - The past winter's garden gets ready for a new year.  A few weeks earlier the garden was sprayed with Roundup to kill unwanted weeds and grass.  Roundup only kills the foliage it contacts, permitting the ground to be worked within a week or two.

Harding-off is a technique where plants grown indoors, are gradually introduced outside.  Here two types of Chinese cabbage are hardened-off. 

Spring means the Piney are coming up.

The same garden after one pass with the Troybuilt tiller.