Garden Update: July Week 4

By JULIE - 3:44:00 PM


 Garden A What is Doing Well:
Blue Jade Corn
Corn! It has been loving our heat.  Can't wait to have blue corn and pink colored popcorn (it pops white).  We are growing Blue Jade and strawberry popcorn from seed saver's exchange.
Kale: This is a rock star of my garden
broccoli
Broccoli: If I had not bought transplants we would not have already harvested broccoli. Our from seed broccoli has not produced yet.
Sugar Snap Peas: Are finally starting to produce(right when I had given up, yes we planted very late)

Garden A: What is not Doing Well
purple basil and kale
Purple Basil: is little still due to lack of sun, by being dwarfed by our kale which I have been cutting back to give it some sun.I bought some basil at the farmer's market for $1 to hold me over till this grows more.
cilantro
 Cilantro is growing lighter green to yellow and has black spots.  Guess it didn't like our heat index of 110 degrees or more for a week?  I plan to cut it back and see if it will grow back healthier.


Cucumbers and beans:  is probably fine but has not produced yet.
brussel sprouts
Turnips:  looks good so far, but until I dig it up I won't know
 Brussel Sprouts: I have two growing so far too soon to tell how well this will do yet.
cucumbers





Garden B What Is Doing Well
Swiss Chard: Needs to be harvested.  Anyone have any good Swiss chard recipes?
Tomatoes: Are about to by pass my 6 foot trellis structure.  Not sure what to do about that.  Should I add a lager one or just cut off the leaders?I haven't harvested any jet but their are plenty of green tomatoes.
Green and hot peppers:  are already starting to develop some and have plenty of flowers.  Our bell peppers from seed are tiny in comparison to our nursery bought transplants.  I think the large plants will dominate our little peppers and they probably won't grow much.


Graden B What Didn't Do So Well
Lettuce and Spinach:  the spinach only grew to a couple inches and bolted then they disapeared.  Was it the heat or bunnies?  Our lettuce started to grow but the leaves looked similar to our cilantro.  I'm thinking of harvesting and replanting our lettuce.
cat nip

We are also growing catnip for Mr Cat along with soybeans in a garden bed in our front yard.  Mr Cat will be pleased once I dehydrate them I believe (he is not a fan of it fresh).  Our soybeans (heirloom variety from seed savers) are doing great except for the bunnies.  Half were chewed up but seem to be trying to grow back.  My husband and I finally put up a chicken wire fence to save them.  It hasn't been a priority due to the heat and busy schedules.  I also planted Chamomile, and Shasta daisies of which neither grew.  I planted a lot of chive seeds and have the tiniest patch.  Hopefully they will survive and remain next year. 
stevia plant
Containers:
My stevia plant is loving this tropical weather we have been having (highest dew point in the country last week, and tied for a record here).   It's grown lots of off shoots and I had to tie it to a stake for support. 

The only other of my tea garden to survive is lemon balm  it's so tiny though I am not sure if it will survive.

I have replanted lettuce in containers and it is hard to tell if they will grow or not.

potatoes
Potatoes
I have added more soil and another wood piece (it now has three 2 inch piece up or 6 " deep.  I need to get more peat moss and compost to mix since I already lack soil...

Berries
Our everbearing strawberries are producing and all of our strawberries are producing ample runners. Luckily our unprotected fruit have not fallen to local animals like our June crop yet. I plan to temporarily remove the mulch I put down to help them root, and then replace it by fall.  Hopefully we will have alot of strawberry plants next year!
Our raspberries have stopped producing and are focusing on new growth. Ours produces twice a year.  I think our bushes will be super huge soon so I am planning on increasing trellising in anticipation.

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Click Here to Read Our Other 2011 Garden Updates


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