It's been a while since I've done a gardening update...
Last night, Chad and I spent an hour or so "fixing" the Wall of Death. Everything we planted along the far fence line died slow, painful, decaying deaths. It puzzled us. We tried everything and still...stunted, yellow plants with lacy leaves from the snails that were able to get through our copper lining and Sluggo boarders.
After studying the area, I came to the conclusion that the problem was with the tree that shaded that part of the yard. While it allowed sufficient sunshine in, the root system is starting to kill off even the grass. (Seriously irritating.) To combat it, we tore out the dead plants, lined the whole area with bricks and re-planted in containers. We'll see if that helps.
In other gardening news...remember those gorgeous pansies? Yes, well, they died as well. They've been replaced with heat-tolerant flowers. Fingers crossed that "heat tolerant" means "able to withstand triple digit temperatures in an arid environment". Joseph may have been intuitively correct with he said we should plant cacti. (Or as he said, "cactuses".)
As for the rest...
Peas - Done for the summer. I need to tear them out and plant something else. I also need to do a bit of research and find out what I can plant. I think peas are like green beans and suck out some of the nutrients from the ground. Chad is of the opinion that I should tear them out, concentrate on improving the soil and then re-plant in the fall. Have I mentioned that my husband's opinion is often very good?
Carrots - We're up to our eyeballs in carrots. I have a huge freezer bag in my fridge right now waiting to be blanched and frozen. We still have a ton to pick, but we're letting them hang out in the garden for now.
Onions - They're tall. Other than that, I'm not sure what's going on with them. I'm just waiting to see little onion bulbs start to show above the ground.
Garlic - Ditto. They're tall, but again, I don't really know what's happening underground. I did lose a few to some type of critter who thought garlic made a great bed. (Obviously not Bunnicula.)
Radishes - Picked and done. They were awesome while they lasted. Once the carrots are done, I'll probably re-plant both for a fall crop.
Cucumber - The Lemon is out of control!! Lots of flowers and baby cucumbers. The English is acting stereotypical - reserved and mild.
Cauliflower - Did you know that cauliflower plants grow three plus feet tall? Yeah.
Corn - I've got ears! The stalks are not very tall yet, but they're growing.
Green beans - My poor green beans aren't using the corn as a trellis. And the leaves are turning yellow. However, I noticed that there were beans on the vines yesterday. I'm going to start giving them a morning sprinkling of coffee grounds and see if that helps. (I'm also going to trellis them in a more traditional manner.)
Berries - The raspberry plant is having issues now, but the blackberry is doing great. Again with the yellow leaves. I think the biggest part of my gardening woes is the poor soil.
Grapes - Doing great. Seriously, though, if I can't grow grapes in Paso, I really shouldn't be growing anything.
Strawberries - Some how, some way, they're still alive and producing small amounts of fruit.
Spinach - Yeah...I'm not planting this one again. I hate to say it, but it's a pain in the rear to harvest and it takes a ton to make a salad.
Herbs - The cilantro and sage are doing great. Two of my Greek basil plants are still somehow alive, but after two months, haven't grown an inch. I've planted sweet basil and Thai basil next to it. Fingers crossed that they survive.
Tomatoes - My Celebrities are 5'4" tall and covered in fruit. They broke out of their tomato cages, so I had to take my scissors to them. They were on the fast track of taking over my sidewalk. The Cherries are already turning red, but still only about two feet tall. My Romas are covered with fruit and the plants themselves are various heights. I also caved into temptation and planted an Aunt Ruby's German Green and Yellow Pear in the new containers along the Wall of Death. That brings total tomato plants to 12, not counting the six volunteer cherry tomatoes that I don't quite know what do with.
Squash - The zucchini are finally starting to look good. Thanks, in part, to the hot weather we've been having. The crook neck died on the Wall of Death, but were replanted in new containers. Three of them...gotta play the odds.
Melons - The watermelon is still alive. The cantaloupe is flowering. The crenshaw and mid-western mini are alive and thriving.
Bell peppers - We're hit or miss here. The one in the topsy turvy is finally starting to bud. The ones in the ground haven't grown a bit. I did plant three in pots to see if they do better.
Chilies - The jalapeno died. It was replaced with a Fresno chili, Serrano chili and a banana pepper.
I think that's about it. Wow...that's actually an insane number of plants. No wonder Chad's banned me from OSH and Hometown Nursery.
No comments:
Post a Comment