The July Monthly Update

The Garden: July 23, 2009

It's a few days late, but I finally have a chance to sit down for the monthly update. This farmer spent the past week back in the homeland of Colorado. It has been a very wet (unusual) year in the Centennial Sate. But temps stayed cool longer and gardens got a late start. All the rain was doing wonders, but a severe storm packed with hail and high winds this week did extensive damage to gardens and crops across the Denver Metro area.

Back here in Virginia, Mother Nature turned off the spicket several weeks ago. The temperatures and humidity have gone up and so has the need for water in the garden. It figures this would happen the same time I leave town. Thankfully, the Mrs. did a great job of watering followed by our neighbors. Was the garden as healthy when I returned? No. But it could have been considerably worse.The Harvest After Our Colorado Trip: Tomaotes, Cucumbers, Jalapenos, Romaian Peppers and NM Chiles

• Acorn Squash-Probably suffered the most in the heat and decrease in water. Many leaves died off and the squash have not grown in size the past few weeks. I'm hoping that the plant recovers and produces great squash in its prime fall harvest season.
  
• Albatross Bell Peppers- See Romanian Sweet Peppers....because it doesn't appear we ever had Albatross Bell Peppers.
  
• Jalapeno Peppers- Wowser. This is clearly El Hefe of the garden so far. The poppers (see previous blog post) have been the hit if the season.
  
• Romanian Sweet Peppers- I thought we had one Romanian plant and one Albatross pepper plant. Well, it looks like someone mislabeled some plants because the "albatross" looked identical to the Romanian. Either way, we've already had some ripe and delicious looking peppers. I cut three off just this morning
  
• New Mexico Espanola Chiles- The chiles are growing nicely and we picked our first batch this morning.
  
• New Mexico Heritage Chiles- Along with their Espanola cousins, the Heritage are putting out a lot of peppers. Being away for a week allowed some peppers to turn red instead of a green-color harvest.
  
• Bush Whopper Cucumbers- No surprise the cucumber plant is doing fantastic. The cucumbers are big and tasty and the plant has maintained a compact growth pattern.
  
• Celebrity Tomatoes- The birds had a field day with the celebrities. With the mesh and Oswald in place, we're getting a chance to eat a lot of big, juicy tomatoes
  
• Mr. Stripey Tomatoes- By the looks of it, the Mr. Stripey's might have been mislabelled as well. The tomatoes are a solid yellow color and appear fully ripe. No stripes in sight.
  
• Patio Tomatoes- Birds had some patio 'maters, too. But the plant keeps putting out some tasty tomatoes.
  
• Supersweet 100 Tomatoes- The name fits the bill. These little red beauties are sweet and delish.
  
• Finger Carrots- I thinned out the carrot box and I think we might have some edible carrots.
  
• Lisbon Onions- Ready to use. The onions are a cool season crop, so they won't last long in the heat.
  
• Dwarf Gray Sugar Peas- After a plentiful harvest (two frozen bags worth), the heat killed the vines quickly. I pulled all the vines off the trellises.
  
• Rutabagas- Thinned them out and looking better. Still pretty small.
  
• Salad Mix- The salads we had were great. But again, the heat does this plant no favors. See you in the fall, Salad Mix.

The herbs are blowing up except for the dill and cilantro. Those are finito. Oh well, they made a good run.

The fruit plants are...well....there. Although the blueberry vines are spreading fast. Could be a great sign for next year.

Are You There Blog? It's Me Jeremy.

The Acorn Squash Has Come A Long Way

Don't think because the blog has been quiet, so has the garden. Due to other chores and a last second assignment to Mexico City, I haven't been able to sit down and write up a little somethin'-somethin' for Two Thumbs. But fear not, there is plenty to talk about.

First, as they'd say in the racing world, the field is set. I've just about used up all free space I have for planting. So what I planted this weekend will in all likelihood be the last veggies. I've updated the veggie vitals to the right. As you can see, I finally chose my heirloom breed. Kudos once again to Merrifield Garden Center for an abundance of choices. I think I had three different varieties in my hand before going with Mr. Stripey tomatoes. But, I was very tempted to go with Pineapple tomatoes.

Aside from the stripers, I planted Romanian sweet peppers, thyme (the seedlings just weren't progressing very well), and Bush Whopper Cucumbers. The story behind the Bush Whoppers is pretty simple. Unlike its cousins, this cucumber breed grows more as a bush rather than a vine-spreading, space-swallower. Because space is already limited and I planted it next to the acorn squash, I needed a plant that wouldn't spread wild through the garden.

As for those acorn squash, you can see for yourself (above) how much they have progressed since starting as little seeds less than two months ago. 

The other seedlings are doing pretty well. One of the fastest sprouters has, without question, been the cilantro. It looked pretty rough when I first transplanted it to a large pot outside. But the steady rainfall and a little bit of sunshine have done wonders. Once we get the jalapenos and tomatoes spitting out fruits, we'll have the beginnings of a damn good guacamole. 

Our next entry we'll look at the fastest "climbers" in the garden this year. Here's a hint: Think Popeye's adopted kid.

Get Me Outta Here!!!

Nature has a funny way of making the unthinkable happen. Take for instance the power of the cucumber. Our cuke plants this year spread through the garden like wildfire. And when it ran out of room...they worked their way outside the backyard. And then last week, I found this curly guy. The cucumber somehow pushed out a panel of our fence as it grew. When it could push it out no more, the cucumber curled around the fence.
Needless to say, it was not easy to harvest this guy. I had to pull apart the fence further and then wiggle the cucumber out.