Mid-Summer Harvest Underway

The weather here has turned hot and a dry. I have starting watering some of the plants on a regular basis now. I pulled the onions and I have been curing them over fencing for about one week now. The onion crop was really good with many large sized onions. I suspect it was all spring rain and cooler than normal temperatures that made for a good crop this year. I have been harvesting the following since my last entry: Green Beans, Onions, Hot Banana Peppers, Celery (just started yesterday), Cucumbers, Lettuce, Potatoes, Cabbage.

The bean beetles have arrived and I had to spray the beans with a little bit of sevin today. The roma tomatoes are not doing very well right now, as their growth seems a bit stunted. I guess it is probably due to the crazy weather we have had. I did water them a bit a few days ago, but they still seem small and somewhat wilted during the heat of the day. The potatoes were harvested a few days ago. Between the raised bed and the potato bag, the estimated harvest was between 15 to 20 pounds (see pic below of bag full of harvested Yukon Gold potatoes). My brother's corn is doing well, but unfortunately it does not appear to be the NK199 variety that it was supposed to be. I guess the seed packet was not marked correctly. Now is the time to start planning the fall garden. It won't be long now until the first fall seedlings get planted into the garden.

Mid-Season Report

Since it is now about mid-way through the growing season, I thought I would give you a report on how the garden, so far, is doing this year.

The garden is generally doing pretty good this year. My spring broccoli was successful. The main heads have all been harvested and they were mostly of good size, but the side shoot production has been a little off from previous years, probably due to the weather. I have not harvested the spring cabbage as of yet, but the heads appear to be smaller than normal. The spring lettuce crop was good. I have since pulled up all of the spring lettuce plants and have replanted with new lettuce seedlings. The onions appear to be growing well and most of them are of good size. The tops have started to fall over now, so it won't be too much longer before harvest. The spring green onion crop was really good this year. The spring planted peas were a big disappointment. I planted "Sugar Ann" snap pea and the plants were slow to grow and did not produce well. I think I will go back to growing "Mr Big" pea next year. The potato vines in the Potato Bag have almost all turned brown and are now ready to harvest. I will report back on the results. The other potato raised bed plot is doing well and those vines have also started to brown, so harvest will not be far behind on those either.

The warm season crops are doing pretty good right now with the onset of warmer weather. The Roma tomatoes are just starting to push on fruit. The green beans are ready to harvest today(Yum!!). The pole lima beans are starting to run and fill out the trellises. The banana peppers have been producing for about two weeks now, which seems a little earlier than normal. The "Diva" cucumbers are growing like mad and I have just started to see little cukes developing on the vines. My brother's corn is doing good and, after a slow start, seems to be growing really well right now.

I planted my fall seeds of broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and lettuce yesterday in cell packs. I am hopeful to be able to get these seedlings transplanted out into the garden by early August (I can't believe I am already talking about my fall garden).

The weather has been cooler than normal, on average. It was a little dry up to two days ago. We received 1.75 inches of rain over the last two days. Before the rain, I had to use my soaker hoses for the first time this year to water my beans and cabbage. The other plots I have been hand watering. That is it for now.......Happy Gardening!!