Thursday, July 31, 2008

Garden picks...

Today we picked green beans. Ours are later than everyone else's because we planted so late. I was surprised at the amount of beans that we got from the raised beds. The bed is only 4x8 and we picked a whole grocery bag tonight. We also picked quite a few cucumbers and some peppers. I want to can some pickled peppers. Bill really likes them.
Bill's dad gave us 8 dozen ears of corn this week and we canned creamed corn. Usually we freeze it, but thought we would try canning this year.
I will get some pics up soon....

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Weed and weed

I was just reading an article in the paper today about how this summer is such a great one for flowers and gardens. However, that also makes it good for the weeds!
Everyone I have talked to that gardens is having the same problem. The weeds are trying to take over. I think they are growing overnight. We have had a lot of rain coupled with humidity and temps that are pretty reasonable. I guess what grows good flowers and veggies grows good weeds too.
My cucumbers this year are amazing! I don't think that I have ever had such good luck. The cattle panel seems to be working well as a trellis behind the raised bed. Something that I will do differently next year though is plant only one variety in each 8 ft. section. I planted 3 varieties this year and they have grown together so much, I'm not sure that I will know the difference. Live and learn. I will also not plant 2 rows of peppers in front of the cucumbers again. The cucumbers are so bushy that they are trying to overtake the back row.
The raspberries are doing well for the first year that we have picked. We have been gone so much over the weekends though that a lot of them ripened and just fell off to the ground. The funny thing is that our black raspberries were attacked by birds prior to putting up netting. The reds are not really being bothered that we can tell. I don't know why that is.
The wax and green beans are doing well and starting to flower. The farmers that have grown beans in the area have been picking and I could smell them this am when I went outside.
The zucchini and yellow squash seem to be lagging after a rough start.
The onion tops have dried and need to be pulled and the broccoli needs cut.
With all this going on, can anyone believe that I am already thinking about what I can plant for fall?? I saw a post on Skippy's Vegetable Garden that gave a link for when to plant certain crops for fall based on the last frost date for your area. Here it is: http://www.heirloomseeds.com/schedule-2.htm
Good luck!

Thursday, July 10, 2008

So long without an update

I cannot believe that I have gone so long without a blog update! We have been having some internet problems, and I have not been able to get on for about a week. The other time is just me being too busy.
I will make an effort to update more often.