Here’s the update for midsummer. This gardening thing has gotten a bit out of control. I’m really enjoying myself doing this. And the garden just keeps getting bigger. That’s because of two things: 1) I had 6 yards of dirt delivered to me and I had to do something with it; and 2) My vendor had vegetable starts on closeout for 50¢ each.
Okay: 2 harvest tales.
1. Peas. These were a great success, although I only got enough for 1 meal and some crudités. But I am going to plant earlier next year and use the pole type. You see, the bush peas needed support anyway, and they became a tangled mess and hard to pick. I’m thinking pole will just be a bit easier all around and I’ll plant more and be able to pick continuously and prolong harvest.
2. Trash Can Potatoes, Can #1, Yukon Gold. These have been done for for around a month or so. About that time, something odd happened. The other can of potatoes had overtaken them and they looked sickly. Their growth was stunted and I couldn’t see where they were going to flower or grow anymore–I figured something was wrong, so I went ahead and dumped the can out. I found a very few little bitty new potatoes, but there was some rotting stuff going on down low. So my theory with this is that 1) can didn’t have a sufficient number of drainage holes and 2) the Yukon Gold variety is determinate (which means they only set fruit once), so that choice was a bad one for growing in a can. I’ll grow a different variety next time.
Meanwhile, my potato can #2 is doing terrific, check it out:
You can’t see all that many of the flowers, but there are some big ones on the top left of the plant, above.
Here is a picture of all the new beds I’ve been putting in.
Wow, that’s kind of big. Anyway, I figured I’m not too worried about the lawn because it was mole playground and full of clover before, worst case I’ll just rake down the beds and have nice soil for planting grass.
Anyway, it’s all going okay, actually. I’m experimenting with the cool season stuff, just getting it transplanted now. I also planted the corn which, while as far as I can tell it’s too late to plant, I want to see if I can get it to germinate. I live in Washington State, and we’ve only just had 2 weeks of warm weather this summer. Here’s what my tomatoes look like, up close.
And zucchini:
Anyway, if you want to see a few more pics, here’s the slideshow on Flickr.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I strongly recommend NOT using poles for peas. Their grasping runners are neither very strong nor rough enough (unlike beans) to really grab a pole and hold themselves up. Mine usually ended up sliding down to encircle the bottom of each pole.
I use a set of A-frames I built from 3/4 inch PVC water lines. They are connected with slip fittings and anchored to the ground with aluminum tent stakes. Think of two triangles (really upside-down V’s), 5 feet tall and 5 feet at the base, standing 5 feet apart. The triangles are then connected to each other with three horizontal 5-foot sections, one at each corner, so two run along the ground and the last one is for hanging strings for the peas to climb. Then I pushed the bottoms as close together as I could, about 1 1/2 to 2 feet wide at the base and anchored them with aluminum tent stakes.
I use a natural fiber string, like hemp or sisal, so at the end of the growing season, I can dismantle the whole structure and just slide the string and pea plants off the one pipe into the compost pile.
I’ll try to tweet a couple pics to you. You may do whatever you like with them.
Another idea for a fall crop of peas is to put a couple climbing peas around each corn stalk. The corn shades the newly germinated peas, the peas grow up the stalk and provide nitrogen to the heavily feeding corn. This also works with pole beans.
As we live in an apartment we’re a bit limited re: what can be grown in terms of fruits & vegetables. That said we’ve had luck this year with the basic herbs as well as cape gooseberries. I planted them for kicks in a far-too-small pot and yet we’ve got about 100 lanterns across perhaps 8 very healthy plants!
Good for u on the Cape gooseberries. I lived in a small rowhouse back east for several years and never really grew edibles. If I had it to do again, I would definitely grow lots of herbs in that space. It’s really nice to just walk out and clip some, and recipes only ever call for a wee bit, so they’re perfect.