Getting Ready for Second Sowing

It has been difficult getting out to the garden to do more than very urgent weeding and watering. I may have this a bit more under control, with drugs unfortunately. Still, it gets me out in the garden for a little longer than usual, and that is A Good Thing™.  I am going to show some pictures that are already on the blog side by side with what I have going on now. This was a last minute decision because I saw the pictures from just under two weeks ago and was amazed at the difference in such a short time. I feel like I waited forever for the garden to take off, so here is some photographic proof that it is actually progressing pretty well.

This is most of my backyard as seen today, 26 July 2014. In the foreground is my sweet old puppy Molly who has chosen to start coming outside on her own for the first time in her life. She is 13 years old, so you can teach an old dog new tricks! 

This is how things are shaping up so far:

This is the three sisters on July 1

Here are the Three Sisters on July 14

And here are the Three Sisters today, July 26 !

 That is some serious growth. The corn is looking good and I have been checking the zucchini on a daily basis to see if the vine borers made it through the dirt again. So far the plants are very healthy looking, but the fruits are yellowing before they even shed the flower. I was told that they may not be being (or beeing, hee hee) pollinated, so I went out there with a makeup brush to do the deed myself, but haven't found any male flowers. These are the 8 ball zucchini, so if you know anything, please drop a comment. I saved one that managed to grow a little, but the blossom end looked a bit eaten, so I cut it down and added it to omelets the other night.

Here is a picture of my sadness:

See how it is turning yellow from the blossom end and the blossom end looks a little like rot, like happens with tomatoes sometimes? These have been fertilized with seaweed several times, and they have been planted with beans that were treated with enzymes to hold the nitrogen.

There is a lot more happiness than sadness though. Remember my experiment with Mouse Melons (or Mexican Gherkins, or a few other names)? Well, I believe that they have been a success so far. The growth is amazing and I can't seem to keep up with making trellises for the plants.

This was the bed with the mouse melons in them July 1 (on the left). Two of the three of these cabbages are now sitting on my counter turning into sauerkraut. It looks divine.

Here are the mouse melons just two weeks later, after I had created a trellis with some old supports from the compost pile and rough twine. Oh, and another stick, those suckers are taking off like crazy.

Here is how I found the mouse melons this afternoon. I am definitely going to need a better trellis system set up before the wild growing time.

I was out there this morning at 5:30 am and picked all of the large mouse melons that I could find. When I came out this afternoon to take pictures, look at what I found. It most assuredly was not that large this morning. These things are prolific. I love it! Makes me look like I have a green thumb and stuff.

It pulled one of the metal poles over! Mind you, these are just five of the seedlings that I planted. I started 10 seeds inside and they all germinated.

Here is two of the cabbages I grew. The third is staying outside until I can think of what to do with it. This soon to be sauerkraut is two full weeks old and has stayed perfectly colored. I am very please. Last year I used Savoy, and a plastic bag of brine to keep the cabbage under, but the savoy didn't have the liquid I think that was needed to really work out. I am very pleased so far. The jar inside is just to give a little displacement to keep everything submerged.

This is "Bed Three". The plum tomatoes are growing everywhere and I can't keep up with nipping the suckers, but there are a lot of them. I thought that these were determinate, but now I am not so sure. In the center are two red pepper plants and two jalapeno with some basil and nasturtiums keeping everyone company.

Not the best photo editing every, but I never claimed to be good at it. :) On the left are jalapenos and the right are (or will be) red peppers. 

This is "Bed Four", and in it are more tomatoes, some basil that is barely alive (it looks eaten) and two pickling cucumber plants that I bought because I misplaced my cucumber seeds somewhere and it was getting late in the season. This is my "Hail Mary" so to speak.

My parsley went wild in the asparagus bed! I also have a bunch of asparagus spears coming up amongst the ferns. That was unexpected.

I should have taken pictures earlier. These are my raspberries plants, but it is the end of the first run, so there are not a lot ripe at one time now. Next year there should be a bigger crop and my neighbor said that she would be happy to give me more canes. Now I just have to expand a bit. Any volunteers to do all the actual work? 

Maybe to some the sight of a tall sunflower growing strong is not too big of a deal. For me, it is a bit of a miracle as I have never been able to grow these guys past the first two permanent leaves. So, yay!

I have planted more chard and spinach seed, but it looks as though some of the local animals are scraping around in there. I have to come up with a feasible cover idea for my direct sow vegetables as this happens all the time.
Also a shout out to my husband who did a fabulous mowing job to help me avoid ticks on the pets and family as well as getting the weeds that may have been seeding away from my lovely garden beds.

How does your garden grow?