Finally Some Sun in Mid-June!

So I recently posted some pics from late April. Here's what the garden looks like as of today, June 15. The nasturtiums, in particular, have loved the damp, cool weather. A while back I pulled out the beans, because they just weren't growing...must have been a bad batch of seeds because I planted twice, following the recommendations of soaking the beans overnight and using an organic bean innoculant. I put a tomato plant in its place.

After I harvested all the radishes, I put in basil and another tomato plant. I had mixed results with the radishes. Even though they are a cool weather crop, I think all the rain hurt them. The French breakfast radishes were really good, but the mixed variety of radishes ("Easter Egg") was really slow growing and they were dry and somewhat hollow in the center. The texture wasn't good and I ended up composting many of them. Next year, I'll just plant the French breakfast. At the same time I planted radishes, I planted carrots, and they are still growing. I have no idea how they will turn out -- I remember finding them difficult to grow in Kansas, they were subject to all sorts of soil and pest issues that made them come out deformed or icky -- so we'll see how they do.

Right now we are harvesting and enjoying the snow peas I planted from seed in early March, as well as lots lettuce: romaine, a speckled variety of red leaf lettuce, and arugula. I have picked two huge bunches of cilantro -- had to give one to a neighbor -- and probably will have to replant that soon so I have some when the jalapenos and tomatoes are ready.

Slugs have been a huge problem, they were devouring my squash plants, so I had to resort to the Sluggo for Organic Gardners. I hate to use anything, but this year with all the rain, I realized there would soon be no garden at all if I didn't take some type of drastic measures, and putting beer in shallow dishes just wasn't cutting it!

Cheap and (Not Very) Good Lookin'

The front yard is for the deer, the back yard is for people where I live. The back yard is fenced, so the deer don't bother it, and we like to spend a lot of time out there. But it desparately needs a landscape plan. Little by little over the 10+ years we've lived here, I've been sticking plants I like around the perimeter of the yard. There's not a lot of rhyme or reason to it, but I still enjoy it. I tried veggie gardens in a couple of different places, but the soil's bad and when I tried to amend it, the good soil would wash away down the hill. I want to put in raised beds, but don't yet know where I want to put them permanently. One of these days I'll have a landscaper draw up a plan. But in the mean time, I decided to do something temporary and inexpensive: a cinder block raised bed. It doesn't look great, but it's practical.

One picture above was taken in May -- right after we built the bed. First I put down lots of layers of newspaper. Then we put the blocks down. We filled the "holes" with pea gravel to half way up on the top block, then filled the main area and the top of the holes with a mixture of my own compost, a garden mix, and some planting mix we had delivered from a local place. I put block caps on a few of the blocks on one side to create a seat as well as a step for harvesting.

The other picture was taken the end of July. By that time I had harvested broccoli, hot peppers, tomatillos, and a few Japanese eggplant. The nasturtiums and marigolds I planted in the holes reallly filled in.

Now it's August. Tomatoes are large and green. I'm still harvesting tomatillos and eggplant. The peppers have slowed down but there are still a couple coming. I am harvesting oodles and oodles of lemon cucumbers. Where the broccoli was I have planted pole beans, bush beans and some snow peas for fall harvesting, along with brussel sprouts. I don't even like brussel sprouts, really, but I didn't think I liked eggplant, either, and we've eaten it. I planted them because they are supposed to be very resistant to cold. I figure ... put some garlic and olive oil on them and roast them in the oven. Just about any veggie tastes good done that way.

Anyway...the ugly cinder block garden isn't so ugly to me anymore. It's really worked out well. Next year I might just add a couple more.