Monday, July 08, 2013

garden after vacation

I returned to a bone dry garden that I hardly recognized as it had grown so much! And so many weeds. I had weeded before I left and did not expect to see so many pigweed, lambsquarters, crabgrass, chickweed, plantain, etc, etc.

My escarole frisee was so pretty when I left and I thought a week would make it perfect. Here's the pretty photo: Copy of 046

When I got back - one week later - it had bolted to 4 feet high! If I had the space to spare, I would have let it go and collected the seed. bolted escarole bed before 001

Here's the bed after I quickly pulled it. Much of it I saved for salads, but there was lots to go to the compost bin. bolted escarole bed after 025

My potatoes were through blooming and looking really good. (Where did the potato beetles go? I released bean beetle wasps a couple weeks ago - I wonder if they got the potato beetles too?) potatoes 008

My tomatoes are still small but growing (along with the weeds...)and the lettuce underplanting. tomato bed 009

My squashes are just starting to grow and need to be trained up the trellis. I did this and they are off to a good start. squashes 006

Lots of other things are looking really good too. Its so nice to be back. echinecia 002 beets 021 Copy of 035 bagged pears 012 Copy of 031 watermelon and garlic 014 kale bed 007 Copy of 033 Copy of 037

6 comments:

Greg said...

Kathy, You mentioned bean beetle wasps. Have you had much success with those? I've been trying to figure out a good holistic means of deterring Mexican Bean Beetles the last few years.

Last year I tried Neem Oil and Marigolds with no success. This year I tried companion planting Petunias with nearby Nasturtiums. There seems to be some success there, but I've also been applying bug dust which, sadly, isn't organic.

Cary said...

Welcome home! Isn't it amazing what 1 week can do? Are those walking onions in the bottom 2 pictures. Am interested in growing Egyptian walking onions next year.

Cary said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
kathy said...

The bean beetle wasps seem to work well, but are expensive - $100 with shipping costs. We have had terrible problems in past years, but really good with one shipment this year.

Yes - walking onions are great. I love them.

Unknown said...

Your garden is beautiful and Skippy in your garden is so cute!

baby dan dunianya said...

hi I'm from Indonesia, I really like your blog and your gardenning activity,,, very great...