i've been neglectful

There hasn't been too much to say about the garden in recent weeks.  I've pulled out the lettuces and peas as they were done for the season.  Now I am waiting for the zukes, tomatoes, green beans, kale, and the second planting of broccoli to be ready.  I have a serious aphid problem with my tomatoes.  I purchase 1500 ladybugs and set them free to attack the lil buggers, but they flew away.  I must now find a recipe for an organic spray.  Some suggest crushing tomato leaves and others say a garlic and dish soap spray works.  The only problem with even "safe and organic" sprays is that they will kill good bugs with the bad.

This past week's bounty

I harvested a few things and received some lovely swiss chard from someone at the garden as they were going out of town and couldn't eat it all.



broccoli, tango lettuce, swiss chard, sugar snap peas and romaine lettuce!

The tango lettuce is done for the season as it bolted in just a matter of days.  I pulled the lettuce and hopefully will be able to plant my brussel sprount seedlings.  First I must solve my pill bug problem.

Update from last week

I failed to post these pictures from last monday (6/13/11).  Things seem to be doing well, but the roly pollies are munching a lot of the smaller plants.  I've heard the putting beer in an empty tuna can and burying it up the the top of the can will attract and then drown the pill bugs.  I will have to try this! 

one of 3 sugar snap pea pods

romaine lettuce

red russian kale

broccoli

more red russian kale, some alysum and marigolds

marigold and beans

verbena

everything is filling in.  the items under the plastic cover are brussel sprouts and some for broccoli for a summer harvest

Cilantro Fail

If I knew then what I know now I probably wouldn't have planted cilantro, or I would have done it right.  Apparently cilantro bolts in the blink of an eye.  It also hates the heat.  So now it has bolted and I don't get to use cilantro in my tacos and guac.

I've learned that the way to have a constant supply of cilantro is to plant seeds (as they do not like to be transferred so much as seedlings) every 4 to 6 weeks.  Now I know.

The upside is that I can attempt to harvest corriander which is the fruit/seed the comes from cilantro.  Now I have to find a good Indian recipe should the corriander come through for me.

Cilantro

Hot Hot Heat

This past week it has been hot here, like 90-95 degs!  My plants are going gangbusters, except for the beets which didn't transplant at all.  Reminder for next year, just plant seeds in ground and do not transfer.  I think the mulch has really helped the soil retain moisture as I watered on Sunday and Tuesday but not Monday.   We have also been harvesting the tango lettuce.  It has a tangy flavor and ruffly edges.  It's nice to have a really fresh salad every day.  I've been picking the biggest leaves every couple of days.  The romaine lettuce is growing nicely as well.  I bought the starts at a store and am waiting till the heads are just the right size and praying they don't bolt with the heat.

Sharing is caring

I went to the garden Elsa free last night so I was able to do some real work.  There were a few weeds, I think...that needed weeding.  Also, I was able to meet my plot neighbors.  A nice family of four with two girls that are just a little older and younger than Elsa who is 2.  There were a few other folks at the garden and there was some plant swaping going on.  I needed to thin out my Swiss Chard and Red Russian Kale.  My neighbor needed to thin out her Detroit Red Beets.  A swap was made and now I'll have 5 beets to experiment with.  Next year I will try to be more adventurous with my plant choices and hope to include bok choi, radishes, and maybe the stubby carrots.  It was great!  I was also able to unload some nastursium seeds in a communal plot that is growning fennel...it might be a good combo.  Should have taken pictures but didn't as the sun was going down and my cell phone already struggles to take good pics.  Must find the cord for my good camera so I can take good pictures.

Summer is here!

It seems that summer has decided to arrive.   The weather has been in the 80 to 90 range but the rains continue.  It's great to not have to water my plot every day, but I worry that too much rain will cause mildew or rot or something like that.  The zukes have been nibbled quite a bit, I'm not sure if they'll survive.  The tomatoes are doing lovely considering the rain and cold.  Maybe the sea kelp has helped.  My kale has emereged and I'll have to thin it out soon.   My daisy will have pink flowers!  sorry for the sideways pics!

pink daisy



baby kale



zinnias with whitened leaves.  still need to figure this problem out.



beans that were eaten but they seem to be on the rebound




mesclun




romaine



my zukes are being eaten up be something.  have yet to see the perps.



gnawed on zukes



When will spring...I mean summer arrive?

It is May 26th.  It is 45 deg.  It is raining.  I've given up on spring since it is already the end of May.  Supposedly summer will arrive on Monday.  I went to the garden the other day, again no pics...blarg.  Everything was doing well except a few zinnias which have a white leafy thing.  There were some holes in a few zucchini leaves as well as the beans.  A bug must be munching away so I'll have to figure out an organic solution for pest control.  The rabbit fence seems to be doing its job and the tomatoes are actually growing despite the constant cold and rain.  I do worry that the weather will affect how much fruit they yield.

Weekend work

I was an idiot and didn't take pictures this weekend.  Everything seems to be growing except my zinnias.  They seem to have developed a white leafy thing.  I'll keep an eye on that and then decided whether or not to pull 'em out.  I added some Epsoma Kelp Meal to fertilize my plot.  Our community garden is supposed to be all organic so synthetic fertilizers are out.  Also, I laid down a layer of mulch.  We have a very sunny spot and it will be hard to water often.  I hope the mulch will help retain the water better.  Next time I will definately take some pictures.

Building a rabbit proof fence (and a pea trellis)

On Sunday my main tasks were to build a trellis for my peas so that they may grow up to be happy peas and to build a fence that would keep the rabbits from eating everything.  They ate my broccoli seedlings, some zinnias, and all but one green bean plant. 

For the trellis, I used 4 36 in wood posts.  I used L brackets on 2 of the posts, though I will shore up the other two when I have time.  Then I draped a nylon trellis net over the posts and used a staple gun to secure the net to the posts.

For the rabbit proof fence I used 6 36 in wood posts, 24 feet of chicken wire and a heavy duty staple gun.

Lots of pictures below, but I am proud of my work.



pea trellis front



pea trellis back

support posts for the fence

happy tango lettuce and romaine lettuce that will be protected from hungry rabbits

wrapping the chicken wire around the bed

mission accomplished!

A wet and rainy weekend

This weekend was very cold and rainy.  Mid May in the Chicago area is usually not as bad as this!  On Saturday I stopped by the Root-Riot to pickup free plants that were donated by the Oak Park Conservatory.  They are leftovers from their annual flower sale.

Verbena Bonariensis

Sage (not sure what type of sage)

English Daisy (bellis perennis)  This may or maynot have pink edges.



Tango Lettuce hidden under a salad container until I put up my wabbit proof fence



My peas actually growning!

Thyme (again, not of the type)



My plot looking north




My plot looking south



Seedlings were kindof a bust

I went to water my plot on Tuesday and found that most of many of my seedlings died.  I have a couple ideas as to why this happened.

1. The nights were still chilly
2. We had a sudden 30 degree temp change that really stressed the plants
3. I put them out too early

Luckily the peas and beans survived but the broccoli, zinnias, and most of the marigolds didn't make it.  Lesson learned is that I may just buy the plants next year instead of starting from seed since my condo is small, gets little to no natural light, and I'm afraid using a grow light may make my neighbors suspicious.

Also, this weekend our garden will receive the leftovers from a garden sale  so perhaps I will be able to replace a few of the lost plants.

My plot

My mother's day wish was to get a chance to garden.  So, early on Sunday morning I went to visit my plot at Root-Riot.  It was sunny which helped to take the chill out of the air.  The day before I purchased:

1. Tomatoes (better boy, red grape, roma)
2. Green Pepper (cal wonder)
3. Sweet Basil
4. Cilantro

I decided to purchase these items instead of starting from seed since I have no room for a grow light and I couldn't get my act together to start the seeds early enough.  I'm just hoping that it finally gets warm and also that these plants don't die.

I also decided to plant my seedlings.  They were getting big enough where what little light I got through my kitchen window ceased to be sufficient for the growing plants.  Here are some pictures of my work.

my 3 tomato plants, 1 pepper, 1 basil, and 1 cilantro



Tomato




Basil




Zinnia seedlings




Cilantro and Zinnias




Broccoli seedlings




Cal Wonder Green Pepper



Sugar Snap Peas



More Sugar Snap Peas

 I also planted some summer squash seeds as well as nasturtium and kale.  Some folks in the garden are adhering to the "square foot gardening" technique, but again, time and energy are not on my side this spring.  Perhaps next year I'll try it if this year turns disastrous or has little to no yield.  Sorry about some of the sideways pics, I was a) trying to avoid shadows on such a sunny day and b) I didn't have time rotate them but I'll try to fix that problem.