Garden Update for Beginning of Summer

We are almost a week into summer and I thought I'd give you an over all update on the garden. I'm loving the weather now finally. It seems like summers of five years ago though not as hot. On average, from 7AM to 5PM it sunny and breezy. From about 6PM to 7AM it rains. My gardens are loving it too.

I'm two weeks into the green bean harvesting of the first planting of this vegetable and the second planting of four 4'x10' rows is just starting to come to size for picking. Since I'm planting the bush variety, they tend to all ripen within two to three weeks of each other. They'll get another burst of flowers but the harvest will be smaller. I planted my fourth succession planting two weeks ago and they are already ankle high. This will give me a continuous harvest until fall.

My sweet, bi-colored corn that I planted the beginning of spring is over waist high and doing wonderful. Unfortunately the dogs and chickens have wrecked so much havoc upon them only five out of twelve survived.  But that's okay. I filled in the spaces with baby, green limas and pumpkins to make it into another three sister grouping. I still have my three sisters sweet corn (30) that are doing well. If you remember two years ago, I got 30 ears of corn to can and freeze whole. I just pulled the last jar I canned. So even if I only get one savable ear plant I'll have plenty. The limas are putting out stringer towards the corn and are flowering. The squash is developing flowers too.

The temperature seems to have settled down again, although the nighttime lows are still in the 50s, I finally feel it's safe enough to plant my Roma tomatoes in the garden. While Mel planted heirloom Beefsteak tomatoes in her bucket garden experiment a couple months ago, They've just come out with their third set of true leaves. The weather really delayed them. Meanwhile, my Romas have had the  benefits of inside temperatures of 70+ degrees to grow in so they are bigger. No, they do not have tomatoes nor flowers on them yet. They have been on the porch steps for a week now so they are ready to go into the ground. I'll have to burn holes in the weed cloth a little bigger for them to fit and run the fence between the rows. None of my marigolds sprouted.😒 I guess the seeds were duds. I'll have to go to the garden store and purchase some to go around the tomatoes.

On Mel's experimental garden, only the green beans did not come up. I've replanted them with an extra yellow squash and two basil plants in the two empty buckets. As I said above, the growth was stunted somewhat because of the weather but they are doing well. The cucumbers are almost a foot tall and I gave them each a 5' stake to climb up. She planted wild flowers in the buckets also. I harvested some nasturtiums for some peppery high notes in our salads.

I split my rosemary plants between four truck tires along the front of the garden. They reseed or propagate themselves over time. I gave each plant a severe "haircut." Some I brought in to root to propagate and the rest I dehydrated. My stores needed the boost. So far I've dehydrate 5 lbs to fill a quart jar full. It always amazes me how little there is left after dehydrating. Next week, I'll be clipping some more for skewers for my grilled chicken. Yes, it will have grown long enough again to do this with by then.

I'm still cutting and replanting oregano into new spots. So far, I've harvested 8 lbs all from six little oregano plug packs three years ago. Of course, this herb reseeded and propagated itself many times over the years. I love perennial herbs for this very reason. I hardly do anything for them either. In early winter, before the first frost, I'll clip it all back to about 3" lengths, throw some well rotted compost on them, and cover them with straw. In the spring, I'll leave only a thin layer of straw on them, water them in well, and leave them alone. Soon, green stems and leaves begin forming again. It's instant oregano! Just add water and give them space to grow. It's so thick that it blocks most weed growth.

So the race is on to grow, harvest and stock the stores building out building again before the first freeze. I don't know if we'll make self-sufficiency levels because everything got such a late start, but I'm trying. All I know is canning season has begun for me with the green beans. May it continue for the next 4 or 5 months.

Our fruit trees are heavy with fruit even with the squirrels and birds. Our harvest season for the fruit trees are about a month behind the usual harvest seasons. The early fruit drops were minimal. Our peaches and apples are almost the size of baseballs now. I'm honestly looking forward to getting a harvest. The cherries should be ready next month, if the birds will leave them alone. We loped the middle trunks of each to five foot during the early dormant season last year. The blue berries are ripening so Mel and I grab a few ripe ones when we work on the new chicken coop and run in part of the orchard tiers. The raspberries, I'm sad to report, died back in winter and did not return. I'll need to replant them later in the summer or early fall. The grapes are having a slower start this year. Although I'll have grape leaves for pickles, they haven't even flowered yet. It's doubtful as to whether we get enough grapes to make Mel's (and Whirling Dervish's) wine ration this year, but there's still time.

Well, there's my beginning of summer garden update.

Y'all have a blessed day!

Cockeyed Jo