Garden Update

Still growing: tomatoes, peppers, beans, potatoes, okra, carrots, herbs. Pulled up: squash, peas, 1/3 carrots (grew with better sun). Not producing: melons, pumpkins, zucchini.

Omar's Lebanese or Dutch Pink, not sure which, but it was AMAZING!

The tomatoes finished out their first big wave of production two weeks ago, but are still producing smaller tomatoes. I think the month of no rain caused a break in pollination, so I've started jiggling flowers again and it's working... that and the rain might have something to do with it.







The peppers will be the next big harvest: Bells, Jalapenos, Anaheims, Hot Banana, Sweet Banana, Big Berthas and Pimento (no pic). Most of these are new to me. Also, I moved many of these out from under the tomatoes because there was too much shade, and they have taken off! While companion planting may have benefits, there has to be ample room for it. I over planted my boxes.

The bean vines have cut back on production, but the new plants are taking off and hopefully will give me some more beans before the season ends. I planted some okra very late, and the plants are growing, but I am unsure if they will produce.

For the most part I have given up on the pumpkins, melons and zucchinis. The ones I started from seed were planted under pine trees which makes the soil too acidic and robs the plants of nutrients and water, which I was unaware of back in the spring. I may have planted them too early as well. I moved some to better locations, but it was so late in the season when I moved them, I'm not sure there is much hope for them, even though they have responded well to the move. The watermelon vines are flowering, but there are no melons. Next year we will till and supplement with lime to raise the pH to desirable levels.

The Goldbar hybrid squash was fine being planted early in the good soil, it produced a ton of great squash but finished production early. I have moved some other small squash plants to their old spots and am hoping to get a second batch of squash from it.

My next task is to do some research on fall plantings in the area, that and to watch what my neighbor does. His garden was amazing, and all he did was till and water (and not start from seed). Sometimes it's best to ignore the blogs (mine included) and look and see what's working for the people around you.