July is Jumping

The rains that were absent without leave for most of June finally made an appearance in the final days of the month. And now we are (1) reaping the benefits and (2) paying the price. Ah, gardening...a double-edged trowel, to say the least.

First, a comparative series of photos, showing the progression over 6 months:

Box Garden in January, 2015

Box garden in the first week of May, 2015

Box garden in the first week of June, 2015

Box garden in the first week of July, 2015

As you can tell, the beans have taken over the tutuer in the Center Square. And with Mother Nature's moisture, the plants have begun to flower and produce again. Yay, rain! Of course, the wet conditions are perfect for supporting a growing Mexican bean beetle population. Boo, rain. And since I have been benched recently due to problems with my left foot (read more in the latest blog post. Click here to go there.), I haven't been able to keep on top of the pests, both weeds and insects. What a challenge!

Still, Mr. T has been stepping in (no pun intended) to keep things going. And our tomatoes are really going, and going, and going...

As you can tell, we are getting tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, okra, cukes, and zukes, as well as beans. The yellow squash are beginning to give, and the Lima beans are starting to put on. And we are excited about two ripening crops, that we can almost taste:

Fingers crossed we get to eat our watermelons and corn this year...and not the raccoons, as in years past. We noticed that a coon had visited our suet feeders this weekend, so in spite of the dogs we still have the critters in residence.

And it looks like the tomatoes are beginning to show fungal problems (late blight?), so we will need to use the "suckers" we have potted up and well-rooted as pinch hitters. Need to get them in the ground this weekend, though, as we are coming on the last date for transplanting tomatoes in the Piedmont — July 15th.

The pumpkins I seeded just before my foot problems began have germinated and are beginning to vine, as are the Georgia Rattlesnake watermelons. Mr. T sprayed the vines with Sevin to try to keep the squash bugs and squash vine borers in check; he also sprayed the newly forming corn ears to combat corn worms. Although I prefer organic pest solutions, I had to concede that these take time and a dedicated gardener in residence...and that he is doing his best to fill in while I'm on the DL. "Needs must," as they say across the pond.

The report from the Berry Patch isn't quite as good. Although we had what appeared to be a record crop of blackberries, we are actually seeing very few. The blackbirds seem to know the Head Gardener is currently unavailable, and they are making the best of a bad situation. Or a good one...from their perspective, I suppose. 

The Rose Garden is holding its own these days, with the Japanese beetles scoring significant victories, especially among the tender new buds. But Mr. T sprayed the bushes with Sevin again on Saturday, so we should see some control through the end of their season. 

'Pat Austin' rose

And the daylilies are putting on a show, albeit with smaller and fewer blooms than in years past. Chalk another one up to lack of rain in their formative period. 

Harem House, blooming for the first time

New Jersey Spider

South Seas, a variety we brought from Missouri

Here Comes Santa Claus (gotta love that name!)

So, even though my participation has been curtailed for the time being, things are moving right along in the gardens. Yes, one might even say the joint is jumping. In July. 

One might....

The Good, The Bad, and The Wicked-Ugly

It's about that time. Baseball has its All Star Game, usually played on or near my birthday...the halfway point between Opening Day and The World Series. 

Here in Zone 7/Piedmont NC, it's the halfway point in our 2013 warm season veggie gardens, 3 months from the Average Last Frost Date (typically quoted as April 15) and 3 months until the Average First Frost Date (typically quoted as October 15). So how're things going, you ask? Let's take stock, shall we?

Starting with The Good, as you can tell in that photo above, the new tuteur in the Center Square of the Box Garden is a green success! The Kentucky Wonder pole beans are beginning to produce, now that the vines have reached great heights. And while the Scarlet Runner Beans (an old-world variety I'm trialing this year) haven't made any beans yet, they are showing off their striking red flowers (seen close-up). The dwarf sunflowers add contrasting color to draw the eye...and carry out the theme introduced in the stenciling I did on the topper.

What may not be evident from that picture is how over-the-moon happy I am with the raised beds in the Box Garden. Although I have long enjoyed using landscape timbers and recycled crates to create (mainly flower) beds for aesthetic reasons, I have resisted joining the raised bed army now for years, mainly because I simply didn't understand how veggies could do as well in intensive growing conditions as they could in regular garden rows.

I have maintained a healthy skepticism, say we say, about the almost religious fervor some folks use when singing the praises of the intensely-marketed Square Foot Gardening, mainly because (1) Mr. Mel takes credit for "inventing" something (intensive garden practices) that have been in use for a couple centuries in France and other countries...what he should be credited with is inventing a catchy name and a clever way to market the concept in order to garner fame and fortune; (2) in the Way Back Kitchen Garden, we have plenty of room for "raised rows," 40' long x 4' wide, with 3' aisles; and, (3) truth be told, many intensively-planted raised beds tend to look...well, 'unkempt' is the kindest word I can use.

OK, sign me up as a soldier! I am a convert to raised beds, primarily because I can control the soil-mix, allowing me to grow decent carrots and beets for the first time here in our hard-pack, clay-soil heaven...and I figured out that I can keep them from getting too rangy-looking simply by daily maintenance. Plus, I can garden intensively without feeling the need to hammer-and-nail a square-foot grid on my boxes...which Mr. Mel insists makes them SFG-official. So there!

Also in The Good column here at the midpoint, I have to sing praises of the two varieties of bush beans (all seeds of which I got at the Seed Exchange at Old Salem last January) which have been extremely productive, and of a new variety of salad tomato I was encouraged to try by MG friend JA called Sun Gold. At this point, I'm almost ready to start looking for the 'pause button' on both of these, as I cannot just stroll out to the garden to observe anymore...I must take some kind of container to harvest (bush) green beans and Sun Gold tomatoes!

In the "coming along nicely" category are the three varieties of okra (a beautiful row as you can see above, just starting to flower) and the trellised Kentucky Wonder pole beans (just beginning to flower and produce), below. The peppers are starting to yield a green one here and there, with several jalapeños and one giant sweet red on the vines. The newly-planted pumpkins (replacing the two rows and one grow bag of garlic) have all germinated and are adding inches daily. And, slowly but surely the replacement cantaloupes (from seed) are starting to flower (but not fruit)...remember, lost the first seedlings to cutworms. 

The rest of the row of tomatoes are loaded with green and ripening fruit. The pink-fruited heirloom/OP German Johnsons (below) are ripening daily, and I picked my first ones today, including those two you see below. The Celebrities have one or two ready every couple of days, and the Big Daddys have one about every three days. And you should see the salad variety I started from seed, the Juliets...just loaded with green tomatoes!

Mmmm. Tomatoes. That leads me into The Bad category. I have fingers and toes crossed that I will be able to harvest all the fruit currently ripening on the tomato vines...since I have seen evidence of blight on the leaves. Late blight, not typically seen outside of the Mountains, has been confirmed in Guilford County, and I think all this wet weather we've had this season will only make fungal problems worse. I've used Neem oil, which has some fungicide properties, but it has been raining too much to apply Serenade...my next and only remaining organic line of defense. I do have seven replacement plants ready in containers if necessary to pull any (remember the suckers I started earlier this year?), but we are nearing the last date to plant tomatoes (July 15). I feel like it's a race at this point.

Also in The Bad category falls the cucurbit row, in general. While I have harvested enough Straight 8 cucumbers to make dill pickles; enough yellow squash to eat and freeze a few; and enough zucchini to have them grilled as well as grated for zucchini bread (making the latter today), I see signs of fungal damage here, too. Losing leaves at a rapid rate on all. Had to take out at least three squash plants due to wilt. And the squash bugs are still laying their eggs on the remaining leaves. Grrrrr.

But nothing...nothing...compares to the downright Wicked-Ugly category. I have lost my entire crop of ripening watermelons and corn...to raccoons. Remember, I thought I'd lost the corn to wind damage? Well, it righted itself and set ears...and now all I have to show are empty cobs and stripped shucks. Here's the heart-breaking evidence...first, today's destruction: the remaining 6 Sugar Baby watermelons; next, the remains of the Silver Queen crop.  

Makes me want to whack something with my National Wildlife membership card.

Ah, Sweet (Corn) Mystery of Life

We planted a block of Silver Queen corn (3 wide double-rows = 6 rows, with about 56-58 surviving plants) on April 15th ("pay your taxes, plant your corn"). About six weeks later, I interplanted (down the center of the wide rows) with pink-eye purplehull peas...for the weed protection, for the crop of peas, and for the nitrogen "fix" they will provide. And all was growing well until...

Corn patch, flattened
after high winds

This week. Monday. High winds (clocked at about 40 mph at the airport) and driving rain. After it all blew over, I ventured out into the Way Back to find our corn flattened. Broke my heart when I saw it.

I immediately started researching what to do. I grabbed several of my gardening books; only one had anything about storm-damaged corn...and that was mainly about how to protect the corn before the storm comes (shoulda, woulda, coulda). I then began a web search and got many suggestions (stake it, pull it up and replant, do nothing, etc.) all over the map.

I posted the photo to Facebook, seeking sympathy as well as advice, and received several responses. One of those was from a friend whose father was both a rural letter carrier with Daddy out of the Henning Post Office and a farmer. He suggested I try to right the stalks before the heat baked the ground to bricks again.

While it made sense, it proved more difficult than I anticipated. I had to abandon my first and only attempt to raise the stalks when I slipped in the mud...and realized no one was around to hear me if I wound up on my back, calling "I've fallen and I can't get up!" It would just have to wait.

And "wait" is exactly what I did. I left the corn alone. I did nothing. And, amazingly, the stalks righted themselves!

Corn standing again...on its own...
three days later

I am still having a hard time believing what I am seeing. Hence the pictures...

Of course, I have no idea whether these stressed stalks will make a crop...or even if these stalks with survive the storms that are predicted for today: winds in excess of 60 mph...plus hail! That's almost hurricane-strength, folks. And hail took out my corn crop 3 years ago, although I had time to replant a late season crop then. Not this year...we are two weeks past the last day to plant corn in the Piedmont, so that's not an option.

We will just have to wait-and-see how things turn out after today's storms blow through. I'll keep you updated.