First True Leaves

Pumpkin Seedling with First True Leaf

My seeds I planted on Wednesday, August 7th have their first true leaves already! The rain has really boosted their growth. I haven't seen any pests yet, but I'm keeping a vigilant eye peeled since we are in high pest season.

What I have planted in the garden:
Suyo Long Cucumbers
Marketmore 76 Cucumbers
Sugar Baby Watermelon
Buttercrunch Lettuce
American Flag Leek
Granex Onion
Small Sugar Pumpkin (New England Pie)
Ping Tung Eggplant (planted on Tuesday, August 13th)

My Wautoma Cucumbers seeds just arrived today I will get them planted this weekend.

Happy Gardening.

Solarization

Solarizing Garden Bed

I uncovered my first bed from six weeks of solarizing the soil. I can't wait to start planting on Wednesday!

Catching up - Salad Tables

I have some catching up to do. I started planting the fall/winter vegetables on October 16th. I made some changes to the garden beds. I had baby bunnies making a nest in my garden. I have tried fences in the past, but they always seemed to find a way in, so I'm trying salad tables. I planted garden #2 first. I really fought my OCD on that one. :) I planted the following on Oct.16th:



Vates Kale - This is much better than the Red Russian, less bitter.
Early Flat Dutch Cabbage
Basil - Sweet Genovese and Holy
DeCicco Broccoli
Golden Self-Blanching Celery

I intermingled the following to have some companion plants some with pest help
Fernleaf Dill - with Broccoli/Cabbage supposed to improve growth and repels pests
German Chamomile - with Cabbage supposed to improve growth
Nasturiums - With Kale/Broccoli/Cabbage deters pests
American Flag Leeks/Granex Onions - I planted these in the middle of larger plants since they seem to grow fine even when they are an understory plant.

Summer Days

I have been a busy bee with the gardens pulling out the old and putting in new.

Garden #1
Everything has been harvested. I only have a few onions I used, froze the leeks and my strawberries has been transplanted to pots. I have it covered with plastic to solarize the soil. I covered this one on Wednesday 7-18

Garden #2
This is about in the same condition as garden #1, everything has been harvested and is pulled out. I harvested the Coriander and my Stevia. I have the Stevia drying to use the leaves for sweetener. This bed was covered on Wednesday 7-4.

Garden #3
My tomato plants are growing wild and bearing fruit. I'm still waiting for some peppers and I just planted some cherry tomatoes  where the green beans used to be. I pulled out the beans, because they stopped producing green beans, I was getting white beans, really strange, so I pulled them out thought they maybe diseased. I planted Matt's Wild Cherry Tomatoes, which just sprouted through the ground.

Garden #4
I have Yukan Gold Potatoes, Carwile Virginia Peanuts, Suyo Long Cucumber and Rosa Bianca Eggplant.

My insect barriers are really getting tattered now. I want to use something stronger since I only keep the gardens covered at night, so it doesn't matter if it doesn't let the sunlight though. I'm having to pull out my organic arsenal even with the insect barriers at night. I used 1 Tbsp Neem  oil with a 1 tsp Dr Bonner's peppermint soap mixed together in half gallon of water to stop the white leaf hoppers which were getting out of hand and hopeful repel the squash bugs, which I have been squashing when seen. I crushed their eggs on the trellis and the birds are still visiting the garden, so I hope they keep the rest under control. I have my Spinosad too which I have used once and seem to take care of the couple worms I saw. The summer time is an endless bug battle! I don't like using neem too much, because it stinks and not only repeals the squash bug, but the lady bug disappear too. Happy Gardening!

Tomato Competition

I wanted to test which variety of tomato is the quickest to germinate and grow. Here are the varieties and results:

Anahu: This one germinated first, but is now being outpaced in growth by the Tropic variety.

Arkansas Traveler: This came in last in germination.

Homestead: This variety was second to last to germinate.

Tropic: This was second in germination, but is outpacing everyone else in growth.

I'm sure they will all taste good.  :)

Trellis

Watermelon Flower 2012

I first got this trellis from Garden Supply, but I'm already disappointed. It is steady and holds my cucumbers wonderfully, but it's already starting to rust and is made in China. Therefore, I got this wood trellis from Lowe's. I wish the squares were a little smaller, but it's holding my watermelon perfectly. I also have to do something with the rough ends, because it's making holes in my in my insect barrier cloth. It's made out of cedar and made in the USA. A big plus to me to be able to buy American made items.

Fire Ants

I been having trouble getting my corn started in garden #4. I can only get my peanut plants started in that garden box so far. I noticed I have quite an army of ants taking up residence in that plot. Therefore, I started googling organic ant controls. This is what I have tried so far and how well or not so well it worked:

Orange Oil: I mixed 2oz per gallon of water. This kills ants on contact. I noticed it takes multiple treatments and it works better with 1Tbsp. molasses mixed in. However, they keep packing up and moving so I know it's not penetrating deep enough in the soil. Also, do not get this on your veggies, because it will burn the plant. I couldn't get them under control and this will kill other bugs it contacts good and bad.

Boiling Water: This again kills ants on contact. However, just like the orange oil it never seems to penetrate deep enough and seems to just make them nomadic.

Cinnamon: No effect I could see.

Spinosad: Mixed four Tbsp per gallon of water and poured on mound. This took about four days to work, but got rid of all fire ants in garden #4.

Green Light Fire Ant Control w/Conserve (AKA Spinosad): This is a granular bait with Spinosad which they brand name Conserve. This got rid of all the ants in garden #2 which were scattered and I could find the mound. This also took about four days to complete it's deadly elimination.

My recommendations for knocking off fire ants are to use Spinosad mixed with water and pour the whole gallon on the mound. If you just have some scattered fire ants use the Green Light Fire Ant Control with Conserve granules. Note: this only kills fire and harvester ants. This doesn't effect any other ants.