Monday, July 11, 2011

Late Start In the Garden

Due to the last killing frost and last snow being at the beginning of June, it took a while for the garden to get into full swing this year.  This means that getting a corn, pumpkin or winter squash crop will be a gamble this year.  But heck, growing a garden of any sort here in the high desert is a gamble.

Either a Zuke or a Yellow Squash - of course, I am not organized enough to label them.  Good thing I like surprises.

Veggies currently in the ground:
  • Black Beauty Zucchini
  • Yellow Crook Neck Squash
  • Yellow Straight Neck Squash
  • Acorn (Winter) Squash
  • A small, short season (90 day) pumpkin that I can't recall the name of
  • 3 sad Alaskan Fancy determinate tomato plants
  • 40 stalks of Golden Bantam Cross (F1) Corn
  • Sweet Dumpling (Winter) Squash
  • Lemon Cukes
  • Market More 76 Cukes
  • 6 sad little Okra plants that don't like our cold nights (still in the 50*F at night)
  • A few garlic that really should be pulled by now
  • Blue bush green beans (turn green when cooked - or when the temps top 100) - French Velour and True Blue
  • Yellow "Pencil Pod" wax bush beans
  • Dow Gawk "Yard Long" pole beans
  • Kentucky Wonder pole beans
  • Blackeye Peas - both purple hull and California No. 5
  • Last of the snap pea vines (to be fed to the chickens and ducks this weekend)

Bush beans are beginning to bloom, so probably two weeks before we start eating them.  I'm not sure how blue the blue beans will be - the flowers are decidedly purple.   Planting more bush beans every week as they ripen their crop over a short time period (as opposed to pole beans that will bear until frost kills them).  Also, beans will fix nitrogen into my sand.  Since they are cheap seeds to buy, I am using beans like a cover crop.

Speaking of cover crops, I found some old clover seed, and it is making a fair stand under the apple trees.

As for veggies, the rest of them will probably start being ready for harvest whenever I'm on  my next business trip. It's just the way of the world.  A new sprinkler and battery-operated timer setup should at least help insure that the plants will live.  

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