Garden Xing

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11 Jul 2010 Leave a Comment

by gardenxing in Update

As we descend past the peak of the sine curve and steadily head toward shorter days and longer nights, the garden rages ahead within the fleeting days of summer. And this particular summer is one of the better ones for us growers. Not too much rain and plenty of sun…and heat. A heat wave last week in the low 90s pushed the hoop house temps around 100.

So far I’m proud to announce that the watermelons are doing fab. I’ve already got 8 to 9 baby fruit growing rapidly on their vines. The plastic mulch is doing exactly as it should–keeping the soil at 80F or above, just where melons like things. As I’ve mentioned before, the watermelons I chose were “Icebox” melons, a japanese variety that’s small enough to fit in a small fridge. Because of their size, the satisfaction comes earlier. And in our shorter season it’s a wise choice.

The tomatoes are surpassing my expectations inside the hoop house, despite the loss of most of my “early” ones I lost due to overseeing the necessity to add heat to the hoop house to protect the young flowers. The cherry tomatoes are already at 9 feet; they’ve gotten to the top of the 8′ purlin and I will need to train them along the hoops as they continue. All of the excess tomatoes will be skinned, made into a sauce, sealed, then put in our walk-in freezer. With the tomatillos, plenty of salsa verde will be made. The tomatillos have a little ways to go before we can get a crop, but they’re looking so cute hiding in their little husks as they mature.

The hard neck garlic was harvested several days ago and is drying. The variety is Ontario Purple and is supposed to be an early garlic, and it did prove to be a more vigorous grower than the soft neck I chose this year (Western Rose). The odd thing about the soft neck I have is that the stalks are already laying down flat before the bulbs are ready and before the leaves are significantly turning brown. But I’m keeping them in the ground anyway.

All the spring green manure crop was cut and either put into the compost or lightly tilled into the soil, depending on the bed. For the summer, I’m trying to get a stand of buckwheat going, but a challenge has revealed itself: Chipmunks. They smell the buckwheat seed under the soil and enter the garden and dig up almost every seed. Oy! As Rosanna Rosanna Danna used to say, “It’s always somethin’!” Last year it was a groundhog. I was successful in chasing that monster away last winter before he went into hibernation. Now it’s the invasion of the chipmunks. Cute little buggers, but hell. Those are my seeds you have in your jowls, sir! Such cruelty!

Of the smaller menaces to be spoken of, I do have the dreaded striped cucumber beetle in the garden. However, they do relatively little damage. Some leaves are eaten, and I did lose one plant soon after transplanting from bacterial wilt, but the mature plants seem to have no issues. I’ve heard horror stories about these little guys, but so far nothing much to say about them. If anything, they’re good pollinators.

All for now. Hasta luego, mi amigos.