May 28, 2017
I got Memorial Day zucchini today, which beats the Father's Day zucchini I gotta last year. I picked six, 7" ones from the hill I direct seeded March 30th. The hill of transplants from February 10th are smaller, with narrower leaves, and wilt every afternoon. Their stems are half eaten through by sow bugs and the plants may never fully recover..
Starting summer crops too early can result in a disabled plant that you are better off without. Beets are ready to pick and the first dozen cauliflower have headed out. The Perpetual Spinach planted outdoors has bolted but I've got a row of Bloomsdale Long Standing spinach up that's almost thick enough to harvest by the handful..
May 29, 2017
I didn't get any gardening done this Memorial Day because I was too busy picking. Picked broccoli, cauliflower, beets, spinach, lettuce, chard, asparagus, artichokes and more zucchini. With all the picking, washing, peeling, dicing and bagging going on, who had time for weeding, watering, trimming and mulching. Our second refrigerator is now full of vegies and soda pop, a great start to the summer..
I noticed barren spots in the garden and was reminded that if you don't have enough mulch to cover all of your soil (who does?) then it's best to scratch it up to a depth of half an inch to keep the moisture from escaping by osmosis and evaporation. Hand cultivators were invented for this reason, but I always have small weeds sprouting up wherever there is no mulch, so I use a hula hoe, also known as an oscillating hoe..
May 30, 2017
I've always thought of ants in the garden as janitors. They c!ean up the area by carting off insect parts, seeds and debris. They are way more industrious than me, so have been welcome to harvest what I don't want. Then one year I found them protecting the aphids on my cantaloupe plant from being eaten by the ladybugs. I circled the plant with diatomaceous earth and waited. The ants either found ingenious ways to cross over it on grass strands, leaves and twigs, or kept dying off to be replaced by new ants..
Either way they never left and the plant got sucked dry, withered up, and died. I should have sprayed the aphids with soapy water instead of waiting for ladybugs to arrive. This year a tiny black ant continues to encircle the cauliflower stems and suck the moisture out until the plant falls over. It's humbling to realize that ants are more beneficial to our planet than we are..
