Garden Update

*tsk, tsk, tsk*  My, my, my . . .  I have been remiss!  Where are my manners?  I would like to welcome LJ and thank him for following my little blog!

I just received an email from a friend, worried that perhaps bandits had carried me off to Morocco and were holding me for ransom, or that I had fallen off El Capitan during a free climb and was stranded in a tree top, or that maybe I had contracted a rare disease while floating down the Amazon.  Darn . . . I'm afraid I don't have anything anywhere near that  exciting to report.  It's just that, as with most people, my to-do list is WAYYYYYYYY longer than my available time and I have just been working on getting some things crossed off my list!

Anyway, just thought I'd check in and give you a quick little garden update.  I gots punkins comin' out my ears! ! !

Yesterday I found out exactly why I should not have planted my squash and pumpkins so close together.  Two words . . . powdery mildew.  It took me a while before I noticed I had a problem because some of the leaves naturally have a spotted pattern to them.  I had read that it is caused by poor air circulation and that you can spray the leaves with a watered down milk solution (1-9 milk to water ratio) to try to at least discourage it from spreading.  So, yesterday I spent some time cutting out a lot of the leaves and trying to open things up a bit.  By the time I got done, it was late in the afternoon and I didn't want to be spraying the leaves down so late in the day, so I saved that bit for morning.

I have about a dozen Sugar Pie Pumpkins hanging around in various stages of "doneness".  I have cut back a lot of the vines so that hopefully, the plants will put more energy into the pumpkins that have already formed rather than growing more leaves.

I have just a few Lumina pumpkins, but one of them is getting to be about the size of a volleyball.  They are going to be so cute!  But, I guess I planted way too early to have them for Halloween!  :-)

You can see it is still damp from it's little milk bath!

My fava beans are under attack!  I had my eye on one of the beans thinking it would be ready to harvest very soon and then I noticed one of the others had this little black hole in it.  I didn't see anything around, so couldn't figure out what was going on.  Then while working on thinning all those leaves out there, I noticed the one I had had my eye on had a hole in it.  Wait . . . make that two . . . one with a green caterpillar still in it!  Dag nabbit!  I sure hope I at least get enough to make a little spread for my toast!

 

My blueberries might just make it.  I actually bought them a couple of years ago, but never planted them.  They stayed in their plastic nursery pots until just recently.  They were near death and struggling in soil that was way too alkaline for them.  Compared with what they looked like before, I am thrilled with their progress!  I have my fingers crossed that by next season they will be happy enough to produce for me!

This guy I actually found last weekend.  I had seen a little tip of a zucchini that I thought would be ready in a day or two, but it never seemed to grow, so last weekend I got in there and checked a little closer.  Holy cow! ! ! !  How did I miss this!  It was about 6 inches thick and if you could stretch it out, about 24 inches long.  What I was seeing was just the tip that was showing from the other side of the main plant.  It had grown down to the soil, turned and then came back up and that little tip was what I was seeing, thinking it was just a tiny little thing!  It was huge!  It had gotten wedged between the main stem and the little trellis I am using horizontally as my square foot garden divider.  I had a heck of a time trying to pull it out of there!  Looks like a lopsided U or, if I turn it over, it could be a J for Julie!  ;-)

Ok, well, that's all for now!  I hope next weekend, I will be able to share some pics of a fun place.  That is, if they allow me to take pics!  Sometimes you never know until you get there if you will be able to snap them!  I hope so, 'cuz I really think it is going to be an interesting day!

(And, D, thanks for worrying about me!  As you can see, I am still alive and well!  And hope you are, too!)

Ciao, tutti!  Until next time!