Erin's Garden Journal—August 10, 2015

August 5, 2015

Garden Together Night
5 attendees
Harvest: 5 small Ziplock bags of green beans (about 3 dozen)

Finally had sporadic rain the last few nights

Lots of acorn squash are growing now, and some pumpkins

Some of our squash leaves are naturally mottled, which hid the beginnings of powdered mildew. It's too far advanced to hide now. Cut off a few affected leaves tonight. Hope we didn't catch it too late.


Weeded

Planted flowers donated from the garden of a friend: 3 columbines, 3 yarrow, 2 bee balm, 2 purple coneflowers, 2 coreopsis.

Installed steel mesh inside base of worm composter to discourage critters from gnawing the wood


August 6, 2016

The newly transplanted flowers look happy

A few butternut squash visible now

We should have bought more tomato cages! Too late to fit them over most of our plants now.



August 7, 2015

I think it would be a good idea to remove more infected squash leaves since overcrowding is contributing to the problem, and they are probably tough enough to handle it.


The lettuce needs picking. Onion sets I forgot I planted two weeks ago are doing well. 


Didn't have time to make a trellis for the sugar snap peas they day they were planted. They could use one by now.

Looking at the dense clumps of tiny weeds along the north edge (under the mulberry trees), I wonder if they are baby mulberry trees. I read that they seed easily, and plenty of berries fell there.

Lots of weeds among the kale. It was a mixed seed lot, so I'm not fully confident about identifying the deliberately-planted seedlings vs. weeds. Eager to see first true leaves.


August 9, 2015

Found the missing piece for the last rain barrel! Fully installed at last.


Put my summer-camp-counsellor lashing skills to good use to give the peas some support. Surprisingly time-consuming.


Removed as many squash leaves as I dared. With increased air circulation and worst sources of spores removed, hopefully the powdery mildew spread will slow. Impossible to remove disease at this stage. Could also try natural remedies: water to wash away spores (though wet environment invites other diseases), or apple cider vinegar (though it risks burning the plants), or milk (!)


The next round of cherry tomatoes are starting to ripen

The transplanted flowers look less happy by now. That's to be expected. They'll recover by next year.

August 10, 2015

Excited to see heavy rain—this should help wash away powdery mildew spores. It thrives, surprisingly, in dry conditions. We'll also have 5 full rain barrels for the first time.

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