The self-seeded squashes are VERY happy-looking. They have been joined by many tiny tomato shoots.
The basil is finally thriving—it seems to be our one plant that absolutely loves this heat. The parsley is managing as well.
The melon vines are beginning to ramble. They are going to go straight through the peas and strawberries if we don't rig up something for them to climb.
The netting on the hugel mound is starting to come out of place.
We squished about seven aphids on the fruit trees, sprayed with cold water, and later sprayed with a gentle mix of organic soap and water that should discourage them from returning for a few days.
Covered the cauliflower patch with floating row cover
Transplanted blueberries to eastern raised bed.
Entered a debate about the blueberries' former bed, which is on the point of collapse. I intended to dismantle it before it became a safety concern; another member has now committed to some intensive repairs. Therefore it was seeded with lettuce, parsley, arugula, coriander, and cilantro.
Picked 0.4 kg of mulberries
Tuesday June 28, 2016
Found no new aphids on the crabapple, but some chewed leaves
The half-finished vermicompost we put in the western raised bed is growing a crop of squash seedlings. Next year we shouldn't bother carefully planting and protecting purchased seeds; we should just dump vermicompost on the ground and leave it!
We should remove the netting from the squash patch soon so that the new seedlings don't get caught and broken. We have even more new seedlings now.
We have a tiny cantaloupe blossom!
We should harvest and replant the turnips soon.
Fewer cauliflowers than before. Are squirrels digging them, or have dogs run through and broken them?
The asparagus is putting up new shoots. I didn't know it did that after the first set had gone feathery.
Some insect (or slug?) is nibbling the beans
Most of the strawberries in the northeast corner are dead. Why? Dug up by the roots, it seems.
We should weed the kale patch.
The yarrow is blooming and the bee balm is budding.
Sunday June 26, 2016
32 degrees and dry, dry, dry
6 volunteers
It's mulberry harvesting time! They ripen gradually, so harvest time will last a few weeks. The most efficient harvesting method, especially with our tall trees, is to lay a tarp on the ground and shake the branches. The tastiest berries are the ones that still have a little bit of red glinting in their black. We harvested 0.8 kg.
The netting over the squash patch helped; we now have three new sprouts
The borage is blooming
The arugula has bolted beyond all help. Better to let it go to seed at this point, and plant another batch.
I thinned the cucumber patch (many happy, vigorous vines) since no one else had the heart to. To ease the anguish of those who watched, I replanted some of the vines I pulled out in other parts of the garden.
The beans are coming up pretty well
The tomatoes are starting to blossom
The raspberries are budding
There are aphids on the apple trees :( We squished all we could find and sprayed the leaves with cold water to dislodge any we missed. Will return with more treatments.
Finished rebuilding the third raised bed (at last!)
Lashed the pieces of the trellis together at the joints with twine; they were popping apart.
Pulled up some motherwort (although it's beautiful in bloom) to keep it from seeding everywhere
Wednesday June 22, 2016
22 degrees and HOT
Watered
Cut flower stalks of sage and arugula to keep them putting energy into leaves instead of flowers
Harvested greens
Sunday June 19, 2016
Watered, of course. Except for the brief shower on Wednesday, it has been a very dry month.
Dug up dog strangling vine
Harvested arugula
Moved soil from the raised bed being dismantled to the one that was just rebuilt. Continued
dismantling the final one.
Set up trellis for squash and cucumbers on hugel mound
Plant new squash seeds
Cover the new squash seeds with netting so the squirrels don't keep getting all of them
Wednesday June 15, 2016
I got stranded at work waiting for a courier. When I got to the garden it was very late, and beginning to rain. We happily let the sky water the garden and hurried home before getting too wet at the end of a long day.