Knee High by the Fourth of July

 My dad always estimated the success of his and his neighbor's corn crops by the yardstick "Knee high by the Fourth of July."  If it was at least knee-high, it would grow enough to harvest before the season is over.   My neighbor's cornfield across the street, this year, is almost up  to my shoulders! 

I didn't plant any sweet corn this year.  But nevertheless, I thought I would record the growth of the other plants in my garden. 

I have several varieties of peppers.  Hot Hungarian, sweet yellow banana.  I lost the plant markers when these went into the garden, so I'm not sure if the ones pointing up are hot or sweet.  Some of the plants have the similar-looking peppers hanging down. 

I've got some asters in my daylilies.  I haven't moved these out of my vegetable garden.  Maybe this fall I will dig them up and divide them.  Asters are so cheerful, I hate to pull them even though they are really weeds. 

My cabbage is another story altogether.  I moved them to a different spot in the garden this year.  Last year they were next to the asparagus.  They did not do well.  This year, I planted them in the same row as the blueberries.  The ones under the blueberries are doing fairly well.  The ones where there is a gap in the row of blueberry bushes are failing to thrive.  Is it because the water evaporates quicker? Too hot with the sun beating down? Or is it because the ones under the blueberries tapped into the fertilizer (Holly Tone) that I dug into the soil under the blueberry plants this year?  

Speaking of the blueberries, most of them are coming back this year after a miserable year last year.  I read that they must be pruned every year, and we did not prune the first year we lived here.  Last year I inquired from the Ohio State University blueberry expert whether they were suffering from a virus and I needed to pull them out. I was guessing about the tomato virus because my indeterminate cherry tomatoes were using the blueberry bushes like a trellis.   I didn't really get a good response from him.  So this year I pruned in March.  Two of the plants on the end still look very sick, even though I pruned them severely they still look diseased. And volunteer cherry tomato plants are coming up around them.  However, the blueberries at the other end look great.  

Th mustard and arugula looked great earlier this year, but when the temperatures reached into the 90's for a week, they "rocketed" up and bolted into flowering.  I am going to try and save seed from them, so I am letting them stay for now. 

Other lettuces are just starting to bolt.  The endive is holding its own, and some of the curly leaf lettuces are still doing well.  Please ignore the lamb's quarters and the thistles in the photo. 

My Royal Burgundy green beans are about two inches long and are about as thick around as a piece of yarn.  Or a bicycle spoke.   I keep thinking we will have a harvest any day now.  I planted three rows about four inches apart.  That density seemed to discourage all but the most persistent weeds. 

I dusted the cabbage and the zucchini last Monday with Captain Jack's Dead Bug Dust, after I noticed some extensive leaf damage and lots of little white moths dancing around the plants.  The active ingredient in the dust is Spinosad, which is a bacteria and is approved for organic gardening.  The plants under the blueberry bushes seem to be recovering. 

Arugula in bloom. I have pulled some of it.  At this stage, the leaves are a little sparse and a little bit tough, but still tasty.  I use the small, tender leaves in the salad.  If I am successful, I will have a lot of seeds. 

The Japanese beetles have arrived.  These bugs are so pretty with their coppery wings, but they do so much damage.  After I photographed these today, I used Maggie's Farm 3-in-1 Garden Spray directly on the beetles on the wax beans and also in the asparagus plants.  The active ingredients in the product are  thyme oil, geraniol, cinnamon oil, and peppermint oil.  It didn't kill them, but it did seem to irritate them, and most of them flew away.  

Speaking of the wax beans.  I planted them a week after the Royal Burgundy beans.  The tiny little beans are less than an inch long and they are so adorable!

I have three rows of various varieties of tomato plants that are not separated widely.  I imagine that by late August, this will be an inpentrable jungle.  I put all the indeterminate plants in two rows, and the determinate plants in an outside row.  They are going to sprawl.  They are already sprawling. There is also a row of peppers. 

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I have several varieties of peppers.  The bell peppers are almost large enough to harvest. I lost track of which peppers I planted where, as some didn't thrive and I pulled them and replaced them with other transplants.  I still have a half dozen that I haven't gotten into the ground yet.  I may have some Poblanos that I planted from seeds from a grocery-store pepper.  I'm not sure if they got into the garden or not. 

I was able to get underneath one of the tomato plants to capture this promise of things to come. 

Yes, that is a baby zuchini below.  It is about two inches long, and the blossom is still attached.  I have four hills of zucchinis.  They are doing quite well.  This year I bought a bale of "Pro Mix" soil and first I spread my landscape cloth, then made four big X's in the center.  I folded back the corners and pinned them down with a garden staple.  I smooshed the dirt around to make a shallow well.  Then I poured the Pro Mix soil into the well, then planted my seeds.  The birds laughed at me and were digging them up until they sprouted.  I had to transplant some of the plants from one hill to the empty one where the birds had been working.  I am working on the theory that healthy soil will result in healthy plants, and healthy plants are not as bothered by insects and fungal disease as weak or stressed plants.  (Last year my zuchini plants did not do well, they were overtaken by smartweed.  Weeds are an indicator of soil health, and that weed indicates the soil is acid.) 

I have three hills of cucmbers.  They are blossoming right now.  The tendrils don't have anything to grab, so I think I will take some tomato cages for them and let them climb up. That will mean less bending over for me to harvest, and fewer fungal diseases affecting the fruits. 

I hope this is a butternut squash.  I had many curcurbits come up in the space where my compost pile was before I moved it.  I see a tiny little fruit forming under the female blossom. 

I put a makeshift tower together for the butternut squash to climb, made from chicken wire and bamboo poles. 

After I stopped harvesting the asparagus, it went wild.  I probably need to weed it, and feed it, soon. It's going to be difficult to work around the stalks, since theyare so closely spaced. 

This is an unknown volunteer.  I hope it is also butternut squash.  I love butternut squash, and it is 0 points on Weight Watchers. 

I believe this is canteloupe.  There is a dill plant volunteer.  Let's hope they are good companions. I have some reference material that recommends using dill as a companion plant to cucumbers, so perhaps that is close enough. 

I ordered some melon seeds from a specialty seed company. The melon is a Spanish melon.  I was hoping to duplicate the melon that I ate the year I lived in Spain.  The plants are struggling, though, as the smartweed keeps trying to smother it.  I will take my sharp Japanese hand-hoe out there and dig it up as much as possible this week.  Then fertilize the plants and give them some water.  Perhaps there is hope. 

I always thought that strawberries were a "June" harvest.  Strawberries and daisies are June plants to me.  But it is already July, and my strawberries still have blossoms, so I am hoping to have some berries for a while.  I bought these plants at the grocery store, and I don't recall if they are ever-bearing strawberries or not.  I hope so! 

Well, that's this edition of my garden walk.  See you later!