Squashed 2011!

Squashed.  My garden that is.  Completely and utterly squashed by the ugly little insects known as squash bugs.  So much for my great experiment in planting by the phases of the moon using the Farmer's Almanac!  Planting by the moon didn't help our garden out (even before the squash bug invasion) at all.  The transfer from seedling pots to the garden was too late to get a decent harvest for us.  The almanac said that we could transfer in June, but from now on we will transplant no later than Memorial Day Weekend.  Planting in the ground in June just didn't give the plants enough time to weatherize/establish their roots/and become sturdy before the real heat of summer arrived in full swing.  Combine the late planting with a massive squash bug infestation and our garden was a major bust this year.

These little bugs "squashed" my garden. :(

We did get some things from it, but none of the tomatoes, squash (butternut, yellow, zucchini), watermelon, pumpkin, or cantaloupe that I dreamed of in the Spring.  We harvested all of 5 cucumbers before the squash bugs moved on to kill those plants before I realized what was going on and it was too late.  Our tomatoes grew, but the fruits didn't ripen in time due to being planted too late and the deluge of rain we had toward the end of the summer (Tropical Storms Irene and Lee).  They rotted on the vines still mostly green.  I planted a few potato plants to see how our land did with them and was pleasantly surprised we got a decent harvest of them!  They were delicious, too!  We also got one ear of corn before Tropical Storm Irene hit and demolished all of our corn stalks and A.R. just harvested our carrots yesterday.  We had to harvest them to save them from the bunnies!  So far, the harvest looks pretty decent.

Okay, as I type this and am reading about what we did harvest from our garden, maybe it wasn't a total bust.  We just didn't have anything of the squash variety and we have a dozen gorgeous giant sunflowers to look at right now just like this one:

Next year, we'll buy our tomato plants already started as we have had no luck in getting ripe tomatoes from seeds I start myself.  Also, we'll be tilling and fertilizing this fall in addition to adding some Sevin to the soil to kill the squash bugs.  I had hoped to stay organic and not have to use pesticides, but I feel okay doing one treatment in the fall, burning the plants we do have that have the squash bug eggs on them, and then not planting any squash type plants in the spring for one season.  I've read tons on how to get rid of an infestation and it can be rather difficult, so this is the route we'll take.  I'm going to ask my in-law's if I can plant a few squash plants at their house next year in exchange for garden space at our house, so we'll hopefully get some cukes, squash, and pumpkins.

Operation Garden 2011

This year's garden is off to a slow start thanks to all the rain and thunderstorms we've been having lately. My in-laws decided not to plant this year as my father-in-law was visiting Puerto Rico during prime planting/tilling time. They did plant two little bean seeds in our garden, but he didn't even plant anything in his own yard this year. That means we have our whole HUGE garden to ourselves with room to plant whatever we want.

It was much easier to do the tilling this year since we had the garden in the same spot last year.  We rented a tiller from Home Depot for a day and after a slight learning curve, A.R. started tilling away. We plan to buy our own tiller in the fall or later this summer when they go on sale now that we'll have a shed to store it in (look for a post on that coming soon!). We'll till again in the fall before the winter comes to work some fertilizer into the soil in hopes that it'll make spring preparations a bit easier next year and to replenish any lost nutrients from having the garden in the same spot two years in a row.

This year we are doing things a bit differently with the planting as well.  I decided to buy a Farmer's Almanac and use it to plant my seeds by the phases of the moon.  Farmers have been doing it for centuries, so why not give it a shot?!  I started my seeds indoors on May 16th, which according to the charts in the Almanac was prime planting time.  I've also moved them outdoors and planted in the ground during June's prime planting days.  I still have just under half the plants to transplant, but right now our garden is too muddy with all the storms we've been having.  I'm hoping to get the last of them in this Wednesday and I'm praying that the plants I already have in the ground don't rot or float away!

A.R. tilled the garden once with the rented tiller and to do the rows he tilled again using a tiller attachment that goes with his Ryobi weed wacker.  That thing is amazing!  It has all sorts of attachments you can get for it and has earned the money we've spent on it and the attachments tenfold.  We switched up the rows this year and sowed the rows the opposite way and divided our garden in half.  I'll have to take a photo once it's all planted. :)

Now, for the great list of what we've planted: tomato, potato, carrots, beans, sunflowers (to attract pollinating insects and for the seeds), acorn squash, yellow (summer) squash, butternut squash, zucchini, green beans, cantaloupe, watermelon, cucumbers, and broccoli.  Here is hoping we reap the fruits and veggies of our labor.  We're hoping to harvest enough that we can share with all of Alexi's family and even some coworkers, too.

Operation Garden 2010- Update 2

The week leading up to Memorial Day we finally got all the vegetables planted in our garden thanks to the help of my parents-in-law. My mother-in-law helped watch Mariela so I could plant and my father-in-law provided his expertise with gardening and helped me plant my rows (after consulting his Farmer's Almanac, of course!). I only took up about 1/3 of the garden space he cleared out, so I let him plant the rest of the space with his own veggies. We'll share whatever is produced in the end. So far everything appears to be growing well despite losing a plant here and there after transplanting the seedlings. A.R. left the sprinkler on overnight last week, but luckily the soil drained well and no damage was done. We are battling slugs again this year and we've seen a bunny hopping around the broccoli twice now, so we have to finish putting the fence up.

Here's what we are growing: spanish peppers, corn, broccoli, squash, cucumbers, pumpkin, watermelon (I planted the seeds directly into the ground, but it might be too late for them), beans (only 2 plants appear to have survived the transplant into the garden), carrots, tomatoes, and strawberries. A.R. and I also planted one raspberry, one blackberry, and one blueberry bush along the border of the garden and hope to add a few more eventually to make a natural fence to shield the deer fence. Now, we wait. Grow little vegetables (and fruits!), grow!!

Operation Veggie Garden 2010

We might be a little crazy...ok, maybe a lot crazy...but we're doing a vegetable garden once again this year only this time I have my little bambina to care for, too. It could get interesting trying to keep up with the garden, but my father-in-law has promised to help out. He has a friend that is letting us borrow his rototiller to get the soil ready and is convinced that we should plant based off of his 2010 Farmer's Almanac. We also went an extra step and got permission from the town to plant our garden in the wetlands that are part of our property. They aren't very "wet" per say, but we do worry that the water table might be a little high in that area of our yard and cause the roots to rot. There's only one way to find out and that's to try planting there, so this year we're going to give it a go.

I started the seedlings inside last week for some of the veggies and the rest (carrots) I'll start directly in the ground once the soil is tilled (and the Farmer's Almanac says it's a good planting day!) next month. I really hope that if anything, we get some tomatoes this year so I can can them for homemade tomato sauce. The tomato blight in the Northeast last year wiped our plants out completely. This year's garden will be extra special if we can grow some vegetables that I can make into baby food for Mariela. I hope to make some of her first foods for her and will freeze them in ice cube trays in individual portion sizes.

This year's garden will include: tomatoes, corn, broccoli, green beans, carrots, squash, and pumpkin. My father-in-law is going to grow some Spanish peppers that my mother-in-law uses to flavor her Spanish rice and we also bought two raspberry bushes to plant in our yard as well. I hope to grow enough squash, pumpkin, beans, and carrots to feed Mariela and our family.

The Fruits of Our Labor Are Here!

Finally, after all the hard work we've put in A.R. & I are beginning to see the fruits of our labor! Our garden is starting to produce vegetables. We have teeny tiny baby tomatoes, little bitty cucumbers, two dixie squashes growing (so far!), and green beans. I was so excited when I saw the squash as that was what I was hoping for the most. I think I'll have enough cucumbers to do some pickeling as long as we can keep the bunnies away.


Check it out:

Adventures in Gardening- Part 3

Heather, Heather quite contrary,

How does your garden grow?

With silver bells, and cockle shells,

And pretty maids all in a row.

Our garden is doing wonderfully now that the sun had come out and I've won the battle of the weeds. We ended up not planting about 4 rows in our garden so I let the weeds/grass stay there to lure the slugs and any other critters into the area away from my vegetable plants. Here are some pictures I took on July 14th of our garden and the first "fruits" (should I say veggies?) of our labor. I have to give all those farmers out there a lot of props. Gardening is a lot harder and a lot more work then I ever dreamed it would be and I barely have anything planted in our plot!

Top L- 2 watermelon plants, bottom left pumpkin, the empty looking row has 3 carrot plants growing, and the tomatoes are on the right.

R-L: Cucumbers (front) & beans, more cucumbers, Butternut Squash, Dixie Squash, tomatoes
The "fruits" of our labor are going to pay off, I think. Here is one of our 3 green beans growing.

Next year we already have plans to add in corn, zucchini, strawberries, and maybe even some peppers although I'm not a huge fan of them. I just hope we get enough cucumbers so I can make some pickles for the winter and enough tomatoes so that I can can some tomato sauce. How awesome would it be to have fresh tomato sauce in the middle of winter? Yum-to-the E!

H

I am figuring out this green thumb thing

Our vegetable garden is starting to thrive now that the sun has decided to return to the Northeast AND I fought and won the battle of the weeds over the last two weekends. The slugs are staying away now and my only looming threat is the baby bunny who is starting to eat the squash leaves (any suggestions?). I'll take some pictures of the new and improved garden soon. Everything (Cucumbers, Dixie Squash, Butternut Squash, beans, tomatoes, watermelon, and pumpkin) are blooming like crazy but no baby vegetables yet.

My new found green thumb can also be seen by the flowers blooming on our porch. Check-out my very first Gladiolus bloom...gorgeous. I'm so proud of it! A.R. loves it and wants me to plant them all along the lattice work on our porch and ya know? I. Just. Might. I have some bulbs leftover, but I'm not sure if they'd still grow. I think I have to wait until the fall to plant them now.

I have a Lily (the flower this time!)

I was so excited to find a real live Lily blossom in our yard today when I was walking the dogs. It's my first flower bloom in our new yard. I'm actually surprised the plant bloomed because the stem isn't even upright...it's been lying flat on the ground since I transplanted it back in May. Lily (the dog) actually trampled the other Lily (the plant) that I planted and I don't think it's going to bloom at all this year.

My Hostas are all about to bloom as well and my vegetable garden is coming to life now that the sun has started to shine again. I might just have a green thumb afterall!