Been A While

Over the last month and a half, I have been documenting my garden's progress through photos, however I have not been very good about organizing them or posting them!  I've been having way too much fun outside, and by the time I come in from time in the heat and sun, I'm beat!

I will be playing "catch up" with this post so that I can get back on track.....

 My birthday was in early June, and one of my favorite presents is my blue-topped gnome.  I think he has brought some serious good luck to my garden.  I have only fought one huge battle against aphids this year.  Heirloom varieties, which I have planted many of, are more susceptible to diseases and pests.  In late May, I discovered that aphids were making themselves at home on my tomatoes.  After consulting the internet and a local organic farmer, I decided to make some insecticidal soap.  I costs a fortune in garden shops, but there are plenty of recipes online.  Here is the recipe I used:


1 tablespoon Murphy's soap
3 tablespoons of Tabasco (with family from Louisiana, we have plenty of this around)
1 quart of water

I sprayed the heck of out my tomato plants, and found that it was much better to spray in the evenings.  With the Tabasco lingering on the leaves when the sun was out, the leaves started to wilt a bit.  After about two weeks of spraying, I saw very few live aphids.  I feel a little guilty to admit that I relished in the sight of shriveled little aphid bodies after spraying.  Alright, not THAT guilty.  In the end, I won.  Here are the tomatoes in early June.....

 Lots of little yellow blossoms = lots of tomatoes!

 

 Here's a beauty in the making.  This one's a Beefsteak; not an heirloom variety, but a delicious old standby!

Here's a look at some of the other things "growing on" in the garden......

Sweet bell peppers

I finally trained this cucumber vine to grow on a trellis so the cucumbers wouldn't grow on the ground.  I had trouble with cucumber beetles chomping on the cukes.  One morning, I had the crazy notion of putting the low-growing cuke in an empty spaghetti sauce jar to keep the bugs off.  When I went to check on it after a few days, I practically had to cut the cucumber out of the jar - it had grown to the point that I had to wiggle it out of the jar!

Not the best shot, but these are my squash and pumpkin (I think) plants.  A cousin of mine gave the the mystery plants, and judging from the size and shape of the leaves, I think they are pumpkins.  Something I never would have planted, but it will be a fun experiment!

Carrots!!

Our Minicor carrots ended up a little gnarled.  After we started seeds in peat pots, I read that carrot seed shouldn't be started in pots and then transplanted because they tend to grow crookedly.  Plus, I didn't thin them out and they grew a little too close together. 

Well, these carrots sure were not straight and pretty, but they were pretty cute.

Here is our first late spring harvest: cukes, carrots and red leaf lettuce!