My computer crashed on Wednesday this week. I got a new one, but it has taken me awhile to get all of my programs working again. Not to mention doing regular work.
We have had rain this week. A good shower on Thursday, a small shower yesterday, More rain is expected today. The garden has been enjoying the moisture.
The beans planted last week are beginning to pop up through the soil–7 days after planting. That’s a good thing. The annual rye has not shown yet. I am thinking it may not have had enough moisture to germinate–and what little rain and sprinkling that it got was too little and too late. We’ll see.
All of the transplants are doing quite well. The sweet potatoes have shown the most stress. Most of the slips were long and spindly to begin with–so if I save 75% I will feel good. Tomotoes, cucumbers and squash are looking excellent and showing normal growth.
i will plant some winter squash next week starting on July 1. We’ll see how it does between now and the first frost.
I experienced great turn-around on my order with Park Seed last week. The order was placed on Tuesday and they were delivered yesterday–6 days. I have seeds for my fall crops now (all except onion setss that will arrive later)
This was much better than the turn around on the roses that I ordered online and they took nearly two weeks to arrive.
I can say this about Park Seed–they are a high quality operation and they take great care in shipping of their live plants and their seed is foil sealed. Their prices are not outrageous and over the years, I have found the germination rates higher than with seeds bought in paper packages in the store.
Gardening during drought conditions is difficult for me. Though I have water at my disposal, it is city water, and it costs money. A good soaking rain is so much more satisfying to the garden than what I can offer it with a hose.
Yesterday we drove down to Catawba County to take care of a few things–we saw rain several times on the way back. We drove through a hail storm at one point. We returned to our little plot in Haywood County and there was not even a trace of rain.
So I went back to watering.
From the looks of things, most of my transplants are going to make it. I suspect I will lose a few, which is usually the case even in the best of weather. Most of the flowers that we have planted in the yard are going to make it too, even after a late start in the midst of a drought.
A good soaking would be most welcome.
After a weekend of tilling the garden plot, the rest of the week was spent getting plots ready for fall crops, and some summer plantings.
Here is what is in the garden today:
Two kinds of tomatoes- 6 Rutgers/ 2 Bonnie Original (indeterminates)
Crookneck Squash- 6 plants
Sweet Potatoes- 15 plants (Beauregard)
There will be some beans planted over the weeked
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4 Beds are planted in Annual Rye and will be planted in Fall Crops during July-September
Some fall crops will follow the summer crops when they are gone (coolweather crops started in September–some will be overwintered)