Garden Pics

Pictured: tomato blossom, pea garden and path, corn and pole beans, row garden (tomatoes, squash and watermelon), onions and romaine, squash blossoms

This is the fun time of year in the garden for me. The mosquitoes aren’t too angry, the tree pollen has subsided, and there is occasionally a cool breeze. Last year I did a lot of assisted pollination of my squash plants, but this year they seem to be setting fruit just fine on their own. While my Carolina Jessamine is no longer attracting drones of bumble bees to my yard, there is plenty clover to keep them interested. With the recent wind and breezes, I’m fairly certain the tomatoes don’t need any help either. Most tomatoes are self pollinators (meaning each flower contains all it needs to create fruit) and pollinate by vibrations to the flower, although bees can still transfer pollen from one flower to another. If you are interested in assisted pollination, I have several links to the right with some information I found last year.

I’ve already harvested a fair amount of peas. No one in our house really loves peas, so I won’t do anymore plantings and use what I have in some chicken fried rice where we won’t notice them too heavily and freeze whatever is left. Last year I’d eat them straight from the pods as I tinkered in the gardens, but chalk it up to being more tired than usual and an unhealthy interest in ice cream, there hasn’t been as much tinkering or grazing. I’m hoping they will finish blossoming soon so that I can pull them out and reset the poles they have  toppled before either planting more pole beans or relocating a couple tomato plants who’ve informed me that they aren’t pleased with their current locations. I’ve got twenty-two tomato plants in the back yard, five of which aren’t showing enthusiastic growth due to shadier than optimal conditions and very tight soils. They are still small enough that a relocation shouldn’t upset them. I have two plants that I allowed to come up on their own from the compost I spread, and I’m super curious to see what kind they are. Most likely they will be little yellow ones since those dropped tomatoes everywhere last summer.