Garden Pics

Left to right: huge tomato, Silver Queen corn, garlic, cantaloupe, red okra

Updates:
Joe called me out on “taking it easier” this year… I told him that planting was the easy part and maintenance was where the effort lies. I’ve been taking it easy on watering and weeding, and it’s definitely shown. For the most part, the gardens look good, although weedy, but there are some varieties of plants that haven’t been as great as expected. I think the back and forth dry heat and torrential downpours has the soil changing too frequently, which has messed with the tomato production and maybe added to blossom end rot. All the tomato breeds are flowering, but we are still waiting on the Mortgage Lifters to set fruit. Omar’s Lebanese aren’t what I thought they’d be, and I’m not sure if that is because of the seed source. The reds I saved from last year are producing huge, beautiful tomatoes, so I will definitely be saving those seeds again. Squash is another story. The Butterstick Zucchini was ravaged by vine borers and a fire ant nest. The crookneck squash produced small, disappointing fruit. The Goldbar hybrids are just now beginning to take off. The zucchini produced about five fruits and then quit on me. The corn stalks look great, but the ears are very small (other than the first two I picked, which were gorgeous). I’m not sure if this is from a lack of nutrients or a lack of water. I’ve been fertilizing monthly. The watermelons dropped their fruit because the soaker hose was jammed and they weren’t getting water, but the cantaloupes in the front of the garden (where they get more attention from the hose) look amazing so far. I’ve increased the watering for all the gardens, which seems to be much appreciated by the plants.