Last week-end I headed out to cut bamboo for my pole beans and squash/zucchini. My brother has a yard full of bamboo, and offered a few pieces for my garden.
We cut 7 foot pieces for my pole beans and tied them at the top with twine, and about 10 pieces of various sizes for my other vining veggies. I planted Blue Lake pole and bush beans and several bush Wax beans in this area. All are coming up nicely.
This is the squash trellis I made. It's amazing how a pole can look straight while you're in one position, and totally off when you're in another. That will teach me to wait until I have help. I'll straighten it out tomorrow when I have another set of eyes, lol.
I found this fabulous old peach orchard ladder and decided to put it the garden this year. It contains my $2.00 clearance daisy from Lowes. I have more bush beans and Roma tomatoes under it. I'll pot up a few plants to place on the other steps of the ladder this week-end. I have just about everything in, I need to add a few more cukes, dill, red onions and some additional flowers. Can't wait to make pickles this year.
My peppers are flowering. I planted 15 chili, cayenne, Hungarian, jalapeno and 2 sweet. I have 2 pink Brandy Wine, 1 Hillbilly, 2 Paul Robeson, 1 Beefsteak, and 1 German Johnson that survived. Didn't do well with my tomato germination, hopefully next year I will be more successful. I was truly hoping for a few Cherokee Purple. I searched the local garden centers, and none carried Cherokee Purple for replacements. Heirlooms are rare in most garden centers in my area. Not sure where I went wrong. I think next year, I won't attempt to transplant them as early. I'll wait until their stronger.
I'm hoping that my cages will hold the heirlooms. How do you cage your tomatoes? I may add a few of the bamboo poles for reinforcement this week-end. If they get as heavy as the Amish Paste did last year, I'll need it. What's in your garden this year?
I have been fighting with blogger this morning trying to write this post. I hate hate hate the new blogger option. I was so happy that I could temporarily revert back to the old format so I could communicate with you. I hope they work the bugs out before they make the change permanent. I don't understand why people make changes when they have a good thing that works, and the users know how to use the product. So much for my ranting this afternoon.
How cool is this picture. Square watermelons are really popular in Japan and are making their way to the US. I'm thinking about trying this with a few of my Sugar Baby watermelon plants. I've been researching to see how I can turn a round melon into an ice cold delicious square treat, and it seems the way to go with Sugar Babies is a cinder block. Once the melon has matured, you use a sledge hammer to break the block. Not thrilled about having to break block, but I could easily get my hands on a few cinder blocks and call in man power to retrieve the treat.
I'm thinking that square melons would make a nice center piece at a family gathering this summer. I'm sure that I could get my grandson to eat a square watermelon too, lol. The other way of squaring the melon requires Plexiglass squares or a wooden box that I would need to put together. You have to make a hole for the vine and than rig it to get the melon out. We have several plastic companies in the area, so I'll check next week to see if Plexiglass squares are available. I may find that building the squares are too much work this year. I need to put together trellis' and we still need to start the fencing project.
Have any of you grown square watermelons? If so, what method do you use? I'm thinking the concept would work for pumpkins and cantaloupes too.
The garden is tilled and I've been working on my layout. Here's the tentative plan. My garden is actually 25 x 25. The scale is about 22 x 22. I left room for the fence and 3 feet along the sides.
I had wanted to add room for carrots, but thinking I may try them in a container. I'll also plant the marigolds between the tomatoes instead of in front of them as shown. The opening in the lower right corner will be a gate. Of course this could all change once I start planting. I'm going to use a trellis for the watermelon, pumpkins, squash, zucchini and cukes to free up space. The pole beans will be planted in a circle that I will install using field stone, so it won't be exactly square as shown. Using a circle will allow me to plant more beans too.
I'm hoping to make and place a scarecrow in the middle of the garden. My grandson loved the scarecrow last year, although it scared the crap out of me on occasion. I kept forgetting it was there, and thought someone was in the garden when I stepped out my deck, lol.
Has anyone planted garlic in the spring? My package says that I can plant it up to April 15. I know most people plant in the fall for summer harvest. I allocated space, but may plant my carrots there if I find planting the garlic now is not a good idea. Garlic masters, I need your advice. Let me know what you think about my layout, and if I should change anything or at least consider something. Do you have your garden planned?
