Melons and Tassels

I was looking at a tiny(right)

watermelon and feeling pleased at the fact that it had swollen slightly when I looked to my right and saw a giant(below). Okay, so it's not quite giant, but it is super-impressive to me!

I thought I should also show some progress pics.

Squash

Corn

Carrots and Cucumber

All-Garden Salad

Things are happening

I haven't written anything in a while, but now I have a few important things that I want to get down so that I can remember when these things happened for next year.

Solid Citizens

• Peppers-I've had a few peppers come out. Two were the size of a 50 cent piece when they were eaten by what I think were pepper weavels. I was so excited for them, too. Another couple were also eaten early on, and now I am just hoping the worst is over because there are a lot of peppers coming out. I may have to spray...
• Tomatoes-I trimmed the indeterminate tomatoes way back so that they are the most productive they can be. All of the tomato plants have lots of green tomatoes on them, so hopefully they will begin to ripen all at once and we can make salsa!
• Beans-These are producing really well. The second planting of them are flowering, and I hope they are ready to eat by the time Darren's parents come out. The third round of plantings are up and should be producing by the time my mom comes out.
• Cantaloupe-The cantaloupes are flowering, and I saw one female blossom on one of the plants. We'll see if we get anything out of them this year.
• Watermelons-I saw my first baby watermelon July 8th, and it is still there (nothing has eaten it yet). Since then, a few more little babies have developed on 2 of the plants. We may get melon! I'm not counting on it, but perhaps we will get lucky.
• Corn-The corn was definitely knee-high by the 4th. The little tassels came out on the 9th. It's looking really healthy.
• Cucumbers-I'm not sure if they are just female flowers or if there are actual baby cucumbers growing behind the flowers, but baby-looking cucumbers came out on the 8th. Lots of flowering on these in the Three Sisters Garden

Now what to do with...?

• Squash-It has taken over a lot of space, but I haven't seen any actual blooms yet.
• Lettuce-I ripped out the rest of the lettuce June 26th because it had gone to seed and the earwigs and slugs had gotten to it. Good riddance. I planted zucchini where the head lettuce had been on the 5th of July. I planted cauliflower in the other bed where the Burpee lettuce was.
• Peas-I don't know what got to the peas this year, but a bunch of those little bugs that I talked about earlier were everywhere. My gut told me to rip them out, so I did on July 9th and 10th. I even got rid of the Avalanche Peas, which we planted later than the other pea. Now we have two spots that need to be planted, and I'm not sure what to put there. It's a bit too early for Swiss Chard, which I plan on planting at the end of July. Is it too late/early to plant cabbage?

Need Some Insect Identification Help

Well, I can't figure out what is eating my peas. I can see the little buggers, but they are so small that I don't think they show up in the picture. What I suspect is eating my peas are tiny wormy-looking yellow/orangish things that can be easily blown off of the pea. The reason I suspect these little turds is because once I noticed something was wrong and began to inspect further, I saw that these little things were in the discolored areas on the peas (usually 2-3 of them in each area). I guess they could just be reaping the benefits of an already open sore on the pea, but I have a feeling they are to blame. You can see one a bit in the first big picture in the very bottom beneath the second pea pod.

The peas are affected and so are the leaves. One plant is even beginning to turn yellowish-brown and crust up. I picked a ton of peas, trying to get all that I can out of the plants before they go down. I have gotten a lot off of the plants. Maybe it is just their time to go? I don't know...it seems too early. Last year, I saved some of the seeds and planted those this year. Could that have been the problem? I was thinking of planting more of this variety elsewhere. Is that a bad idea?

Flowers and Fruiting

The beans and peas are beginning to sprout tiny little pods.

Our tomatoes in the garden are about to flower (the patio tomato and one that is in the back yard in a place of honor have already flowered and have tomatoes on them...one of them is orange now!), and the potatoes are flowering along with the raspberries.

It looks as if the peppers are just about to flower. I think that is what is going on in the middle of their leaves. It would be awesome to eat peppers before September!

Last year, things seemed to take forever!

I'm having a tough time with the warm weather fruits. The cantaloupe that I directly seeded just germinated, but the watermelons have not. I started some of both indoors, but every time I try putting them out, they seem to shrivel up into oblivion (I think it is because of our strong winds... and because they hate me). The Three Sisters Garden is doing really well. I planted some of the beans because the corn was tall enough, and that just germinated today. The squash and cucumber are doing well, but we will see what happens throughout the summer.

My lettuce seems to be enjoyed by fruit flies, but they can't be what's eating them, right? I have checked and checked for aphids but haven't seen any, unless these things I think are fruit flies are aphids?

I still have a lot of started plants that I don't know what to do with. I have a ton of started peppers, some tomatoes, watermelon that look really great that I'm afraid to put out into the wind, cantaloupe, and a squash. I don't really have room for them, but I hate killing things or throwing them out. I'll see if I can find spots for them.

Updating Pictures and Planting New Stuff

Today was my first official day of Summer Vacation, and I think I used it well. We still had some space in Garden #2 because Darren expanded it. We didn't know what to put in it, but I finally sat down, drew a map of the garden, and filled it in.

I planted:

• cilantro
• bush beans
• chives
• dill
• hot peppers
• lettuce
• cantaloupe
• watermelon
• onions
• carrots
• parsley
• basil

It may be too late for some of these to be planted (I planted all seeds), but I thought I would give them a try. Now for some comparison pictures:

Pictures are from (left to right) April 3rd, April 25th, and May 28th.

(Below) Head and leaf lettuce (left) April 29th (right) May 28th

Carrots (left) April 29th and (right) May 28th

Burpee lettuce

(Above) April 29th and (below) May 28th

Berries. The one in the front on the right hand side is surprisingly coming to life!

April 29th (above) and May 28th (below)

Peas

(Above) April 29 (Below) May 28

Potatoes and Michin

Potatoes (from top to bottom) April 3rd, April 29th, May 16th, May 28th

Sunburned Pogue

Today and yesterday were really warm, and today I spent a lot of time transplanting and transpotting, so I'm left with a bit of a sunburn. Things are progressing in the gardens. Darren finished expanding the second garden 2 weekends ago, and last weekend we spread all the new soil inside. The walking areas for the expanded part are much more comfortable to squat (or sit) in. We made them a lot wider than the measly 1 foot sections in the first part of the garden, in anticipation for a fat summer. The thing about being pregnant that surprises me the most is how difficult it is to bend, squat, maneuver, etc. around this big belly.

While Darren was finishing off the garden, I made the Three Sisters garden. Hilling up the soil was more difficult than I thought it would be, but I have high hopes for this garden. I planted the corn and squash, but while looking at how many hills of squash we had (4 hills with 3 seeds planted per hill), I started to get nervous about doing the other 5 hills in squash. Darren isn't a big fan, so what the heck am I supposed to do with all that squash? I ended up planting cucumbers in the other 5 hills. They aren't supposed to be a part of the Three Sisters garden, but oh well. The corn has germinated today, and a couple of squash have also germinated.

ON the 20th, I transplanted the first two tomatoes out in the garden to see if it is too soon. We have had high winds (gusts of 34-60 mph down here in Fountain) for the past two days, and I worry about the wind damaging the plants. But, those two tomatoes look awesome, so I transplanted 2 more Better Boys and also 2 Baby Girls. I also transplanted 2 of my 20 cent watermelons today. We'll see how those two do. On the 20th, we transplanted the big Baby Girl (the one with tomatoes already on it) to the area back by the fence. It doesn't quite get full sun, but it get some hot sun between 10-1 and again after 5. I was afraid it would go into shock after being transplanted and drop all of the tomatoes, but it seems to be doing alright.

Almost all of the plants are out of the future nursery (which is where I was keeping them until I was able to take them outside). I still have a few, and we don't want to get a crib until we get all of the plants out. My last day of school for students is Tuesday, so that means I will have LOTS of time in the near future to baby the garden.

First Tomatoes

Update: We saw our first tomato on May 4th. I planted this tomato seed on February 4th.