Here we are, it’s suddenly the middle of June, we finally got some rain on Sunday, and the garden’s starting to look like a summer garden. The tomatoes seem to grow an inch or two a day, corn is already knee-high, the beans are clamoring for a pole to climb (need to get on that…), and the squash are filling out.
The spinach is all pretty much fizzled out (along with radishes), but the lettuce I planted must tolerate heat well because it’s still holding fast and only starting to think about bolting. I picked the first flush of shelling peas, and the snap peas remain, as always, totally undeterred by any weather, and growing like mad. The garlic is starting to yellow a bit, so maybe that means it’ll be ready to pick in a few weeks. I might also be able to pick some turnips shortly.
All in all, things seem to be doing okay, at least mostly better than last year. Some of the cool weather stuff didn’t last as long because of the heat and drought, but even the short window of spinach we had was much better than last year. So far it’s shaping up to be a pretty good year, as long as it rains from time to time.
Nice flowers on the blue potatoes.
Have you experienced fungal or viral issues in your squash/cucumbers or squash? After a couple of years, even through rotating crops in the area I have been told I have blights and the best thing to do is apply copper fungicide after it rains. I know you are into the organic methodology so I was curious if you had dealt with that yet.
Your potatoes look great too, apparently you don’t have many issues with flea beetles or Colorado Potato Bug. I ended up changing by potato planting really late this year to avoid the first emergence of the Bug and it seemed to help.
No fungal/viral issues so far, and none last year either. I don’t usually spray anything, but I think copper’s fine, as long as it’s not used too heavily, or it can build up in the soil.
Potatoes are much better this year. I mixed in some bone meal when I planted them – not sure if that’s it, but regardless, they are doing quite well. No problems with potato beetles, but I still have some flea beetles this year, but not as bad as last. Last year they were crazy before I even realized what they were – this year, I knew what to look for, so as soon as I started seeing them show up, I hand-picked them off the plants. Not effective if you have rows and rows, but it seemed to knock them back enough that I haven’t really noticed them as much. They’re still there, and I do kill them whenever I see them, but not in the quantities I had before. I have heard about planting later to avoid that first rush; sounds like it worked for you too.