Cucumbers started late in 2012

An experiment that ended up happening this year was to start cucumbers from seed outdoors in late May instead of early May. When I read what I just wrote it just sounds like no big deal…a couple weeks difference…”so what?”, right?

Well, it has me nervous because by this date I usually have fruit set and instead I have baby plants that haven’t even reached the trellis yet.

I’m also trying a row of bush-type cucumbers. Supposedly these set a good amount of fruit without getting over 2 feet in vine length.

June Garden Panorama

I have had panorama photos that turned out much better than this one, but it gets the idea across. Things are starting to get a bit unruly down there. Weeding needs lots of attention soon. It’s time to harvest beets and their greens. Soon I will harvest the carrots, followed by the cabbages and then the garlic. By that time I will be getting many red tomatoes.

I still need to plant the green beans I promised my wife.

Jimmy Watering the Garden

Almost everything has been planted now.  I just have green beans and cucumbers left to direct-seed.  Also, I’m trying a little chin beard, but I’m undecided on it.  I think I’m going to let it get a bit longer and see how it looks then.

The Peas haven’t reached the trellis yet

This early spring probably allowed the peas to germinate much faster than normal, but they still have quite a bit of growing to reach the bottom of the trellis that I want them to grow on.  Sunday and Monday will have temperatures as high as 90 F, so that ought to confuse these cold-loving plants.

I need to harvest all these peas by Mid-to-Late May so that I can reuse this space for cucumbers.  For once I believe I’m actually on schedule this year.

June 1st Garden Panorama

Click the picture for an insanely bigger version.

If you look closely enough you can see a few of the “stitching” mistakes.  Oh well, you get the idea.

Community Garden Plot

I haven’t shown you my community garden plot because I never remember to bring the camera.  So here are some blurry cell phone pictures.

Community Garden Plot 10 x 30 feet

At the front right corner is an improvised trellis trying to support 9 tomato plants and already sagging in the middle.

The rest of the space contains alternating hills of either corn and pole beans together, or a vining plant such as a squash, cucumber or watermelon.  This is my three sisters garden.  It’s a very fun experiment and I think it’s going to work out.

More pics:

May 2009 Backyard Garden

     

Gardening by numbers

Bed 1 is my wife’s herb garden with an 8 foot row of cucumbers along the fence. Just seeded this weekend.

Bed 2 has strawberries, three kinds of peppers and a couple eggplants I got at the farmer’s market this weekend.

Bed 3 is seeded with sweet corn on the left side, white onion sets down the middle and melons on the right.

Bed 4 is seeded with bush green beans, beets, sweet potatoes and carrots.

Bed 5 has rapidly maturing broccoli and was seeded a few weeks ago with beets and radishes.

Bed 6 has broccoli, a zucchini, cabbages, a couple lettuce and my sons’ 2×2 squares on the left corners.

Bed 7 has hybrid Big Mama tomatoes, supposedly a huge paste tomato. The perimeter is planted with radishes.

Bed 8 is planted with 8 heirloom tomatoes and has a perimeter ring of carrots.

Bed 9 is a row of straw bales planted with lettuce and a couple extra herbs.

Bed 10 is an 8 foot wide narrow bed planted with a double row. Cucumbers and snow peas will climb the lattice.