The heat is on

   It's about 99 degrees outside, with a heat index of 113. The later number is said to be at 116 by 4pm. I am off today but am avoiding the dangerous heat outside. Actually, I woke at 5am to get an early start and beat the heat. I watered both gardens, cut out some more squash leaves damaged by stinkbugs, squash bugs, and  cucumber beetles. I put out the Rescue Stink Bug Trap at both gardens. So far, I've only caught two wasps (which is a shame, because they are beneficial insects for gardening.) Earlier, in the back yard, I watched a very large mantis eat another large mantis. I've heard when mantids mate, the female eats the male. Hopefully they mated and we'll have more babies next spring.

   It is becoming increasingly difficult to manage both gardens. Although my aunt's house is only 10 minutes away, it's that extra 20 minute round trip several days per week that cuts into my hectic schedule. I am not certain what Deb & I will do at the big garden next year. The best idea we have so far is to plant easy, low maintenance, pest-free crops so that we would only have to check it once a week. Carrots, sweet potatoes, onions, garlic, peppers, and artichokes would be good choices for plant and forget crops.

  I got a letter from the home owners association today,  asking me to "mow the lawn". The funny part about it, is we have no lawn. The whole back yard is garden beds full of plants and walkways. I'm not quite sure what they want of us, but after receiving the notice, I've been trimming back some of the flowering herbs, and cutting down some of the weeds that are rising up in the walkways. Each corn stalk that has already been harvested is coming down. I cut about 12 sunflowers down today, to harvest the seeds once they dry. I'll start pulling up any carrots that appear mature. Full sized carrot plants look a little unkempt. Maybe the HOA thinks they are weeds. The asparagus bed is going to be a tough one. From a distance away, to the untrained eye, asparagus fern can look like tall, overgrown grass. I don't plan on cutting down the asparagus bed without a fight, so we'll have to wait and see what the HOA says about my trimming progress..or should I use their word, MOWing progress.

Today's harvest yielded 4 ears of corn, 11oz of cucumbers, 12oz onions, 13oz tomatoes, 15oz zucchini, a 3 lb pumpkin, 1 little cherry tomato, 30 oz of carrots, and 1 oz of green beans.

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Total produce count for the year:

25 ears of corn

53 strawberries

17 raspberries(golden variety)

12 blackberries

10 blueberries

3/16 lb sweet banana peppers

1/4 lb sweet bell peppers

2.76 lb assorted (green)bean pods

5 .68lb cucumber

10.31 lb zucchini squash

2.25 lb yellow squash

4 lb butternut squash

3 lb pumpkin

3.31 lb tomatoes

1.45 lb cherry tomatoes

1.7 lb kohlrabi

3.84 lb  onions (bulbs)

8.77 lbs carrot roots

1 1/8 lb beet roots

1/8 lb potatoes

12 heads of garlic

4 garlic scapes

7.6 lb sweet/snap peas

15.8 lb assorted dark greens

7/8 lb baby radishes/greens

1/4 lb mature radish roots

46.5 lb assorted lettuce

5.1 lb spinach

1/2 lb New Zealand spinach

4.8 lb turnip roots

2.63 lb miner's lettuce

3/16 lb mache/corn salad

5/8 lb baby greens

1/3 lb arugula

5 asparagus spears

3 trays of wheat grass(inside)

3 trays micro  greens(grown inside)

A countless amount of:

  parsley, basil, peppermint, spearmint, lemon balm, burnet, fennel, thyme, dill, green onions, chives, stevia

Produce Update - Tomatoes are in full swing, finally!

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Total produce count for the year:

21 ears of corn

53 strawberries

17 raspberries(golden variety)

12 blackberries

10 blueberries

3/16 lb sweet banana peppers

1/4 lb sweet bell peppers

2.7 lb assorted (green)bean pods

5 lb cucumber

9.5 lb zucchini squash

2.25 lb yellow squash

4 lb butternut squash

2.5 lb tomatoes

1.45 lb cherry tomatoes

1.7 lb kohlrabi

3.1 lb red onion (bulb)

6.9 lbs carrot roots

1 1/8 lb beet roots

1/8 lb potatoes

12 heads of garlic

4 garlic scapes

7.6 lb sweet/snap peas

15.8 lb assorted dark greens

7/8 lb baby radishes/greens

1/4 lb mature radish roots

46.5 lb assorted lettuce

5.1 lb spinach

1/2 lb New Zealand spinach

4.8 lb turnip roots

2.63 lb miner's lettuce

3/16 lb mache/corn salad

5/8 lb baby greens

1/3 lb arugula

5 asparagus spears

3 trays of wheat grass(inside)

3 trays micro  greens(grown inside)

A countless amount of:

  parsley, basil, peppermint, spearmint, lemon balm, burnet, fennel, thyme, dill, green onions, chives, stevia

Produce update

I just got finished picking some corn from the small garden before my 33 mile bike ride I've got planned for the day. There were also two cucumbers waiting to be plucked, therefore I did. While plerking(play working) in the garden, I noticed a few squash leaves with powdery mildew. I caught them very early, and cut them out. There are a few leaves in Mickey's raised squash bed that have the mildew as well. I need to tell him ASAP. Hopefully there won't be a spread of the squash/cucumber/melon killing disease that claimed all of our plants last year. Last year we didn't cut the leaves out. And last year we didn't use an organic fungicide. I think today, I'm going to be purchasing just that, and spraying it on the leaves tonight.

Powdery Mildew Strikes Again

My brother acquired some  all natural corn(these people didn't spray, we found some bugs to prove it) through trading of surplus tomatoes. We decided to can some of the corn. Jeremy, Deb, and I shucked about half a bushel of corn, and scraped it from the cob. Then we used the pressure canner to jar two quarts and 5 pints of corn.  We didn't add any salt, or sugar. Most if not all of the store bought cans of corn have added sugar or salt, so it will be a refreshing change when we get to pop open one of these jars in the winter.

Yesterday yielded the first batch of sun-dried(dehydrator) tomatoes. We cut them into 8ths or so, then laid them out on the dehydrator sheet. After they found a texture somewhere between leathery and crunchy, we placed them in a pint mason jar with some olive oil. I plan on adding basil leaves today to the mix. With a whole mess of green tomatoes still coming, I'm sure we are going to make a lot of these tasty morsels. 

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Total produce count for the year:

21 ears of corn

53 strawberries

17 raspberries(golden variety)

12 blackberries

10 blueberries

3/16 lb sweet banana peppers

1/4 lb sweet bell peppers

2.4 lb assorted (green)bean pods

5 lb cucumber

9 lb zucchini squash

2.25 lb yellow squash

4 lb butternut squash

1.8 lb tomatoes

1.4 lb cherry tomatoes

1.5 lb kohlrabi

3.1 lb red onion (bulb)

6.9 lbs carrot roots

1 1/8 lb beet roots

1/8 lb potatoes

12 heads of garlic

4 garlic scapes

7.6 lb sweet/snap peas

15.8 lb assorted dark greens

7/8 lb baby radishes/greens

1/4 lb mature radish roots

46.5 lb assorted lettuce

5.1 lb spinach

1/2 lb New Zealand spinach

4.8 lb turnip roots

2.63 lb miner's lettuce

3/16 lb mache/corn salad

5/8 lb baby greens

1/3 lb arugula

5 asparagus spears

3 trays of wheat grass(inside)

3 trays micro  greens(grown inside)

A countless amount of:

  parsley, basil, peppermint, spearmint, lemon balm, burnet, fennel, thyme, dill, green onions, chives, stevia

Corn is at its peak

A cucumber on the vine

Corn

Today I harvested 6 ears of corn from the back yard. None of our corn is perfectly straight, or extremely long or thick. That's because it isn't genetically modified. One of the nice things about urban gardening is that the closest corn field is miles away, so the only pollen that touches our corn is from our corn.

I also picked some kohlrabi, some tomatoes, a hand full of green beans a zucchini, and a banana pepper today. We have over half a dozen green bell peppers about to ripen. I have no idea what color they will be, as they were part of a mixed bell pepper assortment. I know one of the plants is a white bell, since we've gotten a ripe one already.

The stink bugs are still a problem. The cucumber  beetles are relentless as well. I haven't seen a problem at the home garden yet, however, I noticed a few cucumber beetles in Mickey's raised bed picking on his squash plants.

Sunflowers & corn

A young cantaloupe

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Total produce count for the year:

9 ears of corn

53 strawberries

17 raspberries(golden variety)

5 blackberry

7 blueberries

3/16 lb sweet banana peppers

1/4 lb sweet bell peppers

2.4 lb assorted (green)bean pods

3.5 lb cucumber

8 lb zucchini squash

2.25 lb yellow squash

4 lb butternut squash

1.3 lb tomatoes

0.8 lb cherry tomatoes

1.5 lb kohlrabi

2.75 lb red onion (bulb)

6.9 lbs carrot roots

1 1/8 lb beet roots

1/8 lb potatoes

12 heads of garlic

4 garlic scapes

7.6 lb sweet/snap peas

15.8 lb assorted dark greens

7/8 lb baby radishes/greens

1/4 lb mature radish roots

46.5 lb assorted lettuce

5.1 lb spinach

1/2 lb New Zealand spinach

4.8 lb turnip roots

2.63 lb miner's lettuce

3/16 lb mache/corn salad

5/8 lb baby greens

1/3 lb arugula

5 asparagus spears

3 trays of wheat grass(inside)

3 trays micro  greens(grown inside)

A countless amount of:

  parsley, basil, peppermint, spearmint, lemon balm, burnet, fennel, thyme, dill, green onions, chives, stevia

Produce update

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Total produce count for the year:

3 ears of corn

53 strawberries

17 raspberries(golden variety)

5 blackberry

7 blueberries

1/8 lb sweet banana peppers

1/4 lb sweet bell peppers

2.3 lb assorted (green)bean pods

3.5 lb cucumber

7.6 lb zucchini squash

2.25 lb yellow squash

4 lb butternut squash

0.5 lb tomatoes

0.6 lb cherry tomatoes

3/4 lb kohlrabi

2.75 lb red onion (bulb)

6.9 lbs carrot roots

1 1/8 lb beet roots

1/8 lb potatoes

12 heads of garlic

4 garlic scapes

7.6 lb sweet/snap peas

15.8 lb assorted dark greens

7/8 lb baby radishes/greens

1/4 lb mature radish roots

46.5 lb assorted lettuce

5.1 lb spinach

1/2 lb New Zealand spinach

4.8 lb turnip roots

2.63 lb miner's lettuce

3/16 lb mache/corn salad

5/8 lb baby greens

1/3 lb arugula

5 asparagus spears

3 trays of wheat grass(inside)

3 trays micro  greens(grown inside)

A countless amount of:

  parsley, basil, peppermint, spearmint, lemon balm, burnet, fennel, thyme, dill, green onions