Melon
Garden Photo Update – July 29, 2018
Garden Update July 22, 2018
As the pictures show the first round of garden crops are over. Happy to say we have enough Peas, Broccoli, Yellow and Green beans for the next 12 months in the freezer. With the excess going to friends and neighbours over the last three weeks. Greenhouse Cucumbers and Tomatoes are in full swing, with the garden crop catching up fast.
Just sowed the 2nd crop of Cucumbers for the greenhouse. 2nd crop of garden beans, both Yellow & green came through after only three days. Peas though are struggling with the soil temperature being 27’C. We use the old Pea haulm to shade, cool and help keep moist the newly sown row of peas, but with air temperature this year daily over 30’C not working so well.
Finally overnight our 23 days without any measurable rain has come to an end, .46″ with more as I am writing this. If we get an inch plus then I will get a break from garden watering.
Hard fruit that managed to set, are starting to swell and the rain should help swell the fall raspberry crop. Blueberries are ripening well as are strawberries. Will have to watch the Melons in case they split with the sudden drenching.
We have full season crops of Leek, Carrot and two rows of Potatoes, plus 5 Pole Bean columns in the main garden patch. Which for everyone’s info is 26′ x 26′.
Happy Harvests.
2018 Sow Sheet
Want to know what’s going into our garden this year? Check out our 2018 Sow Sheet!
Week 48 Update
With this continued ‘early fall’ weather, a lot of plants are struggling to stay dormant. The hardier plants suffered the most from the sharp frost a few weeks ago, with some varieties showing signs of tip die-back already. Hopefully this warm weather does not last so the garden can rest for a few months.
But not all is lost, this is where your ‘fruiting house plants’ step forward. This week we have started to harvest Guava, Lemons, Grapefruit, Pummelo and Oranges. Most of these plants are only in their third year, so many harvests yet to come.
We have taken this time of slow down in garden work to reap the benefit of summer. Yes, it time to make Jams and Jellies from the fruits that we were not able to eat during the summer. First batch included; Strawberry, Blueberry (fruit) and Grape (Juice for sweetener), Blackberry Jelly and Marmalade (Calamondin).
Not everything needs to be processed, frozen Strawberries, Melon, Raspberries and Blueberries we put straight into home made Yogourt, makes a great breakfast of desert.
May 1st 2017
May 1st 2017, the 3rd year with our new garden. What a welcome! Rain and cold, gale force winds. Lots of blossom this year, so the windy, wet weather is not welcome at this time. In between the showers of late April we managed to have most of first crops sown in the Vegetable garden. So if they have not drowned, should be up by the middle of the month.
We have Tomatoes and Melons growing in pots ready to plant out after the full moon in May. All thirty new outside fruit trees are showing signs of waking up. The twenty new indoor citrus are growing and showing new blossoms. With all the good come the spring issues, so we will be getting whitefly predators to help, and using a spray containing B.T. to start the never ending fight with any type of caterpillars.