2 gal Guava Barbie Pink with blossom buds in sunlight!.
2 gal Guava Barbie Pink with blossom buds.
3gal Saccharum Officinarum ready to go.
3wks after Tent caterpillas had a spray of BTK.
75gal Piper nigrum & Coffea Arabica.
Apple Swaar. Heirloom.
Apple Wealthy. Heirloom.
Asian Oear Seuri-Li.
Asian Pear Mishirasu.
Asian Pear Ping-Guo-Li.
Calamondin Citrus Madurensis filling the air with sweet perfume.
Calamondin Citrus Madurensis from friut to blossom at the same time.
Carica TR Hovey nice 5gal double header with buds.
Citrus X Jambhiri Meyer one of the new 2 gal spring plants.
Crabapple Norland. Last of 16-2.5inch fruit.
Easy pickings at this height.
European Pear Luscious.
European Pear Maxine. Supposed to be golden skinned.
Garden Prince Almond same issue.
Grove of 2 & 5 gal Musa.
Halls Hardt Almond showing what a problem Japanese Beetle can be.
Hibiscus Kopper King.
Julgans Regia English Walnut.
Leeks maturing well. 2nd re-sow of peas (Grundy) next to 2nd sowing of bush beans. (BSC825 & Oakly) Carrots are Enterprise.
None are golden,so wrongly named time will tell.
Papaya Tainung-1 10gal 5 branches with blossom buds. What a specimen!
Papaya Tainung-1. 3gal 3 branches with blossom buds.
Starting to ripen only about 2wks now.
We start the month with a week without a drop of rain, as July here only had 1.7″ well under the norm of 3+”. So three months in a row of deficit, and with intense sun makes for a lot of watering.
2nd re-sow of peas are through and growing nicely. Beans we sowed two weeks earlier are now showing blossoms. Carrots are getting nice and long, Leeks are thickening.
Pole beans are this year not performing well. We brought in Algarve due to it being advertised as good in high tunnels, Aintree as better than Scarlet Runner. All have been defeated by the heat, good early but have faded quickly.
Spraying BTK as a preventative, is certainly worth it, trust the image of re-growth where a small patch of tent caterpillars had occurred shows this nicely.
Garden fruits are filling out with our addition of 1/2″ water per week. Biggest problem even with three JB traps are the beetles. Their favourite food as always starts with Prunus, Rubus, then Apple-Malus. We have been drowning about 3-4 quarts of beetles per week, but do not seem to have made a dent in their numbers. Yes there is a control spray of Beneficial Nematodes,but we do not have the lawn area, that acreage belongs to are neighbours.
Summer is a wonderful time, enjoy the tropical weather with the right plants around you to always have something to enjoy and eat.
Wk30 Broccoli gone Tomato wall almost 7. 7 different varieties.
Wk30 Carrot ready will pull as needed new bean crop through nicely. Peas struggling with the heat.
Wk30 And then there were two.
Wk30Michelles been busy weeding.
Wk30 Scarlet runner beans out-doing their white flowered counterparts even during the heat.
Wk30 Leaves a bit eaten but there be Melons!.
Wk30 Enjoying the rinse together.
Wk30 Could these be rain drops!
Wk30 New crop of Sugar Cane should be ready by August.
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′.
Tomato Defiant. 8cm across. Went well with the lettuce and radish.
Veg garden update II.
Veg garden update.
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So May almost gone, what a contrast with 2017. By the 27th May last year we had had 6″ of rain in May, so far this year less than 2″ with temperature today of 33’C. So yes, we have been watering to help the germination in the veg garden. So far so good, but with not much rain in the forecast the watering hose will be a much used piece of equipment. We use water from 3,000 gal rain water tanks.
We have been growing Ficus for quite a few years, this winter most of the varieties we had in the ‘cold’ greenhouse are not showing signs of growing. In the garden however eight of the eleven types are showing new buds, will keep a watch on the last three over the next two weeks. They are; Chicago Hardy, Yellow Long Neck and Little Ruby.
Most of the blossoming is now over, the next couple of weeks will show how much the wet and cool (at night) start to May has affected the setting of fruits. The most obvious thing missing this spring are Honey Bees. We have a medium sized Lilac in the front garden, by this time of year it is covered with Bees drinking in the nectar. Most days we can count the number of Bees in just a few seconds, when you have local Apiaries around as we have, this is not a good sign. We do have Mason Bees in the garden though, without honey Bees weather is very critical as shear numbers do matter in spring.
As Blossom time is mostly over, we have started our caterpillar (BTK as spray) and mite control (Neoseiulus Fallacis) in the orchard. Also Praying Mantis, Ladybug (both general predators), Lindorus Lophanthae (scale predator) and Delphastus Catalinae (white fly).
Harvesting from the cold greenhouse has started, Radish, Lettuce and Tomato. Sowing Radish and Lettuce every two weeks now until September.
Next garden sowings will be after the Broccoli is harvested, that will be third Pea crop and late Carrots. Second earthing up of Potatoes will be this week. Will be placing supports for climbing Beans this week. Planting out herbs that were earlier sown in pots.
Will know which trees in the orchard have not survived our last winter by mid June. We seem to have lost Apple, Apricot and Peach varieties. New plantings are mostly doing well, we have a couple of plants in pots due to poor spring growth. Just part of gardening and growing.
End of June finishes the heartbreak of June drop. Quite a lot this year, with Plum and Apricot almost totally gone. Apples, Pears and Quince first crop in third year of our orchard. The Niagara grape (wrongly named) as usual, even with preventative spraying, succumbed to mildew. Had enough, so plants will have been removed.
Maybe July will bring old fashioned stable weather, i.e. hot during the week and rainy on weekends. We have only had just over 1.1″ of rain during June. Only .03″ – .05″ per night, non during the day. Yes, just enough to keep the foliage damp, but not enough to water the soil. Yes, we have rain barrels (2600 gals), so we’re able to provide the plants with enough to grow.
Well into picking showing 3rd truss up, var Cobra.
Cucumber var Carmen getting back into the game.
Remains of Harvested Broccoli. Family and neighbours filled up, plus 20lbs into the freezer.
Quince looking good.
Socked fruit var Pear Luscious. Keeping unwanted visitors away!!.
Socked fruit var Apple Roxberry Russet.
Wild rose hedge, lots of rose hips for juicing this season.
S.East view
Asian Pear Mishirasu
New Garden area has:- Pumpkin HSC151 Edible seeded, background Celebration Squash and Yacon (both types).
All Haskap berries harvested, yielded 6 litres of berries, giving 4.5 liters juice. Vigorous growth on Plums and Apples.
New Blueberry Arlen.
An encouraging start.
Over the previous 2 weeks some of the harvest would be; Ananas, Asparagus, Brocolli (Bay Meadows, Emerald Crown, Emerald Pride & Emerald Jewel.), Citrus (Meyer & Eureka lemon, Moro Blood Orange), Haskap (Aurora, Borealis, Berry Blue & Tundra), Lettuce (Skyphos & P173N), Radish (var Cherriette & French Breakfast), Rhubarb, Strawberry (var Fresca), Tomato (Defiant, Clarance, Cobra, Black Cherry, Tomassio and Sub Arctic Maxi), Onion, Leek, Tomatoes, and Potatoes!
Peas are growing well. The beans and celery are suffering and in need of rain. This area has seen none for past 2 weeks. Only a 1cm fall, then 2 weeks of nothing, then back to again 1cm. In the meantime plenty of windy 24’c plus days drying everything out. Aphids showing themselves throughout the garden, followed very closely by Ladybugs, their eggs and larvae. Natures Balance!!
A couple of brighter days and the garden is in! The tomatoe plants started in the cold greenhouse really shot up (4’+) with a few warmer days. Fruit set looks quite good. Apples now coming into their own with 21 of 42 varieties in pink bud/blossom. All fruit trees have had a first spray with BT, four days after an application of field mite preventor – Neoseiulus Fallacis. This is a native type, so will establish over time.
We now have Red & Black Currants, Gooseberries, Apricots, Plums, and Haskaps set. Pears we will know in about 2-3 weeks. Peas, Beans, Beetroot, and Potatoes are emerging from the still cool, damp soil. Celery, Leeks and Onions rooting out nicely. Early Broccoli showing signs of Curd formation. Nearly finished the ‘pot’ grown Radish, Carrots, Peas, Onions, Lettuce, Cucumber and Tomatoes. Just need the weather to stay warm and watch the garden spring to life!
