Gardening Report June 27, 2020

A few disappointments and setbacks, a few unexpected bounties.

We uprooted a couple of tomato plants, two cucumber plants, and a squash vine.  In addition to some fungus or disease hitting them they were also plagued with aphids and in the case of the tomatoes their roots didn’t extend deep enough to keep them viable.

So out they went.

The remaining plants seem to be doing better, and we’ve adjusted watering schedules to make sure they stay fully hydrated.

And the good news is we’re seeing the first few crops appear on them!  So we have hopes for a good harvest in a few weeks (we’ve already been enjoying the first zucchinis, peppers, and kale).

We planted a lot of basil and marigolds anticipating we’d lose anywhere from ¼ to 1/3 of them.

Instead they all grew hale and hearty!  So now we’re uprooting marigolds to share with others, clipping the remaining to take some of the flowers home, and trying to give away as many basil sprigs as possible since we can’t use them all.

Those are the good problems to have,

“The girls” (i.e., the chickens) have started invading our plot again despite my setting up barriers around the eastern plot and the west wide of the other plot. 

So I’ve added another set of twines strung across the lower side of the western plot to keep them out from there, leaving only the opposite side unencumbered for ease of access.

The eastern plot has three lengths of twine strung across it to discourage chickens from jumping in; I use figure-8 clasps meant for holding plant vines to stakes as a connector for the twines so I don’t have to duck under them or untie them for easy access.

That -- and lugging cans of water / driving stakes into the ground -- constitutes about 90% of my contribution to the garden; Soon-ok supplies the other 1999% [yes, you read that right].

© Buzz Dixon