Here’s where the garden stands this week:
And, for a different perspective, a shot from the side:
How far have we come? Well, here’s where we were just a little over a month ago, on May 20:
I hadn’t gone back to look at that last picture before writing this post, and I was shocked (pleasantly!) to see the five-week transformation. Now the cherry tomato plants are almost to my shoulder.
Of course, with this kind of growth comes crazy weed production. Steve and I talked about mulching at one point. Of course, it was in an off-handed, emailed sort of way, but we did have the discussion. Did we actually go and procure mulch? Did we take a trip to the giant mulch pile by the airport?
No, we did not. And now we have insane weeds. Most of them are small, but the one pictured to the left sprung up amidst my leeks just since Tuesday. I left Tuesday morning for a business trip to Chicago, and Steve left Tuesday morning to go to visit his father in Texas, and by the time I went out to check the garden on Thursday night after I got home, that weed, which was nonexistent on Tuesday (I promise) was almost all tall as a leek. If I could just figure out how to replicate that kind of growth in my 401(k), I could retire, you know, by the end of the summer or something.
I have been planning a concerted weeding effort. Really, I have. I mean it. Concerted. Focused. Maybe even with gloves and a hoe. But I realized when I walked out to the garden yesterday morning that I couldn’t wait any longer. Even if I didn’t have time for a full-scale weeding project, I had to start pulling more out as I saw them or we will be overrun.
There was finally some evidence of rabbit noshing upon my return, as well. One strawberry plant looks lovely (although I don’t expect any actual berry production out of it), but the other seems to have lost its head.
In other news, the Zucchini of Insanity continues to take over the eggplants. It appears that trimming back the zucchini leaves makes no noticeable difference on its growth, because the leaves keep getting bigger and stretching further, but I worry about cutting things back too far. Is it OK to keep trimming, or are we going to hurt production? Internet, I need your help.
Before I left, there were two infantile zucchinis that Steve’s Mom exhorted us to pick. Their flowers had just withered and fallen off, but they were so small (maybe four inches apiece) that I didn’t think I ought to pick them quite yet. I figured I’d wait until I got back from Chicago.
Bad call on my part. We had rain the whole time I was gone, and I returned to brown, mushy, moldy baby zucchini. Sacrificed before I could even cut them off the plant. I won’t wait again.
on Jun 24th, 2006 at 8:03 am
I don’t think the deceased zuke was your fault, sometimes the first fruits arent pollinated and they just wither and die and it’s often the case that you get a few before the male flowers open. As for the trimming, I never do it unless the leaf and stalk have withered as I’m afraid (okay, paranoid) of opening the plant up to infections.
on Jun 24th, 2006 at 1:34 pm
you go, grrl! i was snared by the name of yr blog, which describes me to a t. until last spring, i had the black thumb of the universe. i don’t know what changed – i just know i decided i wanted to have a forsythia bush in the front yard, and by the end of that summer, my sweet hubbywoozle was wondering who this crazy woman was – bringing home planties and devouring every book in the library… staring into space (ever-evolving gardens in my head)… one thing to share: you guys don’t need to choose between containers and in-ground. Google “square foot gardening” and check out how much can go into open-bottomed boxes! cheers! peach
on Jun 24th, 2006 at 5:51 pm
Isn’t that something, the difference in 5 weeks! Looking great!
on Jun 25th, 2006 at 11:47 pm
Steven, good point about the infections. Oops. We’ll take another look at that, since I hadn’t even thought of that. Now, my next stupid question…how do you know which flowers are male and which are female?
Peach, thanks for stopping by — others have suggested square-foot gardening to me, too, and it’s definitely something that sounds interesting. I hope you’ll be back to visit again!
Spetunia, thanks so much for your sweet comment! I was pretty amazed when I went back to the old photo — I thought it would be a change, but never imagined how dramatic it would be…
:-) Genie
on Jun 26th, 2006 at 5:42 am
[...] Where it’s at: June 24 [...]
on Jun 26th, 2006 at 7:53 am
The female flowers usually have a tiny fruit at the base and the males will have a straight, fruitless stem. If you really want to be anal-retentive about it, you can hand pollinate!
on Jun 26th, 2006 at 9:50 pm
Excellent information, Steven. I read somewhere else about someone hand-pollinating their zucchini, but I’m not sure I’m ready for that level of commitment yet. But now at least I know what I’m looking at when I look at the plant — I was wondering what the difference in the types of stems might be.
Thanks!
on Jun 27th, 2006 at 6:52 am
on Jun 28th, 2006 at 5:48 am
on Jun 29th, 2006 at 5:34 am
on Jan 21st, 2010 at 6:29 pm
[...] the garden has filled out, its gotten more crowded. We kind of expected a thicket, since the seedling tags all recommended much more space than Steve [...]