The Garden Grows

We are having a warmer than normal spring. That means the spring veggies like peas, lettuce and beets are not overly happy. The warm weather veggies: beans, tomatoes and squash are flourishing. Luckily we have fairly cool nights so the spring veggies are still producing.

This year I planted a mix of leftover bean seed so I have purple and yellow string beans and some Italian beans. That should make for some interesting dinners. The purple are blooming now. Can wait to start harvesting.

The strawberries are done for the time being. They put out a meager harvest this year. I may need to replace that bed. I've read that they need to be replaced every 3 years or so. I think that bed is older than that.

The blueberries are just ripening. Picked a small handful yesterday. They are one of my favorites, so I'm very excited that they are coming in.

Unfortunately the birds beat me to the pie cherries. I had company and forgot to check the tree. The fruit must have ripened quickly because when I checked, a week later, there were about 6 half-eaten cherries left on the tree. I will plan to net that tree much earlier next year.

The plum is failing. It had some sort of canker, but flowered prolifically this year. I was treating the canker with neem, and seemed to be making some progress. However, the fruit is all going brown and moldy instead of ripening. Very disappointing. I may have to get it cut down. It might not be in the best place.

All of the heirloom tomatoes that I bought are flowering. I started spraying with Serenade fungicide right away. They look like they are all doing well. Fingers crossed that they survive the local blight.

My pattypan squashes are still small, but one bloomed yesterday. The flower was bigger than the entire plant and looked very silly.

Everything that I planted in the new cinderblock beds seem to be doing well. I'm not sure if it's because of the blocks or the fact that the soil I added is mostly compost. Perhaps a combination of the two.

All in all the garden is coming along quite nicely so far.