May 19, 2015

Recently the weather hasn't been too kind for the garden....and the volunteers. Every day for the past two weeks there has been rain of some amount and duration. And it's beginning to show in the veggies. Aphids are showing up everywhere. Flea beetle populations are exploding. Spittle bug is attacking the oregano. Mildew is starting up on the kale, cowpeas, and gourds. And a fungal disease is destroying all the peas. Not fun. 

Today we repaired some of the damage by removing sick plants, trimming back the chives, and removing older leaves in order to open up plants to more air and light. We hope it helps. 

On a good note, we planted lots of new stuff. An entire bed of Lancelot leeks got in today. Three beds of seed potatoes went in....a general red skinned variety and an unusual purple. Chard, beets, and assorted greens were added to the garden too. Missy brought several tomato seedlings, so we can now look forward to cherry tomatoes and roma's. 

The pallet fence that has protected the garden area for the past year was in need of a little attention. .....wow, it's been a whole year! Doug and Matt tackled the job, getting everything re-aligned and stable. 

The one thing that is doing better than super, in spite of the rain, is the last planting of potatoes. They went into the brand new bed that Matt created. To say the least, they are growing like super plants! They are the tallest potato plants we've ever had. They're well over the top of a five gallon bucket. 

Today's harvest was meager. But it's been quite some time since we had such a paltry harvest. But at least everyone had something to take home. Sweet potatoes (whites, oranges, purples), broccoli, pumpkins, chard, two types of kale, green onions, carrots, cowpeas (only a few), plus we picked our first two gilfeather turnips. And five dozen eggs got shared.