Loafer Canyon Gardening: The Harvest Begins

The first week of July is in the books and we've already enjoyed several varieties of fresh vegetables from the garden. The broccoli and cauliflower are long gone. We've also picked a lot of peas, radishes and lettuce. And this week, we got our first zucchini! Things are still looking good. I've tried to stay on top of the weeds, but it looks like another round of weed control is in the offing. I've also tried to keep track of the squash bugs. So far, I've only found one batch of eggs on my plants. I'm hoping they don't take over like they did last year. I replaced my diseased A&C cucumbers with some more of the Straight Eight variety. Those seem to be dealing well with the stress or whatever it was that the A&C couldn't handle.

Zucchini

Banana squash, pumpkins and green beans

Celery and tomatoes

Parsley, radishes, coriander and honey dew

I am doing one thing different this year: fertilizer. I had an old box of Miracle-Gro in the basement and decided to use it. So I've been giving all the plants some Miracle-Gro every two or three weeks. I've also been applying a product called EcoVie Plant Minerals. Between the two, the plants look lush and healthy. The banana squash has already reached the top of the trellis, so I'll have to grow it on a taller trellis next time. The same goes for the beans and the pumpkins.

Lettuce and cantaloupe

Anaheim peppers and butternut squash

Bell peppers and watermelon

Hungarian hot wax peppers and pumpkins

The weather has also been a positive factor. This was one of the wettest springs we've had around here and June was possibly the wettest on record. And we've already had a few days of thunderstorms in July, with nearly an inch of rain yesterday, and I'm hearing more rumblings over the mountains today.