Garden Update
Aug. 29th, 2011 05:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
helblondeYesterday, the neighbors took out one of the trres that was overshadowing and dropping leaves all over my veggies! Sure, they were just clearing a volunteer that was growing too close to their shed, but it was a boon to my maters.
Speaking of tomatoes, the plants are happily putting out fruit now that the brocolli is gone. My reading since this spring says that the two plants are not compatible (anti-companions? sworn enemies?) and sure enough, they aren't.
The peas are gone, but the beans are still going strong, as are the cukes and zukes. I had to pull and use the onions, since they started going to seed instead of drying out for winter storage. In the seed department, I have learned that lettuce grows about 3 feet tall, then throws dozens of heads which seed like dandelions. I have cut and stored the Romaine and hope to get red and green leaf seeds in the coming weeks. The sunflowers are also getting seedy. I have stored some for next year, and expect that they will mostly reseed. I overwatered one night last week and most of them fell over. Oops. They do have surprisingly shallow root systems.
The potato towers were a bust. I think we got a meal's worth of spuds ranging from fist-sized to pea-sized from 3 plants. I can see a few things to try differently. Maybe. I may just not mess with the towers again.
We just put tarps down on the foxtailed part of the yard for some soil solarization. In theory, it should heat up the soil enough to kill the weeds and seeds so we can start fresh there in 6 weeks. The side yard is going to get tarped this coming weekend after we have given the diatomaceous earth a chance to work its magic. It looks like we had termites living in the fence that we had pulled out and were storing there.(The landlords said we could dispose of it in the roofers dumpster.... We expected that to appear sooner than it did.) Speaking of bugs, between the heavy watering last weekend and the tarping, we are having another ant incursion. :(
They're in my bed!
They will be dead.
Speaking of tomatoes, the plants are happily putting out fruit now that the brocolli is gone. My reading since this spring says that the two plants are not compatible (anti-companions? sworn enemies?) and sure enough, they aren't.
The peas are gone, but the beans are still going strong, as are the cukes and zukes. I had to pull and use the onions, since they started going to seed instead of drying out for winter storage. In the seed department, I have learned that lettuce grows about 3 feet tall, then throws dozens of heads which seed like dandelions. I have cut and stored the Romaine and hope to get red and green leaf seeds in the coming weeks. The sunflowers are also getting seedy. I have stored some for next year, and expect that they will mostly reseed. I overwatered one night last week and most of them fell over. Oops. They do have surprisingly shallow root systems.
The potato towers were a bust. I think we got a meal's worth of spuds ranging from fist-sized to pea-sized from 3 plants. I can see a few things to try differently. Maybe. I may just not mess with the towers again.
We just put tarps down on the foxtailed part of the yard for some soil solarization. In theory, it should heat up the soil enough to kill the weeds and seeds so we can start fresh there in 6 weeks. The side yard is going to get tarped this coming weekend after we have given the diatomaceous earth a chance to work its magic. It looks like we had termites living in the fence that we had pulled out and were storing there.(The landlords said we could dispose of it in the roofers dumpster.... We expected that to appear sooner than it did.) Speaking of bugs, between the heavy watering last weekend and the tarping, we are having another ant incursion. :(
They're in my bed!
They will be dead.
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no subject
Date: 2011-08-30 05:06 am (UTC)Huh.
Date: 2011-08-30 05:59 am (UTC)Huh. I didn't know broccoli and tomatoes were anti companions. That might explain why the one planted near where the cabbage was this year didn't work.
Thanks!
Re: Huh.
Date: 2011-08-30 06:24 am (UTC)Cool.
Re: Huh.
Date: 2011-08-30 08:19 pm (UTC)Your website says they're friendly, but not to plant cabbage or cauliflower with tomatoes. That doesn't make sense to me, since cauliflower and broccoli are near identical plants and cabbage is in the same family.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-30 05:05 pm (UTC)RE: ants
Slay those evil little bastards with great death!!!