Mesclun
My fall garden is off to a slow start thus far. If all had gone according to plan, we should have been harvesting some tatsoi and pak choi right about now, but alas, all of my early August transplants have succumb to pests. My broccoli are done for as well. I left out several shallow bowls of stale beer in hopes of trapping some slugs but evidently none of them were up for getting drunk last night. Who knows if they were even the problem. Whatever it is that's reeking havoc on the brassica members of my garden club isn't leaving behind any evidence. I'm also noticing some of my newly sprouted beets disappearing as well. (Luckily my transplanted beets are doing fine.) Oh the trials of gardening organically.
My transplanted beans don't seem to be doing much either. I'm gonna give them a couple more weeks to get their act together before I ripe them out to sow something else. Finally, I'm noticing that all of the blossoms forming on my zucchini plants appear to be male. Is it something I'm doing wrong that's causing this? Or are the gardening gods truly conspiring against me?
From Top: Hakurei Turnips, Flowering Brassica (Yu Choi Sum)What does appear to be working are the radishes and mesclun, which will hopefully be ready to harvest in a couple of weeks. The hakurei turnips and carrots are also doing ok. However, overall growth seems to be slow. I'm blaming the huge maple and pine trees in the background for cutting down on the hours of direct sunlight my garden is getting. I think I'll have to hedge my bets next year and also plant some flowers and veggies in parts of the old garden and front lawn, which seem to get much more sun. Also, I can't wait for my backyard "feng shui" to be a little more balanced next year with the addition of more beneficial flowers and insects. (I'm already set on mail ordering some ladybugs next year.)
From Left: Red Altaglobe Radishes, Napoli CarrotsOther than watching many of my veggies disappear, I also sowed some wild arugula, Johnny's all lettuce mix, more turnips and pak choi (in spots where the others disappeared) this past week. Also, I laid down some pieces of cardboard and straw along the paths in between my raised beds in order to kill some remaining grass and strung up some twine to mark my future side beds. Finally, I'd like to install 3 more raised beds this upcoming weekend and continue to sow more fall and winter crops. Our first frost is fast approaching!
Oh, my...your garden is so neat! It makes mine look like a messy jungle. Good luck with your fall garden. I'll be winding mine down for fall, as we head south next month. I might try my hand at a winter garden in AZ, even though the last time I tried it wasn't very successful.
ReplyDeleteI love garden art and the way you have shown it, it is my biggest passion.
ReplyDeleteAll of my zucchini flowers were male at first, too. You should see some females within a few more days. Everything looks great.
ReplyDeleteI've got a broccoli update post coming up so you can see how my broccoli has grown under the row cover. IMO, row covers are a must have for veggies like that!
Great photography of your garden! It is very organized and looking beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThose males come out first, and sometimes for a long time before the females do. I hovered fretfully over my cantaloupes until finally I started getting female flowers. I'm seeing tons of female ovaries on my pumpkins, but the flowers haven't bloomed. I'm worried now that I won't have a single pumpkin for Halloween.
ReplyDeleteI love the garden.
ReplyDeleteIt was nice going through it. keep it up the good work.
–thanks–
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