Garden Status- Early June 2010

The deck container garden is coming along nicely with tomatoes, green peppers and herbs.

The garden is fully planted now and we are looking forward to eating some squash and onions later this week.

We have had a fair amount of rain over the last month, so my only concern now is staying ahead of the critters and bugs.  Last year, I lost the squash and cantaloupe to squash vine borers.  This year, I am spraying the soil and stem around each plant with insecticidal soap and I have put a small tinfoil shield on the soil around each plant.  The insecticidal soap is supposed to kill any eggs that may have been laid by the adult moth and the tin foil is supposed to confuse the moth so that it won't lay eggs in the first place.  Not sure if either idea will work, but I am giving them a shot.  I try my best to stay organic, but if pushed hard enough, I have been known to run for the nearest chemical.  If you have any additional ideas for prevention, I'd love to hear them.  Please leave a comment.

Farmer's Market Treasures

On Saturday, Dh and I spent a nice morning strolling around the local farmer's market.  Our mission: to spend at least $10 on locally produced goods.  The movie, Fresh, introduced us to the idea that if everyone would spend at least $10 a week on locally produced goods, we could sustain local farming.  So, we got out there and spent our $10.  First, I chose a small Borage plant to tuck into the last spot in one of my garden boxes with Better Boy tomatoes, mild peppers and Spicy Globe Basil.  Then, it was Dh's turn.  He chose a jar of locally produced Honey Jelly.  We weren't sure what Honey Jelly was, but it sure sounded good.  Turns out it is a delicious treat that tastes like honey, but spreads more like jelly - Honey Jelly (Duh!).

We were delighted to find that the farmer's market had grown since the last time we visited.  We enjoyed checking out all of the new and returning vendors, but we particularly enjoyed sampling the spreadable goat's milk cheeses, sniffing the goat's milk soaps and chatting in the Master Gardener's tent about the many uses of Borage. We are already looking forward to next week's treasures.

After the morning spent at the farmer's market, I was inspired to get my deck container garden planted.  This year, the deck is host to 2 Sweet 100 cherry tomato plants, 2 Yellow Pear cherry tomato plants, 4 Bonnie's Green Bell peppers, Oregano, Thyme, Parsley, Bee Balm and one lone Petunia.  We had very good luck with the plants on the deck last year, so we have high expectations for this year. What have you had the best luck with in containers?

Garden Status - Early May 2010

Here is a picture of our garden.  At this stage we have:
Tomatoes - Better Boy, Early Girl and Roma
Peppers- mild for salsa
Sweet Basil
Shallots & Garlic - planted last fall
Rosemary - overwintered (even with all the snow!)
Cantaloupe
Cucumbers - slicing
yellow squash
radishes
beets

lettuce - Green Leaf & Gourmet Mix

Zucchini - planted in a separate flower bed

Garden Update

We have been hard at work doubling the size of our container garden.  We now have 12 3'x6' boxes to work with.  So far, we have garlic, shallots & rosemary that were planted last fall.  We just added beets, lettuce, radishes & spinach.  The seedlings that we started from seed are ready to spend a few hours each day outdoors: 4 types of tomatoes, mild peppers and several herbs.  I also purchased seedlings: yellow squash and cucumber.  Our goal is to get everything into the ground by May 15th, the last frost date in our area.  We are doing much better than last year (our first year gardening), but still feel that we are behind.  Is that how every gardener feels this time of year?