Steve's Square Foot Garden 2009

Long overdue posting

Well I finally had a chance to add some photos of the garden to the blog after returning from Italy a month ago (has it been that long already?!).  So the spring has been wet and cool most of the time.  Surprisingly the garden is doing REAL well! (I think the raised beds and "Mel's Mix" has saved teh garden from being waterlogged like so many other gardeners in the area). The peppers are struggling a bit but zucchini, tomatoes, garlic, onions, etc. are ALL thriving!  The sun sheilds experiment has also worked out well adn I think is really helping the garden grow especially with the limited sunny, warm days that we have had.  (The row of peppers closest to the reflective material is doing much better than the row further away).  In terms of pests I've got a current battle with a skunk living under the shed.  We've contracted with an animal control company to relocate it as I want nothing to do with skunks.  Also I noticed the first cucumber beetles which I am squashing by hand as well as the first Japanese Beetles on the basil as well (hopefully won't be as bad as last year).  Got a few photos below and the rest are in the June 2009 album.  Will hopefully het back into regular posting again too!

Rollin' the dice

Well I am heading to Italy tomorrow for two weeks and I rolled the dice today and planted all my seeds and seedlings out into the garden (the camera is packed so no photos..hehe).  We'll see.  May 7 in mid Hudson New York is a gamble especially with tomatoes and peppers.  Send some warm weather thoughts my way (and for my vacation too!)

Asparagus

On Sunday we began our "light havest" of the asparagus  Was a real nice addition to breakfast!

 

 

 

Warm weather

So with a nice stretch of warm weather predicted here in New York I decided to begin some of the acclamation process for my tomato, pepper, and broccoli seedlings by setting them in a shelterd location on the patio outside.  I will also be transplanting the rest of the pepper seedlings from the seed plugs over to larger cow pots and then placing them on the heat pad/grow light in the closet.

Weekend activities

So over the weekend Sarah and I went up to Gardener's Day at Cornell Cooperative Extension in Millbrook. Very informative sessions and one session has helped me identify that my banana plant at work is infested with scale (will bring in rubbing alcohol and and cotton swabs to remove them)

Also over the weekend Sarah weeded the strawberry patch and I cleaned out the shed, put up the netting on the new raisied bed, and planted the potatoes in the potato bags.  Pretty busy!

Reflective boards and new grapevines go in

So today I put the the relective boards together.  The vegetable garden is not in optimal sunlight (but I haven't gotten the heart yet to bring the trees down that are shading it).  I decided to experiment a bit by putting some relective mylar onto boards and see if the heat loving veggies (tomatos, cucs, and peppers particularly) will respond to some extra reflected sunlight.  I will have to be very careful I am expecting so as not to scorch things either though.  I figure nothing ventured, nothing gained! 

I also put in three seedless grape varieties into some makeshift trellising (similar to the other square foot ones made with electrical piping and rebar).  I know that I am attempting an organic and heirloom garden but my concession to hybridization is the seedless grapes...I really hate seeds in grapes what can I say!