Well...

Our area had a 2-3 inch rain forecast for yesterday and today. It's rained about 1/10th of an inch. Pretty much on par with rain forecasting all year.

The garden is drying up from a bit of over-watering anyway.  Everything is still doing well.

Cauliflower and Rainbow Chard

Bed 1

Bed 2

Carrot and Onion Jungle

Lettuce and Broccoli

Lettuce in front, chard on right, radish and nasturtium on left, cabbage in the back

Farm Tour, etc

Farm Tour was yesterday, and I visited a few farms in the Madison area. It's always neat to see how different farms do the same thing in different ways. Some have a lot more resources/capital, but the savviness and creativity of others tend to make them pretty equal. Anyway, the lettuces and brassicas look good at all the farms right now. Cooler weather should help soon.

All my native plants are suffering from lack of water now. I am hand watering just enough to hopefully keep them alive. Rain is expected in a day or two. My area is at about a 12 inch rain deficit for the year.

The garden is doing fine so far except i think some of the spinach didn't make it, and the last two candy roaster squash vines I planted by the porch died. It was only a matter of time since they were showing signs of wilt/borers.

Violas & Pansies

I bought some violas and pansies to replace the zennias. I didn't have the heart to remove the penta yet.

Also filled one more container with a mix of more mature lettuces.

One of the broccoli seedlings I planted from seed died, so I bought a mature cilantro plant for that spot. A Thai basil plant also volunteered in a pot, so I transplanted it beside the cilantro.

Cardinal Flower

The cardinal flower is well into its bloom now.

I thinned the lettuces and round 3 carrots.  That has me caught up for now.

Lots of the greens are starting to put out tiny true leaves.

Snip Snip

I thinned out the tatsoi, kale, and round 2 radishes.  I left some of the greens a little thick so I can harvest some to eat when they are further along and leave the rest to get to their final growth size.  The lettuces will need attention next, as well as the spinach, chard, beets, and Round 3 carrots.  I'm hoping to get to the lettuce and carrots tomorrow.  They should see better growth after the competition is removed.

The timed watering started today. Raised beds are getting 1 hour of water per day, and the pallet is getting 30 minutes per day. I think that will be enough & hopefully not too much. Looks like temps will drop about 10 degrees for the high in a day or two, but sunny days continue.  Not much hope for rain, which has been the issue all year.

The cauliflowers are doing well under their fabric (and get watered by the dew to some degree), and the carrots are fine. They will definitely go longer without needing water compared to the beds.

Early Autumn Garden

The Cardinal Flower is just starting to open its blooms.  I'm kinda glad I accidentally broke the top off of it since that made it put out 3 new stalks worth of blooms.

Watering

I placed some fabric over the cauliflower plants to cut the direct sun so they can stay a little cooler until the weather turns.  It worked very well for the collards when I tried it before.

Using the sprinkler in the beds today. I bought a faucet timer to try out that should be coming this week.  If it works, I can set it to water in the mornings before I am able to manually water. Also will be nice not to worry about the garden if I am away from home for a few days.

Move It

I moved the container cabbages so they would get more shade. It's too hot for them still. The ones in the bed will have to adapt or die. Surprisingly, the cauliflower is taking it somewhat better. Maybe they get shade off the house longer.

One of my 5 gallon buckets split right across the bottom. How in the world did that happen??? Oh well, I can use it as a planter for a tomato or pepper.

The radishes I planted on Saturday are popping up.

Nice

74 degrees for the high and cloudy today. Probably ideal conditions for the new plants I put in yesterday. The soil is still damp, so no need to water.

Broccoli is putting out new growth, so I think it has established itself.

Planted... Again

Got the cabbage and cauliflower seedlings planted as I wanted. I put some swiss chard seeds in with the cauliflower, and I planted radishes, nasturtiums, and the trout lettuce in with the container cabbages. I finished up the radish and nasturtiums packs in the broccoli, which is doing well so far.  I also planted radishes and nasturtiums behind the collards. Hopefully everything will take and get growing, but the weather really needs to cool down.  It's back in the mid-80s.

I pulled up the okra plant to make room for a cabbage, and I checked the one pod that grew and saved the seeds. Did I miss it flowering??? I don't know if the seeds will be fertile, but we'll see next year, I guess.

At this point, if everything holds on, all that's left is to plant more lettuce in a few weeks.

A Quick Peek

A quick look at the garden today shows lettuce, kale, and tatsoi fully up, and the beets, spinach, and swiss chard are popping up, too, along with Round 3 carrots.  I finally got some cabbage seedlings from Native Nurseries, along with cauliflower seedlings to try because why not.  I haven't heard of anyone growing cauliflower. Maybe they are more problematic? I also impulse bought some more swiss chard seeds and Flashy Trout Back Lettuce seeds.  I saw those lettuce seeds one time too many to resist. 

It looks like I lost a cabbage seedling in the garden (1 square foot free probably for a purchased cabbage seedling), I am going to remove the okra (another cabbage seedling spot), and I am going to remove the vine-borer ravaged candy roaster squash from their tub (cauliflowers + swiss chard and/or lettuce?).  Two more cabbage seedlings are going into the two containers I have free (maybe sneak in some swiss chard here?).  And I still have half of the pallet bed for more lettuce.

That leaves me with three 5-gal containers (one has the waning/end-of-life bell pepper, one has marigolds, and one has the end-of-life Serrano pepper) and no more soil really. I doubt I will do anything with them until tomato time roles around again.  I would like some cold-hardy flowering plants though, probably to replace the zinnias and penta. Maybe a trip to Tallahassee Nurseries is in order next.

Marigolds of Autumn

The marigolds are again doing really well.

Some of what I planted Sunday is coming up, including the lettuces, tatsoi, and kale.

Minor

Not much to update with today. I thinned out the Round 2 carrots. Again, no sign of cutworms. Hopefully, between the onions and Bt dust, they will go find somewhere else to dine.

No sign of new plants yet, but it's only been a day or two since planting. I think today is going to be the last gloomy day, so should get some sun tomorrow.

I am thinking about what to put where the okra plant is. Might just be cabbage seedlings if I get that 4 pack.  I don't want to double plant them in my 2 containers.

Thinking also about getting some pansies soon. Tallahassee Nurseries has some in and in bloom.

Almost There

I planted many of my cold-weather greens today (see below for bed maps).  It has been extremely gloomy for the majority of the past week or so, and temps are currently staying in the upper 60s and 70s.  I'm not even sure we reached 70 today.

I purchased some De Cicco Broccoli plants at Native Nurseries.  I planted 2 in each 5 gallon pot, corner to corner, for a total of 4 plants (2 pots).  Hopefully, they will have enough room... the plants were only sold in a 4-pack.  That leaves me two 5 gallon pots for cabbage, which I plan to pick up next week. I'm not sure 2 cabbages will fit in each pot though.

I planted my third round of carrots. I haven't seen any more cutworms.

I removed the cover from the collards, and they have been coming along. I would say 2 out of 4 collards look healthy.  I'll see how they take to more sunlight (if we ever get any).

Bed Maps...

Lettuces... and yes, that one is spelled "Capitan" correctly.

Okra soon to be removed...

I need to soak the beet seeds overnight and get those planted tomorrow. I may plant some more radishes (and nasturtiums, if I have any seeds left) behind the collards in Bed #1.