Little Rain

It rained lightly for most of the day yesterday, which was nice. Today though, it's just gloomy w/ no rain. The slightly cooler temps are nice, but the plants could use some sunlight.

The onions, radishes, and nasturtiums are doing very well. I finally thinned the radishes today. I probably should have snipped them, but I just pulled out the culls.

Onions growing fast!

The collards are still under the fabric. One plant is doing very well.

After thinning.

I found 4 dark brown cutworms feasting on the youngest carrot sprouts.  I had to replant part of them, but they all seem to be doing well again.  The onions are growing fast here, too, and hopefully they are helping to repel bad bugs. 5 days cutworm free!  I still have another round of carrots to plant, maybe in another week or so.

The volunteer tomatoes I planted in the yard are looking pretty happy.  How long will that last?

"Why are you getting more attention that me?"

All the broccoli and cabbage seedlings I grew failed. I've replanted seeds in the raised beds, and they have come up.  I'm planning to buy a few more-mature seedlings for the containers.

Also to come, planting spinach, tatsoi, chard, and lettuces.  I still have to clean out the pallet bed. Sorry, begonias!

Retry

The only greens looking remotely happy are the Collards I have under cloth. Even the cloth-covered broccoli and cabbage in the planters are dead or dying... some have been munched on (how??).  I went ahead and direct seeded the two planned broccoli and cabbage plants in the raised bed.  I am probably going to buy some seedlings otherwise. These winter seedlings have been ridiculously fragile.

The candy roaster squash in the tub looks horrible, too. I can't find any specific pests, but insects are obviously the problem. Might try spraying with basil soap water, or whatever. Fall gardening so far is very very hard.

The carrots seem super happy, and some more onions are popping up.  The radish seedlings are growing super fast! I need to thin them before the weekend.

I've withheld water for a few days from the swampy planter with the droopy native hibiscus. It's looking better, so apparently the problem was too much water... even though it first drooped in its old pot after a dry spell and has been droopy ever since. I don't know.

Okra

It's the okra plant's time in the sun now that the trellis has been moved. And below the okra, the radishes are popping up.

The first sign of onions is appearing in the carrot planter.

And a few more purple bell peppers are finishing up.

Trellis Use

I am going to try growing the candy roaster squash on the trellis. I removed the bean vines today, so it might as well be useful. This will keep the squash vines off the ground (more aeration, less insect access) and out of the way of the lawnmower. I'm sure the trellis won't be enough room, but it will help.  Hopefully this will encourage flying pollinators to check out the blooms, too.  I also moved some mature marigolds to the squash planter.

The greens I covered seem to be doing OK, so I think it might be helping.

One of the butterfly milkweeds put out more blooms. Hoping this is a good sign that it is successfully getting established.  I don't know if I will try it again if it fails again this year. I think it is finicky about the amount of water it gets, so the soil might not be best for it, plus it's in shade a lot of the summer.  The sun has swung around enough to give it more light as the days progress towards fall, so that may also be helping.

A volunteer Spanish Needles (Bidens alba) has appeared just outside of the native plant bed.  Pollinators love it, so I'm happy to see it, although it may go crazy.  I might try to move it into the native bed when it goes dormant around frost time.

More

I am trying some fabric over the collards, cabbage, and broccoli for now. The goal is to keep them a bit cooler and shadier, if that will work.  They aren't hardy enough to withstand 80s and 90s in full sun right now... larger seedlings might, or waiting to plant a little longer. I am waiting to plant a couple more cabbage and broccoli, as well as all the other greens/lettuces. I don't trust them until mid 80s are the predictable high.

The carrots are putting out their true leaves. I still have not thinned about half of them, but will do so soon. I planted 8 onions along the perimeter of the carrots, and I planted the 2nd round of carrots.  I also planted a couple of onions at the inside corner edges of the collards, and also more in one of the square feet.  So I have about 18-22 onions planted total.

I bought some seed packs today, too. Of them, I planted some Nasturtium and some radishes along part of the perimeter of the raised beds to act as insect magnets (bad insects munch them instead of other plants).  I'm keen on experimenting with companion plants, and these are things I wouldn't normally buy, so I won't miss them if it doesn't work out or if they get eaten.  I still may move some marigolds to the raised bed, too.

Below is a rough sketch of the beds plan. The only things planted so far are the Collards (I swapped the right-most position because of the okra plant), Onions, and the left and back right perimeter of radishes and nasturtiums.  I might be able to plant the rest at the end of Sept. or early Oct, depending on the temps.  I think I have enough seeds for that last row of perimeter plants on the right, too.

I have about 3 square feet of planting space left, so I bought some beets, kale, and more spinach to try.  The library seed packs only contain about 10 seeds, so I can't plant the 2 square feet I saved for the chard and spinach I already had.  I have plenty of Tatsoi seeds though.

Still need to clean out the pallet bed for lettuce, but lettuce is even farther away. I might think about it starting in October.