The Modern Victory Garden

Next weekend is my daughter’s graduation ceremony and a little family get together is planned for afterwards here at the house.   I want to use this weekend to get ahead of the garden chores so that everything is in good shape and can be largely ignored next weekend.   Here’s what I got done today:

• Moved the Siletz tomatoes out of the greenhouse
• Whacked the weeds in the garden walkways
• Sprayed all the tomatoes with an organic fungicide
• Sprayed the broccoli and cabbages with Bt solution
• Fed the onions a fish emulsion drench
• Fed the Siletz tomatoes a kelp emulsion drench
• Pastured the chickens for a couple of hours
• Fertilized the Lawn

It was a fine day (75 degrees with lots of sunshine) so working outside was a pleasure - which is probably why I managed to knock through almost my entire “to do” list in one day!   The one thing I did not get accomplished today is starting some more seeds – broccoli, cabbages, kale, and pac choi.   I will tackle that tomorrow and get them going in seed trays in the greenhouse.        

I moved the Siletz tomatoes from the greenhouse this morning because I had never intended to leave them in the greenhouse all season.   It was crowded in there with them taking up the entire center area of the greenhouse, which makes air circulation less than optimal.   They stayed in the greenhouse quite a while though because of the cool/wet weather we have been having.   However, today marks the beginning of a prolonged improved weather forecast for our region so I decided to get them out into the full sunshine.                

These plants are setting fruit so I also gave them a drink of kelp emulsion, which is a good organic fertilizer with a higher ratio of phosphorous to the nitrogen or potassium components.   There are several tomatoes formed, some in clusters, and the plants are flowering profusely.                          

The other tomatoes in the garden are all flowering but there is no fruit set on any of them yet.   Luckily, the super early started Siletz plants are working on providing me with some early tomatoes.   The greenhouse is a lot less crowded now without the Siletz tomatoes taking up the whole center area.   The Celebrity tomatoes, which will stay in the greenhouse all season, are doing very well.                              

A good sign that summer is about to arrive and maybe stay awhile is the first zucchini plant blooms.   Today I saw the first female flower blooming on the Gold Rush zucchini but sadly since there is not a single male flower open yet, the tiny fruit has no chance of being pollinated and going on to a harvestable size.   Keeping my fingers crossed that some male flowers start opening up soon because fresh zucchini sounds mighty tasty right now.          

The two beds planted up in the three sisters combination of corn, pumpkin, and beans are doing okay despite the weeks of cool and wet weather, however, they obviously were appreciating the increased warmth and sunshine today.   The pumpkin vines are starting to run already.                                 

Both the potatoes and the pea patch wanted to lay over a bit with last week’s very heavy rains but they seem to be bouncing back now that it is drying out.   I am quite amazed at how much the potato patch has grown in a relatively short period of time.   Here is the potato patch as it looked on May 8th.   The plants were just beginning to break soil and emerge.                

And here it is just a little over a month later on June 12th!                           

The potato plants are just starting to flower, which is a good indicator that the spuds are starting to form under ground.   In a few weeks, I will start checking to see if the new potatoes are big enough to start stealing now and again from under the plants.                                                          

My cat Sid spent the day following me around as I worked on things, keeping out of the way but within viewing distance of wherever I was at.   He seemed to particularly enjoy spending time under the raspberry canes.   I caught him napping there quite a lot today.                                    

The last of our many rhododendron plants is blooming right now. The rest have put on a spectacular show already and are dropping their blooms, but this one is the last hold out and is closing up the spring rhodie bloom season with a bang.   

Tomorrow will be a lazy Sunday since I got so much done today, however I will definitely spend a little time getting some seed starting done in preparation for the summer planting of fall cole crops and greens.                        

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener