The Modern Victory Garden

While my morning was tied up with several errands, I was able to spend a little time this afternoon in the garden.   It was actually fortunate that my schedule worked out this way as the morning was overcast and grey, but by 11:30 am the sun was out in force and it turned into a gorgeous afternoon.   I had two primary tasks that I got done today.   First, I watered all of the side garden area.  In general, I use a combination of watering methods in my garden - hand watering (container plantings, new seed beds, and the vertical grow beds), soaker hoses (tomato and zucchini beds), and my favorite overhead sprinkler for the rest of the beds.   I like this sprinkler because it provides a very thorough soaking and covers a fairly good sized area.       

My second task was to remove the horizontal pea trellis and amend the bed in preparation for planting some fall crops.   I spread six large buckets of finished compost over the entire bed area opened up by the recent pea harvest (4 feet by 12 feet).   In addition, I broadcasted some organic all purpose fertilizer over the entire bed area as well.   The broadfork was then used to aerate the entire bed area.   My intention is to finish cultivating this bed on Sunday and then plant it up with the starts of broccoli, swiss chard, and kale that I have grown out and which are now ready to go into the ground.   I had them sitting on the railing of the deck this afternoon to keep them safely out of my way while giving them full access to the beautiful sunshine.       

The three sisters planting is getting to be a jungle.                     

The half runner pinto beans are “running” on everything within reach.    The corn, having gotten off to a slow start this year, is in jeopardy of being overrun by the bean vines.   I plan to use the weed whacker tomorrow to clean up the walkways, but will have to be very careful next to this 3 sisters planting area as the pumpkins are also running and spilling over into the walkway.       

The lettuces continue to really produce this year and I am pleasantly surprised by the work horse performer “Merlot” lettuce, which I grew out from seed shared by Dan at the Urban Veggie Garden Blog.   This lettuce has been harvested hard many times all spring and summer and yet continues to be sweet and produces more and more for harvest.   Take a look at this lovely planter of Merlot lettuces!              

It tastes as good as it looks and I will definitely be growing this variety again.   

Hoping to spend quite a bit of time in the garden tomorrow.   I need to:

• Weed whack the walkways and do a general garden tidy up.
• Side dress the cucumbers and zucchini with a good balanced organic fertilizer.
• Water the container plantings and the back vertical grow bed (bush beans and pole beans).
• Transplant out the fall crops of broccoli, swiss chard, and kale.

The Royal Burgundy bush beans are flowering and will start producing very soon.   The Sunset runner beans and the Blue Lake pole beans are climbing at the moment.   The tomatoes have lots of blooms, small fruits formed, and the Siletz tomatoes have a few that are much bigger and one that is even breaking color.   While I am waiting for them to come online, the sugar snap peas, broccoli, zucchini, onions, garlic, lettuces, celery, kale, and swiss chard are keeping us well fed.                         

What are you doing in your garden this weekend?