The Modern Victory Garden

We finally warmed up to “normal” temps for a few days.   In fact, we finally got above 80 degrees - for two whole days even!   It was short lived though, because today we are back to gloomy, misting rain, and below normal temps.   (sigh)   One can only hope that this is just a slow wind up to some actual summer weather for the remainder of July and August.   The good news is, is that the plants took advantage of this brief arrival of summer to do some serious growing over the course of just a few days.   The squash plants in particular did a wake up from their doldrums and noticeably improved in a relatively brief period of time.   The pumpkins are running and starting to flower.                             

And the zucchini is actually getting big enough now to see the formation of immature flowers developing.                    

This is really behind the normal stage of growth for these plants for this time of year, but at this point I am just glad they are still alive and perking up.   The butternut squash, melons, and cucumbers similarly are much improved for having enjoyed a few days of reasonably warm weather.   The question though is whether they can catch up sufficiently, set fruit, and then mature them to harvest stage before the approach of fall and even cooler weather.   I am not concerned about the cucumbers and the zucchini as they are relatively fast producers and are harvested at “immature” stages for best eating quality.   However, the pumpkins, winter squash, and melons all require a relatively long growing period and need the fruit to ripen on the vine.   Those are the crops I am getting increasingly concerned about being able to get to the finish line in time.                                                    

Also behind schedule due to our record setting cool year (so far) are the peas and the potatoes.   Thankfully, both of those crops are coming along just fine, and while late, are setting up to produce a fine harvest for us.   The potato patch has finally filled out.                      

The pea patch is doing splendidly.   The pea vines are over 4 feet tall now – the tops have blooms and the bottom portions have pea pods growing fat with peas.                                 

I think I am about one and half weeks away from the big shelling pea harvest.   It really depends on the weather though.   In another section of garden the sugar snap peas are blooming heavily and this morning I noticed the first pods are forming.

The cool weather crops continue to rejoice in the damp and chill weather.   The Ruby Ball cabbages in particular are getting very large and at this point are starting to form the beginnings of what will later be a dense head of red cabbage (purple actually).   This is one of my all time favorite cabbage varieties because it is not only tasty but really beautiful too.

The spring planted broccoli is winding down but I am still getting a nice harvest of side shoots from them periodically.   If it ever warms up and stays there, the broccoli plants will be ready to be removed.   In the meantime, we will continue to enjoy the side shoots.   In the house, I have a big flat of cabbages and broccoli seedlings growing under lights.   They are waiting for the pea patch to be harvested so that I can plant them there for a fall/winter harvest.   In preparation for fall, I also recently direct seeded some bunching onions in an area where the early spring greens previously resided.   These will provide some fresh eating onions during the fall and early winter months.   I am also planning to direct seed some storage onions in the garden (probably next weekend) that hopefully will over winter to produce a larger sized storage onion for 2012.   I have tried this before without much success, but my previous efforts were with transplanted starts.   This time around, I am going to try a mid-summer direct seeding and see if that makes a difference.                                     

Keep your fingers crossed for me that the misting rain and cool temps that have returned do not result in a disastrous fungal infection for the tomato patch.   It’s a very real possibility with this kind of weather, particularly when it is sandwiched in between warmer spells.   I have been keeping the plants well pruned for good air circulation and will probably spray with an anti-fungal (such as Serenade) this coming weekend.   I had actually intended to do that last weekend but just did not get to it.   I hope I don’t come to regret that fact in the future.                               

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener