Monday Update 7.26.10

For as stinky as that fish emulsion is, I sure think it's worked wonders on our corn. The corn and some other veggies are going to get another dose tonight, but since the first dose two weeks ago I think our corn has really improved. We're getting a lot of growth on everything, except our peppers, but not a lot of production yet (except on our peppers--they're determined to be the world's smallest pepper bearing plants, I think). The beans finally have some baby beans on them, and after eating fresh beans from the Master Gardener's garden, I couldn't be more ready to have some of our own! We've got a couple of good looking zucchini in the back bed. The Boyfriend and I murdered the squash bug eggs this week and the plant still looks very healthy. As you can see, the sunflowers are also really taking off. As far as I can tell, they're currently serving as high-rise condos for an impressive number of earwigs. Ew.

The peas have finally realized I am not going to extend their trellis and are toppling over. They're actually still producing, but some of the plants are starting to yellow and I can't imagine they'll last much more than a couple weeks. We've harvested a bunch of the muscade carrots, but the Danver's half longs don't seem to be maturing much. I planted more lettuce and carrot seeds last week, but I'm not sure if it's too hot for them to germinate outside. The beans have come up in the front raised bed where we pulled the garlic out, so hopefully we'll be getting a nice, spaced-out bean harvest.

The basil started putting up flowers this past week, so the Boyfriend pinched those off and we should finally get to start harvesting the long awaited basil. The potatoes are still out of control, but seem to have slowed their growth finally. It's been consistently hot now, so I finally mulched with this week's yard clippings.

I've really enjoyed the gladiolas the last couple of weeks. Although I swore I wouldn't dig these bulbs up and save them for next spring, there have been a couple gorgeous flowers that I might just have to make an exception for. Now if I can just remember which plant they came from . . . One of the replacement hydrangeas Erik got us is also in full bloom and looks gorgeous. I added soil acidifier so we would get beautiful vibrant blue blooms, but I quite like the color we ended up with. The survivor hydrangae is starting to bloom as well.

I trimmed up our garlic last night after it dried outside for three weeks. They look beautiful. We ended up with a couple scraggly little ones, but all the rest look great. The hardnecks definitely came out the best. We've got them all hanging in a mesh bag in the pantry ready for use. I'll save the best looking one to plant in the fall and then maybe try another variety as well.