Rain, Rain, Go Away

I had to pick and toss 4 zucchinis into the compost pile this morning.  It has been so wet that they started developing some major gray mold and rot.  I think I got it before it affected the whole plant, or the other plants in the hothouse.  This rain is really starting to get depressing!

Uh Oh

So, in the past, I have never gotten a squash plant to get bigger than 8 inches or so in total diameter.  Why then, shouldn't I be surprised when the squash plants are now threatening to take over the entire hothouse, and choke out the cucumbers?  I'm going to have to trim back the leaves on that side of the plants!  Next year the squash get an entire bed to themselves!!

I'm not quite sure why I find this so funny...

One of my eggplants is actually producing flower buds all of a sudden. I had given them up as a total loss, and now this! Of course there is not enough time for it to produce a mature vegetable, but now I'm curious as to what it will do. The garden is a crazy place, indeed. Now if only my zucchini flowers would do something productive... they are pretty enough, but I really would like to get at least one squash for my effort!

We hit up a farmer's market while we were in Anchorage today. I bought a huge yellow zucchini, a few snow apples (white turnips), and some fresh green beans. I will be making homemade vegetable beef soup this Friday, and they will add so much to the flavor. I LOVE homemade soup, especially in the fall and winter. Nothing like healthy comfort food! YUMMY!

I also just ate 2 of the reddest, most amazing tasting strawberries ever, out of my 3 tiered raised strawberry beds. Absolute heaven!

Already thinking about next years garden...

So, with the exception of a few plants, this years garden has been a real failure for me. I need to start thinking about next years garden and what I will (and won't) plant in it. I'll start out with a list of what grew and what didn't.

Grew Well:

Snap Peas
Cucumber
Onion
Strawberries
Rhubarb

Didn't Work Out:

Beans
Zucchini
Broccoli
Carrots
Radishes
Spinach
Kale
Cabbage
Eggplant
Peppers
Tomato
Beets



I have to start by asking myself how much of the failure could have been prevented? I need much better soil in the raised beds, that would make a difference all the way around. I neglected my garden for 2 weeks during the beginning of the hottest part of the summer. This was due to Lily being born, but it was neglect all the same.


So, what am I definitely NOT growing again next year? Eggplant, Peppers and Beets for sure.

What am I definitely GROWING again next year? Snap Peas, Cucumber, Onion, Strawberries and Rhubarb, for sure, obviously. But what am I not willing to give up on quite yet? Cabbage, for one. I love cabbage, I cook with it all the time, and Alaska is know for its ability to grow prize winning cabbages, which tells me that I am just doing something wrong. I also know that even if I say I am not going to, I will end up with at least 2 tomato plants again next year. I think I will try Zucchini again as well, as this is just something I really want to have an abundance of in the fall. I think that next year I just need to scale it down a bit, and try to focus on a few so-far-unaccessable-to-me vegetables, and a few tried and true favorites. I will not give up, and sooner or later I will have an amazing vegetable garden every year to feed my family!

Time flys...

Hard to believe that Lily is almost a month old already! I've severely neglected my blog! Here is a quick garden update...

The broccoli and spinach bolted, due to the 85F+ temperatures. The cabbage hasn't grown at all in the last month. The peas are blooming and the beans are doing well, as are the carrots. The radishes have met a similar fate as the cabbages. Cucumbers and zucchini are looking good, and I have 1 tomato. The peppers are covered in aphids and the eggplant seems to be a wasted effort. The onions, beets and strawberries are looking good, and the rhubarb is ready to harvest again! This crazy weather has just messed with the garden too much this year, but next year will hopefully be more productive! I'll post some more pictures next time!

Garden Happenings...

Here's some photos of the progression of the garden so far...

Mixed Radishes

Wild Raspberries

Sitka Roses (behind them is where my Rock Garden will eventually live)

Lots of Cabbages!!!

Snap Peas

Broccoli

Zucchini

Rhubarb

Spinach

Kale

This is not everything in the garden, obviously, but gives a pretty good representation of how things are doing.... And remember, its only June 4th, and this is Alaska... I have no complaints so far!

One more and I'll be done!

Everything except the radishes got planted today! I planted 4 red cabbage, zucchini, pole beans and carrots... and the snap peas are already starting to poke above the ground!!! The spinach and kale are making an appearance in the greenhouse as well. All in all, a very productive Saturday! Tomorrow I'll plant the radishes, and the garden will officially be in!

Plants in the garden!!!

I planted the cabbage and the broccoli today! I'm so proud of myself! It is definitely time to plant the remainder of the vegetables, so that is my goal for the weekend... to get everything in the ground. (With the exception of the spinach and the kale which will stay in their little flats until they are the right size to be transplanted.) It feels good to be accomplishing so much, being as uncomfortably pregnant as I am at the moment. I just went out to check on my little garden, and I have to say I feel a certain tenderness towards those little plants. I raised them from the tiniest seeds and they are going to give back so much more than I put into them. Its truly a humbling thing, when you think about it!

Here's a few pictures of today's progress...

Happy little herb garden


Cabbages... think I'll supplement with a few Red Cabbage as well


Lots of Broccoli


Zucchini going into the ground tomorrow!!!

The cabbage and broccoli, obviously, have weed fabric covering their beds. This is primarily for 2 reasons... 1) These two beds were positively overrun with weeds last year, so hopefully this will kill the problem, and 2) I am hoping that the weed fabric will hold in some moisture and heat, enabling the plants to do their very best. I will be covering the fabric with mulch, once I am sure that the plants are thriving, and once I am sure there will be no more plants going into those beds. I think I will be adding 4 Red Cabbage plants to the cabbage bed, but I don't know that for sure at this time. The bed the zucchini is going into has weed fabric as well, but this is just for the warming factor, as weeds weren't really a problem in that one last year. Its sure going to be a busy weekend!!!