es in the kitchen!I've assembled trellises for the beans, peas and cucumbers from found objects in my home and yard. Recycled trellis pieces found in my compost pile (may need to replace or reinforce one on the pea trellis becaus
e of rot...but it may be ok for this season), hemp twine and a metal trellis I found in the landscaping of our yard. The metal one has joints so I've zig-zagged it between the lemon cuke mounds and the purchased/vining cuke plant. The rest are bushmaster cukes. I may end up doing a shorter trellis for those to keep them off the ground but I've not decided. As a rule they don't need trellising like vining types do.
I started using a mixture of peppermint castille soap, garlic, canola oil and water to spray the flea beetles on the eggplant. Looks like it is working better with the oil than it did before. Hoping that won't kill the plant. I'm going to let the plant go before I stoop to pesticides...I figure I've gone 11 years of living with my husband of only eating eggplant if we go out to eat so it doesn't make sense to pollute my entire bed over a $2 plant.
I did use miracle gro last night on all the beds. The drought is really hard here so I decided to give them one (early) boost since all the plants are established. I probably won't do it again since I don't want it on there nearing harvest.
Later this afternoon (the camera was put away) I found my first baby bell pepper! The jalapeno plants have had baby peppers but they drop the peppers with the flowers so I'm not sure what that means. All the pepper plants are flowering well now.
Planted pumpkins around the outside edge of the right bed since they didn't sprout in the landscaping. I figured I could lay them over the side as they vine out, so they grow on the grass not in the bed. Two types...jack-o-lanterns and competition-sized. With cross-pollination we should still end up with some sizable gourds! I'm excited.
Probably need to give away some watermelons soon. I think I have too many plants.
I could probably also give away one or two more cucumber plants.
Even though it is late in the season I took 2 big clumps of garlic out and planted the cloves all around the eggplant, zucchini, peppers and tomatoes. It may be too late to get a harvest (usually they are harvested in early July in my zone) due to the heat but maybe not. At the very least, they'll help with the pest problems. Flea beetles and all that ;) I found some interesting red bugs on one zucchini leaf last night...no idea what they were and I squirted them before I thought to grab the camera. There were about 10 of them. Haven't seen them before or since, or anywhere else.
Also planted sunflower seeds all around. Various colors and sizes...all around the tomatoes, cucumbers, cilantro, zucchini, watermelon and inside the pea trellis. I can't wait until they come up. They'll be all around (but aren't planted thickly...just one here or there around the garden.)I am perhaps most pleased with my makeshift drip irrigation system...I used inverted 2 liter bottles and drilled several holes into the screw-on lids. Using a saw, I cut off the bottoms of the bottles, effectively making funnels. Digging gently I placed them around the left bed. I still need more (will only use the clear bottles, not green...and I need them WITH lids so it'll be a several-day type project as I get the bottles.)
Now, I'll be able to water the plants deeply via drips from the bottles by filling the bottles up and letting them slowly empty into the depths of the beds. I'll supplement that with top watering as well, but this will help me conserve water (given the drought) and will encourage my plants to reach down D.E.E.P. for their water (deep roots = healthy plants and better production!)
I'll take photos in a couple days when I have more. I was talking with XT today and she was telling me about collecting her grey water (from her wash loads) for her plants. That's an idea I like too...I may not use it for my veggie plants since I don't use the eco-sensitive detergents she uses but I don't mind using that for my ornamentals out front! It would (maybe) solve the problem I'm having with my mailbox gardenscape...the sage plants I placed aren't establishing well because I can't water them (out front) very often, due to the restrictions. Grey water isn't restricted for ornamental residential use! ~happy day!~ Now to see my husband's reaction when I start draining the washer water into the cat litter buckets...LOL...
