Battle with the birds!

corn under row cover

Battle with the birds! I will have to replant the scarlet runner beans as the birds got the seedlings. The row cover I put on where I planted the seeds blew off and the birds were able to get to the seedlings before I could cover them again. Yum bean sprouts! Some of the winter squash seeds got picked out before it even germinated so I replanted that also.  Row cover is great stuff-it keeps birds, rabbits and bugs out, you can water through it,  it provides some shade protection from the UV rays here in Santa Fe at 7000 feet altitude and it helps against hail (unless it is huge) by diverting the hail from punching holes in big leaf plants like pumpkins and winter squash. I keep lightweight row cover (.03-.05) on until the plants start to flower and then you need to take it off for the pollinators to do their thing. As you can see in the picture I uncovered the corn seedlings which are under the row cover. The drip system is also under the row cover and the seedlings are coming up under it. After the seedlings are bigger, the birds won’t be interested and I will take it off. A friend of mine reported that her birds have even poked holes in her row cover-at least my birds haven’t figure out how to do that!

garden update June 18

Well the first 35 tomatoes I planted  in the first few days of May are really doing great. They survived the late freezing temperatures and the unbelievable winds in wall of waters and they looked like hell for awhile  but are really big now. But the ones I planted a couple of weeks ago (the competition tomatoes) are still struggling. It has been really hot in the day. I just took off the row cover now  as I’m afraid if I keep it on any longer they won’t get to the size I need them. They look stunted. Hope they make it.  So far, I’ve have 2 tomatoes dying and one pepper died. Not bad but really hated losing that black cherry plant although I still have one BC left. Some of the giant sunflowers were eaten by birds-yummy little sprouts! So i have to replant those.

Tomorrow (Sunday) I am finishing up the drip system for the main garden, putting row cover on the corn so the birds don’t eat the seedlings as they come up, re-establishing the wells around the plants where needed, and adding straw on each well and the cages. Also replanting some of the stuff that either got eaten by birda or didn’t come up.  I took off the row cover on all the summer squash, cucumbers, eggplants, peppers, and tomatoes. Doesn’t look like I’ve hung my laundry out in the garden anymore although I am keeping it behind the plants in case I need it again for hail. Hail-ha! Hasn’t rained here in quite awhile.

Something ate one of my giant pumpkin plant!

I’m pretty sure that something was a rabbit. I have them covered at night with additional row cover right over the plants themselves  to protect them but evidently the wind blew one of them partially off and some of the leaves are half gone. I think it will survive. I think they are getting in under the gates-I’ll have to do something about that! The rabbits aren’t interested once the pumpkin plants get big so I’ll have to keep a close watch on them and covered at night for now…

June bearing strawberries ready

stawberries in patch

The June bearing strawberries planted last year are really ripening now and will continue bearing through the rest of June. This is the first year for producing berries and the plants should produce well for 3 years. Last year at this time they were putting out all kind of runners. This year they are putting their energy into bearing fruit. If you plant some strawberries and don’t know what type they are just wait to see if they put out lots of runners and if they do, they are probably a June bearing type.  If not, they are one of two more types of strawberries. I’ve never grown strawberries before and am real excited to grow them. I keep them covered with row cover so the birds don’t get the berries.

1st strawberries gathered

Here is a little more info on the 3 types of strawberries: June bearing, Everbearing and Day Neutral.

June Bearing strawberries produce a single, large crop per year for a couple of weeks in late spring-June. June bearers produce a single flush of flowers and many runners. There are 3 varieties- early, mid-season and late season. The largest fruits are from the June bearing varieties.

Everbearing strawberries produce two to three crops of fruit  during the spring, summer and fall. They do not send out many runners.

Day Neutral strawberries will produce fruit throughout the growing season. These strawberries also produce few runners. Everbearing and day neutral strawberries are great when you don’t have much space, but the fruits are smaller than June bearers.

closeup of strawberries

We gathered a big bowl of them and they are really beautiful!  fixed some whipped cream  for a special treat!

strawberries and whipped cream-yum!

sweet corn in!

Finally the last of the garden is in. Corn. I was going to plant a variety called ‘Silver Queen’ but that takes 82+ days and I’m planting so late that I don’t think I have time for it to harvest  since that would put me in mid September. So I’m planting a variety called ‘Spring Treat’ which takes only 68 days to maturity. If any of you get a late start on your veggies, just look at the package where it says how many days it matures in and get a variety that takes less time-that way you can still get lots of veggies this season.

Master Gardener’s State Conference

Just got back from our Master Gardener’s State Conference in Albuquerque where we met with other Master Gardeners throughout New Mexico and listen to experts in many subjects giving us info. I particularly like the seminar on Gordon Tooley’s Fruit Trees since I need help in that area. I also enjoyed the tour at the Botanical Gardens, ‘East meets West-a Japanese Garden Tour’. Other seminars I enjoyed were ‘Growing Better Berries’ and the seminar I enjoyed the most was given by Debra Madison called ‘Kitchen Herbs, Garden Herbs. Learned a lot to help me with my own gardens.

tomatoes ready to come out of wall of waters

tomatoes in wall of waters and row cover

Here are the tomatoes in wall of waters and some under row cover. I am ready to take the wall of waters off as many of them have grown out of the wall of waters. 61 tomatoes total. Most of the ones that I planted in early May are doing great considering they had to weather freezing temps at nights and incredible winds. Now it is blistering hot but they love the heat!

Bri’s Giant Pumpkin Patch in

baby pumpkin plant under low tunnel with shade cloth open

They’re in! The giant pumpkin plants are finally planted in Bri’s Pumpkin Patch. I rototilled the extra composted horse manure in and finished the low tunnels and put them in place Saturday in record breaking 99 degree heat here in Santa Fe. Brutal.

949.5 N.Harp 09 baby pumpkin plant

Sunday I planted my four baby giant pumpkin plants-949.5 N.Harp 09, 817.9 Schieder 09, 1166 Mohr 09, 895 Grande 08.  I planted them at a 45 degree angle in the direction they will vine and up to the cots (baby leaves) so their stems will be protected from snapping off in wind. They are just starting to lay down so I built up the soil under them to support them. I placed them in the direction to grow out of the tunnels (remember to look at the second true leaf and that is the direction they will grow).  I was worried that even with row cover over the top of the low tunnels, it would still be too hot for the baby giant pumpkin plants so I covered them with additional row cover. I had them in the windowsill but not outside to really harden off so I was afraid they would be really tender to the intense heat. I watered with Super thrive and seaweed fertilizer to help with the shock.

In addition, I went out and got some shade cloth to put over the row cover and to shade the ends. That should help with the temperatures expected to be in the mid to high 90’s the rest of the week. It ended up with much lower temperatures on Sunday- 86 degrees because a storm moved in all day and cooled things off and dumped some nice rain that night. Perfect planting weather!  Not too hot. Nice lightning storm too.

4 low tunnels with pumpkins

I checked them last night after a 96 degree day and they are doing well what with all the extra protection. I still have to get in the drip system for the pumpkin plants but that should be easy the way I designed the patch. I also want to put a path around the patch to discourage people from walking through the patch and compacting the soil.

I also planted the last of the eggplants-Thai yellow egg and the winter squashes-Chiogga d’ Marina and Galeux de Eyesines seeds. Finally, I only have to get the corn in…almost there.

summertime night storm

night storm over Santa Fe

Quite a show Sunday night with a nice summer storm. Cooled things down a bit which we really needed. Here are some photos of the storm when it finally came in the evening.

night storm sheet lighting

New Mexico gets the second most lighting strikes next to Florida and I like to follow the weather and these storms. We get our summer storms in mostly from Mexico that go up through Arizona and then over to us but this one came from the east going west. Go figure.

nighttime lightning

Anyways I read that lighting strikes are good for plants and soil as they add a negative charge to the earth which the plants like.  Lighting can go from the clouds down to the earth as well as from the earth to the clouds. Wind on the other hand produces a positive charge which make people crabby (and I think plants too!) At least that what it does to me!

unusual radish shapes!

LAVA’S RADISHES
My friend Lava had extra radishes she grew and since I didn’t grow any and it is getting hot and the radishes bolt, she told me to go over to her garden and pull some. To my surprise I found some very large wierd shapes.  Here are a few of them.

RADISH HEAD

This one on the left had split and looked like a Tim Burton character. I added some cloves for eyes and nostrils but it was already there just waiting for my imagination to enhance it. I like the roots for hair.

Cracking in a radish indicates it is over-mature and will probably be bitter but this one was too much fun to care.

The one below on the right looks like a butt. She got booty! Amazing what a radish can create (at least in my mind). Need I say more…

RADISH BUTT!

Radishes can split if they get watered inconsistently or with a sudden rain storm.

Radishes are also a deterrent against some pests such as cucumber beetles and carrot rust flies. They are a good organic pest control if  planted around veggies that get those pests.

The last of the tomatoes are finally in. Phew..

Yesterday I planted 10 more tomatoes to make a grand total of 61 tomatoes! That’s it-I’m done planting tomatoes-no mas! I still have to put in the corn, winter squash, and giant pumpkins which should be done by the end of the weekend. The end of the big push is in site!

Time Lapse Growing Giant Pumpkin and High Speed Camera Explosion

This was so much fun I just had to share it.  I found it on you tube. It came from www.billsbigpumpkins.com . It is also on my video page and currently on my sidebar as my featured video so others can find it after this post is buried.

Lettuce patch update

lettuce patch shade cover

Here is my shade cloth over the lettuce patch. I also am going to put bird netting around the raised bed to keep out the rabbits. This morning I  thinned again (third time) my romaine (now 5 inches tall) and butter lettuce about 5 inches tall). I want to see if I get some big heads of romaine and butter heads but it is a lot of work always thinning them to make room for them to grow.  I am hoping the butter lettuce won’t bolt with the warm weather.

looper and lettuce damage

closeup of lettuce looper

I also found some small loopers (caterpillars) on some of the lettuce so I will spray with BT (Bacillus thuringiensis) today-an organic pesticide that won’t hurt bees or birds or humans and is specific to gets rid of caterpillars that do damage on our crops. Notice the holes in the lettuce and the little dark spots are frasse (poop). So if you see frasse- look for the loopers.

A few of the arugula are bolting but it bolts with the first bit of warm weather. I’m giving everything that bolts and the ends with roots to the chickens. I also picked Provencal lettuce mesclun which is wonderful and easy. I didn’t have to thin but one time. That plus you just cut off the tops of the lettuces and waa laa-instant salad. It should comeback 3 or more times. I am putting a shade cloth over the bed as I had some friends tell me they were able to have lettuce in the summer with it over them.

I also tried a new spinach for me called Bordeaux which I am very disappointed with. Very small leaves are sorta wimpy-not much there so I’m going to try some summer type of spinach that supposedly won’t bolt and have bigger more succulent leaves. Gonna try Tyee spinach. Suppose to resist bolting in the heat.

Lastly, pick your lettuce first thing in the morning after watering it the night before. To clean lettuce after I thin it, I pull it out roots and all and cut off the leaves above the the dirt and roots-less rinsing. Then in the kitchen I put it in some bowls of clean water to move debris and use a salad spinner to remove excess water. I put the lettuce  into a zip loc freezer bag with a damp paper towel folded up. This help keep it from getting limp.

giant tomatoes in garden

giant tomatoes in tomato sacks

I finally planted my giant tomatoes that I’ve been growing in the house since March. Looking good-all are over 2 foot tall.  I have five ‘Big Zacs’ and 6 ‘Nick Harps’. I put on some row cover tomato sacks (like potato sacks) that I sewed up last year to protect them from the leafhopper early in the season. The leafhopper carries bacterial wilt disease but if you protect your tomatoes when they are young, they can quite often resist the disease. The young tomato plants succumb easily to bacterial wilt. The sacks also help them from getting sunburned when you first put them out.

eggplants and peppers in

I planted the shishito and padron peppers and the fairy eggplants. I still have to plant the Thai yellow egg eggplants that are just begging to go into the ground. They have been inside under lights since March-April and I have been trying to wait patiently till the nights warm up but I’m afraid I’m not very good at waiting. I guess I got spoiled last year with such a mild Spring. Everything was planted and up by now. Not this year!   Today was the right time.

When planting the shishito peppers one of mine already has small peppers and it is still May! It is one of the ones I started in March. Peppers love heat. Today is going to be 81 degrees so they should love that!