More, more, more

See http://daphnesdandelions.blogspot.com/ for links to more blogs and what their owners are growing this week.  The beds are producing a greater variety now, an improvement on the limited choices available in the spring.  You know you’re in the heart of summer when you can get home grown tomatoes and sweet corn but things are not quite there yet.  Right now I’m getting a mix of spring and summer crops.

Midweek I got a head of Pakman broccoli and a kohlrabi bulb (not shown).

This morning I got a head of Major broccoli and another kohlrabi bulb.

 

The first beans (Provider) came in.  This is the first of two small pickings. 

This Cocozelle squash was 5 oz and the flower had not opened yet.  Never seen one get that size before flowering.  I picked it early so I could spray the squash stems with Bt, as a defense against the borer.  I apply Bt to the squash about every 4 days, when I spray the cabbage crops.

OK the carrots (Cosmic purple) don’t look so great, but they are good for something.  Blunt carrots like Danvers do better in these beds.

Some red onions (not shown) grown from sets were laid over and these were picked.  When these onions are ripe they practically pop out of the soil.  I’ll have okra soon.  The Red Burgundy okra is striking plant.   

Totals:  Cucumber 9 oz, lettuce 7 oz, carrots 11 oz,  summer squash 13 oz, red onion 10 oz, snap beans 9 oz, kohlrabi 21 oz, broccoli 21 oz.  That’s the last lettuce picking until fall.   For the week 6.3 pounds.

The drought has continued.  This area is 8 inches below average yearly totals now.  I’ve been watering the vegetable beds from the house well system, but not the grass, which has been turning brown in large swaths now.  I’ve been reluctant to draw too much water from the well, not wanting to find out what its limits are.  This weekend I broke down and bought an electric pump to draw water from the pond.  Think of the pond as a large rain barrel. 

This is the setup that I cobbled together.  The intake is about 15 feet of garden hose with a ten foot piece of 1 inch conduit lashed to the hose with zip ties.  The conduit keeps the intake end from drifting around.  An empty one gallon plastic bottle is attached to the end of the conduit as a float and the hose intake extends about 2 feet beyond the conduit.  The end of the hose droops about a foot below the water’s surface.  The pump moves water at about double the flow rate of the house system.  Using this setup I've been watering much of this weekend and this morning - with a hand sprinkler.  We'll see if some green grass appears.  Hope so.