Harvest Monday - July 31, 2017

The harvests have picked up since my last Harvest Monday post three weeks ago.  Still no sign of a mature cucumber but there was one pleasant surprise yesterday - the first Sungold tomatoes!

Sungold

Garden Project of 2017 - The Solution

In my first post on the Garden Project of 2017, I spoke about the "why" - namely, eliminating the need for chicken wire fencing around Area #2 by transitioning those beds from vegetables to ornamental.

BTW, if you find yourself saying "I don't recall seeing that post", I'm not surprised since I goofed when posting it.  I inadvertently hit "publish" before the post was ready and then promptly reverted it to a draft.  What I didn't realize was that when I did eventually publish, it would post as of the original date, which in this case was 3 days earlier.  Oops.  Next time this happens (and we all know there will be a next time, don't we), I'll have to remember to copy and paste to a new post.

Now, back to the topic at hand - this years garden project.  Since the beds in Area #2 will become cutting flower beds, I will need to build four new vegetable beds elsewhere.  The best solution is to expand Area #1 but this involves dealing with a couple of issues:  (1) two large spruce trees growing right in the middle of where the expansion would be and (2) lack of privacy.

Harvest Monday - July 10, 2017

This is turning out to be "one of those years" - you know, those really bad years that are sprinkled amongst the good ones?

Here we are in mid-July and this is my first Harvest Monday post of the year - THAT'S the kind of year it's shaping up to be.  Firstly, I've been incredibly busy both in and out of the garden - I'm having a hard time keeping up (and truth be told, I'm not keeping up at all but am way behind).  Then there is the frustration of those dang rabbits - they are still getting into the veg areas and I've just about given up.  Many veg have been damaged, among them lettuce, peppers and eggplant, but their primary focus lately has been beans and peas.  The rabbits are, apparently, very particular as some varieties have minimal damage while others are now mere sticks poking out of the soil.

Another unwanted newcomer to the garden that I mentioned in a previous post has ramped up it's presence - from one lone beetle spotted about a month ago to this:

Potato Beetle Larva - All were picked off and dropped into a soapy water solution
minutes after their moment in the spotlight