Goings On

Hmmm...what's new and exciting?  Well, we transitioned from winter to summer in 3 weeks for one.  We've been getting highs in the upper 20's (80F+) for the past few days, so I'm trying to get into the garden in the mornings and evenings which, unfortunately, is also when the mosquitoes are out.  I'm not a fan of mosquito spray, as is evidenced by the lack of an expiry date on the can - THAT'S how old it is, 'cause everything has an expiry date on it these days, doesn't it?  The spray has come out a couple of times in the past week though as, in order to keep working into the evening, a little spritz on the arms & neck is a necessary evil.  I don't mind wearing pants (and actually prefer that when I'm constantly kneeling on the mulch), but a long sleeve shirt in this heat is a no-go.

I'm a bit behind when it comes to transplanting, but by the end of this weekend I'll be more or less caught up.  The cucumber, melons, tomatoes, peppers and eggplant are all hardening off and will be in the ground by Sunday.

Final stages of hardening off - don't mind the blur....it was a bit windy today

The beans will also be sown, this being the last of the large plantings.  Other than that, there are a few odds and sods to go in here and there, such as the basil, chard and a few ornamentals, but that's about it.

Speaking of ornamentals, I've learned my lesson on that one - last year most of my annuals, including my beloved zinnias, ended up as rabbit chow.  This time round, I've decided to grow them on the INSIDE of the chicken wire fencing, the benefit of which is two-fold.  (1) The flower chomping bunnies will not be able to get at them and (2) the veg garden will be surrounded by pollinator attracting floriferous gorgeousness instead of the functional but admittedly hideous chicken wire.

Zinnia seedlings next to the chicken wire fencing

Other than half a dozen varieties of zinnia, the veg garden border also includes calendula, tithonia and cosmos.  The seedlings were planted right into the ground and the mulch pushed back around them which will cut down on manual watering - a big benefit as this is usually where I fall short on these types of plantings.

In other news, there will be no straw bales this year - it all came down to timing.   When using straw bales, timing is critical especially when it comes to long season crops like melons and squash.  Since I condition the bales organically, they take longer to get going than those conditioned with chemical fertilizers.  In addition, the conditioning process requires daily attention, either in terms of fertilizing or watering.  In a perfect world, the bales would have been ready to plant by now, but with our late spring and then going away at the beginning of May, I simply couldn't fit it in.

Thai Rai Kaw & Jing Orange from 2016 -
two varieties of squash that won't be grown this year

What to do with my seedlings?  Well, not much as it turns out.  This year I'm giving melons a try for the first time and I was so focused on getting those seeded that I completely forgot about the winter squash.  So, with the exception of the butternuts which I direct seeded in one of the regular raised beds, I don't have any winter squash seedlings needing a home.

Straw Bales - Staying in the shed this year

I did, however, need to find a spot for the melons - and that will be the old blueberry bed which was going to be planted up with ornamentals.  I'm not sure how this will work out since the bed is out in the open (i.e. not protected from the resident family of rabbits), so we'll see.

I'll finish off with a surprise.  You may recall I was doing a bit of an experiment this year on sowing onions, specifically with regards to timing.  The main lot of onions was sown in early March, but I also sowed a few cells of Copra in both February and April.  The surprise?  They have been in the ground for only 3 weeks and you would be hard pressed to tell which is which:

Look at the two rows going down the middle of the photo -
the April sown seedlings are on the left, the February are on the right.
As for the March?  They looked basically the same as these.

I know...it's a shocker.  When I took the netting off to weed the bed, I literally stood there like this: 😯.  I am, however, reserving final judgement until the harvest since in the end, it's all about the size of the bulbs.