Thursday, May 7, 2009

May Harvest

I began harvesting beets, spinach and peas on May 5th. My broccoli has heads about four inches across, and the cauliflower has heads about two inches across.

Although my potatoes took longer than expected to emerge, they are now looking very healthy and are about a foot high.

On may 5th, I planted Miracle Corn, Spaghetti Squash, Big Max pumpkins, Crimson Sweet Watermelon, and the Toquerville Squash. The Toquerville Squash is a very large, very sweet, bell shaped winter type of squash. I can't find any other name for the squash, but it is very sweet and tasty. I'm not a big fan of winter squash, but this squash is worth trying in your garden. My neighbor grows the squash and gave me some seeds for this planting.

I now have the entire garden under cultivation, and under drip tape from Ballard's Nursery. I love this system, it waters the entire garden, allows me to fertilize the entire garden with water soluable mono-ammonium phosphate at the same time, and I have it on a timer, so I can turn it on and leave it. What I also like is I can work in the garden while I am watering it, or immediately after watering it because the only place that gets wet is directly under the plants.

I moved my boysenberries and raspberries this spring, and they are doing much better, flowering and setting on berries.

The grapes on this property, that were all but dead when we bought the place in October 2007, are loaded with grapes this year. Last year, I got only a few, but I had to prune back a ton of old wood and canes, but the grapes are setting on quite impressively, so I'm pleased.