Pretty Yellow Hollyhock

     I have to save some seeds from this one. It is such a pretty pale yellow. Hollyhocks look so wonderful in a cottage style garden. dont you think?

Constructing a Trellis For The Garden

         I watched THIS video by Reaganite71 on youtube. If you haven't seen his gardening video's, be sure and stop by. You will learn a lot, plus they are very entertaining. I seen this video last Fall I believe, and knew right away I was doing this. Especially after I tried to string up my pole beans and my string sagged so bad in the middle by mid season, I ended up with a $2.60 a 10 foot piece. The corner connections are a good bit higher. They cost me about $3.50 each, and you need two per trellis.  You also need a pipe cutter, or a hack saw like I used., and your nylon string. I used mason's string.
         Anyway, it didnt take too long. My peas are about 6" tall now, so these short 5' ones are going in that bed. Take a look. Oh..... and excuse the mess. I am working on these trellis's, and my husband is working on replacing gutter and underhang on the garage.

GMO seed and a Trip To Amish Country

     Last year my husband and I took our very first trip to an Amish area. We went to Berlin, Ohio, and visited Sugar Creek,and other local areas. we stayed in our camper and traveled everywhere on our Honda Gold Wing. We loved the trip. It was time to relax, enjoy the scenery, and each other. We enjoyed the buggies, watching the Amish kids playing in the school yard.  Laundry hanging in the sunshine , their shades of blue waving in the breeze. We visited the local eating places, toured the shops admiring their handwork.
     We just got back from our second trip to the same area on Sunday. It was another wonderful trip, but this time, my eyes were more observant to other things. Things that were slightly depressing. Everywhere we went , we saw miles and miles of  corn fields. i assume this late in the year it was more than likely field corn, but may have been for people to enjoy to. Anyway, this corn was every bit of 10 feet tall. ears packed in closely, as far as the eye could see. The disturbing part came when we saw the occasional small signs along the road in front of the corn fields, bragging about it being from Great Lakes Hybrid, Chemgro, and a few other names that are escaping my memory at the moment. All from GMO seed. Genetically modified! I have read only bad about this stuff. One article I read said scientist modify the seed for different traits. One was kind of like a time bomb in the DNA of the seed so that farmers can not save the seed to use from year to year. The plants produce sterile seed. This is called a "terminator seed". Other seeds  with the chemical Round Up gene.
    Monsanto is the largest producer of these GMO seeds. They have also been the manufacturer of chemicals that have been the most destructive to mankind. Such as Agent Orange. The toxins these seed produce are even found in fetal tissue. SCARY! huh? Read the article found at this link:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/10/05/has-any-company-ever-harmed-the-planet-more-than-this.aspx
    Do your on research, and be informed. The health of our loved ones are at stake. I was really expecting the Amish would save their own seed from year to year as the old farmers of our past did. I never dreamed they had gotten as commercialized as most of the farmers providing our foods now-a-days. Dont take me wrong. I am not just coming down on the Amish, its just that I expecting them of all people to be different. This eye opener is going to make me work even harder at using only open pollinated seed, and save my own. However, all in all, I still love the area.

First Of The Tomato Harvest for 2013

     I have been getting a few wonderful tomatoes here and there. Today, things are different. I went out to check on my patch of newly planted bush beans (Lewis). When I got there, I saw bunches of bright red , beautiful globes. I also picked a couple of cucumbers. These got a late start.

I also went thru the garden giving all my hungry plants their dose of Mittlieder weekly feed.

Unbelievable Growth With Mittleider Gardening Method

       I recently returned from a 10 day trip to Myrtle Beach, SC. We had a fabulous time with my grown children and their children. before I left I strung 2 more rows of strings above my pole beans so they would have something to grab onto. i have been busy and havent gotten it all done yet. Next year I plan on building a trellis for them from metal pipe frame with a strung grid. Like you see on Reaganite71 youtube video .HERE. Anyway, when I left they were only about 1.5 ft tall. When I got back, I was SHOCKED to see this:

Look at how tall the beans are on my 6 ft tall poles! The ones in the middle just look short because they have sprawled everywhere, since they ran out of string to climb on. I dont know if I can get them untangled or not. Holy Cow! At least 4 ft of growth in only 10 days! Unbelievable. Check out my tomatoes:

This is the most tomatoes I have seen on my tomatoes plants before. and there's still more coming! The vines are now OVER 8 ft tall.

Look at this beautiful Golden Gala Melon growing vertically. It is about 8" long and about 8" wide right now. I cant wait for it to ripen. Growing vertically takes up so much less room, and is sooo easy.

Look at this beautiful Sugar Baby Watermelon growing vertically. It is about 6" across so far.

This is just one of the Charleston Gray Watermelons growing along the ground. I have decided to let them sprawl since they are supposed to get very large. This is the first time I have been able to grow any kind of melons.

Next year I have to do some renovating of the garden. I didnt really anticipate the Mittleider Method being so productive. I have to make more room between some beds, and I think I will make my 5 ft wide tomato bed narrower. I thought three rows deep would be easily handled. WRONG! I have to learn to follow the Method, and not wing things so much. I spent too much time on the irrigation this year, expecting a dry, hot season like last yr, but this year has gone to the extreme. It has been very wet. so I didnt get as much done to trellis's etc. I will work more on the irrigation and trellis's next season. I also didnt get as much brocolli as I wanted. Oh dont think it didnt grow. It grew fabulous. But by the time I returned from the beach, it had gone to seed. next yr I will wait to Fall growing season on these. Now I have more room for some bush beans. I have to be making plans for the Fall garden too.

For more information on the Mittleider Method i am experimenting with this yr, check out the links on my side bar.

Update On The Garden

      I called my county extension agent again, and she offered to send some of my plants to the college to see whats going on with them... for free. Cant beat free. She said it would take about a week. I have about 1/2 of my tomato plants left. The ones that are thriving, are growing hug. I am 5'6" tall, and there are a few starting above my head. There are also lots of blooms and baby toms.

My first little baby hot pepper for the season. You can barely see it. It's all of about 1/8" across.

One of my garlics are blooming.

My first time growing cauliflower, broccoli, and cabbage. Sorry, I already picked the ready cauliflower  :)

My second time growing peas. My first time trying Super Sugar Snap  Peas. I ran out of room in the garden for now. I will try some more later in the season.

My newly sown herbs: Cilantro, Basil, Marjoram, etc. I placed them at the base of my water fountain to keep them moist for sprouting..

As you can see I am babysitting three of my grand daughters for the past couple of days. Far left, I put in 3 quick rows of Pole beans. Stringless Blue Lake. Next to the right, is my Kennebec potatoes. They grew to over 3 ft, then flopped over and grew at least a foot more. Still waiting on blooms. I have seen 2-3.. Then farther right is the tomato bed with T-frames. Some of these are pushing 6 foot tall already. Then there is the enclosed garden. In the front of the fence I have some cantaloupes,  and watermelon.

I love the baby blues and hint of green in this Hydrangea. There are only a few places I can grow it to get bloom. It blooms on old wood, and I am pushing my zone with it. If I leave it in an unprotected area, the branches die, come back next year, but wont bloom. This one is growing in the back of my house, protected from cold winds by the house.

I like the multiple petals of  this pretty Rudbeckia.

Beautiful pink Powderpuff Hollyhock.

Disease and More Disease! When Will It End

I have determined it was not actually a calcium deficiency, but disease effecting my precious tomatoes. Out of the 80 I have had to pull approx 10 plants. removed diseased limbs. I am somewhat sure I have the dreaded Fusarium Wilt (no cure), and some Early Blight as seen in pic 5. Also possibly White Mold, according to the county extension agent. I have sprayed everything twice with a bleach spray which is a combo of 1 gallon of water and 5 oz bleach. Most of my plants look good. I am just praying that Fusarium doesnt spread around to everything thats left. I am going to purchase Copper Dragon per extension agent recomendation,and probably Mancozeb as well per someone's advise from a tomato forum. I had such high hopes for my garden this year. I am getting quite a few bloom on the tomatoes and also some setting fruit.

T-Frames For The Tomato Supports Installed

     My husband finished building and installing the T-Frames into my tomato bed this morning. All thats left is to put in the tie wire at the base of the plants and tie them up. Things are really looking good. We plan on finishing the irrigation this weekend as well. The potatoes on the far left are now a whopping 2 foot tall and growing.
     

This shows the two big beds outside the potager fence, and the T-frames installed in the one bed.

This bed is 5 feet wide so the top of the frame extends a foot on each side. As you can see, he placed 3/4" conduit on the edges between the frames instead of the traditional 2x4's. He thought these would tend to sag less over time. If you were going to make this into a high tunnel or greenhouse sometime later by installing hoops at the top with the pvc, then you would need to use boards. Next year I am only going to place the hoops at the bottom for a low tunnel for an earlier start on the tomatoes.

Potato Comparison, 3 Days Later

     My potatoes continue to grow like crazy. The plants look very healthy and lush. Some of them are already about a foot tall. I just took another updated photo.

the pic added to the far right, shows the plants as they are today. Three days after the middle pic. You can't eve see the irrigation pipes now.

I also gave all 80 of my tomato plants about a tsp of calcium nitrate today. I will gradually move them up to about a tablespoon every 10 days.

Huge Growth Of Potatoes In Just 3 Days!

      I tell you, a picture really is worth a thousand words. I have been admiring the before and after pics showing plant growth in the Mittleider facebook  FORUM for a few days. Then I would look at some of my vegetables and think I havent noticed much change. I wasnt going to bother taking a pic of my potatoes since it had only been 3 days since the last, and I really didnt "see" any change. Then I thought, "what the heck", take it anyway, then you can compare later. So I did. Then I went ahead and played with Pait, and placed them side by side for an accurate comparison. Whooaa! Look at the change in just 3 days!. I think this Mittleider method, is what I have been looking for. Plants look very healthy, and the growth rate already is unbelievable, literally. I know some will say, its probably just due to the nitrogen, but that doesnt mean you will have an increase in harvest, but look at my strawberry blooms I posted previously. I can't be more pleased.

3 Days! Unbelievable!

Automatic watering System Going In

   We have been working all weekend on getting this system in. Remember in a previous post I showed my plans for the system.

The first two beds to the far left are done. still working on the long narrow one on left side of potager, and the side on the far right. The first two center 4x8 beds are done, but need more connections to finish the 4x8 ft bed on right and the piping to the front of the garden. 

This is the 5x16 ft bed on the far left. It has three irrigation lines running down it, with potatoes planted on each side. The Mittleider system usually uses a single line in an 18" wide bed, or 2 lines in a 4' wide bed. But my husband wanted two 5' wide beds, so thats what we did.

This is one of the 4x8' beds in the center with 2 lines. I tend to plant pretty thickly trying to get as much in as possible. This is the bed with the huge  garlic.

Information on how to cheaply design and install your own irrigation, check out my other Mittleider posts, and the LINK to the left at the top of my right side bar.

ps: We are expecting temps down to 31 degrees for tonight and tomorrow night, so I got as much of the garden covered with tarps an plastic as I could. Praying my precious plants survive.