Beetles

I returned from a vacation to find my collard green plants overrun by a red/black striped beetle. They were terrorizing one plant in particular near my asparagus. I decided to apply some diatomaceous earth after trimming down the plants and the problem seems to have gone away for now.

From the Vegetable Gardener's Bible 

From the Vegetable Gardener's Bible 

Thyme flowering in the garden. This corner of the garden seems to thrive if left alone.

Diatomaceous earth kept the beetles away over night and seems to have calmed the ant activity on my fava beans. The ants were swarming around the flowers where the fava bean pods should be forming in the coming days.

Alicia checking out the flowers. 

Patience... they will grow...

So... back in February Alicia and I had planted a whole bunch of stuff from seed. March flew by and nothing sprouted except for the Fava beans.  After a string of warmer weather recently, we are seeing small green seedlings sprouting in rows. I had been considering replanting the area and I probably had already dug up some of the areas when I planted some more seeds thinking those original ones were goners...

Seedling (one of many) April 1, 2017

Here's to hoping they aren't weeds!

A month later

So we've had some unpredictable weather. One day it would be 70 degrees and the next 30. It's been a month since I was last in the garden; we've experienced snow, sleet and finally got warmer weather again. None of the seeds we planted a month ago are growing. I weeded what was left of the garden and dug up our winter greens and replanted them at appropriate spacing. I hope they grow better that way. I also took a picture of two asparagus spears that are poking thru. Most of my peppers and tomatoes are growing. I fed them some fish emulsion today to keep them healthy.

Garden weeded & greens from the winter replanted

Two purplish asparagus spears poking out from the ground at center

These peppers, tomatoes & eggplants were planted February 23.

2017 Spring Gardening

Today, Alicia and I stayed in the garden for an hour. She watched mom remove weeds from the plot and plant some seeds. Asparagus spears are beginning to poke through and the layer of leaf mulch I added last year seems to have been a good thing. In fact, I had added leaf mulch to most of the garden area by the looks of it. I removed the growing fabric from the greens (Kale, Collard greens, Turnip greens, and Pak Choi) which there are still quite a few. 

February 23, 2017 weeded the plot and planted Kholrabi, Onions, Carrots, Lettuce, Radishes, and Fava Beans.

February 21, 2017 planted Peppers, Tomatoes & Eggplants