Grow Your Own – The Adventure Continues
by John Weckerle
Our regular garden feature is a bit late this week due to the holiday and the report on the signs at the Edgewood Town Council meeting. Today, we return to the garden and find some exciting new developments – and a couple of challenges.
Plant growth continues apace. In Bed 1, there appear to be at least one yellow squash and one zucchini that are within a day or two of attaining “picking size.” Nestled deep in the miniature jungle, we see a nascent head of broccoli reaching toward the steamer or the wok skyward. However, Bed 1 is presenting us with two challenges. First, it is becoming clear that the Conestoga-type enclosure is not allowing enough room for these plants to spread. Since the bed is not squirrel-proof anyway, we may need to rethink the enclosure. The north side of the bed is bounded by a 5-foot trellis, and it would be a relatively simple task to do the same at the south side and run some rabbit fencing around the other three sides. We also see that some of the squash are exhibiting what looks to be some kind of end-rot. This is not affecting all of them, and it appears that the ones that formed earliest are impacted the most. If anyone has any suggestions, they would be appreciated. Finally, despite some flowering, we have not yet observed any tomatoes. Granted, it’s still a bit early given the planting dates, but we can hardly be blamed for being a little impatient.
A volunteer squash plant of some sort arose among the cauliflower, and we allowed it to survive because a) it did not seem to be causing any problems; and b) we wanted to see what it was. Because the beds contain a substantial amount of household compost, there’s a good possibility that it will turn out to be something good. It has a different growth habit, and is sending vines out to climb the tomato trellis. This could indicate that it is spaghetti squash, which would be great.
Bed 2 is progressing well. The pesto basil has reached a point where some pasta had best beware. If the lettuce looks a little smaller, it is because I harvested enough this morning to make a large salad. There are flower buds on the string beans, and the eggplants have begun to flower as well. A small amount of the sage will be harvested today for garbanzo-artichoke stew. The cilantro is growing rapidly, as well. There appear to be a number of volunteer tomato plants that require periodic removal – again, probably due to the use of household compost. Because this system makes weeding easy, these pose little problem.
At Vanessa’s recommendation, here are links to the previous articles in the Grow Your Own series:
Bed 1 (North Bed)
Bed 2 (South Bed)
The Elusive Broccoli Head
Squash Problem