back from beach

at the beach last week. think we got some good rain, and my neighbor watered for me as well.

-brocolloi was a total bust

-potatoe plants (above ground portion) totally died, and dug up one square of the potatoes yesterday and there were only 3. i think that is how many i planted - yield = 1:1.

-onions also died above ground. dug them all up yesterday. none bigger than a small plum.

-tomatoes in beds 3 and 4 look ok, but not awesome. sevearl green fruit

-squash bugs out in force - haven't eaten much, but i had to squash tons and there are still unhatched eggs. picked 2 more huge squash - total now at 3

-surprisingly no cucumbers to be picked yet.

-watermelon plant has no flowers yet.

this has not gone as well as i would have hoped. is my mel's mix soil no good? storebought compost seems to be doing better than mine. too much green stuff going in to my compost? not deep enough? not sure what the problem is.

june 13

after 2+ weeks of no rain, finally got a few storms this weekend on saturday and sunday afternoon. actually pretty huge downpours both times. refilled the rain barrel which was almost empty.

-broccoli continues to look weak and produce nothing. i am becoming convinced that either a) i started the plants too early and they were too leggy when i put them out or b) the nutrients in those first 2 boxes are not right for plant growth - i did those with all of my own compost and maybe there wasn't enough good stuff in there. those tomatoes also continue to putter along.

- some fruit on the tomatoes in box 3 - those are the steak sandwich and super beefsteaks.

-plenty of squash growing. found some tiny orange eggs under a few leaves and on the stems this weekend.

-cucs starting to grow too.

-watermelon plants have not really taken off

-large volunteer something in the compost bin - either a squash or pumpkin i think.

-harvested a bunch of lettuce this weekend

-pulled a few carrots - the are tiny - 3 or 4" long and smaller than your pinky

-potato plants are all starting to yellow and die back. is that bad, or does that mean they are done and ready for harvest??

-onions had started to die back, but perked up with the rains - maybe i hadn't been watering them enough. generally, i had been watering everything ever 2 days, but focusing on the bigger plants.

june 6

here is an aerial shot from this morning. harvested a ton of lettuce yesterday. spinach has not done as well. DO NOT plant radishes next year. no one ever eats these. plant a TON more snap peas - maybe 4 or more squares. tomatoes in boxes 1 and 2 continue to languish - these are the boxes where i used my homemade compost - that is really the only difference vs. boxes 3 and 4. the broccoli in box 1 is doing pretty bad - big plants, but not much broccoli to eat. tomatoes in boxes 3 and 4 are doing awesome. tons of flowers. squash and cucumbers are also doing great and have set a bunch of fruit. watermelon vine in box 4 doing ok, box 3 not as good.