Fertilizer Friday

 Friday is the day that I make sure everything has been fertilized as needed, both the annuals and vegetables.  I use a combination of side dressing with dry fertilizer and watering in with some fish emulsion.  We sure don't need to water considering the inch and a quarter of rain we got on Monday, but following up with a liquid fertilizer makes sure any dry fertilizer is off of the leaves.  This week I am out of the general Garden-Tone, so until I get back into town to stock up I am using the amendments I have on hand.  Bone Meal (Potassium) for the root crops and Blood Meal (Nitrogen) for the others.

The Cabbages, Broccoli and Cauliflowers have been enjoying the cool weather.  And they are also completely protected from the hail.  They have no idea what all the fuss is about.

The Peas and Lettuce also miraculously sustained little hail damage and are going about their business as if nothing has been happening,

That last storm on Monday was a doozy.  We got over an inch of rain in about 20 minutes combined with 5 to 10 minutes of huge hail.  I have spent the past few days picking up dead leaves and putting away frost cloths and the garden in general looks more like a garden and less like a war zone.  The tree leaves that came down in the hail made the whole area look as if it had been put through a blender.

The Dwarf Tomatoes and the Onions look pretty good.  The Micro Tomatoes in the pots are blooming and the Dwarfs have buds on them.  They will not be early like last year but otherwise they should be fine.

The Indeterminate Tomatoes are growing slowly but are nice and green.  They need some sun.  We have had rather overcast days and cool nights.

The Bell Peppers in the ground look abominable but they are all flowering and producing peppers.

The same Bell Pepper varieties in the pots look better but are not producing yet.  I guess it must be true that when a plant thinks it is going to die it gets busy with the reproduction end of things.

Havasu Hot Peppers

The Sweet Corn is fine.  There are some tattered leaves but they have been making good use of the rain and growing well.  This crop could use some heat too.

Solstice Sweet Corn

Gotta Have It Sweet Corn

The Pole Beans are fine.  Last year the timing was such that the new plants put out their first leaves right before the June heat wave and got burned to a crisp.  This year's weather is much more gentle on them.

Monte Gusto Yellow Pole Beans

I frequently have a problem with grass hoppers or earwigs or something munching on the green beans as they put out their cotyledons.  I reseeded the row below and covered it.  I was planning to complete the row down the center of the bed with a second seeding next week, but I will probably wait until the end of the month now.

Seychelles Green Pole Beans

The Cucumbers and Cantaloupes will soon be ready to transplant.  The 6 pack that looks empty is one kind of Cantaloupe that is just now cautiously popping through.

Dill and Sunflowers

Perennial Herbs, Sweet Potatoes, Carrots

Potatoes
with Bone Meal on their leaves

The Flea Beetles have awakened.  I seeded some Mustard along the Potatoes that is just now coming up.  That should attract them away and I can sprinkle that with Diatomaceous Earth.

The annuals surrounding the Dahlias are showing color.
You can't see it in the photo but I have corner posts and have constructed a protective room out of netting.  It saves me a lot of spraying.

The other side of the Dahlias

This spring I ordered in a container raspberry plant.  They are supposed to stay compact and bush like.  It has just begin to put on some real growth.  All I want is enough to nibble on.  Something that I can protect from the birds and bear without too much trouble.  They can have all of the blackberries in the briar patch on the other side of the fence.  The Raspberries are mine!

Bushel and Berry Raspberry Shortcake

The strawberries are producing well now but they are not sweet because we have had overcast days.  They only sweeten in clear sunshine which is not a problem if you are making jam, but is a bummer when you are just snacking on them.  I need 4 cups to make a batch of jam.  Even though half of this bed was just planted this spring, I have not given up hope of a batch of freezer jam.