Pumpkins Stage 2

 I have had the Pumpkins protected with wire cloches but they are out growing them.  Pumpkin vines are quite prickly, so I don't expect that the deer would eat them all to the ground, but I want to err on the safe side.  Today I removed the cloches, side dressed with fertilizer and watered that in.

Then I covered them with a floating row cover to keep the deer (and squash vine borers because I saw one of those today too) out for a few more weeks.

The plants are nowhere near as robust as they were last year but I don't know if that can be attributed to the later planting date or the cooler night time temperatures.  We will see.

Pumpkins July 2nd 2025

Today I also planted out my summer squash.  I really did not intend to plant any for myself this year but I seeded them for other people and when I seed something, I always have a backup.  So - now I have summer squash.  I didn't really have a spot planned for them unless it would have been the beds vacated by the peas in a few weeks.  But these are root bound and we are going into a heat wave, so they got stuck in corners.

They were getting a little wilty each day and now starting to bloom.

I picked my first two red raspberries.  Yum!

Today was lawn mowing day.  The lawn that has the three London Plane Trees was proving too challenging to mow with the large, 60" wide, diesel powered zero turn mower.  It is very wet in the spring and fall and with all of the turning and tight spots the large mower would either leave ruts or tear up the corners with the tight turns.  I was considering one of those robotic lawn mowers, but in the end we decided on a DeWalt battery powered, self propelled push mower and I have been mowing it with that while my husband cuts the rest of the acreage.  

This lawn has changed to much in the last 15 years.  Here is a before and after.

It is the prettiest lawn we have.

I'm proud of this lawn.  The lawn clippings get bagged and go straight into my compost pile.  This view is from the neighbor's driveway.  They get to enjoy it more than we do, and it isn't really visible from the road.  But it is the best lawn we have.