Know When to Say "When" - Succession Planting

 Succession planting is something I strongly believe in.  I almost always plant more than one variety/source of seed in more than one place at more than one time.  When you do that you increase you chances exponentially that one of those combinations will work. That way when the bush beans are a disappointment, the pole beans make up for it.  And maybe one kind of cauliflower tastes too strong but the other is sweet.  Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

To take advantage of all of the benefits of succession planting you have to go ahead and tear out a crop when it has run its course.  Before it starts to look shabby and comes down with some disease and stops producing.  That can be hard to do especially if you have been looking forward to something that isn't doing well and you feel the need to limp it along no matter how bad it looks just so you get that one special tomato.  I got over that a few years ago.  It took a decade, but I got there. I don't know if you can see the change in green tone from the plant at the bottom of the photo to the plant in the middle of the bed.

The older cucumber vines are starting to peter out.  The blossoms are smaller and fewer and are not being fully pollinated as the bees move on to greener pastures.  The leaves are bleaching out.  There are few dead leaves at the base.   They are ready to come out before they begin to succumb to disease and spread it to the neighbors.  The plant at the bottom of the photo is a few weeks younger, in the prime of production and deserves a chance to stand on its own.

Out they go.  There are plenty of fresh cucumbers waiting.

I also got rid of this miserable looking patio tomato plant.  I picked all of the fruit and tossed it.  I have a second, later variety just now starting to produce and those tomatoes (Isis Candy) are much tastier anyway.  This plant was very productive but never looked happy.  I had the same variety on the same pot last year and it was happy.  But this was an awful dry year and watering was a challenge.

I don't think the garden has ever looked nicer in August than it does this year.

The sweet corn is a huge presence and we are enjoying wonderful, sweet, large eared corn which is all we could have hoped for and more.

Gotta Have It grows eight feet tall!

The pole beans are also a huge presence along with the zucchini jungle.  The vacant beds have been seeded with Buckwheat cover crop which keeps them green and protected from the harsh sun.

Elsewhere in the garden, it's butterfly season.  Yesterday I saw seven different varieties.  Two blacks, one was a Red Spotted Purple and the other was pretty battered appeared to be a Spicebush Swallowtail.  Its hard to tell the blacks apart.  There was also a Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, a couple of Monarchs, a large Fritillary and various White Cabbage and Yellow Sulphurs.  Then I spotted a Viceroy.

Monarch (left) and Viceroy (right)

I only learned about the Viceroys a few years ago when I told my neighbor who raises Monarchs that "I saw a pony sized Monarch".  She set me straight.  These are Viceroys.  They look almost like a Monarch but are only about three quarters the size.  They also have fewer white spots and an extra black line on their lower wing.  The photo above shows the difference in size.  I cut the center out to put them side by side for size comparison.

This is the original photo, Monarch, Fritillary White Cabbage and Viceroy.

If you can't beat 'em - join 'em

I am planning on using Purslane as a ground cover around my lettuces.

If you can't beat 'em - join 'em.

Yikes!  At this point I think the only solution to this is solarization.  

At least it is the only kind of weed in there.  I'm not a weeding fanatic.  I control my weeds and spend a lot of time in the of season cultivating the soil to keep weeds in check.  But every now and then I get over run with something.  This happened in 2018 in the Strawberry bed when black Oxalis took over.  I pulled the Strawberries, cultivated the soil over the winter, and planted cauliflower and broccoli last year which is an easier crop to weed around.  This year the Oxalis is gone.  So I'm not going to stress over this bed of Purslane.  I will cultivate the strip where I am transplanting the cucumbers, and leave the rest.

This is a nice time in the garden.  Its the Weed-Water-Wait time of year.  All major planting is done.  All major harvesting is yet to come.  The weather has been cool and sunny.  Daily highs about 80 degrees with a breeze and almost no clouds or humidity.  Perfect weather for making hay incidentally.  Night time has been even cooler with no dew.  I've been covering my tomatoes at night, and the lack of dew or rain is bothersome.  My rain water tank is at half full (250 gal).  Which means I can water the whole garden well twice, maybe three times, and then I will be out.  But I can still run hoses from the house so, given the choice, I'd rather have the sun.

I finally got all of my pots and trays washed out, sorted and stored away.  They had been accumulating in the wash tubs in the garden like a stack of dirty dishes!

Saturday we took the time to remove five large ash trees that had died in the wooded strip along the west side of our property.  For one thing were were tired of picking up sticks after every windstorm.  So what happens when you fell a large, very dead tree?  It shatters into a million pieces.  This was just number one of five.  After each one we cleaned up so we wouldn't be tripping over hazards while we worked around the next tree.  Now we won't have to pick up sticks after wind storms because we spent all day doing it at once.

Next to last crop to go in are the cucumbers.  I already have a half row of pickling cukes planted and growing well.  These are the slicing cucumbers.  Right on time compared to last year.  This variety can be rather moody about germinating.  You can see the one in the upper right corner germinated immediately and has been impatiently waiting for the others.  I think I may transplant the ones that are ready today.  I have a second tray a week behind this which is now popping up.

My sweet corn is looking really nice.  It should be "knee high by 4th of July"

Bed #1 Sweet Corn

Bed #2 Pole Beans, Pickling Cukes and Lettuce

You can see I have a bit of a Purslane problem around the pole beans too.  I've been half-heartedly cultivating this out while I still can.  But I don't want to disturb the bean roots too dramatically.

Bed #3 second planting of Lettuce and spare Tomato plant. 
Cucumbers to come.

Bed #4 First planting of Lettuce
Cucumbers to come

The Garden Sweet peas that I gave the double stacked trellis this year are finally making use of it.  This past week we had a line of storms coming with high winds expected.  All day the wind came directly from the south confusing the peas because they were used to west wind.  Some of them began to lose their grip so I ran two rows of twine along each side to support them and keep the wind from picking them apart.  This worked just fine and they weathered the 25 mph wind without coming apart into a jumbled mess.

Bed #5 Garden Sweet Peas.

The Penelope peas are thick and lush.  They are flowering heavily and already have a lot of pods started.  The Garden Sweet only have a few flowers turned to pods.  They began to bloom on the same day but the Penelope are 59 day pea and the Garden Sweet a 65 day pea so the Penelopes are jumping ahead.

Bed #6 first and second planting of Penelope Peas

Bed #7 Cauliflowers and Broccoli

First Cauliflower head of the season will be a Vitaverde

Bed #8 Brussels Sprouts in the middle, Broccoli this end

Bed #9 Third planting of Penelopes

Bed #10 second planting of Sweet Corn

Bed #11 fourth planting of Penelope Peas and Lettuce

Bed #12 Fordhook Lima Beans and Cabbages

Golden Acre and Red Acre Cabbages

The Tomato plants are doing great.  I have been wrapping them with garden fleece each night.  These containers, with their reservoirs and leaf mulch are very easy to water.  In fact, I haven't added water in a week and the soil is still moist.  They seem to be getting plenty of sun where they are so I have decided not to move them.

Container Tomatoes - Black Brandywine

My Grow-Bag Potatoes are beginning to sprout through the soil.

Grow-Bag Potatoes

Strawberries
Incidentally, this is the bed that had the horrible weed problem two seasons ago.

Container Eggplants and Portulaca

Along with weeds, you sometimes have to ignore a few pests.  Below is a picture of what I am calling "an acceptable level of damage"

Years past (including last year specifically) I have lost entire Eggplants to the flea beetles.  This year I decided to move them up on the patio where #1 the flea beetles were not hatching out right at their feet. And #2 I would walk by them dozens of times a day making it easier for me to keep an eye on things.  The flea beetles showed up on Thursday the 4th.  I sprayed with Neem Oil four days in a row, and now every few days depending on the presence of beetles.  Neem Oil is a topical insecticide but also works as a systemic insecticide which means once it absorbs into the plant any susceptible pest that munches on the plant will die.  So far so good.

Weed Potatoes and Summer Squash

Dunja Zucchini plant

Rebecca Clematis

June is also the most fun in the flower garden.  The annuals are getting established and the perennials are beginning to bloom.  Three years ago I ordered a bare root Itoh Peony.  They say when you transplant something the first year it sleeps, the second it creeps, and the third it leaps.  The peony flowered right on cue.  Thing is I am no longer sure what variety it is.  My notes say it is a Canary Billiants and the one I planted the next year in a different bed is a Callie's Memory.  But it hasn't finished fading to its advertised color yet.  Thing is, on Day 1 it was bright lipstick pink!  The same color as the Salmon Pink Geraniums around it.  Neither "creamy yellow with apricot hues" nor "yellow cream color with maroon flares".  I'm taking a photo each evening at the same time so I can document the color volution.  This photo is Day 2.

Callie's Memory(?) Itoh Peony

I know that there are variations in strains of plants, and that peonies are one flower that fade a lot through their life cycle.  But until next year when the second peony may bloom to compare it to, I'd say the jury is still out on this one.

C'mon Let's Grow

I got to the end of my To Do List this weekend for the first time in weeks.  Because the weather was quite nice.  That must mean I'm caught up right?  Is any gardener ever caught up in May?

Six eggplants to the right and 4 borage to the left

My eggplant plants went out to the cold frame.  I'm pretty proud of these little guys.  They've put on quite a growth spurt of recent, and as soon as they are adjusted they can go out in their "big boy pots".  I'm trying them in containers this year for two reasons  #1 I am trying to avoid the flea beetles, and #2 all of my patio pots will hold edibles instead of merely ornamentals.  That actually gives me quite a range of ideas because a lot of vegetable plants are very attractive and have nice flowers.  My list includes eggplants, okra, herbs (Thai Basil is my choice) and Nasturtiums.

The cold frame is full of dwarf dahlias, repotted herbs and tomato and eggplants.  Our current weather pattern of warm and cloudy is perfect for the cold frame.  The weather forecast has increasing warmth all week and the zone 5 milestone of Memorial Day is approaching.

My strawberries are growing again and there are even a few flowers.

They need to be mulched now.

Yup, that looks exciting.  Lots of dirt.
This area will now be mulched with shredded bark mulch.

I brought my Dinnerplate Dahlias out of storage and got them planted.  

The tubers looked great and were already putting out tiny sprouts.

The first row of lettuce was transplanted. 

I always stagger my lettuce plantings using the largest plants first.

I spread my pea plantings over 4 weeks, but the awful weather has put the first ones behind and the later plantings are catching up.

All of our landscape beds are freshly edged and mulched.

The spring flowers, daffodils and primrose are beginning to fade, and the summer plants are growing by leaps and bounds.

Other happenings in the garden:

All garden beds have been aerated and amended in preparation for planting.

The first bed is being prepared for sweet corn with polycarbonate panels to warm the soil.

Potatoes are chitting in the chicken coop windows

Cauliflowers, compared to last spring, are behind in growth, but perhaps the fact that they survived that nasty polar vortex at all is a good sign.

The apple trees are blossoming.  Thankfully they didn't do that last weekend!

Chores for this week:

Filling containers for tomatoes, eggplants, and potatoes

A trip to the nursery for some fun extras

Fertilizing perennials

Still to come as the weather improves:

Setting out herbs

Starting cucumbers and summer squash seeds in the cold frame

Planting lima beans

First Sweet Corn

Today I determined that the first ear of corn was ready, and the second ear was 98% ready so we went ahead and had sweet corn for supper.

The ears were well pollinated but slender.  Full length, but smaller in diameter than farmstand corn.  That may be a limitation of growing them in raised beds instead of deeper open soil.  We'll see.

Autumn Crown Pumpkins

I'm finally getting some pumpkins and Honey Nut squash.  They are so late that they probably won't amount to much but its still fun to watch them grow.

I pulled out the older row of SV4719CS cucumbers because I just didn't need them.  The second planting doesn't have a spot of disease on them.  Johnny's Seeds advertises their Bristol variety as having "high resistance to anthracnose, angular leaf spot, cucumber mosaic virus, scab, zucchini yellow mosaic virus; and intermediate resistance to downy mildew, powdery mildew, and papaya ringspot virus. NOTE: Not fully immune to downy mildew, Bristol has been shown to survive the disease significantly longer than non-resistant varieties".  I guess they're right!  This is the first year for this variety and I'm very pleased with it.

Another Johnny's variety that I'm a big fan of is their Dunja zucchini.   This variety has "Intermediate resistance to powdery mildew, papaya ringspot virus, watermelon mosaic virus, and zucchini yellow mosaic virus" and I've always had good luck with it.  Above is a plant that is the result of two seeds.  I always plant two seeds together because one "vine" grows left and the other grows right and you get a nice looking mound of leaves all season.  Zucchini plants can get pretty rough looking by the end of the season because the large, older leaves at the base die off leaving a bare stalk.  I have not yet had to remove a single leaf from these two plants.

My late planted bush beans are just about ready.  I probably could have rounded up enough for a meal tonight but they would have been real little.  

The plants look amazing.  I always have a little trouble with some sort of wilt in this bed.  Several plants will get some wilted looking leaves, but the overall health of the plant allows them to outgrow the problem by leaps and bounds.  See my army of watering cans along the fence?  I used to leave them all over the landscape but this year I didn't plant as many containers of annuals so less watering.  This little army makes fertilizer day go quicker.  I put fertilizer in all of them, fill them all at once and water until I run out.  It takes two rounds to feed all of the veggie plants

The second planting of bush beans (same varieties) was looking a little pale this week.  I don't consider this bed to be poor, but they obviously needed a nitrogen boost so I side dressed with blood meal and fed them with fish emulsion.

Speaking of poor soil.  In the above photo, there are two beds of buckwheat cover crop planted on the same day.  I knew that other bed was poor but I would not have guessed it was THAT bad.  Wow.  The bed was very compacted and have no earth worms in it.  It obviously needs a lot more work.

 That is one thing I really like about planting cover crops.  It allows you to observe the health of your soil.  This bed above is obviously the healthiest of them all.  The buckwheat is blooming and needs to be worked into the soil before it goes to seed and becomes a nuisance.  I planted two more beds in buckwheat tonight.

And now for the Mid-Summer Slump.  The tomato plants are looking rough.  Actually, this bed didn't do that great to begin with.  The container plants out paced them but once they got septorial spec and blight it moved really fast.  The plants are producing well but I have to remove the fruit before they are fully ripe and let them ripen in the house so they don't get sunburn.  You can see how bare the container plants are.  I thing its time for some green tomato relish and for these plants to go bye bye.