Monday, July 22, 2013

Farm School Summer Series Week Six



The summer is half over,
but Farm School is still going strong.



We're preparing for the fall garden.



Time to get to work.





The garden has slowed down quite a bit.
Although we've been blessed with an abundance of rain,
the heat, humidity and bugs have been destructive to summer crops.



Last week I looked for leaf rollers on the leafier crops.
This week, these cutworms were found under 
the plastic pot liners of some plants.
Sneaky little devils, they are.




This is the "slow-bolt" cilantro that was planted a few weeks ago.
We were disappointed that it didn't perform as we had hoped.
All but one plant bolted within 2 months.




Some of the okra has been pulled out,
due to its poor performance.




Even the cherry tomatoes are withering with the heat.
They were mighty good while they lasted!



We've had an unusual amount of rain the last few weeks.
You can see here that this beet seedling 
was all but pummeled to death.


We simply planted more.
Lynn's philosophy is that if something doesn't grow 
the way he expects, he just keeps on trying.
"Throw more seed on it and see what happens."
Why not?





Some of the eggplant is looking good,
although Lynn is not sure it is out of the woods just yet.



The parsley is amazing...





See anything interesting here?



We came home with about 30 of these babies.
I put them on Craig's List to see if other families might want to enjoy
the fabulous opportunity to witness the metamorphosis.
I got some takers and it gave me a great idea
that I will share at a later date.





Some of the newly-sown seeds are coming right along.
When asked why he direct sows some plants and uses flats for others,
Lynn said it's a matter of fragility.
Tomatoes especially are susceptible to a myriad of problems,
and must be handled with the utmost of care.
They are always started in trays.
Other crops, like eggplant, 
are sometimes direct sown as an experiment
to see if they can flourish without the extra step of seed starting.
Still others, like beans and peas, 
are always directly placed in their final growing spot.




I had time to clean up a few pots containing peppers.
The plastic disks keep most weeds at bay,
so the job goes quickly.





Skinks scatter through the aisles of pots playing tag.




Lynn spotted this new growth on one of their banana trees.




A fresh bunch like this will soon be emerging from the new shoot.







There was some fill work being done on the property.








Although things are slowing down with regard to harvesting,
the planning and sowing stages are revving up.
Won't be long before we are steeped in seed trays.

Until we meet up again...


The Farm School posts begin here.








Little Homestead on the Hill
Little Homestead on the Hill






8 comments:

  1. It was fun looking at how your garden is coming along. We've had very cool weather, then hot weather and tons of rain too making for a difficult growing season. Our tomatoes are large but the fruit isn't very abundant. I like the philosophy about keep on trying with plants. It's so true! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a wonderful idea to put the caterpillars on Craigslist! Funny. We had so much rain here in NC as well, we can just try to do the best we can, but weather is the one thing we can't control. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is the truth. Mother Nature just deals it out and we need to make due. Thanks for visiting!

      Delete
  3. Love the banana tree and the caterpillars. The cutworms brought back memories of turning over soil and mixing in manure. The mocking birds would sit on the fence and sing for their 'supper' - when I came across a nice fat grub I'd set it on the little platform we rigged up to hold the sprinkler and -swoop!- dinner for those sassy birds. Visiting from Creative Home Expressions Blog hop. Angels to you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What a great story! Good memories. So glad you stopped by!

      Delete
  4. For a city girl like me, this looks challenging but worthwhile. I underestimate the work involved in growing the food I buy at my farmer's market. : )

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There's a lot to it, but it is worthwhile.

      Delete

Thanks for taking the time to leave your thoughts!