Japanese Beetles

I had seen a couple beetles on my strawberry plants and a couple more on my tropical hibiscus, but since this my first year to do any real gardening, I never gave them a thought.

Then my sister came over this morning and pointed out that something was eating my strawberry leaves. And it hit me that those darn beetles were doing it. Duh, sometimes the obvious escapes me.

So I searched for images and found what I think I have ... Japanese beetles.

I took off all that I found after I sprayed them with Safer insecticidal soap. I will have to be more diligent and check everyday. I plan to just pick them off and drop them into soapy water and see how they like that.

photo from cdfa.ca.gov

And here is a picture, though not very good, of one of them on my strawberries and the damage they are doing to the leaves.

Peas & Carrots ... and an update

Today I pulled the peas plants out of the garden, they went to the compost pile. I could have pulled them a few days ago since nothing else was growing on them, but I wanted to be sure.

I didn't get very many peas even though I had 8 plants. I'm not sure how many I was supposed to get, but I will plant more next time. I ended up with about half a sandwich bag of shelled peas. I put them on a cookie sheet to freeze then I will bag them and store in the freezer. I read that lots of people do not blanch their peas so I will try it that way.

I also pulled a few carrots from the garden. I wanted baby carrot size carrots and that's what these are, one of them is a little big. And look at that one, looks like carrot pants.

I might just cook my peas and carrots together!

I have more carrots coming in finally. I'm gonna throw out this seed and get a new packet next time, I had such poor germination with these.

One of my cucumbers has a few flowers on it, yay! But it is only about 4" tall, hasn't even reached the trellis yet.

And the watermelon has taken off big time. It too has some flowers on it.

The strawberries have stopped producing, don't know if that's normal or not. I gotta look into it.

I picked one cherry tomato and will probably pick 2 Jimmy Nardello peppers tomorrow, they're almost done.

I added more compost to the square where I pulled the peas. I planted 3 pole beans there today too. And, speaking of the compost pile. I actually have 2 in different stages of breakdown. The original one has got clumps of grass growing in it. Every once in a while I pull them out of there. But I am wondering what I will be doing with the compost anyway since I have a bunch already bagged. So today Ty planted some pumpkin seeds in it, 5 in all. We'll see what happens.

Mid-June Garden Update

I thought I would share some pictures of my garden in mid-June.

Here are the sugar baby watermelon and sugar pie pumpkins. They are doing well. That one watermelon is really stunted, don't know why.

My strawberries look good except a few have discolored leaves. I also noticed that some of the berries are misshapen. I'll have to look into both of these things to see what's going on.

This bed has peas, cucumbers and a honeydew on the trellis. The peas are about done, I think. There are only 4 plants, I got about half a sandwich bag of shelled peas. The cucumbers and melon got off to a slow start because I had those huge cauliflower and broccoli shading them.

This bed also has shallots, spinach, lettuce, and carrots. The carrots really didn't do well at all. I think the seed was too old or something, I had poor germination. I harvested most of the spinach. The shallots are just about ready. And the lettuce just keeps going and going. I have harvested a lot of it. There is also a lone poblano pepper. There's some empty space that I should plant something else in, but haven't yet.

This bed has bush beans, which have just started forming. There's banana peppers, bell peppers, Jimmy Nardello peppers and poblano peppers. They all have little peppers on them, I've already picked a banana pepper. There's a couple green onions left, I've harvested several. The bulb onions are about ready. 

There's also the tomato plants which seem quite too bunched up. I think I will only plant 3 in this amount of space next time. I'm not sure about the 2 middle plants, if they are the vining type or not, but I got them tied up anyway. They all have little tomatoes growing on them. The beefsteak on the right has a bunch of yellow leaves. I clipped off some of them already.

Here's a couple pictures of the cabbages, broccoli, banana pepper and a few peas that I harvested.

UPDATE: 19 JUNE 2014
After doing a little research about the yellow leaves on the tomato plants I came to the conclusion that I should be feeding them. I thought so originally and bought some tomato-tone and kelp meal, but then I read that when they are planted in Mel's Mix they don't need anything.

Then I thought that since I have 4 plants in a 4 ft row that they would probably benefit from it. Today I applied both the tomato-tone and the kelp meal. So we'll see.

Also, I read a little about pruning tomatoes. The beefsteak is already growing on a single main stem. The cherry tomato has 2 main stems and so does one of the medium size tomatoes. The other medium size tomato has 3 main stems. I decided to prune one of those off. It had some flowers on it but no tomatoes. Maybe that will help a little.

Small Harvest

Today I decided that the cauliflower was not going to form any heads so I chopped them off. They were humongous and shading other things in the garden so they had to go.

I decided to cut the broccoli out as well. I did get a small little bunch of broccoli though. That's so amazing to me!

And I cut my 2 heads of cabbage. They look fantastic!

I picked 1 banana pepper too because I'm making fajitas and thought I could use it in them.

I get a big handful of strawberries on a daily basis. I try to eat them but mostly I freeze them. I noticed a tiny little green inchworm in the strawberry bed. I ordered some BT to use on the beds.

And I pick lettuce whenever I want a salad.

I'm loving this little garden of mine!

You can see a little damage on one of the cabbages. That was done by Liam. He was "helping" me in the garden and had his water gun. Well he pow powed the poor cabbage. 

A Little Bit of Heaven

I picked these this morning! This is the 3rd bowlful that I have gotten so far with plenty more getting ready! I'm loving this.

And, on a side note, I planted 3 sugar pie pumpkins today too. They are in the same box as the sugar baby watermelon.

I Am So In Love With My Little Garden Right Now!

I visit my garden almost daily, I can't help it. I want to see everything as it happens! I decided to take some pictures of what's growing in there. The pictures could be better, so look closely.

 Banana peppers

 1 little cherry tomato, so cute!

 Jimmy Nardello peppers, not sure it that's what they're supposed to look like or not

 pea pods, kinda hard to see

 pea pods, I think they are so lovely and delicate

strawberries

Updated Square Foot Garden Pictures

It's a beautiful day today! I love it a little cooler, it's perfect for me! The garden probably likes a little more sun though.

These first 2 are my strawberries, with my Mom showing the developing strawberries! Can't wait for these.

This box has 2 little watermelon sprouts, one of them you can't see too well. These are sugar baby watermelon. :) The other half of this bed will have pie pumpkins.

This bed has my tomatoes along the trellis. There's a few flowers on them and even 1 little cherry tomato! The peppers in front have some banana peppers growing and Jimmy Nardello too, so far nothing from the bell pepper or poblano. Also in front are bush beans and onions behind them. Then the big monstrosities are cauliflower and broccoli. They still show no sign of forming a head. And back behind them are green onions.

This bed has peas along the trellis that just bloomed their beautiful white flowers! Also along the trellis, but you can't see, are cucumbers and honeydew. In front are some carrots and spinach. Neither are doing too well. Hardly any germinated, but the seeds were old. Also in front on the right is another poblano. In the back there are several stages of lettuce. I just harvested a "head" yesterday. I've been leaving some of the leaves and main stem so that it will grow again, which is what those 2 little ones on the right are doing. Right behind the spinach is a cabbage, which is just beautiful. It has a lovely perfect little head forming! There is actually another one in between those monstrous cauliflower and broccoli. There are some shallots growing in there too, can't wait for those!

Another view of things: cabbage, shallots, lettuce etc.

You might see some damage on some of the leaves, which I'm sure came from the 2 or 3 nights of late spring frost. But I think everything is pulling through, I hope! And there's a few holes in the leaves, but I'm willing to share within reason. I am loving this little garden!

UPDATE:
After doing the math I realized that these huge monstrous plants should be ready for harvesting now or very soon. I'm thinking they just aren't going to do their thing. I guess I should pull them out.