JUNE SO CAL REPORT AND PLANTING SUGGESTIONS

I am in the middle of yet another move. Because of that my garden has not gotten as much attention as it should and the snails have had the run of the place. But most things are surviving. I still have my bin o' potatoes and I had to add a bunch more dirt - it is about to the top now - and that stays with me wherever I may roam. LOL.

There are some yellow cherry tomatoes coming in - I cannot remember their names. I am hoping they will be ripe before I leave - at least a few - sun gold maybe? I am not sure I have sufficient trellis for them - but ultimately not my problem. LOL. Will not be here to harvest the butternut squash or cukes darn it all. The zucchini is in a container so that may travel also.

Some of the things that can be planted this month:

JUN
Beans, Bush
Beans, Pole
Beets
Cantalope
Carrots
Corn
Cucumber
Eggplant
Herbs
Lima Beans
Melons
Parsley
Peppers
Potatoes
Pumpkin
Squash, summer
Squash, Winter
Sunflowers
Tomato plants
Watermelon

This would be a good time to add your garden pictures. Things must be getting bushy out there. When I get time I will take some current pics and get them on here.

Thank you so much for this list - I'm pretty new, and planted a bunch of peas in May that I now realize will probably not produce. I guess I'll pull them up and replant with something else. I wound up with too many baby tomato seedlings and an extra mystery pepper, so maybe they can have the trellis instead.

Here are a few pics:


The garden. Looking a little wimpy. I have not been overly enthusiastic with planting because of the move but decided each square will have something before I am gone and if it isn't wanted, well, their loss.




Box o' Taters. They really went wild recently. I have hilled them up as much as I ever will.



It is a little blurry, but the cabbage is heading nicely. I have found several cabbage worms but not too much damage. I am hoping it won't be steamed cabbage before it is picked.



I have had a lot of oddball damage. Leaves stripped. I even looked high and low for a tomato hornworm on my lone tomato plant and nothing. Then I saw it - a grasshopper lurking in the apple tree that is right next to the garden. You should have seen the chase - all over the backyard. Almost kicked the fence down trying to 'step' on it with my shoe. It left the yard but who knows if it will return. I will be watching...

Reporting in!

I planted really late - most seeds were sown May 6. I planted in 2 4x4s:

Tall Telephone Peas
Butterbean Edamame
Black Valentine Bush Beans
Blue Lake Pole Beans
Green Arrow Peas
Lunar White Carrots
Berlicum 2 Carrots
Atomic Red Carrots
Cylindra Beets
Lutz Salad Leaf Beets
Vulcan Chard
Rainbow Chard
Tigger Melon
Easter Egg Radishes
Nasturtium

The radishes did so well that I've harvested most of them - the first ones were ready on May 24! Squirrels ate the tops off of a few, so those are still struggling.

The carrots took forever to sprout and are finally starting to grow.
The beets are doing okay, but sometimes fall over (not sure what's up with that).
The chard is doing okay.
Almost all of the edamame in both beds has rust. I reluctantly sprayed them with copper and will try to salvage them, but will pull them if need be.
The other beans are doing okay.
The Green Arrow and Tall Telephone Peas were a rookie mistake; none of them are thriving (and not all of the Green Arrows came up) so I will be pulling those shortly.
The Tigger Melon is starting to take off, but I made another rookie mistake and put my trellis too far back in the box, so I have to move it forward this weekend so I can start trellising the Blue Lakes and Tigger.

Last night I planted Icicle Radishes and Munchener Bier Radishes. At least Radishes grow well so they make me feel like I might have a shot at this.

I also have 3 tomatoes (Yellow Brandywine, Lemon Cherry, and German Johnson) in pots with tulle around the cages. I saw the first baby fruits on the Lemon Cherry last night. Yay! So far other than some leaf curl they seem to be doing well. The German Johnson is dropping blossoms but I'm hoping it stops soon.

My potted basil was eaten down to almost nothing about a month ago so I wrapped it in tulle. It grew so fast after that that I had to harvest one plant and will be harvesting the other soon. I'm becoming a big fan of tulle!

My zucchini (in a cement mixing tub) is flowering, but they're all male. The pumpkin in another tub is recovering from transplant and putting out new leaves. All three tubs now have hardware cloth tops because of the squirrels, and I'm hoping this doesn't cause a problem with pollination - we don't have a ton of pollinators around anyway where I live.

I think tonight I'm going to pull up the Tall Telephone Peas, which are on the north side of the bed, take down the string trellis, and plant at least 2 squares of okra. Not sure yet what to do with the other 2 squares on that end, or the 4 squares that belonged to the Green Arrows when I pull those up.

I've got some dandelion seedlings in the house that I'll transplant out when they're bigger. People look at me sideways when I say I'm growing dandelions, but they're for the guinea pig. Also catnip for the cats.

I also have 4 more tomato plants in the house (2 pink Brandywine, 2 red grape) under lights, they were sort of accidental but I decided to keep them. I'll probably pop them in 5 gallon buckets and tulle cages, too, instead of in the beds. There's also a mystery pepper of some sort there. No idea what kind it is anymore!

Chopper, if you got this far, when you list what can be planted, do you mean that's when they go outside? Not started inside, right?

Coelli wrote:Reporting in!


My zucchini (in a cement mixing tub) is flowering, but they're all male. The pumpkin in another tub is recovering from transplant and putting out new leaves. All three tubs now have hardware cloth tops because of the squirrels, and I'm hoping this doesn't cause a problem with pollination - we don't have a ton of pollinators around anyway where I live.


I've got some dandelion seedlings in the house that I'll transplant out when they're bigger. People look at me sideways when I say I'm growing dandelions, but they're for the guinea pig. Also catnip for the cats.

Chopper, if you got this far, when you list what can be planted, do you mean that's when they go outside? Not started inside, right?

In my experience, zucchini take some time to get going but once they do watch out. I had that too. All male flowers early (or all female) and finally a mix of both.

Even with a guinea pig who has to grow dandelions? LOL.

The list is for planting outside. Notice on the list it says tomato plants. Meaning those should have been started earlier but as yet I have not provided seed starting dates. For now, you are on your own for that.

That's quite a list you have. I am like you. They get a chance to thrive and if they don't they are out and the next thing is in. No need to beat a dead horse. Or plant. If it grows it stays, if it doesn't, it's out. And we are fortunate not to have such a limited time frame in which we need everything to grow and mature so we can afford to take that attitude.

Chopper wrote:
Even with a guinea pig who has to grow dandelions? LOL.

Ha! I wanted to make sure they were totally organic. She's a good girl.

Chopper wrote:If it grows it stays, if it doesn't, it's out.

My friend calls it Machiavellian Gardening.

Harvested my first currant type tomatoes yesterday and had salad with various types of lettuce, 1st carrot and onion from the garden. Added store bought bell pepper as mine are not ready yet. Tonite will try broiling the yellow squash. The men in this household will not even try squash so I have been chopping and putting it in with any pasta or casserole main dishes and they do not even know it is there.

The walla walla onions are almost all harvested. I think I will plant them 9 to a square nest year. 12 was too crowded. The red onions are just starting to fall over.

First corn should be ready this week. Garlic should be almost done. Beans are starting to form, as are cucs. I have delicata and butternut squash on the vines, as well as more yellow squash. Peppers are just starting. My gypsy pepper is tall & pale looking but has a pepper and is flowering. I'm hoping is was just getting shaded by the kale, chard & onions and these are now cut back so it now gets more sun.

The cherry toms are already over the top of the cattle panel trellis and have lots of green toms. Next year when I hopefully have corrected whatever the problem is with my bed 2 I will put the toms there and try stringing them. I can easier reach from both sides there.

Now if I could get rid of the ants which seem indestructable. Lizards are helping - there are often 2 standing sentry picking off ants as they trail across the cinderblocks.

Yanked all of the peas when I got home last night, freeing up 6 squares in one bed and 2 in another. I planted okra in 2 of the north-side squares, but now I have to figure out what to do with the rest of them. Lesson learned!

Hey Chopper. Good to see you've found a place to garden!

As an update to May's report, I planted melon seeds several times (cantaloupe) and have yet to see anything. Even yesterday, the seeds 'fell out' of where they were planted...not a sign of germination anywhere.

My cocozelle squash has been going gangbusters. Right now I seem to have male flowers, which is good because my fridge is full of huge squash! I pulled my shelling peas because they were outdone by powdery mildew (harvested 1/2 lb of peas..had hoped for more). The snap peas have done well, but I don't see any flowers now. Pole beans and wax beans are producing and the tomatoes have flowers. My first carrot plants were harvested today, and most of my celery has been harvested. My cauliflower and cabbages are both attempting new heads, but the broccoli only wants to flower. Brussels sprout plant is big, but nothing to harvest. The corn is huge and has flowers and silks. Kale is a battle between me and the grasshoppers.

I'm having a hard time getting my lettuces seedings to live past a few days. They keep being eaten by something. I'm thinking earwigs at this point. Any lettuce start I put in back in March is either done or bolting. I'm thinking about growing malabar spinach, and maybe amaranth. Do you have any recommendations for summer salad greens for our area? My seeds are all spring varieties.

Ava

AvaDGardner wrote: Do you have any recommendations for summer salad greens for our area? My seeds are all spring varieties.

Ava

Jericho Lettuce. Developed to not bolt in the summer heat of Israel. I only got a few plants put in very late last season, but they never bolted. Also, like you mentioned, Malabar Spinach.

GG

Wow. You guys are going gangbusters. I cannot wait to be settled and able to really plan long term. Corn already! What happened to 'knee high by the 4th of July"? LOL.

For greens - swiss chard and/or baby beet greens could be part of the mix. Maybe a par-shaded TT with one of those cement mixer black troughs just for greens. Keep 'em cool and away from earwigs.

Still chasing the grasshopper. Saw it again - this time in my potatoes. Knocked it off but it got away. The taters are super bushy and about 12+ inches out of the box, but nothing I can do now. My vertical real estate for them is as filled as I can get it. Oh well.

Knee high by 4th of July? No one told me to wait to plant! I used the planting guide and poof! The plants are taller than me now (5'6"), with flowers and silks.

I'm not a big fan of chard. Maybe I haven't fixed it right. It grows all over the garden. Most of the plants are 3' tall and look tough.

How does malabar spinach taste? It looks wild that it climbs!

Ava

I'm going to plant a mixing tub of Malabar Spinach next to the chain link fence and see what happens.

The cucumbers have been doing great, pretty much been taking one cuke a day since the last update.

Still haven't seen more the the pest from my other thread, however, I see more black droppings. In the mean time, my garlic is done. The leaves are all dying off, don't know if it's because of the black dropping feeding, I don't see any leaf/stem wounds, but thinking aphid like sucking.

Meanwhile my regular potatoes are dead. I'll dig them out, I think I used the wrong seed potatio (white potato) that is a determinant and not an indeteriminant. I'll see if I have anything.

The sweet potato transfer so far is going well. My potting mel mix in that container is a little off and and little heavy on the compost I think and a little more water logged. I'll need to keep an eye on it. Meanwhile, the slips growing on my start sweet are running while in the garden window. May plant more in the potato container as they have very nice foliage.

My melons are coming really really slow. The black mountain water melon still only has a few small regular leaves. The Ananas D'Amerique A Chair Verte Melon growing slow too. The green machine melons are small but seem to be finally recovering from the transplant. The collective farm woman transplants failed. Given that it is June, I'm going to transplant Juan Canary Melon seeds this weekend in the that container.

The bush beans are taking over.

Things are going a little better - I think it's mostly my attitude though now that I (oh please let it be true) have my squirrel problem controlled. Knowing that the problem was reduced by 4 yesterday makes me feel a lot better. We put the trap out this morning; we'll see who else wanders into it today.

My zucchini has a baby, and at least another female flower on the way! I have two baby German Johnson tomatoes and the Lemon Cherry looks like it's going to be producing like crazy. The Brandywine has a ton of blossoms and I've been shaking and flicking them all. I pulled all of the edamame in one bed (they had rust I think) and am considering pulling the edamame in the other bed too, since they're affected but not as bad (and I sprayed them down with copper last weekend - should do it again).

Am I asking for it by planting a different strain/brand of edamame where I used to have peas in the same bed? I really wanted edamame and I'm bummed out. I had planted Butterbean Edamame from Botanical Interests but I have some Envy seeds (heirloom) from Baker Creek, who I trust a little more to have good hardy strains.

My Connecticut Field pumpkin is taking off, my Tigger Melon is threatening to overtake its corner of the box, and the Blue Lake Pole Beans are starting to climb.

The Big Bertha Pepper transplant has been in the ground for a month but hasn't really done much. The Habanero pepper, in a pot, is coming back after being eaten by squirrels on Mother's Day. It's very short and bushy though and I'm not sure what it will do.

I have multiple empty squares between what I've pulled and what the squirrels have killed. Hoping to plant those soon with Dragon Tongue beans, more carrots and beets, edamame, and radishes.

This was a rough weekend for SFG. The entire weekend was taken up trying to solve the squirrel problem. It's times like that that really suck the joy out of the project - the loss of time, the stress of neglecting other responsibilities because There's An Emergency In the Garden, etc. I hate having to deal with bird netting every time I want to do something simple like pull a weed. My boyfriend is not a flowers and chocolate kind of guy, but he can work hard, so he's been insisting on helping me even though he hates yardwork. He really is a sweet man, so I really want to get this under control and get back to gardening.

He did say though, no more raised beds - if I want more beds, he wants to build tabletops to avoid some of the problems we've been having. Mostly the furry ones. I think I would consider using the big 2x3 tubs from Lowe's and building frames for them. My zucchini, strawberries, and pumpkin are already in them.

One more thing before I stop babbling and go. I set up a Google Docs spreadsheet to track everything, and it includes a planting calendar for SoCal from Chopper's posts (plus I added a couple of types of veggies and will be adding more as I learn them). Here's the link.. The Calendar tab has the good stuff.

Coelli, Look at how much you have accomplished from scratch in 2 months! Wowzers!

DH loves squash blossoms stuffed, or even just stir fried. That is what happens with the early male blossoms. He would be perfectly happy if I harvested all blossoms, male and female, and never let any mature to fruit.

Turan wrote:Coelli, Look at how much you have accomplished from scratch in 2 months! Wowzers!

DH loves squash blossoms stuffed, or even just stir fried. That is what happens with the early male blossoms. He would be perfectly happy if I harvested all blossoms, male and female, and never let any mature to fruit.

Yeah, all in all I am pleased, it was just really stressful when everything was getting eaten and dug up. I think things are moving and shaking now though.

I'll have to try some recipes with squash blossoms! I only have one plant (though I think it's actually two...) and it's starting to take off. Maybe next year I'll do two!