July in New England

Summer has finally arrived and so have these pests, in huge numbers.
Striped Cucumber Beetle are all over the squash, but not so much on the cukes.. Grrrr........

July 2011 in the Keene, NH SFG.
summer squash doing great, the poor watermelons are suffering from the striped cucumber beetle infestation.


The leeks are a bit slow because they are not getting enough midsummer sun. I should move them.


Lettuce, chard, beets and peas


Aubergine, cherry style toms, poblanos, cukes, garlic is nearly ready on the right.


Trellis on left is working overhead for keeping the Gilbertie toms going up. Trellises in the back left for 2 types runner beans, trellises on right sugar snap peas on the second run.


The second coming of peas


The first garlic harvest.


Saturday morning breakfast

Shallots are almost ready, maybe by the weekend.


Bush beans, green and wax are in bloom

Beautiful, camprn!

I'll try to get some photos in the next couple days. Mine are a little pokey, but they're all green. Picked my first yellow & zucchini squash today, and have been pulling the (small) leaf lettuce for a while. Lots of pea blossoms but not many peas yet and not plump enough. No green beans yet, but the vines have really greened up and bushed out. The tomatoes are pokey but there are babies there and lots of blossoms. Oh well, I'll get pictures up.

I went out to check the summer squash plants in the 2 boxes this morning as they are finally starting blooms. It was a good thing I went out, I did in at least 12 striped cuke beetles, 4 squash bugs, 2 patches of squash bug eggs and a SVB Moth laying eggs. Ran my hand around each plant stalk to dislodge any unseen SVB eggs. UGH! bleck!

The good news is there are a pair of cardinals that cruise by the squash boxes every few hours looking for bugs to eat!

Wow camprn, sounds like you're having a tough time of it with the bugs. Think you may be able to control those by hand?

NHGardener wrote:Wow camprn, sounds like you're having a tough time of it with the bugs. Think you may be able to control those by hand?

Don't know, we'll see. Fingers crossed.

I love your garden. You must be doing somthing right.
Everything is coming along just fine. Good for you.

Thanks QB!
July growth spurt is showing good things. With the heat this past week, the squash has not set any new fruit. I am hoping for a change in this trend as a cold front moves through.

Garden


Tomatoes, aubergine, peppers and cukes.


Aubergine


Squash



Spacemaster cucumbers


You can see good containment of the Blond girl cherry tomato plants with the Florida weave. These plants have not been pruned.

I like your garden, camprn! For one thing, it's so nice and neat. I have not learned that trick yet. Maybe next year. My plants are all in each other's spaces. Next year, the squash is out of the garden altogether, in its own spot, because it just can't keep its leaves to itself. And my cucumber vines are all over my 2 little watermelon plants. My green beans are up the trellis, but even still, they're all over the peppers in front of them. Agh! Out of control.

I posted my tomato photos in the other thread, but here are the other photos of the garden from 7/20: (and again, don't mind my weeds growing between the boxes - I'll fix that next year)

Squash in front, tomatoes in back:


Lettuce in front, corn in last 3 rows:


Lettuce, 2 rows of peppers, pole beans in rear (the pole beans are not producing yet - just some blossoms):


Watermelons in front (2), cucumbers behind them, squash behind them, and snap peas in the rear (the peas are doing great, even in the HOT weather):


Eggplants (babies are now growing!), some pepper plants thrown here & there, and half pole beans/half peas in the rear:


2 views of the whole enchilada:




And this really weird mold or something growing in between the boxes. It may be gone by now, but I have no idea what it is - does anyone?:

NHG Looking great! taming the wilds of ones garden comes with experience. The idea of a dedicated box and area for your squash is an excellent idea. the fungus,,, I had a few varieties of that stuff near my compost piles, not sure where it came from, but it only lasted a few days and didn't seem to do any apparent damage. I am jealous of your red tomatoes!

Camprn.....Love your garden. Lookin' so neat and healthy.

NHG.....You're doing great with yours I see. We all learn new things each year that make us tweak our plans and try something a little different to see if it works better the following year. Its all part of the fun of being an SFG'r.

Great gardens, neighbors!

BTW, if you ever have any suggestions from my pictures of ways I can improve for next year, I'm open to suggestions. I tried to do it by the book but it isn't exactly a work of art. Still, it's the produce that counts I guess...

Thanks QB! Hey NHG, how is the homemade compost coming? That is the number one source for improving the garden. When I have a square come up empty I always put in compost. Not a trowel full as suggested but I grab a bunch with 2 hands and throw that in. Sometimes I do 2 big clumps.

camprn - What color is your compost when you add it in? Mine is still in the brown stage, I don't think it's quite ready yet. I'm going to a compost "class" on Sunday with the local permaculture group. I haven't been good at turning my compost (altho I add to it a lot), but what I do is leave the compost wire open at the bottom, and the chickens like to go in there and scratch around. I figure that might count as aeration. haha. If it's not usable enough at this point, then as soon as the summer season is over and the soil goes to bed, I figure I'll just top off each box with the compost in whatever stage it's in and let it set over the winter. Do you cover your boxes for the winter? (like, with hay or whatever, mulch to enrich the soil)