Yep, with Memorial Day past the rainy season has finally officially ended. Any rainy days from now until September are just flukes.
That being the case I can begin planting hot weather crops at any time now. my plan for the weekend is to get the pumpkin bed finished with clean up and plant the pumpkin and zucchini starts, and the beans.
I was forced to make a large harvest this week when I discovered that the slugs and other pests had gotten so carried away during the rain that they had eaten halfway through the stems of my cabbages at ground level. The poor plants were clinging to the soil by a sliver of root... I said to hell with it and pulled them, ending up with 4 small cabbages. I had planned to let them get bigger but at least they were firm, and with the cabbage worm problems I've had this year I'm thinking it was probably good to pick them earlier rather than later.
 |
| Cabbages with kale, chard, and broccoli side shoots |
 |
| First strawberries and more broccoli |
 |
| First harvest of greens. The slugs massacred a lot of the leaf veggies but I still got a few and hope to get more soon. |
This large harvest alone more than doubled my May harvest total from 2lbs. 10 oz. to 5 lbs. 8 oz.
I really need to get a better handle on the pests though.
It seems as though nearly everyone is having a problem with pests. I found aphids on one of my potted peppers yesterday. Luckily it was still small enough to bring it to the sink and spray them off with water, but I'm really going to have to keep my eye on those patio plants now. I also washed aphids off of today's lettuce harvest, which is a first for that. Slug damage on my lettuce, bird damage on my cabbages, bean leaves chewed to rags, and hollyhock leaves that look like lace. It never ends, does it?
ReplyDelete