In many ways, my garden is doing well. Being that this is my first year to garden in a very long time, I'm thrilled with the garden thus far. But it's not all perfect either...
I've actually separated the buckets into two areas. The yard has the tomatoes and squash for the most part and the peppers, herbs etc are now on the porch. The tomatoes were getting so big, I had to spread the buckets out to make room for harvesting and so everyone could get some sun.
The strawberries are growing wonderfully. Addison, my youngest, is forever on watch for the latest sweet pick. They've not produced a lot as yet, but are consistently harvesting 1-2 small strawberries a week. Just enough to keep Addison on active watch!
I have an Anaheim pepper in a Topsey Turvey planter which is now doing well. It had a rough start with heavy West Texas winds, but is now producing nicely.
I have a Cubanelle Sweet pepper which is also doing well, though it had some issues, too. I'm still a bit nervous that we might still have issues with a fungus of some sort. I sprayed it last week because some of the fruits had bad spots and also the joints of the plant seem to be turning. I harvested the bad fruits as well and the remaining seem to be spot-free.
Now, on to the good stuff, right! Tomatoes... Some are producing, and some seem to be a bit slow. I have lots of small Sweet 100's, but the plants appear to have some issues. I'm researching now to see if I can find out what's going on there. If anyone has suggestions, please feel free to comment! I'm stumped...
The leaves are starting to yellow and fall off. But also, on the stalks, I have spiky growths. It's very strange... These were small bumps that I notices last week (maybe week before) and then with all the recent rain, they became spiky growths today. Very strange... I'm thinking some sort of fungus as well, especially considering the mushrooms that have also popped up in the soil.
My Lemon Boy is producing, but not as well as I'd like. He also has the spiky growth on his stalks. And his leaves are curling... Not nice! Yet we did pull off two small ripe tomatoes from him today. His fruit is tangy and really delicious! Great to add more color to a salad.
The squash is a consistent producer, but we have no bees in the back yard, so most of the blossoms have gone bad and thus has the fruit. I now know that lack of bees means I need to hand pollinate. So that chore has begun. Maybe we'll have some good fruits soon!
Happy Gardening, and Happy 4th of July!
