With the rain and the great temperatures, it’s been a good year to get things planted early and hopefully have some harvest before the sun and dry of summer. My father-in-law’s garden is coming along well. It’s pictured below.
Our garden has had a few challenges already, like the squash bugs have already moved in. We sprayed with soap the other evening, then hand picked the adults and eggs and threw them in a bucket with soapy water. I’ve decided to keep a bucket with soapy water in the garden to destroy all the trespassers. It’s faster and a lot more pleasant than squishing them in your fingers. Right now, you have to look everyday for invaders. And we had a much larger trespasser the other night. Somehow a deer got in the garden and just went on a rampage. It didn’t eat anything, but after it got in, it couldn’t figure out how to get out, so it paced the perimeter several times, then went berserk in the okra seedlings apparently. We later found the place where it busted through the netting in desperation. All things considered, most plants are doing well, even with a bit of wind damage. I put wet newspaper down for mulch to control weeds in some areas. Here in our wind tunnel, paper can only be managed if you wet it first. Then Don put a little chipped wood mulch on top of the paper.
Don finally got the first compost stack in one of my backyard garden areas. I’m very excited that I’ve got a part of a keyhole garden at least, and an easier and better way to compost.
Hi Lanie, is that your cardoon next to your compost stack? Guess what – cardoon is also known as “artichoke thistle” so no wonder it’s easy to confuse it. Love all the garden pics, Dyna
That is the cardoon, and it’s starting to bloom. It really is gorgeous. I’m going to have to find space for an artichoke this fall! I can’t bring myself to cut the cardoon to eat, because it looks so good.