Progress in the Big Garden

While there are still veggies to go into the big garden, it is coming along nicely.

I made a slight error when the 6 yards of a mixture of rose magic and compost was delivered.  I had it put in the middle of the garden area thinking it would be easier to spread from a central location.   We spread 6 yards of compost on the garden last year and really only needed to add about 3-4 inches of the combined soil/compost to each row.  More than half of this year's load sits in the middle of the garden blocking 4 rows.  We laid down a big piece of black plastic and are moving the soil to the edge of the fenced area.  Sometimes my logic is not the best.  You live and learn.

I'm very excited about the new potatoes because it looks like each piece planted is on its way.

Look at how lush the leaves are.

I may have lost the bare-root strawberries, but the archicoke bare-root crown is doing very well.

Not one seed has been planted in this bed, but something is growing here.  I'm thinking it is either watermelon or cantaloupe.  If you will recall, a critter was eating the heart out of every cantaloupe in this garden and I left some watermelons in this area at the end of the season.  Look close at the disturbed soil to the side  - I had a visitor last night.  I removed the landscape timbers under the gates since we were coming and going into this garden to weed, spread dirt, plant, and water.  The timbers were replaced this morning.

I planted two peach trees in this garden.  I was afraid that I had waited too long before getting this one in the ground.  I'm happy to report that both peach trees are leafing out and this one even has a few flower buds!  It is recommended that a peach tree has a full two-years growth before allowing peaches to develop.  So, it'll be 2014 before we pick peaches from this tree.

I couldn't find cow peas (black-eyed peas) in the seeds section at Home Depot, Tractor Supply or H.E.B.   I decided to just use some dried peas from the grocery store.  So far out of the three 20 foot rows planted, there is one sprouting pea.  lol  I've since found a couple of packets which are on standby if these do not grow.  You can't plant a garden in Texas without some black-eyed peas.  :D   Next, I'm going to try planting pinto beans from those you can pick up at the grocery store.

This is the biggest of the three asparagus planted last month.   Planting asparagus was easier than I thought and will pick up some more crowns next year.  Petunias are in the background.

The echinecea (coneflower) is very hardy.  The dump truck delivering the soil ran over two of the three plants, yet all are coming up.  I do not know of anything special that coneflowers do for veggies, but they do attract pollinators.  And, when all danger of frost is over, I'll plant nastursiums, sunflowers, marigold, zinnias and a variety of other benefical flowers.        

The radishes are sprouting.  I do not like radishes but read where they are a garden workhorse because it is thought that radishes may deter squash borers.  In addition, radishes deter leaf miners, the cucumber beetles,  corn borers, and rust flies. Plant radish every where except near cabbage, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, and turnips.

The zuchinni squash is coming nicely, although the critter visitor last night tore up several squash plants.  I stuck them back in the ground.

Check out this hole the critter dug last night!  The ground is too soft for a good track imprint but it left a trail as if it had a tail.  So, I'm thinking it was an armadillo.  I think I have figured out how to mount the wildlife camera on something other than the fence around the perimeter.  I'm going to try to mount it on the wheel barrow just above the wheel, move it near the area that the critter found so interesting last night.  The fence is just too far away to get a good photo of a small critter.  The landscape timbers are now place under the gates and there is about 80 feet left at the fence on which to add chicken wire to the bottom.  

Soon I'll be interplanting corn, green beans for nitrogen replacement in the soil, and sunflowers which hopefully will attact various catepillars and worms away from the corn.  Last year's corn crop was fed to the cows.  Hopefully, this year's corn crop will be served at my table.

Until next time, God bless.