Scents

The soil has developed a scent. I probably wouldn't know what it is but for the trip to Florida. While I've encountered it before, I never really knew what it was. It is the smell of soil acidity, caused by Sulfur and the bacteria consuming it. The fact that the scent is so noticeable means that the beneficial bacterial count is increasing rapidly and reaching very high levels. 

So, with the soil composition improving, soil acidity rising and nitrates in the well water, the need for soil amendments is decreasing. By next spring, it's possible that only normal fertilizing will be necessary and much less of that. I will keep testing the pH because that will give me an idea of the sodium condition and treat with more gypsum accordingly. 

Not seeing any spinach coming up just yet. However, weather has still been warm during the day, so it's probably still too hot for it. 

Still a few more weeks of good tomato weather. Have lots of tomatoes still on the vines. 

Still corn that hasn't finished growing. Weather should remain just warm enough for it to finish forming.

Have some good size watermelons and one that is getting really huge!

Guess I must have waited too long to pick some green beans. Some vines appear to have stopped producing already. Bummer. Still quite a few which are producing. 

Got more pumpkin vines which have sprouted and getting large enough to look like they may well produce some small to moderate size pumpkins. 

Finally got some flowers growing besides sunflowers. Have lots of marigolds, both front and back yards. Nothing extreme but it's a start and much better than anything previous. 

So, still getting there.

Pictures

Okay, so even though the garden is really not so groomed, wanted to post a few pics of what it looks like this year. Worlds away from how it looked the previous two years!

 This one is just to show how tall the corn has grown. This angle doesn't quite do it justice. Note that the trellises are each about 7 ft tall.

Thinning

Got the planned trellises finished. In some cases, integrated exhausted corn stalks which the green bean vines were climbing, wove them into the netting and let the vines climb from there. So, those trellises only have netting on the top half. Leaves more space at the bottom for lower crops. I did trim off the leaves and tops of the stalks for better access.

Had to take one trellis down and pull the green bean vines to make walking space. Yeah, those thin rows work great for some things, not so great for climbing vines. 

Cucumbers may be a realistic hope, after all. Put up two trellises and planted cucumbers on Monday. By Fri evening, they had already sprouted. 

Planted carrots yesterday. Some giant (supposed to grow over 5 lbs each) and some Danvers. Waiting for assorted color carrot seeds, plus some purple broccoli seeds. Still need to buy spinach seeds. 

If that garden section grows, it will be the first time all sections of the garden are growing successfully at the same time. 

Things are growing at a rate that I will definitely be preserving later. I already have lots of corn in the freezer. If the giant corn produces well, I should have enough corn to last at least a year! Have to start canning green beans and making tomato sauce. Too bad watermelon doesn't keep. 

Trellises

Got a big roll of poultry netting and started getting the trellises put together more effectively. Taking down exhausted corn stalks as I go. Still have to put up some more.

Some of the vines are over 6 ft long already. Daughter and I had green beans with dinner Sat night. They were great! Going to have the best crop yet! Looks like I may have enough to preserve this year! Yay!

I'm definitely going to plant less corn next year and none of the small variety. If it comes out well, I'll stick with the giant variety. I will plant one stalk every few feet because the shade has proven quite valuable for other crops. Melon vines are growing everywhere. I have a few melons growing, cantaloupe and watermelon. Not as many as I would think for the number of vines. Though they may pick up more as I clear the corn stalks. 

Unfortunately, have not seen a single cucumber this year. Going to give one more shot at planting some and hope for one good crop before frost.