Since vacation

So, daughter and I went to Disney World and had a wonderful time! Just not long enough. Maybe we'll go back again someday. If I can afford it.

While we were gone, the garden went a bit wild, even though we were only gone for under a week. Not such a bad thing. 

Some parts of the irrigation system came a apart but not too badly. The timers and everything worked fine and continue to do so. 

The front yard is overgrown right now. Honestly, I'm not complaining. Lots of weeds but it's all green! And an overgrown green yard is something you just do not see in Albuquerque! Even most of the weeds here aren't truly green. More dusty olive drab. 

First thing daughter did after we walked in the door was to go raid the tomato plants. Then ate every ripe tomato there was! That's okay, it has now reached the point where the tomato plants are producing a couple of lbs of tomatoes each week and accelerating, since the worst heat has passed. Yesterday, I had to extend the cages out and up from the small metal cages. Several plants outgrew them. So I built trellises around them with 1x2's, wire and twine to take them up to 7 ft tall. I think they will eventually reach the tops. 

Also built some trellises for the green beans. Harvested a bunch of corn, took down the stalks and wound the vines onto the trellises. Been too hot up to now, so vines have grown fairly long but only two beans. Lots of flowers and expect to start seeing lots of beans in the coming weeks as things cool down and as the bees have easier access to the flowers. I still need to go buy more poultry netting. The plastic stuff from last year disintegrated. Learned my lesson and will stick with steel.

For the corn, have now had several small harvests, this past week as many as 40 ears. Cooked most of it and froze it. Some on the cob but most off. Tastes awesome! Still have at least one more crop of standard corn maturing. Then will still have two crops of giant corn after that. 

Had no choice, had to resort to pesticide for the squash bugs. Looked like I had an invasion while out of town. Had thousands of them and they killed off several vines. Kind of late for planting but going to try planting some small varieties and hope for a good crop of small pie pumpkins. Have some pumpkins growing now. Had to pick a couple because either the vines died off or they were showing signs of damp rot in spots. Have to start putting padding under them. 

Finally have melons growing! At least 4-5 cantaloupe and 5-6 watermelons so far! 

The weeds are a problem but one I can handle. The varieties of weeds now growing are actually a good indicator of soil health. The dominant weeds before now were types that grow in alkaline and sodic soil. The ones growing now grow in healthier, more fertile soil. In the fall, after pulling large stems and stalks, I'm planning on applying sulfuric acid very, very heavily. Wait a day or two, till and repeat the process. The acid should kill off any seeds on the surface each time. By next spring, the soil should have a decent pH, the dead material should compost well into the soil and I should have fewer weeds. Besides, the small flowers appear to be attracting more pollinators. Looks wild but not ugly (unless you're a New Mexican who enjoys looking at bare dirt).

We've had a lot more rain this year than last. Still, not enough for the compost pile to compost very well. So I'm going to run a small extension from the irrigation line to the compost pile. Let that get moistened each time the nearest irrigation zone runs. Then the compost will also receive any ammonia, fertilizer or acid I run through the lines, only in small amounts. 

Things have greatly improved!

Revised irrigation

Revised the irrigation in the back yard. Now more zones, so pressure remains stronger and more constant. Grass and ornamentals on one zone and main garden on a separate zone. Front yard remains on it's own zone. Each is now set with a separate timer. 

Picked the first true corn crop of the year today. Haven't cooked or shucked any of it. Not really sure how good it is yet. Some is under-formed with blank spaces. Though some ears are a really decent size. Best I've had here so far. 

Another crop will be ready in a week or two and two more crops coming in sometime later. Left the stalks in place but may pull those up in 2-3 weeks, allow more sunlight through as weather cools. Put up some trellises in their place. Or just trim off the leaves. 

Had a small tomato harvest today. About 6 tomatoes. More forming and others still ripening. Tried one of these and they taste awesome! However, looks like a thin year for tomatoes, since so many plants died off. Be better next year. 

The battle continues

The squash bug battle continues. Have lost three large vines in the process but seem to be winning at this point. No doubt various beneficial insects have helped along the way because I've seen few nymphs this year, only adults. Squashed lots of eggs, so hopefully any coming second wave will be minor and mostly eaten by other insects before they mature. 

Remaining and sprouting vines seem to be doing rather well. Sad part is that the giants I had growing have been forfeit to the fight. However, lots of new flowers blooming, so I'm optimistic for a large crop. Planted more pie pumpkin seeds this past week.

In the fall, I will leave a couple of trap plants after removing the others. Then wait for those to become infested and burn them with a propane torch which reaches 3000 degrees F.

Standard corn is almost ripe. Tried picking some this weekend but not all were fully developed. 

Some giant yellow corn is beginning to silk and sure enough, some of them have three ears growing! I've read that they can grow up to five ears per stalk. 

Blue corn is growing quickly and leaves are huge! If nothing else, think I'll plant it next year as a shade crop! 

Still not one single melon or cucumber. WTF?!

Now that temps are dropping below 100 and usually below 90, tomatoes have started flowering again. Couple of plants died off just from the heat. Others have gotten much larger and lots of fruit still growing larger or beginning to ripen. 

Was going to till under the lettuce section but so many vining weeds, decided to apply an especially strong sulfuric acid solution, give it a while, then till and replant that area after everything dies. Repeating application occasionally. Removed the irrigation lines from there for the time being. 

Harvested seeds from some giant sunflowers, let them dry and planted them next to the back gate. If a fraction of them grow, should have a gigantic stand of sunflowers there! 


Grape vines are producing rather well. Finally got dedicated lines run out to each of them. Two of them seem to be seedless green grapes. The tiny seeded red grapes are ripening. Larger than last year but still small. They do taste much better than previous years! Apparently, the birds agree. 


Still adding acid to the irrigation water once or twice a week. Really think that's helping. I also used a strong acid solution to spray directly on various weeds. Whole front yard was mostly a weed patch. Lots of goat heads. Grr! Hoping the acid deactivates the seeds. Have to grossly overseed and try to crowd out the weeds. 


Okay, time to get ready for work.
 

Giant corn progress

Thought I'd mention the progress of the giant corn, since it's a new thing.

The giant yellow corn is now racing to catch up with the standard yellow corn. Several stalks have actually equaled the height of the standard corn, while others are getting there. (Two varieties of giant yellow.) So, while 20 feet tall may not happen, looks like it may achieve some height. 

Not quite sure about the blue corn yet. Many stalks coming up, about 18 inches tall so far. That is much faster than the standard yellow corn, which took twice as long to get that tall. So again, not sure what final height will be but looking optimistic at this point. 

Harvested all the onions today. They were all tiny but one. Barely grew any larger than the sets I planted months ago. Oh, well. 

Still haven't pulled the lettuce up but it's way beyond eating. I will leave some to flower and seed. Just been lazy, hit by the heat. 

Looks like another large pumpkin plant died off today. Still finding and killing squash bugs, so it's looking like the vanilla was a failure. Going to try chopping up the onion stalks and spreading those around. Maybe some pepper. See if those do some good.