Feeding the hungry and Bugs

The garden has continued to grow and produce well in spite of the continued drought conditions.  The weed control methods described in the last post are effective with only a few weeds sprouting on the margins of cardboard.  The black plastic mulch also has been effective.  We saw the first deer footprints in the garden on Thursday last week.  The only damage seen was a few tender weed tips eaten near the garden edge.

We have picked several types of bugs.  The Japanese beetles have shown a fondness for the okra but have not seriously stressed the plants.  The worst infestation was the harlequin beetles that devoured the cabbage and other cole plants.

This guy is a larval form of the Mexican Bean Beetle and true to name it is on the bush bean plants.  We have not seen much damage to the lima beans and blackeyed peas located in the same bed.  The controls used for both pests a quick dip in a carton of soapy water.  We may try a bug-juice cocktail if I can find an old blender.  Simply whiz and spray. 

We have also had problems with tomato blossom end rot.  This is caused by a calcium deficiency.  About half the tomatoes picked have this problem.  The soil test from UT did not show a serious lack of calcium, and in fact advised not to add lime at this point.  We have quite a number of varieties of tomatoes and it will be interesting to see if some types are more resistant than others.

Marcia and Judy have provided the many types of herbs and flowers that are growing in the garden.  We placed them in beds near the roadway to provide passersby a brief pleasant view.

The flowers have also encouraged pollinators to visit the garden.   Look carefully at the pink yarrow and the marigold photos. If you double click on the pictures you can get a bigger image..

We planted some additional tomatoes, pumpkins and  Kentucky Wonder Beans.  The beans were planted in the corn rows for needed support.  The zucchini plants have nearly all been pulled up.  They were affected by a sudden rotting of the roots.  This causes the plant to deteriorate rapidly, especially with the hot weather.  The yellow squash have not been as badly affected and continue to produce fruit.  We are working of additional items to plant for the Fall crops.  We have harvested over 200# from the garden so far.  The tomatoes are just hitting their stride and the corn is just beginning to tassel out.  The cucumbers are holding up pretty well though there are a few signs of powdery mildew.  We also planted some additional beans and a fairly large patch of beets.  The combination of kale, mustard, and turnips is a common Southern Fall planting. . 

One of the most productive beds in the garden have been the cushaws pictured above.  We counted over 20 on two plants.  They will get to about 10 pounds each with the attractive green netting shown above. 

Also hidden is the watermelon at the bottom of this picture.  The leaves and vines are so tiny compared to the size of the fruit.  It did receive a few thumps, but the experts opinions were, Not Ready Yet.  There are also several cantaloupe fruits that are now producing the netting and will soon be ready to "slip".

Reaching new heights and harvesting

Until this week, we were experiencing heavy drought conditions at the garden,.  Rainfall was nearly 8" below normal.  The dry conditions created rapid weed growth in the row areas.  The barrier/mulch used in these pictures was about 3 inches of silica sand.  Breakthrough was rapid and difficult to control.  We have used several control strategies.  First we tried conventional weeding.  Because of the drought creating hard pack conditions and fear of additional mixing of the sand and soil, this was abandoned.  We have use a propane flame thrower to fry the weeds.  This produced moderate initial success.  To really kill the weeds would have taken 2 or 3 additional treatments.  The third method we tried was the use of black plastic mulch over a row area.  The combination of high heat and lack of water quickly controlled the weeds in this area. 

The final method tried was to cover the row areas with several layers of newspapers, wet the papers to prevent them from blowing away and finally cover all with flattened corrugated cardboard boxes.  This method also effectively controls weeds, but becomes very slippery if the cardboard is wet. 

This picture shows the vertical nature of the raised beds.  Expanded production is produced by going up, not out.  We used several types  of cages and staking methods.  You can see the wire circles surrounding the tomato plants.

Here are some of the other methods we used.  There is 4' plastic wire stretched between wooden stakes.  We also used recycled tobacco sticks to support one bed of tomato plants. 

We had some tilled ground that we could not incorporate into the raised beds this year.  We did some conventional row planting for some sweet corn, potatoes, sunflowers, and half runner beans.  We are hoeing the rows in this area for weed control.

One of the goals of the garden is educational.  Our Master Gardener is pointing out some of the insects that have also been part of the garden.  We had a heavy infestation of harlequin beetles, some flea beetles, and are now seeing Japanese Beetles.  The harlequin beetles attacked all the cole crops.  The plants were removed from the garden and disposed in the garbage to prevent additional infestation.  Flea beetles were fairly well controlled with soapy water.  They only attacked the eggplants.  The Japanese Beetles were hand picked and dropped in soapy water.

This shows the first products harvested from the garden site.  We have weighed all items harvested using the kitchen scale shown in the picture.  Each daily picking is recorded on a Excel spreadsheet.  We have picked and distributed 109.5 pounds of produce through July 13, 2010.  The items have been equally shared by the Community Clothes Closet and the Church Hill Senior Citizens Center.  With the rain we have had in the last two days, we should continue to harvest items for at least two more months.  We have planted some items for Fall harvest.  Could we reach the 500 pound level by the end of the growing season??  Stay tuned.