Best5Zach Garden Update 6/23/14

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Here is my last Best5Zach Garden Update

Welp, time for an update!

All the hard work is just about to pay off! In fact, we are in the period of max growth in development.

That also includes massive intrusion of grass and weed! Man, I am constantly in the garden weeding. That's been especially brutal with the weather we have had. It's been muggy and 90+ every time I have been in there. Just thinking about work in the garden had me breaking out into sweats!

I guess the plethora of rain, sun, and fertilizer has been just as good to the weeds as the veggies! So, I do the best I can with 40 tomatoes and 20 or so peppers. In fact, I broke out the weed-eater the other day just to knock them back. Luckily, the cucumbers and squash have such huge leaves that the weeds can't grow as well under them as they are getting shaded out.

Here is the good news:
More and more tomatoes pop up in the bushes. Some, like the Early Girls, are almost fully grown and will be turning color any time now!

The okra is about 18 inches tall now. I am really surprised by how well it has done this year. Last year, I had to replant 3 times before they came up. Last year, I had to soak the seeds for 3 days. This year, I planted them directly without any prep and had around 30 plants come up and survive. My grandmother says that the constant rains caused this.

So far, the grubs haven't killed my squash yet. We are still trying to figure out how to keep this from happening. Everything we read says that if the stalks can get tough enough before the grubs get to them, they can't bore. But, how do you do that? Articles suggest covering the the young plants with cheese cloth to make them grow stronger. But, we didn't do that.....Last year, it wasn't until we were picking the squash before they grubs got to them, so I have my doubts that it is an age thing.

I planted 10 purple peppers last week, which boost the total number of pepper plants to around 30. However, they aren't doing that well. I think I waited too long to transplant them. The rest of the peppers are doing great.

Cucumbers are starting to run now and are putting on flowers!

Anyway, here is what you came to see:

We even had our first blue berry!