Afternoon Harvesting
For the first time in a ridiculously long time, we (well me, Nicole was busy) went to the garden in the AFTERNOON!! I went in the afternoon since it was the first HOPE club meeting! There were a lot of people that showed up and we can probably convert some to gardening (mwahaha).
The weather wasn't as cold as the morning and some of the tomatoes when I picked them were warm because of the sun. Despite the last post, I still checked all of the tomatoes (well the one bed that has rotten ones I started to but gave up when they all came up rotten) and there were so many ready for harvest!
The kitchen box is basically dead; the squash, beans, are all dead, the tomatoes are creepy and bad, and we already harvested the carrots.
The potatoes seem to be growing nicely, they even have little purple flowers, so maybe we can grow more next year.
All the squash is dead and I really don't think that the watermelon is going to grow anytime soon. I also harvested okra (there's a lot :) ), the random squash that popped up (we think it is called a "billiard squash" or round summer squash which gives more fruit the more it is picked), and a BUNCH of peppers. There's still more peppers growing but they're kinda small. Hopefully we can harvest them next week though.
The temperature is started to go down though. If it doesn't shoot back up, then we will be approaching the time where we clean up the garden by ripping all the plants out by the roots. Fun.
This upcoming season we need to remember, plant squash (pink jumbo banana, cantaloupe, watermelon, etc.) and peas way earlier. Also to try the thing I read in a book where you're suppose to water a plant before you transfer pots so the shock is lessened. That might've been a reason why so many carrots, all the spinach, and peas died.
We have a bunch of organic tomato seeds (and 2 new beds) due to our donors (Lauren Sullivan and Ms. Jones Thank you!!) as well as various other seeds in the basement.
Ms. Bauer also brought up the idea of making lavender sachets in the Spring when they FIRST blossom. We have a bunch growing on the side to attract bees and it would be really fun to make them. Maybe we could start planting other bushes (flowers or other plants) around the same area. The mulch got replaced and it looks rather empty (the weeds are all gone for now). Plus then we could add more color and possibly attract even more pollinators! This upcoming year is going to be great especially since we have a LOT of time to brainstorm and plan before we need to start planting.
