In this episode, the growing season is about 2 months in. Although we’ve been enjoying lots of harvest treats (follow us on Instagram to see all the harvest pics!), we focus on Garden Lessons Learned and what we’re gonna try and remember for next year.
For lesson’s learned, here are the highlights:
- 3 Sister’s Garden – As you’ll see in the video, we have a bit of an overcrowding issue.
- Herb Planting – Plants are small when you plant them, or ‘invisible’ if they are underground. Needless to say, the potatoes kinda took over the herbs.
- Plant Markers – So, sharpie markers might not come off of walls very easily, but on plastic plant markers that are exposed to the weather…
- Slow bolting cilantro – Cilantro, cilantro, cilantro…why doth thee go to seed so early!
- Plant spacing, row design – Our garden is oddly shaped. We did that on purpose, but the rows get kinda wacky. No worries, Steffan has a plan for next year.
The pests and issues we are dealing with include:
- Cabbage butterfly’s/worms – This has been manageable. Although we still don’t have cauliflower or broccoli 🙁 The plants look good though, so hopefully soon. We used BT, a Certified Organic liquid formulation of bacteria, Bacillus Thuringiensis. It seems to be working well.
- Japanese beetles – Soooo, we’ve had GALLONS and GALLONS of beetles. This is not an exaggeration. Our poor hops are surviving thanks to Neem Oil and a concoction of 3 tsp Garlic Power, 1 tsp Cayenne, 1/4 cup Dish Soap, 1/4 cup vegetable oil and 1.5 gallons of water. We’re also gonna try some milkspore to prevent them next year. We are at war with these destructive creatures…I hope we win.
- Buck Moth – I’m only mentioning these because I’ve seen them on the hops. They apparently usually attack trees. With the Japanese beetle infestation, these are not actively being treated…I mean I’ve seen like three of them.
- Potato Blight – We’d been noticing some yellowing and Steffan did some research. Since it is the early potato blight and we caught it, we think we’ll be good. We removed all yellowing leaves and cleared out all weeds to allow for air flow. We think part of this might be from the excessive moisture we’ve had this year.
- Squash Weirdness – Our butternut squash in particular has this yellowing happening. I’ve seen fungus that hits squash from the center and destroys it, but this isn’t spreading, like I’ve seen in the past. It’s only the butternut squash, and the plants are still growing. I guess we’ll see what happens and let you know.
- Excessive Wind – We live in a former farm field. There are houses around us, but no real wind blocks in the form of trees or vegetation. This has caused some leaf ‘harm’ on some of our peppers, but they are production. We’re just keeping it in mind for future.
Her is what we’re thinking of for preventative measures and some notes we’re keeping for next year:
- Hail Blockers – We installed these babies this year. We haven’t had to deploy project hail block yet, but we’re keeping, just in case.
- Ordering BT, Neem Oil and Japanese Beetle Recipe Ingredients – Since we know we might be greeting more cabbage butterflies/worms and japanese beetles, we’re just gonna make sure we have the tools we need on hand if they visit…oh yeah!
- Treat with Milkspore – We are going to treat our lawn and some of the surrounding area lawn with milkspore this year to get those japanese beetle larvae. We may treat again next year, but it says it stays in the soil for like 15 years. I guess, we’ll see, but some milkspore is going down this year for sure.
- Beneficial Species – Not sure if we will do this, but it’s on my mind. I think I say aphids in the video…I know they are not beneficial, so just ignore that 🙂
- Plant Markers – We’re gonna have some fancy schmancy ones made up. Or at least some that have the ability to retain the words written on them.
- Slow bolting cilantro – So there are varieties of cilantro known as ‘slow bolting’…who knew? Well, I guess I should’ve guess, but we’re gonna get us some of that next year and see if we can actually get more cilantro.
- Plant earlier – We really couldn’t plant any earlier this year, due to our garden being under construction. Next year though..watch out…we’ll be planing as early as possible!
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the basic ‘stuff’ we cover in the episode. It’s much more fun to watch though and see first had all the fun stuff we’re learning! PLUS, we’d love any tips you can share and we’d especially love a subscribe so we know you’re watching!
Happy Living,
Kelly (& Steffan)