Can you believe the summer is halfway over? But the good news is that tomato season is upon us, and that includes the sungold cherry tomatoes we planted at the school garden. I was worried because the plants developed some sort of leaf spot early on, but it doesn’t seem to have affected them at all. They’re coming in all lush and beautiful. This variety is ripe when bright orange.
We also have corn!! I was surprised to find decent-sized, fully formed ears of corn on our plants so early. Of course, that’s not the whole story. The rest of the story goes like this:
One or more animals are tearing the plants apart to get to those delicious cobs. I’m not sure who the culprit is, but my guess would be squirrels or raccoons. Or maybe it's the deer again. But as my 9YO says, we humans are too greedy. We should let the animals have some too. And he’s right. They don’t know we planted that food for ourselves. For them, it’s simply a case of finders-keepers. The important thing is that no creature in the vicinity of the garden went hungry that day. At least that’s my PR-friendly story. (Meanwhile, I’m already mentally constructing a cornstalk-based critter catapult.)
Watermelons! I found two bowling-ball-sized melons (candlepin, not duckpin) dangling heavily over the retaining wall when I got back from vacation, so I rushed to put something underneath them for support. I wonder how long it will be before the animals figure out how much water is contained inside those juicy melons during these dry times.
The cucumber plants are producing like crazy.
The cabbage is looking happy underneath its chicken wire enclosure.
We got some good garlic despite my late planting.
My broccoli, however, needs work. Only one plant made it this far for a variety of reasons, and that one plant produced a head of broccoli the size of a single floret. I should have picked it and eaten it right then and there, but I thought it would get bigger so I left it to keep growing. Nope. It bolted straightaway. I was disappointed, but I'm sure the miniature broccoli-hating contingent is cheering right now.
That’s okay. I’ll console myself with grapes!
Yum!
Posted by: Mom | July 31, 2015 at 09:53 AM