K&R+X

Since I was writing about the leaf miners (see last post) I thought I might as well post an overview update.

The garden continues to grow well. It’s early and overcast this morning. The two largest chard & sunflower plants continue to get bigger but the others are growing as well.

Next door the Siletz tomatoes are getting bigger.

The much-abused herb box is hanging on. I think maybe the plastic mulch covers should be used the way the Earthbox site recommends. The open box doesn’t seem to be doing as well. I had thought the plants would cover the box and provide their own cover.

The Thai tomatoes continue to do well. The smaller ones had fallen over today. I tried pushing them a bit deeper in the soil with the hope that the root buds would take root and provide them with more stability. I also added a stake to help support them.

Since taking out the arugula and spinach there is an empty row in the salad box but the new lettuce seeds should be coming up. The Tom Thumb lettuce has done really well.

I’m fairly pleased with the garden at this point. It’ll be interesting to see how things continue to develop. Several of the sunflowers are taking off while a few are still growing slowly. Maybe they’re just not getting as much sun as they would like? If we can get some nicer weather it might help. I guess we’ll just see how it goes and plan for the future when we’re able to do a larger garden.

We have some leaf miners on the chard. I’m learning more all the time. I noticed these odd tracks on the leaves – obviously some sort of insect damage. There were also some white eggs in little groups on the underside. I hadn’t looked up the culprit yet but removed the damaged leaves and discarded them (I should have saved the undamaged portions & stalks, next time.) This morning I did a search and discovered what was behind the problem. Easy enough to deal with.

It always amazes me how quickly everything discovers our tiny porch garden. Just a few containers but the bugs show up right away. Last year the aphids were around a lot – particularly on the squash. This year with the chard we have the leaf miners. As the growing season went on last year it was fascinating how things developed. The aphids and other bugs came – and soon there were spiders busy catching things. Later in the year we had the frogs living among the plants on the containers. We create a habitat with fresh plants, no pesticides, and everything shows up for the party. It makes me want a bigger garden.

Next week we should get our first box from the Boistfort Valley Farm CSA. That’ll help make up for not being able to have a big garden here.

I removed what was left of the spinach and arugula today. Both had gone to seed already while not producing much. I replanted more Tom thumb lettuce since that’s done so well. I’ve also started more basil and oregano seeds in the seed starter – I still hope to have a better herb crop.

The squirrels attacked the herb box again the other day. Dug up a few of the plants. Made a mess. I don’t have a picture to post – batteries are out in the camera.