The Tomatoes Get a Haircut!

I periodically prune back my tomatoes.  Since I grow them so close together, they need trimming to keep the air circulating and to put the most plant energy into making fruit, instead of leaves.  Frequently I have people ask me if I'm afraid I'm going to kill them... Well, I've been doing this for years and always get tons of tomatoes. 


During the trimming I found one Roma plant that hasn't set any tomatoes yet.  I'm not sure why, since 4 other Romas (from a different supplier) have set quite a bit of fruit.  I'll keep watching!

How Some of the Tomatoes are Doing

 The Brandywine has a few small fruits starting on it.


































The Mountain Pride has quite a few small fruits now.

The Cherokee Purple has some larger fruits, but not very many yet.  I can't wait for this one!

This is supposed to be Window Box Roma.  I've never grown them, so I don't know what to expect.

I planted several Roma tomato plants.  Some don't seem to have much fruit yet, but the one further down has quite a few.

The Berry Bed

The Triple Crown Blackberry is doing great.  It even had a few berries this year that are ripening.  They taste great, so I can't wait until next year for it to produce a real crop.

The Cumberland Black Raspberry plant is looking a lot better.  It seems to be getting a good start.

The Navajo thornless blackberry doesn't look like its adapting well.  

The Northland blueberry bush is the weakest looking of the blueberry bushes, but seems like it will be okay.

The Bluecrop blueberry bush is looking great!

The Elliot Blueberry bush is also looking great.

 The pine straw mulch has really helped keep the moisture in and the weeds out.  I'm very pleased with it so far.  I hadn't used it in a couple of years.

Getting Ready for Fall Fun!

I decided to plant some pumpkins for this fall.  I planted 'Jack O Lantern' and some great white ones 'Casper'.  They were planted on 7-14 and popped up on the 20th!  I thought that was pretty quick.  We've never grown pumpkins before, so this should be fun.

We tried to plant sunflowers, but the chipmunk that stakes out our building kept digging up and eating the seeds.

 'Casper'

'Jack 'O Lantern' 

HOT! HOT! HOT!

We've gotten quite a few sweet banana peppers already.  It always amazes me how much one small plant can produce.  Ok, so they don't stay very small, and yes - I did plant 2 of them!  The peppers and tomatoes are loving our current heat wave.


















Unfortunately this unbelievable heat wave (10 days in July in the 90's is RARE for Michigan, they tell me!) has come with very little rainfall.  The trusty sprinkler has really gotten a workout!  I also desperately need to prune the tomatoes again, cause they are going gangbusters!

Our Little Friend

 

The good news is after getting rid of the first two Japanese Beetles, I haven't seen more.  But something is eating my beans now.  It may be more beetles, but I can't catch them if it is - which is kinda weird.

We do have a BUNCH of these guys flying around!  I love to watch the dragonflies.  I hope to get some better pics soon.  My daughter took this one - I think she did a great job!

Japanese Beetles

There have been 2 Japanese beetles the last 2 days on my basil plants, so today I decided to get rid of them the old fashioned way.  We took a bucket of soapy water out and knocked them into it.

 

 After swimming around a while, they finally gave up. 

Broccoli is Starting to Set Heads

 The DiCiccio broccoli planted on 6-5 is finally setting florets.  The Waltham planted at the same time doesn't show any yet.

I can't wait for some fresh broccoli.  There is nothing like cutting it fresh and serving it within the hour!

The Rain Really Sped Up Growth in the Garden

 I just trimmed back the tomatoes a couple of days ago, but the heat and now finally some rain and they have gone nuts.  I couldn't believe how many branches had already shot out of the cages.  I'll need to pick more squash, zucchini and lettuce today. 

 The one row of beans didn't do well.  I'm not sure if they were washed away early on, or eaten by something, but this is the only row that didn't come up well.

 I thought I was going to get away with a small cage for the Tess Currant cherry tomato, but it has shot up through the cage pretty early.  I wasn't sure how well it would do.  I purchased this seedling at the local farmers market and it had a VERY slow start.  I haven't grown this variety before, so its a total learning experience.

 

I noticed 2 Japanese beetles in the garden last night.  I hope we aren't going to have a bunch of them. They were on the basil plants.  In TN they usually hit the beans.

Rain...

It started off with a pretty windy storm, and then we had a nice soaking rain.  The yard and the garden both really needed it. I was a little worried about the apple trees standing up to the wind.  They seemed to stand up well.

Hubby is currently finishing the install of the removable gate on the garden.  I really love the way the garden looks with the raised beds.  After the rain its looking very lush.  I picked 3 sweet banana peppers, lettuce and another yellow straight-neck squash.










I think I'll be doing some fertilizing this week with seaweed, maybe Maxicrop.  I will fertilize Beds 1 and 2, but not the Berry bed yet.

Still No Rain

Another day of using the sprinkler. We NEED rain!

The apple trees are a little close together. Until we trim back the trees or move the swing set, they'll have to stay there.

We had to pick the green pepper, since it was growing oddly in the plant, tearing it up.

I ran the strings yesterday and started training up the pole beans. Some of the runners were already twisted up between the rows. It took some serious unwinding.

The cantaloupe has a TON of blooms on it. I hoping we get that many melons! I had decent luck with melons in the south, but I don't know how well they will do here.

Mulching and Pruning

Yesterday we put the pine straw in the berry beds. The pH test on the berry bed showed 6.0 so its not bad for a new bed, but I want it a good bit lower. I figure as it gets wet and charges a little, the pH should drop with in a couple of weeks.











The 'Northland' isn't looking too well. I may need to buy some organic acidic food to save it.













The Cherokee Purple tomato finally has some small fruits on it. Its one of my favorites

I finally pruned all the tomatoes.
I rearranged the cages and tied up the main trunks.

I haven't grown 'Black Prince' before so I'm not sure what to expect. It has some small fruit on it.

Early July and Very Little Rain

Early July and the beds are really filling in. I need to trim and thin quite a few plants.

The cantaloupe is growing up the fencing. The pole beans have the bars in for support, but the string I need hasn't arrive yet. Hopefully tomorrow or the next day.

The berry bed is looking okay now. The blueberries are 'Elliot', 'Bluecrop' and 'Northland'. The blackberries are 'Navajo Thornless' and 'Triple Crown Thornless' and 1 black raspberry 'Cumberland'. We put up support for the blackberries and raspberry.