Thursday, July 03, 2008

Progress

Jonathan Eller's garden 7_1_08Here are some pictures from the garden from earlier this week. I didn't get out to the garden today. I'm sure that I'll be shocked at what has transpired since I called it a day yesterday afternoon.

From this angle you can see the cantaloupe in the foreground with the purplehulls in the rows just above. The purplehulls have really taken off this week and have grown so much that you can't really see the ground between the rows. I am expecting them to start blooming any day now.

Green tomatoes on the vine.The tomatoes are really starting to get larger. They have been getting a little more attention lately. Dad and I decided that they were looking a little too spindly and not quite healthy and green enough.

They have been getting more water, fertilizer, Calcinit Tropicote® and extra cultivation. They have also gotten a fresh spraying of Sevin® as well to keep the aphids from making the leaves curl up. They seem to be responding quickly.

Wando green peas nearly ready for harvestThe green peas are just about ready to pick. I hadn't even noticed the pods on the plants when my dad asked if I had seen the peas. I looked, and lo and behold, there were some on there that were nearly ready to pick! You'll almost certainly have to expand the picture to be able to see them.

I very well may be picking some tomorrow. We'll have to see how many are ready and decide if I think that they will get a little bigger.

Sweet bell pepperThe sweet bell peppers are really starting to grow too. I was very surprised to find one this big on the plant. The last ones I had noticed were about dime sized.

The plants are still much shorter than I think they should probably be, but I don't guess it matters as long as they are producing. They will certainly benefit from the additional water being given to the tomatoes. They also got a fresh dose of fertilizer this week.

Yellow straight neck squash ripeningI also have my first squash ready to harvest. I took this picture on Tuesday and left these on to give them a chance to get up to "grocery store" size. They should be ready tomorrow.

They are also beginning to show some improvement thanks to an increase in their water ration.

Jonathan Eller standing next to his corn plantsI showed some pictures of the corn the other day and I am really enjoying watching its development too. The corn is now WAY over my head.

I discovered something else that I didn't know yesterday when I was spraying the corn... bees work corn. I had always heard that corn was pollinated by the wind, so I went along spraying it to keep the bugs and worms out of it.

Closeup photo of blossoms on Ruby Queen corn tasselsHowever, about halfway through the first row I noticed bees up on the tassels. There are tiny little flowers on the tassels that the bees were working.

I felt terrible when I realized that I had probably killed a few bees in my ignorance. (I used to be a beekeeper, and those little gals have a special place in my heart. Hopefully they noticed that something was amiss and avoided the tainted blossoms.)

It would seem that harvest season has begun. It would be wonderful if it turned out to be a metaphor for something that God is doing both in my life and in this region.

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