Garden Update Early August, 2014

  

Above, at the foot of our fence, is a strip of mostly Butternut Squash planted from seeds of a grocery store organic squash. They are about 3 weeks old now, the first seedlings pioneered up no more than 3 days after planting. I'm hoping the timing is appropriate for a fall harvest.. in the meanwhile I find squash leaves to be some of my favorite summertime greens.
To prepare my well-draining, but low-fertility soil I mixed about 75% coco coir, 20% compost, a couple handfuls of alfalfa meal, the same amount rock dust (wide spectrum mineral source), a few tablespoons of general purpose organic fertilizer and mixed all ingredients gently into the top inch of soil. I scattered the seeds, spread a thin layer of this mix over the top and then firmly and rhythmically tamped the seeds into place. I then laid down a mulch layer of dried out Periwinkle vine and sticks.

Pumpkin, Malabar Spinach

To the right, a potted plant featuring a miniature pumpkin showing off its morning flower.The vine growing out the top is malabar spinach. The plants seen are self-seeded continuation plants of last year's vine. This is a tender summer green and with a flavor and texture reminding me of asparagus, one of my absolute favorite. With the hot weather here, I've found it necessary to insulate black plastic growing containers. Sun on black means root rot.









Left, a sweet potato propagated from a store-bought "Organic Japanese Sweet Potato." It climbs the hand-railing gleefully. It was a very peaceful morning we were enjoying together, both of us getting a drink of water. Sweet potato greens are very nutritious and wonderful in salads, and come later in fall the sweet potatoes themselves will be a treat to dig up. 












A squash grows next to a tomato in a raised bed mulched with wood chips, sticks, coffee grounds, alfalfa, pine cones, our old swamp cooler pads and more. We started these beds in spring and hope there will be enough plant nutrition in them by this fall to grow lots of greens and more. I have found that in adding inches of wood chips and other mulches, a few months time is required for the soil to "settle" into a place where it becomes very fertile. I believe the soil micro-organisms and insects must have a chance to adjust their population to the wonderful new food source.






Our raised half-circle herb bed features Purslane up front, medicinal sage (Salvia Officinalis) to the left, squash starters to the right, and some parsely seedlings sheltered under the squash leaves.

Here is a closer for this session of sharing: A Malabar spinach vine climbing up a small sunflower. Beneath, a vibrant Red Velvet Okra, and bean plants out of view make up an improvised raised bed out of logs and rocks. These plants apparently make very good companions here in our garden.