Pickles

It is pickling season here. I grow several types of cucumbers here. I grow Russian cucs for making dill spears( recipe here http://low-cholesterol.food.com/recipe/blue-ribbon-dill-pickles-241139 ) and whole sweet pickles. They are very prolific producers. The one draw back I have found is that the Russian variety tends to be a prime target for Anthracnose, which kills the plants. I typically get plenty of pickles to make what I need before the plant succombs to the disease, but if you are looking for something to grow and produce all summer long, it's not the variety for you. I am going to try some Carolina cucumbers for this fall's crop, just to see how resistant they are to the disease and if I want to switch over to them next spring.

 I also crow Soyo Japanese cucumbers which are great for slicing, relish ( recipe here http://www.food.com/recipe/grandmas-old-fashioned-sweet-relish-100301 ) and for making bread and butter pickles. B&Bs ( recipe here http://www.food.com/recipe/bread-and-butter-pickles-71203 )are my favorite.
 And I grow a burpless variety for salads and the like.
The tomatoes are ripening up and I get a few each day for the table. The main crop looks to be a couple of weeks out yet. I seem to be having about 10% of my maters with blossom end rot. This surprises me because I not only limed the garden this spring, but I have egg shells in with the vermicompost I put in each planting hole. I think I'll take a soil sample this fall and send it off to the Ag center to see exactly what my soil's make up is and what it needs. While my dogs enjoy eating the tomatoes with blossom end rot, I prefer my tomatoes without it!
 I picked my first horned worm last night. This evening I'll spray down the plants liberally with BT.   Hornworms can do a good job of stripping  your plants in no time flat, and I'll be going to the beach for a few days, so I'd like to return to find healthy plants.
 Bambi has outwitted me on the beans. I tried putting hoops with deer netting stretched over them to protect the beans, but the deer seem to eat the plants right through the netting. I believe I'll be investing in an electric fence soon. The odd thing is, I have a patch of Cowpeas planted out in the open with no protection at all, and the deers haven't touched them. The beans inside the fencing, and under deer netting have been picked clean. I've had it up to here with Bambi!
 I added a super to each of the bee hives last week and the bees are doing a slow but steady build out of the comb. I hope to get a gallon from each hive this year and leave the rest of the honey for the bees to get through winter. Next year should be the first year of full production and I'll look for 5 gallons or so from each hive.

Today's blooms. 6/9/12

The neighbor's kids brought over some zucchini bread today. It was made from some zucchini that I had given them. My neighbor makes some killer zucchini bread! I haven't seen any new fruit set on the zucchini plants since I harvested the first batch of around 8 of them. I made one into sauteed zucchini seasoned with garlic, ginger and S&P. I gave the rest away to friends and neighbors or fed to the dogs. The dogs need to have some of the peel removed to get them started, then they will eat the flesh and leave the peel.

My Jackmanii clematis is still blooming up through the hydrangeas.

Dahlia in bloom

White balloon flowers 

Double White Balloon Flowers

Hostas in flower

Blueberries are ripening.

A lace cap purple hydrangea

Zinnias

Trumpet lillies

echinacea

Double Cheeto Daylilies with coreopsis.

Gold Flame Honeysuckle

The road garden.

In the gardens 6/7/12

It's been awhile since I've posted, so let me get right to what's going on in the gardens. The Chaste tree (Vitex) by the pond is in full bloom.

I trimmed this tree back to five or six main branches this spring and removed all the side branches. It blooms on new wood just like Crape Myrtles do. It will stay in bloom for about a month and it attracts lots of bees, so if you are allergic or frightened by them, it should be planted in an out of the way spot. I am not frightened by bee (obviously because I am a beekeeper) and I have managed to convince my DW that there is nothing to fear of them if you just leave them bee :).

I got some pictures of the raccoon whom I believe killed my chickens. He must have been pretty hungry to be out at this time of day. If my memory serves me correct, it was around 3:00 when I took these. We haven't seen him/her since these pictures were taken a week ago.

This is one of my favorite flowers in the garden. It is a Japanese Iris. I believe it's called Cascade Crest.

I've started a new bed out in the garden. I'm planning on moving some strawberry starts out here in the fall. I planted it with some buckwheat this spring. The buckwheat has deep roots that pull up nutrients closer to the top. And it grows fast to crowd out any weeds and provides a good amount of organic matter to be tilled back into the soil. And lastly, it is good for the bees and adds a distinct flavor to the honey.  After mowing and plowing under the buckwheat I planted some black eyed peas to provide more organic matter and the peas add nitrogen to the soil. I will mow and plow them under in August and transplant the strawberry starts in September. I am going to have to put up hoops with deer netting to keep Bambi and friends from feasting on them. 

Here are some pictures of my tomatoes. They are coming along fine. I had one German Johnson ripen this week. It had been flowering before I even transplanted the starts back in April.

The bush beans are starting to ripen. I planted both Blue Lake and Provider this year. To be honest, I can't tell much difference between the two.  I sure to like the taste of fresh beans, they are far superior to canned.

The  basil is really starting to take off. I have removed the blooms once already, but I think I'll let it go to flower now and give the bees a treat. They really love the basil blooms. 

Dill.

Here we see two pictures of female cucumber flowers. The female flowers have a mini cuc at the base of the flower as you can see in these two photos.

The male cuc flower, pictured here, does not have the small cuc at the base.

My Honey Rock and Ambrosia cantaloupes are growing well.

As are the SnowMass honeydews. 

This is a acorn squash. 

And this is a buttercup squash.

And this is an acorn squash.

Here we have a Soyo cucumber. They make for good slicing cucs because they don't get bitter. I grow several plants of them to make relish and bread and butter pickles from. If you were to grow them just for slicing, one plant would provide more than enough cucs for two families. I usually do three plants, and that will provide me with enough cucs to make batches of relish and B&Bs.  This one looks to be about a week from being ready to pick.                                     

Here you can see the start of a watermelon.

And here you can see my sweet potato plants. I've had to cover them with hoops and deer netting. The deer really love the leaves of sweet potato plants. I started the slips from an organic tater I bought at the store. This is my first year growing them to eat. In previous years I used them strictly as ornamentals.

This bed was where I had my spring plants. I am planting pumpkins and cantaloupes and honey dews. I  am trying to stagger my melon plantings this year so I will have a steady supply through the summer. I also want to see if they will be sweeter late in the year when our night temps cool down. Most of the melons grown here in the states come from Colorado and the surrounding areas where they have nice cool night temps.

This is where my peas were this spring. I planted a couple rows of bush beans for canning here.