There won’t be too many trips this summer. There is just too much going on.
But trip 1 is in the bag. A wonderful visit with some friends up to a remote cabin in the woods. Temps dipped into the 40s. It was beautiful.
On the radio this morning they said it should be 105 today. Welcome back to the Valley of the Sun!
The good thing is that my garden was well tended while I was gone. And as a result my new beds were starting to sprout.
The dirt in these two beds is as close to gold as I’ve ever put into a raised bed, so I have high hopes. The deep mulch is working good so far. The seeds are staying moist and I’m seeing a good germination rate.
Everything was busting out with peppers and tomatoes. My first BIG tomato of the year… well… it looked terrible. Blossom end rot, some other random soft spots… not good. I’m hoping the rest will be better with the amendments that have been added. This lesson just keeps ON GIVING. The chickens at the tom. They gave it good reviews.
Cherry toms and my principe toms are doing great though and producing abundantly. Peppers are coming out all over the place. All varieties. Yumminess abounds!
I’m digging the trellis system. It seems to be holding fairly well. Trellising the toms is a bit of an adventure and makes for some seriously stained fingers, but the wall of toms seems to be holding, in spite of some pressure. Plus the cukes are finally catching on!
The Old Time Tennessee Melons are content, but I’m figuring out I will have a space problem between my beds very soon… hmmm… I’ll have to think about this one. It will could be tough to get to the ollas soon.
(Don’t look at the grass, I was on vacation) 🙂
Apples are beginning to swell. I’m really excited! It’s always fun to watch fruit forming.
The beans are… well… they’re doing their thing. I’m hoping for a good harvest this year. The plants are definitely looking healthier than they have in the past and the pole beans are starting to climb. It’s very entertaining to watch.
Watermelons are not to be out done.
It was also very exciting to come back to my first zucchini of the season! Grow baby, grow! We really love all of the squash. I’ve been hungry for these for months.
You have to love summer. 🙂
God bless!
The Jones Garden Blog 
Grind up your egg shells and work them into the top inch or so of dirt around your tomatoes. The calcium helps stop blossom end rot. I’ve also used oyster shell (from the feed store) with really good results. The tomatoes get the benefit as you water. 😊
I dumped a bunch of oyster shells in there but not until last week 😦 I’ve been top watering a little just to get them to work into the soil. Poor soil prep to start with. My last two beds I definitely did better. I’ll amend the other four as I go and then rebuild the soil for fall. (Heavy sigh).
I hear you – I ignored all my raised bed soil for two seasons – and paid the price. Not enough hours in a day sometimes. Last fall I took every single scrap of every kind of manure I had stacked up and dug it into every single bed. Lots of work but the end results definitely worth it.
Your straw mulch is a great idea – I dig my straw right in, but end result is the same – holds the moisture in way better. I have trouble with the dirt compacting – the dug in straw helps keep it loose too.
That’s interesting. BTW when is the next exciting episode of homesteading adventures? 🙂
Oi. Guilt has been setting in big time – wasn’t my intention to leave everybody hanging …… I’m shooting for something by the end of the weekend.
At least that’s the plan – job and farming – keep getting in the way. 😊
No guilt! There are always entertaining posts and worth the read.
Your hard work is paying off. Our temps are challenging our gardens. We have high 70’s one day and upper 40’s the next. 😦
Bummer! Seems kind of late in the season for that. Is that normal? I must say… personally… I love the cold, but the plants… yah, not so much. I hope it warms up for you!
It all looks great! You’re a bit ahead of us but our summer gardens are coming along fine and I expect we’ll soon be awash in delicious summer goodness.
I don’t worry about blossom end rot much any more. My experience has been that the first few tomatoes always have it, then it goes away. We just cut off the bottoms of those that have it, or let the chickens and pigs have a treat. 🙂
I’m hoping that’s the case, although it definitely has me concerned. I’ve got five months of care into these babies already. Sure would like to have a good tomato sandwich. 🙂
Keith, wow, you have some serious harvest going on there. We are barely getting started here in Nebraska. The harvest you are enjoying won’t happen here until maybe August this year. Things are finally starting to get some good growth and the two cherry tomato plants have blossoms. That’s the best I can do for excitement here.
We (daughter, grandson, and I) are taking a trip to Las Vegas to attend my second oldest grand daughter’s high school graduation. We are driving and hoping to have a visit with my two grand daughters in Wyoming. I haven’t seen them for a couple years. Kids grow up fast and change allot in two years. We are driving and Wyoming is about half way to Las Vegas so it will be a good break for the day of driving.
Have a great day back in the garden.
That’s great! Have a safe trip, Dave!
Your garden looks amazing…so much farther along than mine. I’m only to the flowering stage on some types of plants…others are still just growing in size.
WOW! everything looks so shiny and delicious. I am definitely going to mulch this year. I guess you really have to with how hot it is there. Beautiful garden, there is nothing better than that!
Thanks! I’ve come to love mulching… a lot… mainly because it keeps my plants alive. The difference is really amazing. The temps are around 110 right now and it dries out the soil SO FAST without the mulch.