Well This Isn't Good

Remember the events that got us started gardening?  If you've gone way back and read my first post (though I wouldn't advise it, the early posts weren't very good) you know that we started on our garden adventure when we bought a new grill back in July of 2006.  The old girl held up pretty well over 5 years of heavy use, though apparently at some point this winter one of the doors fell off:

 

And there was some rust:

 

But she quit on us a week before Father's Day...while Lee was in the middle of cooking steaks for dinner.  It probably just needed replacement parts, but coupled with the broken door and the rust, we decided that it was time for a new one.  We worked a great sale at Lowe's and ended up getting a new grill for 20% off and after a delivery snafu, free delivery.  Here's Lee and SS2 on Father's Day with the new grill:

 

You may have noticed that it's on the patio and not next to the house anymore.  While it's terribly convenient to have the grill right outside the kitchen door, the shady side of the house is mosquito nation and frankly, we've really enjoyed have the walkway free (now we just need to clean it up):

  

And grilling has been a much more social activity for Lee since there is actually space for more than one person and chairs for everyone.  It will likely end up on the gravel patio and the wooden table and chairs down there will be reconfigured.  But the death of a grill after 5 years of heavy use was not the only problem in the garden over the last few weeks.  I don't know exactly what this is, but I found it on a potato plant:

  

And then these larvae appeared, which certainly look like Colorado potato beetle larvae to me.  I've found them on all but 2 of my potato plants and removed the sections where I found them and disposed of them, but I'm afraid I didn't find them all:

 

But the flowers on the Adirondack blue potatoes were truly beautiful (they're gone now):

 

And the smaller pots of fingerling potatoes along the drive looked great:

 

Until they didn't.  I think we'll be harvesting these shortly:

 

The container tomato plant I bought with fruit already on it is doing okay, but one of the early tomatoes had blossom end rot, so I disposed of it:

 

The foxgloves are all but gone now, this photo is from 9 days ago:

 

But there are some great things happening in the garden.  Flowering nasturtiums abound:

 

The raised herb bed looks great, even better than this week old photo shows:

 

The same with the zucchini, though I've already found 2 cucumber beetles:

 

I think it may be a banner year for the jalapenos:

 

We harvested some kale and Lee made a delicious kale salad from this recipe.  I went out on Sunday and picked a bunch more because we want to have it again, but this picture is from a week ago:

 

The weather has been weird, pouring rain, pouring rain, and oh, more pouring rain, then hot, hot, hot, and when it hasn't been raining and the sun hasn't been blazing, the mosquitoes have swarmed.  So I've had a bunch of plants sitting around waiting to be put into soil.  Many of the plants below are destined for the containers that will soon be emptied of potatoes, well hopefully the containers hold many potatoes:

 

As will these, except the marigolds that have to be planted in the tomato containers.  On the right are some cucumbers I picked up for a $1.  They look much better than the ones I've been growing from seed.  Also on that side are Scotch bonnet peppers, also $1.  I'm a little scared of them, but Lee loves hot, so I'll try growing them:

 

This week is supposed to be pretty clear and not too hot -- in the low 80s.  I'm hoping I can get some gardening done after work this week and get these poor plants in the soil.  What are your gardening plans for the week?

Comments

[Layanee]

Well, now I want a hot dog. The garden is lush. I must go check my potatoes for those darn CPB's. Mulch helps I hear although yours are in a container so they should be easy to keep clean. I can almost smell the grill smoke.

[commonweeder]

Grilling is just another way to make the garden a social space. How great to share the beauty of the garden and a great meal with friends. And not leave the chef alone while every one else is chatting.

[Wendy]

Heather, I missed the whole raised herb post. Nice. When you do a raised bed, do you use garden soil or do you use store-bought potting soil?

[Heather's Garden]

Layanee -- You should see what he's preparing right now to grill...well you will probably tomorrow! The CPBs are just a pain. I still have to get the undersides of the leaves, which is easier with the plants in containers, but not exactly easy.

Commonweeder -- You remind me that we really need to entertain in the garden more often!

Wendy -- I'm not sure I detailed the raised herb bed specifically (the zucchini/cucumber bed is the other half of the bed). For that bed I used Miracle Gro garden soil, which is a little heavier than their potting soil. If I had enough finished compost on hand I would have just mixed it in with actual garden soil, which is very nice in that spot. Our raised veggie bed (which we built last year) is on top of decomposed granite so we wanted to make sure it drained well and we used landscaping fabric beneath it. For the new raised bed we just wanted to add to the existing soil, so we scraped off the grass/weeds, leveled the spot, and poured in a bunch of bags of the garden soil.

[Blackswampgirl Kim]

Boo for the bad beetles! But I'm glad to see that Lee got a new grill... and I'm also glad that you posted those potato flowers. I hadn't realized that potatoes could have such pretty blooms!

[Heather's Garden]

Kim -- I am so excited to harvest those potatoes. I can't get a decent photo of them, but the leaves are stunning too. They have a beautiful blue sheen to them. Lee is loving his new grill. He's practically bubbling over having a really hot spot, which I guess the last grill didn't have. A well spent $240!