Cucumbers
Photo by Tom MacCubbin
Tying up the cucumber shoots is keeping me busy. You see, I like to keep
the vines up off the ground. This makes the fruits easy to see, keeps
them from rotting and I can spot pest problems. The way I grow them over
a wooden lattice shaped like a pyramid makes it easy to pick the fruits
too. You just watch for them to hang down and then snip them off. What
could be easier?
Most of my spring crops are doing well. The
squash is starting to produce fruit but I am having some pollination
problems. The insects seem to be having a difficult time finding the
blossoms. I have some flowers like the sweet almond shrub nearby and
hopefully this will help.
Tomatoes are growing well for the most
part. Had one plant just up and decline. Maybe it stayed too wet. Had
one or two that the insects started to nibble near the ground. I mounded
up some soil at the base where the damage occurred and these seem to be
taking off now. Tomatoes have lots of preformed roots and they can
produce more in the new soil to get a second chance.
It is now
time to start harvesting onions. They have matured early this year most
likely due to the mild winter. I have two new varieties and I am waiting
for them to start bulbing. I will let you know how they do. The old
standard for my garden Granex is producing some big bulbs for early
harvest.
I have sprayed once. This was for caterpillars on my
tomatoes and corn. It looks like I will have to make another application
– It has been about 3 weeks since the first spray of spinosad. This is a
natural caterpillar, leaf miner and immature stink bug control. I expect
the caterpillars to be bad this year as they are feeding again.
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