Welcome all to part 9 of my 2016 vegetable garden blog. As you have read in past entries, I have had trouble with a groundhog and squash vine borer that hit my zucchini quite a bit. However, the borer did not even touch my yellow squash which I found to be very interesting. Could it be that they find the plant unsuitable for their offspring or is it something genetic in the plant that they find repulsive? This is just one of many questions to be answered in time as I gain more experience and knowledge.
Below is a picture of said yellow squash plant which was a prolific producer. Not only did we eat it grilled and steamed but we shredded so much of it on a mandolin and made bread with it. So good, but I have to say zucchini makes for better bread. But not bad.
Here is just a sample of my harvests every few days.
Now, getting back to that groundhog, here is a shot of my cucumber plants which by rights should have inundated us with fruits and totally covered my pallet wood trellis, but this is about the biggest the plants got before they were eaten. I had no cucumbers whatsoever. 2017 will be so much different, but I’ll get to that soon enough.
My cherry tomato plants could have been considered invasive and produced enough fruit for an army all summer. I never ate so many tomato sandwiches in my life. And the dog never ate so many tomatoes in his life...he loves tomatoes. I had so many that I probably harvested a few pounds every other day. Very successful.
I wish I could have said the same thing for my beefsteak tomatoes. I think they got a curly leaf virus or some such disease. They never set many fruit and the ones they did rotted before ripening. The few that made it had black spots inside. I know for sure it was not blossom end rot, but nonetheless, unsure of what it was...it was very disappointing.
That about wraps up the 2016 inaugural vegetable season. It was not a total success, but not a total failure. I learned a lot for 2017 and have come fully prepared to do battle with the wildlife, namely the groundhog.
I hope to “see” you all and thanks for your support and comments and votes. I plan on doing this current year's garden as well as flower gardening.
Thank you and Keep on Growing!
