Hello Hive and everyone with an Agricultural Mindset! It was a rough week for the vegetable garden. It was mostly overcast and rainy. And, during the evenings it was dropping down to 37F (2.8c)
To make matters worse we had a tornado warning going through the south east United States and on Sunday we had hurricane force winds. A large oak tree up the road split in half and dropped a 30 foot limb from the wind. That same night we recieved 3.8 inches (84mm) of rain in a few hours along with hail. As a result the garden got a little beat up.
I couldn't sleep through the noise as it sounded like someone was spraying the side of the house with a fire hose. I worried all night at what the garden would look like in the morning. When it was daylight I ran outside and checked. There was some water logged soil and some of that soil was washed out of the beds all together. The hail beat up the Swiss Chard but everything else looked ok.
Here's a photo of some of the washout on the beds.
And another bed. They all looked like this. So I spent an hour re-cutting the edges of the beds. Scooping the washed out soil back in and tilling a little bit here and there as needed.
The garden actually rebounded pretty quickly, although when I was reforming the beds there was standing water just a few inches down into the soil in places. Anyways, the garden bounced back and is doing just fine. So let me show you whats new this week as there are a few additions to the garden.
First up updates on the plants from last time before I show pics of the new comers.
The tomatoes didn't have that explosive growth I was expecting. I blame the weather. But, I think this upcoming week will be a good one for them. Sunshine straight through and the weather is warming up.
However, all of the tomatoes started their first blooms. Earlier than I expected but a welcome surprise. Sorry the flowers themselves arent in focus. My tablet fir sone reason didn't want to cooperate.
Since they started flowering I figured now would be the best time to introduce nthe conical wire climbing trellises.
Heres the San Marzano doing well. It looks different from the other tomatoes. The leaves are much more lacy and elegant.
The Better Boy tomatoes are much shorter than the rest, but I'm not worried. They are well structured and have nice compact lush growth.
The Super Sweet 100 Cherry tomatoes are significantly taller than the rest. I believe these will end up around four feet tall.
Another shot of the sprawling Cherry tomatoes.
The Italian basil is going strong. I wish i had photos of my fiance 
The red bell peppers (capsicum) are doing pretty good. Thinking they'll start showing signs of branching in the upcoming week. We'll find out next time if thats true.
The zuccinni is spreading out. The old cotyledons are beginning to yellow and fall off. They're not as picturesque this week but they'll fall into the swing of things. They gave good progress and that's what matters.
The Boston cucumber is doing fantastic. No longer the meek little seedling it was last week.
The cantaloupe is slowly growing and us much more compact than expected. Considering in a few months it will be s long vine stretching out across the grass strangling anything in it's way.
The Swiss Chard rebounded from the pummeling the hail gave it. When I saw it that morning it had several broken leaves. But its looking pretty happy today!
The broccoli is getting a few new sets of leaves but I think the weather slowed it down some.
And the cabbage had s good week despite the rollercoaster style weather fluctuations. I still think cabbage plants are the cutest little things right now.
The coriander/cilantro has healthy tufts of leaves. I samples some yesterday and threw it in my homemade salsa mix. They are sharp and strong.
Mr. Jalepeno is probably the hardiest of the bunch. He seems to nearly double in size each week at the moment. Crappy weather didn't phase him at all.
And now for the new additions to the garden this week. I planted Beets, bronze Romain lettuce, ocra and a whole bunch of red onions.
The ocra are little guys right now. I planted three of them. They will eventually reach four feet tall and have custard yellow flowers with brown centers. Apparently they grow straight up and pretty darned fast. We shall see in the upcoming weeks.
The bronze Romain is handsome. They look fantastic. I planted nine of them. I sampled a few of the older leaves I wanted culled. They gave a nice full flavor. Will go great in salads down the road.
A shot of the Romain with the Swiss chard in the background.
The beets also took a heavy beating with the hail. But theyre coming back. Here they are.
Last but not least are the red onions. I organized them so that the most mature ones were on the right and the little sprouts on the left. I figure it will make them easier to harvest down the road. In the photo they are flopped over. This is because they had only been in the ground one night. Theyre starting to right themselves.
On the side of the house I've still got my seedling sprouts I introduced last week. I've moved the seedlings into the sun under an opaque glass patio table.
The radishes are really taking off. A big difference from last week. I'm going to wait another week maybe more before dividing them up and planting them in the bed near the lettuces.
The "fancy" mixed batch of lettuces are coming along. Half are green the other half are red. They have a few more weeks to go before i consider putting them into the ground.
The carrots finally sprouted two weeks later. But they're still fledglings right now. I keep a close eye on them since their soil, despite bring identical to all the other seedlings soil seems to dry our very quickly.
The tomato seeds finally sprouted too. I say meh to them. They're not doing anything stellar. Besides, theyre an interior variety of cherry tomatoes to the ones I already have growing. So I'm not overly invested in them. When the Marzano becomes big enough I'll be cloning cuttings from it anyways to augment our tomato production.
So thats it for this week. I will do another update in another weeks time. I will be doing a seperate series of posts following along as I re-landscape my parents back yard starting this weekend. First order of business will be transplanting some rhododendron that aren't happy in their current location. Planting some hydrangeas and loropetalum bushes. Carving out some new planting beds from the lawn and adding either a dogwood or cherry tree.
In the meantime I have a vegetable garden to water. But if interested and want to see previous weeks posts chronicaling the vegetable gardens progress they can be found here:
@hidave/victory-garden-post-one
@hidave/victory-garden-post-two
Wishing everyone here a pleasant week and continued health.
Best,
-hidave
All photos by hidave
