Midwest Gardening 2024:Vegetable Garden Heat, Rain, Critters and BUGS

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Along with the BEASTLY temperatures most of the country is suffering through, we now are having Gallons---What's a Cubit, Lord---Rains! 

Along with the rains, comes voracious BUGS,  after the bunny/mole/vole/chipmunk spring planting infestations. I've worked so hard, and am cursing all along the way.

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This is one day's damage, they were perfectly fine when I weeded a day ago....Miss GREEN here just drowned the entire garden in bug killer--(safe for animals and vegetables) which will work only until the next deluge and then will have to be sprayed again.

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Here's our garbage can  full of potatoes, almost ready for some more dirt. They seem to be bug free at the moment.

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Luckily the planter boxes have been pretty immune to the crawly bugs. Radishes are done, but the lettuce keeps going. The pot on the ground is a cherry tomato.

I have two planted along this fence with marigolds to attract the b

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These flowers are the last things I have planted in the garden during the heat wave to attract pollinators. 

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The Broccoli on the left is also nibbled on, first by bunnies (I now have netting all around them) and now the bugs, hopefully the spraying will work. The greens are  different kinds of chard which is doing okay...I need to weed them again.

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Along the fence under the planters is a whole line of asparagus, which are seeding nicely. Hopefully we will have a crop next year-(12 plants 2 years old now and the seedings) 

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The beets in front and the carrots in the back are almost ready to thin. I pulled weeds and in one day of heavy rain everything has doubled in size.

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The back trelesses are starting to support climbing Kentucky Wonder beans. I've planted Balsam and Tall Marigolds  between them. NONE of the Sunflowers made it through the critter niobbling.

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This corner has Winter Squash plants, I got the varieties mixed up in the greenhouse so we will see what happens.

This is my CORN patch......LOL...no corn just weeds, tomorrows project.

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We only have three Zucchini plants this year...but they look very happy and are caged.

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I have two bean plants from 2 packages of bush bean seeds. JEESH, something got at the seedlings immediately when they came up---this planter is two feet off the ground. The spinners deterred no critters at all.

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The other side of the long raised planter has Pickle Bush Cucumbers, which are HAPPY, and blooming like crazy. Won't be long (next week) and we will have cucumbers for PICKLES.

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Two days ago, I severly trimmed back the Heirloom Tomato plants. I removed all the secondary stems (without blossoms) that weren't supporting assistance for the plants. This gives more growing energy to the tomatoes. We have only 8 plants this year since I still have so many canned tomatoes.

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In the center of the garden is the large bedspring trellis. This year the plants are in pots, and we are growing climbing Cucumbers in these pots. on the corners are 

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Green Pepper and Carnival Pepper Plants. These are all blooming and starting peppers already.

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There has been minimal bug issues here, but I sprayed anyway.

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The other side of the trellis is full of climbing Green Beans. I may have to thin these out---as those pots are really full.

I didn't get photos of the Pumpkin plants which are blossoming and the Rhubarb which is ready for it's third cutting I'll use for JAM!

Goals tomorrow: weed, and replant the Corn field (with a new fence around it), replant the depleted pots with radishes and onions...and I'm not sure what I will try in the large raised planter, maybe more onions and I may try some eggplant there, as the ones along the east fence aren't doing much. Also have to replant the fence line planter not shown with Asian Purple Beans---which were also eaten the first time. 

At the price of seeds---this has been a very expensive year...8 packages of Sunflowers, 6 packages of Beans, at least 6 packages of flowers of Balsam, Marigolds, and Zinnias  have simply fed all the greedy critters around here with no food or beauty for us. SIGH!

We've invested in some additional small hole plastic fencing and some netting. The first roll of netting saved the broccoli, and then it just was eaten by bugs...very weird year so far and we seem to be on the losing side.

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Midwest Gardening 2024: Yard Projects and Vegetable Gardening for Seniors.

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Projects and the Vegetable Garden, June 3, 2024

We are still in Catch Up mode from all the projects that didn't get finished last year.

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These wood 'boxes' were used on the East side which is now all planted in Perennials and they are waiting for a new location?

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Hubby finished the back porch, again we are using the carpet for safety, wood stairs are very slick with ice or even rain. Safety is a theme here at our home now as we age and todder herea and there.

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This ledge was built for planters...and soon will just have are garden refuse cans underneath. 

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Speaking of Garbage...here are all our cans lined up for one week (minus two more for yard waste). Cleaning sheds and all the projects in the yard has really kept our garbage collectors busy...every week. 

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Five of our Seven yard waste cans!

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Hubby has been replacing our wooden walkways with cement squares. All the new wood along the railings are reinforcements and replacing. Sometime this summer all the wood will get stained.

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We have a gentle slope on this lot across the back yard, so the step downs are here and there. Hubby is laying block for here.

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Inside the new service patio, We raised this bed with new and compost soil added. I planted Asian long pole beans in here and some squash. The old gates are going to be perfect for trellises.

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Between laying 'stone' in the greenhouse, here and the walkway, we are done this year. Next year we will do in front of the greenhouse and along the other side.

Starting in the small patio in the garden...that I hope is a Holly Hock...it's going bonkers in that small planter. Lots of birds bath in this old birdbath we have had forever.

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Our Silver Maple trees have actually grown since the severe trimming two years ago. and this area has some shade. We've moved the Pepper plants we usually had here into the garden, but the Peas are thriving and this week are starting to blossom.

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The back stairs did get done late last year...but the decking and the siding is fighting with molds. We are planning on pressure washing everything when the planting is done.

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Above the back pond, where I really hacked back the roses, they are beginning to bloom. Unaltered photo---so bright.

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This was our woodpile area, which we cleaned up as most the wood had rotted. We severly pruned back the Lilac, but they are hardy and will definitely recover. 

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This is our infamous compost pile, the stuff to the right is our neighbors. All kitchen waste, most grass cuttings, leaves, trimmings go into here and get tilled up with some compost starter. We couldn't do what we do---if we didn't have this.

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Early last week...all the construction still going on.

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Top down... 8 Broccoli plants (now only 6) someone was chewing on them. 

Strips  of Chard Fordhook and rainbow.

Walkway

Wide Carrot bed 

Lines of Beets

and 4 Brussel Sprout plants. 

 A bit of empty space to the right waits for flower transplants. 

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This area was the holding spot for all the planting containers. 

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Much of that is Mint that I wintered over in pots inside of a plastic bag we buried in the compost pile. MINT has to be potted or it will invade everywhere. We use it to control the bees where we sit, work or by entrances. 

This is about $120 worth of plants that are on their third year....a big REDO savings.

Behind this area are the railing containers.

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These were actually planted in the Greenhouse...and are producing great onions, lettuce, spinach, radishes and some flowers. This one has a vine on one end...waiting to see what it is???

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I had to add extra dirt to this pot to get the radishes going to radish?? Or however you say it.

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I planted two types of spinach, and it is very successful when there aren't critters chewing on it.

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I have 5 of these mixed planters from the greenhouse.

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 I've started three more with more Lettuce/greens,  greenhouse Hot Peppers and some greenhouse flowers.

The box planters below are for shady plants, I can move these around where I need a little character later.

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We had to 'weed' kill the Morning Glories under the trellis...they have been an issue for twenty years or so. They just ruined the beans and pickles last year. 

We have pallet wood, an old bedspring and some 4x8 trellis frames upright here. Hubby made a raised shelf now for pots...so the Green Beans have a chance to survive up off the ground. 

I have our Peppers in pots here also on the right. 

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Another raised bed has Bush Pickles, several Squash (for the trellis on the fence) and Bush Beans. This will help our senior backs. I may have to add more dirt later.

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I have only 8 Heirloom Tomato plants this year, grown from seed and kept in the greenhouse this Spring. Honestly they were starting to blossom in there.

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I grew these bush Pickles in the greenhouse...! 

Critters seem to leave larger plants alone.

We are designing the garden for Seniors as we are on the long end of our  70's now.

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I have Trellis Pickles in here. We filled all these pots from the compost pile and added new potting soil also. These pots will all stay in the garden year-round and be fertilized with new soil added as needed. 

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The potted Carnival and Green Peppers look healthy and HAPPY!

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I planted Zucchini, only three this year from the greenhouse.

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This is an ornamental Corn plot---but I think the bird/chippies/moles/mice have eaten every sprout that came up. I can still do something else here if that is what has happened.

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Along the back fence, we have beans, squash, sunflowers, but they have been chewed on also

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My neighbor has some sort of bamboo like grass that gets 12 feet tall as a privacy screen. 

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Beans are having a hard time here, Kentucky Wonder.

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More Squash and some Marigolds.

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1 sprout making it from 6 seeds. and a hole from some critter chewing on them?

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We banned the family away from here until Father's Day so we can get all the  areas FINISHED. 

Still, everything seems to still be a work in progress.

We had to take a few days off because of all our heavy rains, but, I will be out in the yard all day today.

I'm sure everything is going crazy out there!

How are your Vegetables Doing?

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