\n| Pumpkins, watermelons and in the rear, the corn again<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Our main garden and raised beds are doing well.\u00a0 This week I noticed that the potato plants are starting to die off, which means I should be harvesting them soon.\u00a0 (CRF did share that tidbit over tea.)\u00a0 The back forty patch has not done as well as we would have liked, but that area was so wet right through June it is nothing short of amazing that anything is growing there.\u00a0 The watermelons are pretty much toast – nibbled by some bug, they barely grew.\u00a0 Two of the five mounds still have some greenery, but that’s it.\u00a0 The pumpkins are growing, and so far we have\u00a0eight small green Orange Smoothie pumpkins, and two Jack-Be-Littles.\u00a0 It seems unlikely that the Howden or Lumina vines will produce pumpkins for fall.\u00a0 (The Luminas got eaten by the same bugs that went after the watermelons, we think.)\u00a0 And while I’m disappointed that I will not have white pumpkins for my porch (think of the color contrast between white pumpkins and orange flames, when J lights them up on Halloween!),\u00a0our only expectation was that we would get the garden in back there this year – the area needed heavy brush-cutting, mowing, plowing and tilling.\u00a0 Now that we’ve established an area, next year we can improve it and\u00a0overall crop health.<\/p>\n What we’ve learned so far:<\/p>\n 1.) It is gong to be possible to grow two crops of certain types of vegetables, such as beans and peas, in our hardiness zone.\u00a0 (With our occasionally late frosts –\u00a0we sometimes have them as late as the 2nd weekend in May – we thought it was only safe to plant after Memorial Day.)\u00a0 Our goal next year will be to do two plantings of peas, and three of beans.<\/p>\n 2.) Fertilizer – it makes all the difference in the world in the growing season in central New England.\u00a0 We’re partial to Neptune’s Harvest, an organic liquid fertilizer you mix with water.\u00a0 Expensive, but worth it for how it works and the fact that it’s organic.<\/p>\n 3.) Squash plants – six of each (summer squash and zucchini) is too many.\u00a0 Four each is more than enough.\u00a0 When we try to plant six each again next year, someone remind me we don’t need that many<\/em>.<\/p>\n4.) You really can have too many sungold tomato plants.\u00a0 (Even for me.)\u00a0 They don’t freeze well, so we have to consume vast quantities of them or give them away.\u00a0 Part of me doesn’t mind putting the sungolds into berry boxes and distributing them, but a (tiny, little) selfish part of me dies a little death every time I hand over a box of them.\u00a0 Next year we’re going to reduce the number and try some other tomatoes, like plum, so I can make sauce.<\/p>\n 5.) Those strawberries are just for the chipmunk.\u00a0 He will outsmart every trick you have to keep him away.\u00a0 Just give up, and leave a tiny napkin next to the plants so he can wipe his mouth on the way out of the garden bed.<\/p>\n 6.) The hammock is much more useful when properly installed.\u00a0 Maybe someday I will actually get to sit in it for more than 10 minutes:<\/p>\n \n\n\n![](\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-RN63h6O9Y60\/TklOkef2V3I\/AAAAAAAAAG8\/AA7-mDRmBPc\/s320\/CIMG4511.JPG\") <\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| The view from the main garden – it looks so inviting when working in the hot sun!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Now that we are well and truly past mid-August, here’s where things stand in the yard: \ufeff Main garden \ufeff Eggplants and peppers \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff Carrots, lettuce, potatoes, shallots \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff Corn – slow going, but it’s coming along Pumpkins, watermelons and in the rear, the corn again Our main garden and raised beds are doing well.\u00a0 … Continue reading Mid-August Update<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sharing_disabled":false,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[15,18,60],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3f8I6-1F","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} | | |
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