It has been an exciting week in the garden. Many of the vegetables are getting to the point that all the work will start paying off. My carrots are at 75 days since planting and according to the seed packet they should be ready. However, they still seem a little small to me so I am going to leave them in the ground another 7 to 10 days.
My zucchini is growing at a rate that is unbelievable. It has only been in the ground 30 days and it is already starting to form flower heads. My squash planted at the same time is no where near that far along. The funny thing is the zucchini takes 55 days to harvest and the squash takes 41 days to harvest according to the seed packets. The squash is supposed to be ready a full 2 weeks before the zucchini, but I don't see that happening. This is a clear cut case of the soil makes all the difference in the world. I planted the zucchini in my raised beds with good soil, and the squash was planted in regular soil in another area of my yard. I really wish I would have planted some squash in my raised beds, but I was worried about cross pollination.
My broccoli has formed a central head on one of the plants and I hope I will get some good harvests before the really hot weather gets here. The tall snow peas are still producing pods, but I am still waiting on the smaller ones to produce. All in all a good week.
Garden Overall
Elite Hybrid Zucchini starting to form flower buds
Broccoli head forming
Carrot bed is completely engulfed
My curiosity got the best of me and I pulled a carrot, this one was about six inches long, but the shoulder was not even half an inch wide. I sure hope they get bigger.
10 comments:
Your garden is looking great! I find carrots always take way longer than the seed packet says. Actually I find most veggies are slower than what's stated on the packets. Their timing is under ideal conditions, and I doubt there are many of us who can attain that! But don't worry, once the carrots reach the size of yours, it doesn't take them long at all to bulk up.
Your garden is looking so good!! Your carrots look as though they will fatten up soon, broccoli will be ready for harvest in no time, and the zucchini looks like it will be very productive. I use the seed packages estimate of harvest date as a guideline, but they never match for me either. Sun strength, temperature, nutrients, and water all play a role.
When I first started square foot gardening, I split up my plantings between the SFGs and the traditional in-ground garden to compare. Luckily, my in-ground garden’s soil is in pretty good shape and I found most did ok in both. But the SFGs definitely have its benefits with less weeds, warmer soil, and more consistent nutrients. Plus I think they are easier to plant and tend to.
Granny, thanks for the comments and the information about the carrots. I was thinking I would check them again around day 90 and see how big they are. Do you know the ideal shoulder width for Danver 126 carrots at harvest time? I have come across conflicting information on the web.
GrafixMuse, thanks for the feedback. I split up my plantings too, mainly because I only have so much space in my SFG areas. I have my corn and yellow crookneck squash planted in a traditional garden in another area of my yard. The corn seems to be doing fine up there. I am also going to plant a 4X4 block of silver queen in my SFG area once I clear out some of my spring crops. I hope your garden is coming along too.
I have grown so many different varieties, I'm not sure which were which. I'm thinking I grew a Danvers Half Long a few years back. I'd just have to guess that up to an inch across would be a good, tender size for that variety. I start pulling mine when they are as big around as my thumb, pulling every other carrot to give remaining ones more room to grow, because I love the younger, sweet ones. I can buy full sized veggies from the market, so the young ones from the garden are a real treat.
Thanks, that sounds like a good number. I will give that a try.
My zucchini plants are also much bigger than my squash plants. However, the squash have formed fruit much quicker and the fruit appears to be growing at a much faster rate. Yours may catch up and surprise you! Congrats on such a successful garden! Cindy- Georgia Zone 8
Thanks Cindy, you may be right. What all have you planted? I would like to know since we are in the same zone and location.
I'll send or post some pictures as soon as I can. I'm a teacher and it's the last week of school :), so I am really stretched right now. This is our first year gardening. It started as a small family project and blossomed from there. Here's what I've planted this far and results:
Eureka Beans (yellow wax)- did not germinate well. Replanted with same results.
Purple Queen Beans- Excellent in germination and growth. Flowering right now and loaded with promise.
Pic and Pic Hybrid Yellow Squash - 4 plants. Slow growers, but already have fruit that look promising.
Goldetti Gold Squash- 6 to 8 plants. Huge plants!
Sweet Zuke Hybrid Zucchini- 8 + plants. EXCELLENT
Sweet Gourmet Hybrid Zucchini- 8 + plants. These are light green in color. Loaded with fruit and flowers.
Butterstick Zucchini- 8+ plants. These are yellow. I had little hands helping to plant these, so they are a little mixed up. Loaded with fruit and flowers.
Roma Tomato- 6 bushes
Some sort of cherry tomato- 6 bushes
Mild Jalapeno Peppers- 4
Sweet Bananna Peppers- 4
Green Bell Peppers- 4
Carrots- Planted these too late (April) but decided to leave the few that came up and see what happens!
Lettuce- Planted this too late too (April), but it's doing great. We've had several salads off of it. I have no idea what it is though. My brother in law contributed the seed!
Peaches and Cream Corn- could use a good rain!
White Wonder Cucumber- a freebie from the seed company. Looks great so far. Already has fruit forming.
Burpee Hybrid II Cucumber- Looks great so far..Already has fruit forming.
The main problem that I am having is the heat. It has been in the upper 90's here this entire week with no rain. I am watering daily! We planted our garden in modified raised beds. They are 6'X 12' which works well for me. We also have 5 laying hens, 14 chicks, 2 steers that we are feeding for show and then harvest and 1 sow.
It sounds like you have a nice garden. I am also growing the peaches and cream corn, it is excellent. I agree with you on the heat, we haven't hit upper 90's, but we broke a record one day this week at 94. It sounds like your zukes and yellow squash are about as far along as mine. Mine are really close to harvesting. I also planted some jalapeno peppers this week. I ripped out the broccoli and put 16 seeds in one of my 4X4 beds. Please pass the link to your blog so I may follow. Good luck to you.
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