The one thing always growing in our garden during the summer is basil. We grow several different varieties of basil; sweet, large leaf Italian, and genovese. One thing we like to do with all our basil is make pesto. Pesto can be used on a variety of things: pasta, burgers, tuna, sandwiches, etc. We make enough throughout the summer to keep us supplied until next summer.
With the arrival of Summer this week the garden is really going strong. We had some great spring weather this year, the perfect combination of sun and rain. Hopefully our summer weather will be as perfect.
With spring underway and summer right around the corner, there is one thing growing in every garden, WEEDS. It’s a battle all gardeners face at some point. Sometimes we win and sometimes we lose.
There have been days when I have gone through my garden picking weeds only to turn around and see more. It’s like they are growing as fast as I pick them! As frustrating as weeding is, the pleasure of seeing a well weeded garden or flower bed can be really rewarding.
Here is an update to a post I did a few weeks ago called “Building Pea Fences”. The peas have finally reached their mature height and the pea fences are working great.
The fences have been able to handle some pretty strong storms the last few weeks without any problems. No matter what weather mother nature throws at them they still stand up-right.
The trellis or supporting structure is the key component to espalier, it defines the espalier pattern that you’re trying to achieve. Without it, you just have a tree.
The image above shows you the basic trellis that we built, for a three-tiered cordon pattern. As you can see our trellis will be used to support 4 trees. This trellis is fairly simple to build and can be built with minimal tools. All of the supplies used to build this trellis can be purchased at any good building supply store.
Last weekend I was finally able to locate a store in our area that carried Kelp Meal. I am really excited to finally have the chance to use Kelp Meal in my garden. For years I have read articles about the benefits of applying Kelp Meal, but since I had a really hard time finding a store in our area that carried it, I have just never used it until now.
Ever since I started gardening years ago I always wanted to grow apple trees, but living in town on a small lot it always seemed impossible to have enough room to grow apples. Then one day my wife stumbled onto an article in a magazine about espalier and this got us thinking, maybe we can grow apple trees in our backyard.
We had some great weather recently and our garden is really growing. The perfect combination of warmer weather and rain, what more can you ask for?
I have already harvested some spinach and arugula from our spring planting. It is a great feeling to sit down at a meal and eat something that you grew from seeds in your own backyard. I wish more people could experience this feeling.
Last weekend was our first planting for the summer harvest. It was finally time to plant outside all those plants we have been nursing along inside for these last few weeks. I allowed all the plants to harden off for a week outside before planting them in the garden.
We planted the following vegetables for our Summer Harvest:
3 Amish Paste Tomatoes
1 Hillbilly Tomato
1 Cherry Roma Tomato
1 Red Zebra Tomato
5 Homemade Pickles (pickling cucumbers)
5 Edmonson (pickling cucumbers)
3 Fish Peppers
3 Bull Nose Peppers
2 Early Prolific Straight Neck Summer Squash
2 Black Beauty Zucchini
Tomatoes, Cucumbers, and Basil
Peppers and Squash Plants
We also planted the following herbs for our Summer Harvest:
6 Cilantro
4 Dill
4 Summer Savory
4 English Thyme
3 Genovese Basil
3 Large Leaf Italian Basil
4 Sweet Basil
Dill, Cilantro, Summer Savory, and Thyme
In a few months we will be enjoying a great summer harvest. I can’t wait.
Happy Growing….
I have finally given up on tomato cages. Over the years I never seemed to have any luck using them. They always seemed to fall over right when the tomatoes were ready to pick. Then, in order to keep the cages up-right, I would drive several stakes into the ground, but it always seemed that no matter how many stakes I would use it was never enough. The cages always fell over with the weight of the tomatoes. I just found using them frustrating.
The solution to my frustration was to build tomato ladders. This is one of those simple projects that I have wanted to do for years, but the timing was never right until this year.
As you can see, these tomato ladders are not complex to build. I built these tomato ladders from some standard 2 X 4s and basic hardware. The ladders are about 6 ft. tall and 2 ft. wide. I placed three rungs on each side about 18 inches apart. I applied several coats of boiled linseed oil to the ladders to protect them from the elements.
Our plan is to grow one tomato plant up each side of the ladder, securing the plant to the rungs as it grows.
Because of our limited space, we decided to try growing cucumbers vertically on a trellis. It only seemed natural to use the ladders to support one end of the cucumber trellis.
The cucumber trellises were also made from 2 X 4s, I ripped down several strips that were 3/4″ thick by 1-1/2″ wide and 48″ long. I then placed the strips together to form a simple grid pattern. Like the ladders I applied several coats of boiled linseed oil to the trellises. I secured them to the ladders with several zip ties.
I will keep you posted on the success and failures of the tomato ladders and cucumber trellises this season.
Happy growing…
The Year Round Harvest 