May was a busy and productive month in the garden.
Some days were rewarding, many challenging. New pests appeared along with new blossoms, fruits and veggies. The hot sun was another challenge I didn’t expect so soon. We built new structures, started new seeds and ended the growing season for cool weather vegetables.
Every morning and evening I go out and check on the garden. I’ve gotten better at taking notes. This month’s entries were longer and detailed. Below are the highlights (both good and bad) of our busy month.
Journal Entries
May 1st. “Picked and Plucked.”
- Planted 1 row of marigold seeds near tomatoes
- Worms getting worse on squashes. Plucked about a dozen or so off the leaves.
- Picked our first 2 yellow crookneck squash
- Picked our first Danver carrot – about 5 ½ inches long. Good size!
May 2nd. “Tidying Up.”
- Put a trellis behind the yellow flowers.
- Plucked 18 more worms off squashes.
- Planted one more row of marigolds.
- Tied up the blackberry.
- Trimmed blossoms off short palm by the pool.
May 3rd. “Plucked worms…”
Plucked worms off the summer squashes morning and night, about 12 – 20 each time. Finally gave in and sprayed with Neem Oil. Steamed for dinner the 2 yellow squash we picked the other day. They were delicious!
May 4th. “Here comes the sun!”
Afternoon heat makes everything limp. About 90 degrees today with full sun. Had to cover the swiss chard with shade. No chance of rain in forecast next 5- 6 days. We’ll be watering every night. Good to have rainwater set aside!
I’m worried the pepper seedlings might not be big enough to set out in this heat.
Lots of small tomatoes on the vines and many blossoms. No red tomatoes yet. The white fence around the yard is reflecting the sun (heat) into the garden. There’s no shade anywhere in the afternoon.
May 7th. “Pineapples.”
Planted 3 pineapples around the palm tree. Two more are still growing roots in water. All of our potted trees look good. We need rain.
May 8th. “Major Maintenance Day.”
- Cut lawn, trimmed and weeded flower beds
- Transplanted purple coneflowers and chamomile flowers into flower pots outside.
- Put jalapeno seedlings outside.
I’m keeping everything outside now. The heat mat and grow light are put away for the summer. No seedlings now until fall.
The swiss chard doesn’t look good despite the “sunbrella” we added. Going to make a salad from the last head of baby romaine this coming Sunday. Too hot for greens now.
Tomatoes look great! The cherry tomatoes look like green marbles. Peppers get limp in the afternoon sun. More yellow squashes are ripening. They are very small. Blackberry bush has 6 berries. Basil is growing strong. Mixed annual flowers have some blossoms forming. The “bird-planted” sunflower is about 3 ½ feet tall, just starting to form a flower head. I’m not sure it will get much taller now.
May 9th. “Construction Starts.”
Went to Home Depot and bought supplies to start building the garden shed. Mike started on the floor and side walls.
May 14th. “Blossom time!”
New blossoms are coming on the blackberry bush. The first 6 berries are turning red.
There’s lots of blossoms on the sweet peppers now, but some of the peppers have brown spots on them. Not sure if it’s some kind of blight or nutrient deficiency.
Planted a sweet potato slip this morning where the beets used to grow.
The sunflower opened this morning! It has beautiful yellow flower petals. I can’t wait to grow rows and rows of them when we move onto our rural homestead!
Lots of blossoms on the summer squashes again. The tomatoes are all still green with many promising yellow blossoms.
May 15th. “Food Forest?”
Participated in a live Zoom presentation from Marion County Extension Service about how to start and grow a food forest on my property. This sounds promising! More perennials and less time-consuming annuals. Making a goal to be able to grow my own food year-round.
May 16th. “Construction Zone.”
Mike did a lot more work on the garden shed. We got the walls and roof on. The occasional rain showers were mildly bothersome, but the cool weather in the 80s was welcome for the hard work.
May 21st. “Achy and Sore.”
The past 2 days I’ve stained all of the garden shed. I am achy and sore!
All of the 7 (not 6) blackberries are a deep red now.
I haven’t kept up well fighting the powdery mildew on the squashes. Today I cut out a lot of leaves and sprayed once more with Neem oil. I tossed two 4-inch zucchini with blossom end rot.
Picked our first 6 cherry tomatoes 2 days ago (didn’t do any writing that day) picked 2 more cherries again today.
Updated the garden spreadsheet with data from cool weather harvests. Weather has been in the 90s. Summer is here, no matter the date on the calendar. Afternoon sea-breeze storms have started this week. Humidity is rising. Time to bring in the garlic I’ve been curing outside and plant the jalapeno seedlings near the green peppers.
Built a shade screen for the peppers:
May 25th. “Memorial Day.”
Hello Memorial Day! It’s never a “Happy Memorial Day” remembering our fallen. Put flags out in the front yard.
It’s been raining all day. Went shopping and bought rooting hormone and organic potting soil. I’m going to trim the blackberry bush and start some new canes.
The yellow summer squashes are getting really bad. All the rain this week has caused rotting in addition to the blossom end rot. I threw out 8 deformed or rotted squashes. I ripped out several plants, leaving the two healthiest. Zucchini are holding their own so far.
Other issues this past week:
- Continued black spot virus
- Powdery mildew
- Green 1-inch cutworms
- Squash borers
- Blossom end rot
Good news: we picked our first Heirloom Purple Cherokee tomato today. All of the rain split several tomatoes. Picked several cherry tomatoes too. The Purple Cherokee is so sweet! First time we’ve ever had one.
May 26th. “Blackberries.”
This morning I trimmed 3 branches on the blackberry bush and weeded around it. I rooted the cuttings in a rooting hormone then planted them in some potting soil. It’s been about 6 hours and they look really droopy. The soil was really wet. I hope this works. I did the cuttings just like I saw on the YouTube channel TexasPrepper2.
May 30th. “Busy, busy, busy!”
Did lots today! It’s been raining every afternoon this week. Here’s what we did this Saturday morning:
- Tied up cherry tomatoes
- Picked tomatoes: 5 Beefsteak, 1 Purple Cherokee, 2 Abe Lincoln, 4 Sweet Cherry. We’ll do a taste test later this afternoon.
- Moved the blackberry cuttings inside to an east window. It is too hot outside for them, even in the shade. I’m going to spoil my temporary house plants.
- Sprayed tomatoes with Neem Oil. It’s been a long time. Probably should have done it sooner. The black spot virus is getting bad. So are tiny white flies. I need to read about them.
- Pulled out 3 zucchini plants and many sick leaves.
- Found a dead furry animal decomposing under the zucchini leaves. I think it’s a baby rabbit. I’m letting the insects turn it into fertilizer. It possibly got sick and died in all the rain we’ve had this week.
May 31st. “One More Project”
While I was finishing this blog post today, Mike went and “did a thing.” He made a new shade cover for the pepper plants. What a great surprise! He used leftover wood from making the garden shed. He stapled black garbage bags overtop that we had used to solarize the garden last winter. It’s lightweight and easy to move daily depending on the weather. It kind of reminds me of a chicken tractor.
Mike also cut the lawn this morning and I have a huge pile of grass to work into the compost pile tonight. I’ll add some shredded paper and cardboard I’ve been saving to mix with the green.
Here’s What’s Currently Growing in the Garden
- Tomatoes: Beefsteak, Abe Lincoln, Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, Cherry
- Carrot – 1 left to pick
- Purple onion – 1 left to pick
- Bell Peppers – 5 plants
- Jalapeno Peppers – 10 plants
- Zucchini – 3 plants
- Yellow Crookneck squash – 2 plants
- Sweet potato – 1 fast-growing vine
- Herbs: basil, thyme, sage
- Flowers – 1 sunflower and various annuals and perennials
We’re entering our rainy season now. Most afternoons and early evenings have a good probability of rain showers. We’ve been gardening early mornings, weekends and any time between showers. The hot steamy summer has made its presence known.
I’m looking forward to a busy tomato harvest. I just bought my first-ever pressure canner. I think it can be used as a boiling water-bath canner for the tomatoes too.
I’ll soon be posting about how we built the garden shed, more of the Frugal 5 series, and detailed analysis of the many pests and diseases I’ve encountered in the garden this season.
Take care, and happy gardening!
Alisa