Finally! After many attempts, over quite a few years, to create a toad house, I finally have a resident. Or at least a visitor.
While I’ve cobbled together many large rocks, planks and whatnot in shaded areas of my garden plot, I’ve never been able to create a place toads call home. But earlier this year, a neighbor-friend was cleaning out her shed and offloading this mushroom toad-house.
I’ve checked and checked since installing it, and while I have toads and leopard frogs a-plenty in my garden (who sleep in various shaded spots), I now and finally have a resident in the fancy digs provided.
garden notes to myself
In other garden news (and for notes to myself for future years) —
fordhook giant swiss chard
The Fordhook Giant Swiss Chard is in gangbuster mode–the edible stalks are thicker than I’ve ever seen, and the leaves are verdant and tender when cooked.
Chard note to self: This chard is a great Summer green. Keep planting chard through July and beyond. More seeds went into the ground today.
kale
The kale! Yay and argh. Yay that it’s still producing. Argh that I pulled my kale out way too early (around June 18th, before a trip). I’d assumed the white flies were going to swoop in and do a number on my kale plants around the start of Summer, but while a few are flitting around my home-garden kale (also still producing), the garden-plot kale I didn’t pull is still doing great.
Kale note #1 to self: Oh, this was a huge mistake I made this year in pulling the kale right before the Summer Solstice and fearing the dreaded white flies. In late July, I STILL have kale coming from the plants I didn’t pull
Don’t pull the cool-weather kale plants so early next year, even if we do have some 100-degree days.
Kale note #2 to self: The dark-red kale, while pretty, produces small leaves. It’s decorative and has different nutrients, but I like a productive variety better.
beets
Oh, my beautiful beets. The greens, the stems, the beetroot. I love it all. Just a few left from the spring planting.
Beet note to self: Do a better job of succession planting of beets to keep them coming all spring, summer and fall long.
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peppers
The sweet banana peppers have started producing. Mostly on the smaller side. Gonna kick up speed soon.
My other pepper plants seem rather behind. Neighbor gardeners have big lush plants with plenty of fruit growing. I’ve got dinky little plants and barely any buds, if at all.
Pepper note to self: Get peppers in the ground sooner … but not too soon. They need the heat to grow and can’t be pushed. But they also need every day of hot weather they can get, so don’t dally.
cukes
They have begun. The pickling cucumbers are producing fruit. Quickly.
Cuke note to self: I need to go to the plot at least every other day to ensure they are sufficiently watered and to check for ripe fruit, which grows rather quickly.
Beware the cucumber beetles and that mildew stuff. Potassium bicarbonate spray helps prevent the mildew.
And trim interior leaves so there’s plenty of air flow.
tomatoes
Many a flower I have. Lots of green cherry tomatoes. Some Early Girls are blushing. I’m picking them at first blush and letting them ripen at home. Someone on Instagram suggested doing so, so you know it has to be right.
Early Girls are blah.
I somehow have three cherry tomato plants. All going gangbusters. Waaaay more than I need or want. Gotta cull.
potatoes
Half of my plants got attacked by the Colorado Potato Beetle, since died and stopped producing. The other half are still growing. They plants mere feet from each other.
Potato note to self: I think I damaged the bug-attacked plants by placing soil and sticks over the plants, to mound them up, haphazardly. And maybe I broke some stems and weakened the plants. Not sure why half have been taken down, and the other half seem just fine.
rhubarb
Doing fine, new transplant and all.
