A weekend in the garden

We spent a weekend working in the garden. It was wonderful to get so much done. The reason we worked so hard was because we kept hearing it was going to rain and we had a number of things we wanted to complete before that happened. We had some seeds that didn't come up and we had to replant them -- squash, cucumbers, beans and peas. We kept hearing a forecast of rain all weekend, but so far, no rain.

This view of our garden is almost perfect. It's doing well and all weeded and mulched.

The cabbage is doing well. We did notice that a garden pest was beginning to invade the cauliflower. We debated on spraying for pests before the rain, but finally decided it wouldn't be best to just go ahead and do it. It was good we did, because the rain didn't come as at first predicted.

We also put up some lattice around a few tomatoes we planted in the mixed row at the front of the garden.

The garden doesn't look quite so lush from this angle but you can see where we put up the mesh for the cucumbers. The yellow squash had to be replanted in the foreground.

We have two and a half rows of cucumbers. One half row of a burpless variety, one of pickling cucumbers and one of the long, green salad cucumbers. Cucumbers take up so much space when you don't put something on which they can run. I love seeing them hanging from the mesh.

Last year I imagined they would be longer and straighter but I really don't think they were. I just liked the way they ran on the fences.

We did have a few bare areas where the cucumbers didn't come up at all. We replanted the empty spaces. Hopefully, they will be all filled out soon.

I do really like the arugula. They are beginning to get small yellow flowers. After the rain, we really need to begin picking and eating it. It has a peppery flavor that will be delicious in a mixed lettuce salad.

I can't take enough photos of the cabbage. It will be heading soon and I just love the way it looks.

The tomatoes are looking good. They look like stair steps because we are staggering them by planting them about a week apart. We still have quite a few plants to transplant. I am hoping we will have tomatoes longer because of this. The first ones we planted are blooming and looking really nice. We put tomato cages on the first two rows.

The kale only needs a few more days and I will be able to pick it to make my green smoothies. I like it sauteed, too, but I really love the smoothies best.

Spilling into the kale are the winter squash. We really need to put the cages on the winter squash, too. That will be a chore for next week. We don't want them to overrun the other vegetables.

We also had to spray our okra. I don't know what kind of bugs were on them but as I sprayed, I saw some fly-like insects flying away. I think they will improve and grow. We had a few gaps there and we planted some seeds to fill in. Next week we really need to mulch them. I think mulching everything will be the next big chore but it will pay off with less weeds and less watering.