I just lashed the 4 corners to recycled fiberglass marine radio antennas that I use as poles with a few tie wraps. Don't know how much weight the unsupported arched part will hold but the beans don't weigh enough to pull it down. A tall T-post, pipe or good board would work. It's about 7.5 feet tall at the center. Edit: Sheesh, I just picked those yesterday afternoon. I would have to find a tape rule and measure it but the span is about 6 feet or so, probably a little under.
Looking good bill. I'd like to build one very large arch for next season which I will start in the next few weeks. The plants do seem to like the half barrels. Will take this down after this season. Maybe? Will be using a step ladder in a week or 2.
The first year I was cutting up and using the concrete reinforcement the rust on it was new and every time I touched it got rusty, but a year later it had formed a nice hard crusty patina and no more rust stains.
This mornings chore, assisting the bees with a forced pollination. A couple weeks late this year for this Atlantic Giant pumpkin.
I’ve been harvesting from my garden for a while now. My first crop of lettuce is over so I’ve replanted new seed. Tomaters are going nuts as is the watermelon! Peppers are putting out, lol. And I pulled the onions this evening.
Those red and orange cherry size tomatoes are like eating candy! So sweet. Nothin like fresh picked produce. Happy happy!
Will the lettuce even sprout in this heat ? My onions are still standing up straight, proud and green, Some are getting pretty big too.
Luckily it already has. That pic was from last Wednesday and I see green sprouts as of this evening. Been keeping it watered well after dusk. I got a little behind on keeping my onions weed free so the stalks weren’t as nice as I could have made them. I got quiet a few biggins so I’m happy.
Our onions are about 60% fallen over. Thinking we’ll yank them this coming Sunday. The following weekend at the latest.
wonderful, colorful zucchini The one in the middle might be Zephyr or it is just a sport. Everyone here prefers the yellow ones although I really can't taste a difference.
With the beans ? No. I'm not even sure they even have tendrils. They tend to wrap themselves around a vertical wire. Plus they grow pretty darn quick. They seem to be hell bent on 'up'. They don't always find the wire and need a little help with that early on. Cucumbers ? Yes. With cucumbers I use those little white clips and just move them up every day or two to keep the vine going straight up. Otherwise they try to grow sideways as if they are on the ground.
Sorry bill I forgot to say the cucumbers. Ya I do the same thing as they seem to want to float in the air if nothing close to grab a hold of, and our beans are ground huggers.
It has been a brutal summer for the garden. Very cool, wet June. Ground never started to warm till July. Then, jumped to the high 90s. Then, started the thunder storms. Two weekends in a row, got heavy rain and some hail. Second, weekend, heavy rain driven by punishing wind. Bucket tomatoes did ok. They were tied to trellis. Just beat the crap out of everything. .....there's always next year.
All my bucket tomatoes got some kind of blight, they look awful. Most of my spanish white onions have fallen over. I didn't grow too many as supposedly they don't store well, so sweet white onions in everything for a little while. I have 35, most are 8 ounces each which I'm guessing is a good market size. 99¢ each at Target, so $35 ROI on a 99¢ pack of seeds and some slave labor. It would be nice if, by square foot, everything else in the garden was this easy and productive. LOL.
Makes me really appreciate commercial farmers. I think since I have been doing a garden, maybe every 4th or 5th one is really nice. The best garden I ever had was July 1990. It was also the worst hail storm recorded in Denver history. The only thing left standing were a few pepper stems after 4" of baseball size hail. Hope does spring eternal. I'm already thinking about how I will do things different "next year".
This last storm blew over several of my peppers. I even had them tied to about an 18” piece of bamboo shoved in the ground. My lettuce is trying. At this rate the watermelon may try to cover it up. I’ll have to do some trimming.
