h1. garden notes for late june and early july 2016




on tue evening, july 12, i harvested the following from our garden:

* lettuce
* a lot of green beans
* first tomatoes of the season. 8 cherry tomatoes that grew in a cluster near the ground. i think that when the tomato plant was very small, it flowered early, and this may have been the tomatoes. all six tomato plants were very small when i bought them and planted them in early May. now they are all doing quite well, some taller than my cages, stakes, and twine meant to corral them.

on tue, july 12 and actually maybe on mon, july 11, the green beans began sprouting in the middle rectangle.

i picked a few green beans, the first of the season, on thu morning, july 7, 2016.


hr.

mon, june 27, 2016 :
 - set up 3.5 foot by 3.5 foot garden on our concrete driveway, using store-bought plastic framing that Mom and Dad bought for me as a Father's Day gift.
 - i created a soil mix by using items from Black Diamond Nursery, including vermiculite

Wed, June 29: i planted green beans in the square on the concrete driveway. i planted them close together in rows. i will need to thin after they sprout. the rows are close together too.

i continue to pick lettuce twice a week. the volume has decreased. it's nearing the end.

mon, july 4: i removed all of the pea plants from the middle rectangle. i harvested what peas were available. if i try this next year, i will plant only six rows instead of 12, and i will make sure to install fencing soon after the peas sprout.

also on mon, july 4, i snapped off three sweet potato stalks from the two potato halves that have been growing in Styrofoam cups inside for weeks. i don't remember when i started these. In May, at least.

one stalk that had a lot of roots was over 12 inches tall. i planted it in a container outside. i added a little Espoma fertilizer to the container.

i placed the other two stalks in a jar of water. they need to sprout their own roots, which should only take a few days. then i can plant them outside in their own containers.

on mon, july 4, i moved three tomato plants from indoors to a larger container outside. i also added some espoma fertilizer to the container.

i started tomato plants indoors at least in May. i used seeds that Dad gave me. the seeds came from his backyard tomatoes from last year. 

six tomato plants were growing indoors across three styrofoam cups. but for a month or more, the plants have seemed to stall, growth-wise. they seem to remain at the same height of four to six inches. 

this is why i moved three plants outdoors to see if they will grow faster. the other three remain inside.

green beans are about ready to be picked in one rectangle. the east rectangle  also contains three tomato plants.

the west rectangle contains the lettuce plants and three tomato plants.

all of the tomato plants are doing well. some tomatoes will be ready to be picked soon, probably next week.

on tue, july 5, i noticed green beans starting to sprout in the bed placed on the concrete.

on wed, july 6, i planted 66 green bean seeds in half of the middle rectangle that used to contain peas.

we had below normal rainfall for June and we are starting July on the dry side. but i water about every second day. the beans, tomatoes, and lettuce have done and are doing well. 

the peas started dying. probably too warm. i needed to plant them earlier and use the vertical fencing to control them.

if i don't plant peas next year, then i may simplify the rectangles this way:

* west = all lettuce
* middle = all tomatoes - 8 to 10 plants
* east = all grean beans with at least two staggered plantings

containers and square on the concrete driveway, who knows. 

i could plant pepper plants in the lettuce square when the lettuce is done in july.

this year in the other half of the middle rectangle, i would like to plant pepper plants if they are still for sale.

on thursday, july 7, i picked a few green beans, the first of the season, and i picked more lettuce.


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