This week in the garden, July 22, 2013

This week in the garden, I am still fretting over the squash.  Last weekend, we pulled out about half of the squash plants because they stems were hollowed out by squash borers.  As a preventative measure, we wrapped the remaining squash stems in tin foil and sprinkled diatomaceous earth.  Still, none of those plants seem to be producing squash.  There have been a few rotten squash and a lot of cucumber/squash beetles.  For the second year in a row, I am afraid our squash crop might be done prematurely.  I am still hopeful for a few more squash, but I need to let go and start thinking about how we could do it better next year.  Crop covers?  Hay bale gardening?  Just skip squash? 

All but one of the butternut squash plants still look healthy.  (You can see the dying plant in the middle of healthy ones in one of the pictures above.)  While there are still beetles to kill on the leaves, there are many butternut squash growing amongst the vines.  I hope we can hold off the bugs long enough for them to ripen! 

The cucumbers are ripening well in decent numbers despite the beetles.  A new row of cucumber seedlings has come out of the ground and will hopefully be ready as soon as our current row dies off.

Of the greens, the kale and collards look extremely healthy and may last through the fall.  The swiss chard is not looking as vibrant as it has been.  In the fifth row, on the left side, we have broccoli rabe growing.  Rumor has it that these leaves can be picked as greens as well. 

Keep an eye out for okra, eggplant, green (pimento) peppers, tomatoes, basil and green beans.  I did have to pull off a couple of rotten tomatoes today, but there were still many healthy tomatoes, especially cherry tomatoes.  

In addition to seeding a new row of cucumbers at the last weekend, we also put in more turnip seeds in some of the spaces were we took the squash out.