| Here's the first part of the Ladybug patch that we planted in:
The weedy looking mess along the left is actually arugula. Behind all of the arugula and all along the back, I planted 3 pickling cucumbers and 3 sunflowers. Ideally, the cukes will climb the sunflowers, and the sunflowers will give the cukes shade. The sunflowers are along the north side of the garden so they hopefully will not shade the rest of the plants.
Sunflower, planted 59 days ago
In the very front, I've planted nasturtiums along the side of the driveway. They've all just bloomed and I'm enjoying it like crazy. Unfortunately, any blooming nasturtium in our yard is an endangered species because our little one likes to pick them (and on occasion, eat them). Which is a fine thing to do - I'm thrilled she's curious and interested in the garden - but I want the flowers there to deter pests and attract pollinators!
Nasturtium
Just right of the arugula, you'll see a lot of beets and chard, which all basically look the same so you can't tell them apart. They aren't exactly thriving and I'm a bit worried about them. But they aren't dying either. They are just growing really, really, really slowly.
Chard
Behind the chard and beets (but in front of the sunflowers and cukes) I put a thyme plant. It's a perennial and it's just hanging out. I bought this one more or less at this size - I didn't grow it from seed. Right now it's flowering, which is nice. Pollinators, are you paying attention?
Thyme
On the far right, you can see my lettuce. It's actually a lettuce, carrots, and radish trio that I planted together. Each lettuce is surrounded by a ring of carrots and radishes. I'm kind of questioning the wisdom of planting it this way because the lettuce and radishes grow MUCH faster than the carrots. Yesterday I harvested most of the radishes.
Green sails lettuce, planted 61 days ago
French breakfast radishes, planted 47 days ago
To the left of the lettuce, I initially planted 3 cabbage plants. They haven't done very well. In fact, I've noticed that the cabbage and broccoli planted near nitrogen fixing legumes and clover have done significantly better than those planted away from any source of nitrogen (like these). A few days ago, the aphids attacked the middle cabbage plant in the Ladybug Patch. Since the plant is tiny and it won't produce any cabbage before the weather warms up, I pulled it - and then tried to get a good picture of the aphid damage (below). I don't think I really captured it, but when the aphids get into the cabbage, they suck the liquid out of the leaves and then the leaves curl up. Inside the curled leaves, you can see the aphids. On larger plants, I washed the aphids off with the hose and the plants seem to be OK.
Cabbage, planted 90 days ago
Here's the part of the Ladybug Patch I worked on yesterday:
As you can see, I'm growing several varieties of heirloom bottled water. OK, just kidding. The bottles are there to protect the new plants I put in yesterday - 4 types of cucumbers and a few types of beans. Before yesterday, I planted peas in the back of the patch on the left side. Lately the weather's been hot and the peas are flowering prematurely, so I don't know how long they will last. Then down the left side I planted turnips and radishes - golden globe and baby turnips, and watermelon radishes and one daikon. Those have been absolutely devoured by pests, but they are still hanging in there. To the right of the turnips and radishes, I planted carrots. I planted the seeds for cosmic purple carrots 20 days ago, so they should really have sprouted by now. If they don't sprout soon, I'm going to plant something else in their spot.
Yesterday, I began by doing a LOT of weeding on the unplanted parts of this bed. Then I killed a cover crop of purple vetch that I'd planted there by cutting the tops off and putting them in the compost pile. I left the roots in the soil. Next, I took some sand and mixed it into the top few inches of the soil, because I'm sick of the clay soil forming a hard cap on top as it bakes in the sun. I hope the sand helps. You can't see it, but I also put a trellis at the very back of the bed on the right side.
Then came the plants. Along the back, near the trellis, I alternated climbing cucumber plants and pole lima beans. Everywhere else on the right side, I planted non-climbing cukes - Armenian, slicing, and Persian - and a few types of bush beans. And in the very front right corner, I planted watermelon. I normally wouldn't plant watermelon because it takes up a lot of space and they don't cost too much at the store or the farmers' market... but I think the kids will really like growing their own watermelon. I've also planted a few nasturtiums. I would have liked to plant borage as well but it is a huge plant and this is a small space. Sorry borage.
The last thing I did was cut a bunch of water bottles in half, remove the lids, and put them on top of all of the baby plants. Hopefully this will conserve moisture, give them some extra heat, and protect them from bugs. I'll remove the water bottles in a few days. |
