Pea Tunnel

I got a pea tunnel from Gardeners supply on line.  Installed it today now that the weather is finally feeling like spring instead of middle of winter!  I thought that it would be a little wider, I planted my peas on the outside edge of the garden.  Guess I will have to train them to stretch a little farther.  I have lots of spinach, lettuce, radish etc. under the tunnel and I hope that it helps protect the leafy plants during our hot Oklahoma summer.

Cold in Oklahoma

I'm getting my second season of Square Foot Gardening started this week.  I have been traveling a lot this year and haven't had time to start my seeds.  Will buy some plants from the local nursery.  I am going to try and can some of my veggies this year and I have discovered juicing.  I am adding one more SFG to the mix and going to focus a lot of my veggies on canning and juicing.  I'm going to get all of my Mel's Mix  supplies tomorrow and make my new soil for the new box and fill in the others with compost.  It has been freaking cold here in Oklahoma this spring.  I was looking at my old posts and this time last year I already had plants growing!  We had a freeze last night.  Going to be a little behind last year.

I'm purchasing a pea tunnel for one of my SFG's, and grow spinach and lettuce under it.  Maybe the peas will help protect the leafy veggies from the OK sun.  By the time my tomatoes were ready last year, the leafy stuff was done.  I'll post lots of pictures.

I want to can as much as I can so I will be purchasing a canner soon and grow product that I can can.  I have my Great Grandmas pickle recipe so I will definitely try that.

I also bought a juicer, so I will be growing some beets, kale, chard for that.  Drinking this stuff is pretty gross, I hope I can make it work.  I know it is good for you but it tastes like I'm drinking dirt!

I will keep you posted.

Happy Gardening

August Update

Ancho/pablanno peppers

Beans to the left

Tabasco Peppers

The garden is winding down.  I still have a lot of peppers growing and I planted some peas a couple of weeks ago.,

Melons!

My watermelon and cantaloupes are doing well.  I have around 10 watermelons growing and three or four cantaloupes.

It's Hot!

It has been very hot here in Bixby, Oklahoma!  It has been over 100 degrees for the last two weeks.  It never gets below 80 at night.  That makes the A/C work really hard and the electric bill go really high.  It is also very hard on the garden.  I have watered every day.  One thing about the SFG is that you really do need to keep it watered.  As you will see from some of the pictures, my tomato plant are looking a little dry.  That being said, I'm getting baskets of tomatoes every day.  My heirloom tomatoes don't grow as well, I get one or two to 20 of the regular tomatoes.  The taste is unbelievable!  I'm going to really work on them next year. Eggplants are still growing like crazy.  Peppers have slowed down.

Cantaloupes

Here are my first cantaloupe.  I grew these in a hose hammock about three feet off the ground.  Can't wait to eat them!  On another note, eggplants grow like crazy.  I have been trying to find ways to cook them.

JULY

Everything is growing great.  No bugs, no fertilizer just water.  I was a little bummed about my heirloom tomato.  It was larger than a softball and as you can see in the picture something went wrong.  Going to research what causes this.

Celebrity Tomaotes

Eggplants grow like crazy!

Fresh from the garden

Sunflowers

Trashed Heirloom Tomato