Time to Remove all The Weeds in The Garden

Weeding is just one of those tasks that every gardener has to do in order to keep healthy plants throughout the season.  This is what I decided to take on yesterday.  I had only performed some weeding throughout the season, but I had not done the entire garden all at once.  Since most of the garden had plenty of weeds that needed to be removed I thought this would be a perfect time to do so.

Once you remove these weeds by hand you can then work on your plants rather than constantly picking grass and other plants in the garden.  You can also place down a layer of mulch at this time to prevent them from coming back.  I would only do this for the plants that have shallow roots and cannot compete with these weeds.  Corn is one of those that need it along with many others.

I decided to take some pictures of this task before and after to get a sense of what a garden is to look like after an appropriate weeding.

You might think that the above images don't look all that different and that is because this area of the garden did not have as much weeds to deal with as other parts did.  The carrots and beans had the most grass that needed to be removed right away.  You can find more images here.

Pictures of Growing Zucchini and Cherry Tomatoes

Over the past week since the zucchini and tomatoes were pollinated I have been keeping track of their progress so that I can see exactly how fast they grow.  People that are new to gardening may not know how these vegetables and fruits start out.  This is why I am keeping track of them so that others can understand how they grow and how fast they are able to grow.

My first zucchini that was pollinated is the one that I am tracking for this blog.  I have many others coming along from my other plants, but for now I want to show you just one of which will grow fast when you are giving them what they need and the right conditions are being presented.  The first picture was taken this past Saturday and the second one was taken today.

Here are the cherry tomatoes that are still coming along and are growing slower due to the fact that they are small fruits to begin with.

Updates on My Zucchini and Tomato Plants

So far my garden is going quite well and today I decided to just do a quick check on my plants to see if there is anything going on with them including pests, diseases, problems, or anything else that might be going on.  Today I received good news when I took a look at some of my tomatoes and zucchini.

One of the female zucchini flowers happened to get pollinated this week because it is growing fast which they do once they receive the material they need to produce these vegetables.  So far only one is confirmed to be pollinated, but there are more that are on their way from other plants.  I need to make sure and keep an eye on them to see if they too get pollinated. 

I also am receiving cherry tomatoes as well.  Many of the other tomato plants that I grew later on will not be getting fruit any time soon.  The good news is that they are getting flowers which shows that they will produce fruit sooner rather than too much later.  The cherry ones are already getting flowers and fruit that will probably be ready by sometime in July.  They do not take that long to grow and then to ripen.

As you can see I am getting more female flowers, but I will not know for a day or two if they received the pollen needed to continue growing.

Cherry tomatoes

I am not certain but this might possibly be a roma tomato.

Zucchini and Tomatoes Producing Flowers of Some Interest

I have been seeing some flowers grow on many of my tomatoes, but only a couple of plants have actually started opening with promise of fruit coming soon.  My cherry tomatoes are always the first to produce anything because they don't need as much care as the others do.  I still end up staking them up so they are not left on the ground.  It will probably be a few days until I start to see fruit on these plants.

As you can see there are only flowers and no fruit just yet.

Zucchini is very easy to get flowers rather quickly.  They are normally the first vegetable in the garden that I happen to harvest first.  Male flowers come first followed by the female ones which are what we are looking for because that is the part that we end up eating.  I have a couple of plants that have already produced female flowers and one of them was not pollinated while the other may have.  I am not sure yet because it opened up today and it will take a day or so before I can tell if it was successfully pollinated.

This is the only thing that has been exciting for the most part.  I did pick some more strawberries which has been a great benefit to me.  They are not going to last long while I keep eating them everyday. 

More Plants Added to Garden This Week

I still have some plants that have not been added to the garden due to the fact that they were planted a little bit later and their roots were not ready to adapt to the new ground soil.  I always wait a certain amount of time before embarking on this task of transplanting.  Once the roots are stable they then are ready to get into the ground as soon as possible.

This week the time had came for some later planted tomaotes, flowers, and herbs. The flowers and herbs were actually placed into the garden after I had the tomatoes in the ground.  I like to plant all the important plants such as fruits and vegetables and then I move on to herbs and flowers.  They are both important and play a crucial role, but the whole point is to have a great harvest.

These are just a couple of images of tomatoes and herbs that I planted this week.  You can get even more when you check out this post today.

Strawberry Harvest and Finishing Corn Planting

I finally was able to get all my corn plantings completed and was able to easily plant two successful rows of corn in simple five foot increments.  I now should expect to get corn in different times and they should only ripen throughout the season instead of all at once.

Not only did I finally finish the corn section, but I also had time to pick the first strawberries of this year.  I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to do this because I didn't know if there was enough ripe strawberries to do anything with.  Luckily I received about a pound of these delicious fruits and enjoyed every minute of it. 

This is just the beginning and later on I will get more berries that I will eat and enjoy throughout the whole season.  I will keep you up to date on that aspect and let you know every time I go outside and pick these wonderful berries.

Cucumbers and Eggplant Added To The Garden and Sprouting Updates

Today I was able to get my eggplants and cucumbers into the soil and it didn't take that long especially with the rain that I am going to get tonight and tomorrow.  If I know there is going to be rain soon I always try to make certain that most of the important transplants are in the garden as well as all the seeds.  After a good rain they will grow very rapidly.

Corn is another seed that I had to plant in the ground as well.  I have now completed about four or five sections of corn planting.  I only have one left and then all the corn planting will be done for the season.  This means that I can soon start thinning them out and begin feeding them the nitrogen that these plants crave.

I showed you my bush beans that have begun to sprout, now I have discovered that my pole beans are coming through too.  They are pretty much the same as bush beans and there really is no difference in the beginning stages of their growth.  It is only later on when the pole beans begin growing taller before they start to produce flowers.

Carrot sprouts are beginning to come through as well and they are much smaller sprouts than most other plants.  It is important to know what they look like because you may mistake them for a piece of grass.  That is why if you are a beginner to wait until they have more than two leaves to be sure that they are in fact carrot sprouts.

At last I am getting to the end of planting corn seeds and I am left with just one more planting to go.  When this is done I can then focus on taking care of my plants and then remove the net over the garden as well.

What Has Been Happening in My Garden?

If you are wondering what has been going on this week with my garden, then you need to read the rest of this post.  I will be discussing a few things that have been going on including some events that have taken place and what plants I have left to transplant into the garden.  I also was able to accomplish some tasks this week as well.

Last week I was able to get my tomatoes, squash, and sunflowers into the garden with some great success.  This week I only had melons, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, and some late growing tomatoes left to be added into the garden. 

Melons and peppers are what I was able to get done because they can take a while to adapt to the soil compared to other plants.  This coming week I will finish up with the rest of my fruits and vegetables and after that I will add my flowers to the soil.

Watermelon

Peppers

So far only the bush beans and corn that were planted earlier have been showing signs of life.  The pole beans should be coming up very soon and I would think sometime this week they will begin their sprouting process as well. 

Corn

Beans

Other than this it has been a pretty normal gardening season to start the year.  Some strawberries are starting to turn red and they will soon be picked maybe by next week if the weather is good.  I will keep you informed of what is happening in the garden in future posts.