Vegetable Garden Update

Scotia tomatoes doing very well in my Square Foot boxes

I really haven't said much about my vegetable garden lately.  I walk past it almost every day and check in but it hasn't felt like there was much to report.  This is a GREAT sign.  The reason there isn't much to report is because nothing has gone sideways.  The Square Foot Gardening boxes are working out just as they were supposed to.  The peat, compost, vermiculite soil mix is virtually weed free and the vegetables crowd out the few weeds that have made it in.  And when I do find weeds they are exceptionally easy to pull out.  This has been a good year in that we've had plenty of sun with good amounts of rain thrown in so watering is not an issue.  And the cats have left the boxes alone for the last month which is a bonus.

Overall I couldn't be more pleased.  My biggest complaint would be I need more boxes.  I planted five boxes.  One of these has been underused since I left space for the cantalope which died but I could easily double the amount of boxes next year.  I'm finding many of my plants are quite crowded.  I lost a square of cilantro to the carrots, and the lettuce is fighting it out for space and trying to overtake the onions.  I followed the guidelines set out in the Square Foot Gardening book but I'm starting to see bug and snail damage and personally I think a little air circulation between plants would help this problem.

Lettuce is lovely but crowded

Some of the plants are new to me and I'm getting a sense of whether they work or not.  I have grown the Simpson Elite lettuce pictured above before and am quite happy with it.  However, the Tortoiseshell spinach was a bit of a surprise.  The plants were quite small and had white patches all over the leaves.  Then they bolted.  So we've basically had no spinach this year which is a huge disappointment.  I just pulled all the plants this evening and planted some more seeds.  Maybe we can get a fall crop of spinach instead?

As well the First Crop beets are a bit of a puzzle.  The leaves are quite nice and we've been using them for salads but there's no beets attached!  Seriously, if you pull the plant there's a tiny somewhat shrivelled beet and a long thin root.

Where's the beet?!

On the plus side the cilantro has been absolutely delightful.  It's now starting to go to seed after all our hot weather but I love it because it still smells great and looks pretty too.

Cilantro beginning to flower

Some new pests have shown up in the garden but so far it's a minor inconvenience.  It appears the crows love the Sweet Millions cherry tomatoes as much as we do.

If we don't pick the ripening tomatoes every day the birds steal them.  Recently I've noticed they're taking the green tomatoes too.  The remnants I find strewn in the grass.  The plant is loaded with tomatoes though so I figure we can share.

More concerning is the fresh pile of dirt that has appeared next to one of the boxes.  Somebody has tunneled underneath.  I have no idea who, or why.  More importantly, why aren't those cats doing more to solve this problem?

And finally, the carrots are ready