What's happening in the garden this week
Tomato season is upon us, and our broccoli plants are starting to produce
I thought it would be interesting for many fellow gardeners to give a weekly update of what’s going on in my garden. My schedule’s determined by the USDA plant hardiness zone here in western Massachusetts (I live in Zone 5B) so you’ll have to make adjustments based on where you live. Most of them are pretty subtle since the differences are often nuanced.
Tomato planting time
I’m hoping to (finally) get my tomatoes planted this weekend. Most people in our area plant their tomatoes around Memorial Day to avoid any chance of a late-season snap freeze. I’ve been itching to go, since in Washington I usually got the tomatoes planted in early May. I started my tomato seedlings indoors here on March 20, which is about 10 weeks ago. In retrospect that was too early and the plants are getting leggy. I potted them up into larger pots over the weekend to give the roots more room but they’re raring to get in the dirt! About 8 weeks is a good yardstick for timing between sowing tomato seeds indoors and planting them in the garden.
Getting the straw bales ready
I’ll be planting most of my tomatoes in straw bales, which I discussed in my post last week. I’ve been adding fertilizer to the bales every other day and watering them daily to get them prepared. I hope they’ll be good to go in a couple days. It seems like they will.
Pumpkin and winter squash seeds
I started some pumpkin and acorn squash seeds under grow lights in my basement. If they cooperate and germinate my plan is to plant them in straw bales as well in about 3-4 weeks. If they don’t I’ll plant the seeds directly in the bales, which is a perfectly valid way to go. I’m using the straw bales because I don’t have room in the garden beds for these large, rambling vines, which will grow for several months. I hope to train them to grow up and possibly over the fence and let them run into the field. I’ve never grown either winter squash or pumpkins so this is an experiment!
Zinnias and other flowers
I planted some zinnia seeds in the vegetable beds, along the sides of two or three beds. I love adding color to the vegetable garden and this is a good time to do it. Flowers like zinnia, nasturtium, marigolds and alyssum are great for attracting pollinators and may also be helpful in warding off undesirable insect pests. I’ve already planted nasturtiums, marigolds and alyssum in the beds. I stick them in corners or on the outskirts of the beds so there will still be room for vegetables, or course. Alyssum is great for planting alongside and underneath tomatoes. The low growing attractive white or pink flowers attract bees and provide a useful ground cover underneath tomatoes for moisture retention and weed prevention.
Broccoli sightings!
The first broccoli flowers from plants I put in the garden back on April 28 emerged this week. This is a success on many levels, the biggest being I have been fighting slugs all spring and this represents a major victory in that battle. I’ll write about my war with the slugs in a post soon. I’m still not sure who’s winning.
A fledgling prepares to leave the nest
For several weeks now, we’ve been watching a pair of Phoebes (they apparently mate for life) build a nest and family in a crevice between our house and chimney on the front porch. They’ve been flitting back and forth to the nest for days, ferrying worms and bugs. And a couple days ago this little fledgling raised its little head. It seems to be alone without any siblings, which makes it even more touching. Today it’s sitting up tall and proud and flaps its wings if you get too close. We’ve walled off the breezeway with chairs to keep the dogs away in preparation for its first flight.
Loved hearing the updates and seeing your Phoebe. (We have one, too!)
Looking good Matt! Have you tried the broccoli leaves as greens? They’re quite good.