Garden Update/Bluebird Sighting

Welcome back fellow gardeners and bird watchers.  You may have thought I disappeared from the blogging scene, however, I am returning with a post to update you on the garden progress.

It's been a very frustrating season thus far due to the heavy rainfall, however I have had moderate success in the vegetable garden thus far.

In May we received 7 inches of rain here in central New York State, and in June we got 4 inches. Lately the weather has a tropical feel as the humidity has been high with frequent rain showers. Today was a beautiful 4th of July, sunny and lower humidity.  Let's hope this is the beginning of a good stretch of weather.

Following is an update for the lower garden.  I have two main gardens with an "auxiliary" garden down behind the pond used for extra plants, fall squash, etc.  In my next post, I will cover the upper garden.

Lower Garden:

You may be wondering why all of the empty space.  I will explain below.

In  the foreground, are kale and lettuce.  For more information on the varieties of kale and lettuce, see my post of  March 18, 2017.   The kale and lettuce were started using a technique known as winter sowing, also explained in the post of March 18th which can be viewed to the right under the "Featured Post."   The seeds were planted in containers and placed out in the snow and cold until they sprouted this Spring.  It is a technique I have used for several years with good success.

Along the right hand edge of the garden are pumpkins.  The varieties  I am growing this season are Big Max, Cinderella, Connecticut filed, Jack Be Little, and Howden.

Today I harvested some Romaine lettuce and kale.  It has grown wonderfully this season.  Plenty of rain, not too much sun, ideal conditions for these plants.  In the future I want to enclose the lettuce/kale bed with a wooden frame (like a raised bed frame), then cover it with shade cloth.  This year I used wood shingles and netting, which helps tremendously to keep birds and other critters from eating it, including my pet duck.  I think shade cloth would work even better, as it is available in various degrees of shading.  I think a 70% cloth (allows 70% of the sun to penetrate) would work well.  If it gets too hot, lettuce will usually bolt.

Harvesting Romaine Lettuce

Kale and Romaine Lettuce

The remainder of the lower garden is potatoes.  This is a story in and of itself.   I initially planted them on 5/24/17.  I planted two rows of Yukon Gold, which is one of our favorites, and one row of Yukon Nugget, similar to Yukon Gold, just a smaller size..  However, only the 3 hills of Yukon Gold in the first row above on the left came up out of the approximately 45 hills I planted.

Then, around mid June, I planted a row of Keuka Gold potatoes that I purchased at a local farm stand.

Long story short, the Keuka Gold sets did not germinate, however the re-plants of the Yukon Gold did. So now I will fill in the missing hills with some Yukon Gold.

The end result will be that the different planting times will produce potatoes that mature at different times, but that may not be so bad after all.

Yukon Gold Potato

The following are descriptions from the The Maine Potato Lady:

Yukon Gold:

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Yukon Gold is a large variety of potato most distinctly characterized by its thin, smooth eye-free skin and yellow-tinged flesh.  Deservedly known as a nice potato, with great flavor and excellent storage. This is an early variety.

Yukon Nugget:

Uniform nuggets of gold are a treasure; enjoy them steamed whole or chunked, then tossed with balsamic vinegar, butter and salt, and a touch of dill. This recent release has Rose Gold as one of its parents. A large set of small- to medium-sized golden tubers with small red eyes, 4-5 more per plant than Yukon Gold

Keuka Gold:

Expect high uniform yields from Keuka Gold, a recent release from the Cornell breeding program. Part of the Public Seed Initiative in 2004, Keuka performed well under organic growing conditions. Though not as early as Yukon Gold, it may be a good substitute.  Buff skin and light yellow flesh with eating qualities similar to Yukon Gold.

Today I replanted, once again, some Yukon Gold potatoes.  I used some leftover potatoes from last year. Surprisingly, I still had enough to replant and hopefully I will end up with a complete potato patch.

The good news is that I will have just one variety, so no chance for mix ups.  The bad news, I really wanted to try both Yukon Nugget and Keuka gold.  But there is always next year.

Planting Potatoes - Third Attempt

Finally, There's the sunflower saga.  I love growing sunflowers, as I used to grow them as a child with my Mom's assistance.  I would grow the Mammoth Russian variety, and enter the seed heads in size contests (by submitting photos) in magazines.

Now I typically grow the decorative types, as there are so many to choose from and new ones each year. However, this year the birds seemed to dig up and eat the planted seeds, which I never had a problem with before,  So my solution was to plant them in a container indoors, then transplant into the garden. Hopefully they will survive and provide beautiful blooms in late summer, early fall.

Planting Sunflowers

Sunflower Patch

In my next post, I will cover the Upper Garden, which this year contains lots of goodies, including Heirloom tomatoes pole beans and much more.  Below is one photo to peak your interest for my next post.  Also, I recently started a new perennial bed which I will share, as it is a work in progress.

Upper Garden

Bluebird Sighting:

Much to my delight, this year we have bluebirds nesting in one of the nest boxes along the pond. They like to sit on my bird feeder that overlooks the pond, even though I haven't been putting any seed out lately.  I think I captured both the male and female.  These birds seems to have a little different coloring from typical bluebirds. I don't think these are juveniles, since they are still nesting in the bird house, although the coloring almost looks that way.  None the less, they are fun to watch.

Thanks for visiting, and have a happy 4th of July!