June 27th - July 1st

Hey there, Ingrid here. July already?! We did a lot this week; the weather was sunny and warm (though sometimes a bit too humid), and we took full advantage of the sunshine.

Monday

Paula and I gave our free plot some well-deserved attention, considering we had been so preoccupied with getting everything planted in our experimental plots. We weeded, worried over the apparent failure of the beets, and planted arugula at the end of the lettuce row. Unfortunately, all but one of our sunflowers has been devoured and the snapdragons we’d tried to save didn’t make it over the weekend L. The basil, on the other hand, is beginning to scare us with its gargantuan growth!

We took a field trip to Loews to acquire chicken wire and string. The excursion was not particularly successful: we bought 2-inch hexagonal wire (much too big and flimsy) and forgot the string completely. Once back at the garden we lamented our mistakes and made a game plan to return the wire the next day and exchange it for the sturdier 1-inch wire we’d been using.

Tuesday

I went to Loews and returned our faulty wire and picked up the hardier kind, as well as bought some “sisal” (twine) for the A-Frames. We started the fencing, which meant more trench digging and wire folding and sweating.

When we started watering, we discovered curious holes all over the squash. The leaves were almost eaten straight through!

We found a possible suspect, a yellow beetle with black stripes down its back. We squashed it (pun intended) for good measure.

Wednesday

Busy day today, and not too hot (always a plus). We finished all the fencing in the experimental plots, connection the north end to the outer plastic netting fence facing our neighbors. Hopefully the bunnies don’t chew through it. After everything was fenced, we strung all of the remaining A-Frames with the sisal.

The culprits eating away at our squash are called yellow cucumber beetles! Paula did some research and they are indeed the yellow bugs we spotted near the squash. We are supposed to check the seedlings twice a day in case they are lurking under the leaves. Marigold might deter them, but we’re not sure how authentically effective that is.

The bean sprouts finally poked through!! Here they are in all their glory:

Since our beets failed miserably, we decided to replant them. We cleared the rows of weeds and changed up the design a bit, from rounded mounds to rounded mounds with dips. We’re hoping they will catch and hold more water this way, seeing as the soil is so rocky. We also moved the surviving kohlrabi together and in the empty space in their row planted cilantro (yummm). Rob came and tilled the spot for Paula’s project! Woo! She was anxious to start. Paula ended up staying late to rake the newly tilled space, composted, and made the measurements, but it was too dark to plant. What a worker!

Thursday

We started to fence in the free space together until I convinced Paula to work on her research project while I finished what was left of the chicken wire. We’ll need to buy about 15 more meters of wire to finish the free space (we tied the east end to the outer fence), plus some for the hot plot and the sunflower.

After we broke for lunch, the friend I was borrowing a car from asked for it back (my car has been in the shop). Sooo I had no way of getting to the farmer’s market L. Very sad, Paula said it was a beautiful, successful day.

Friday

Still no way of getting to work, so Paula and I decided to commit Friday to our research projects. I walked to the library to research and Paula finished measuring and planting in her newly tilled plot.