Pickleworms...

Speaking of squirming things... I noticed that the Pickleworms have finally made it back. They destroyed the handful of cukes left on my vines. Oh, well, they arrived mid-May last year. I guess I got a few extra weeks of cucumbers. Last year, I had some really productive varieties (Cucino, in particular) at peak production, and it made sense to go the extra mile and cover the cukes with bags. Not worth it this year.

Summer plantings...

Even though we're forecast to have a very cool week (highs in the 60s... in March! That's been rare the past few years...), I decided to transplant and seed some of my plants for the summer season before heading to work today.... Very briefly:

1. Sungold Tomato, the most prolific, tastiest tomato I grow
2. Two cucumbers that I started a few weeks ago in cups, from Pinetree: BUSH CROP (55 days)
   and SALAD BUSH (F1 Hybrid 56 days)
3. Goose Creek Tomato (thanks, Bill!)
4. my "Seminole Squash" wilding from this past fall
5. Rattlesnake Beans (several weeks going now)
   
6. Cherokee Purple (from winter garden)
   
7. Better Boy (from winter garden)
   

I already have a number of peppers going: Jalapeno and Ancho (both sown sometime this winter); and Tabasco, Pimiento de Padron, and banana peppers, all survivors from last spring. Many of my peppers are in pots, but the ones in the ground do pretty well and are less of a hassle to keep watered.

Some of my lettuce crops have bolted; they've been in the ground for months, so regardless of warm or cold temperatures, these were bound to bolt soon. I plan to replace them soon with Queensland lettuce from ECHO and more cuttings from my Okinawan Spinach.

With the exception of cowpeas and sweet potatoes, that'll be it for my summer veg garden. The cukes will be destroyed by the pickleworm by mid-May (sigh) The runner beans and tomatoes will produce into July, when they'll burn out or begin to suffer too badly from pests. I'll harvest sweet potatoes and cowpeas from mid-June until frost. I might try some yucca this summer.

Noel....

TS Noel is sitting off the coast, sending bands of squally rain and sometimes stiff winds across the eastern half of the peninsula. It's been raining here since Friday -- not huge accumulations (around one and a half inches so far). Intermittent, light and brief. The dewpoint and humidity are in the upper 60s, which is very high for this time of the year. Really awful weather, not just for us bipeds but for the garden, too. I need to get out and trim back some roses, before the fertilizer I applied last week kicks in. Plus, the weeds are popping up everywhere. I just cannot bring myself to work in a very wet and windy garden.

Anyway, this weekend, I did manage to transplant the geraniums and herbs that I started as seeds a few weeks ago. I also planted more radish, more chard, some chervil and 'Red Sails' leaf lettuce. The kids' chard ('Bright Lights') is getting chewed up by (I think) flea beetles, though the 'Sea Foam' chard and lettuces that are nearby are untouched.

Cukes continue to produce, though the fruit is often infested with the damn pickleworm. Tomatoes are maybe just now setting fruit. The fig tree has lost its leaves. The citrus is ripening.

Garden update...

An ornamental banana coming into bloom...

A pomegranate in bloom...

'Little Fingers' from TSG. Cool, no?

The pickleworms have met their match...