Summer in the Garden

The sugar snap pea LIVES!!!  And it has flowered!!

It's surprising how fast it recovered after the bunny attack.  I was sure it would die like the other two. :-(  The pea seeds that I planted later have sprouted but look puny right now.  I hope they do well.

My corn patch has 2 of the 3 sisters growing now.  And FYI, the white stuff on the bean plants isn't mildew, it's diatomaceous earth. I'm hoping the diatomaceous earth will keep ants, slugs, and whatever soft body insects away.  The light brownish powdery stuff is bonemeal.  Apparently, the bonemeal keeps bunnies away.  I took the row cover off the corn patch 2 days ago and so far, nothing was nibbled, knocked over, stepped on or uprooted.  I planted upper ground sweet potato squash seeds yesterday. 

I had issues last month with something chomping my corn stalks right above the soil line.  I suspected the culprit was a cutworm.  It kept singling out one corn plant (you can see that one isn't as big as the others) but I cut a plastic water bottle and made rings to surround each plant and so far, nothing has touched them.  I've probably spoken too soon.

The heirloom watermelon I'm growing has been doing well.  I finally decided to remove the row cover since the freak'n black birds have been jumping all over them and breaking stems.  

Watermelons in May

Watermelons today

 

Hints of vines are starting to appear on one of the bigger watermelon plants. 

Next to the watermelons are the nasturtiums. I had a hard time growing them in containers last year.  They would grow a couple of leaves and then die.  These were the last 4 seeds from the packet last year.  I didn't think they would grow or flower but with the constant rain, they suddenly took off. They are just starting to bloom.

My chamomile finally bloomed!  God knows it took forever! I started the seeds back in February.  The other seedlings were lost. Either the plants succumbed to heat and me forgetting to water or the bunnies got to them.  These are the lone survivors.

My neighbors 2 doors down planted sunflowers last month.  I think they planted seedlings but they are HUGE now!  My sunflowers and cosmos, not so much.  They are doing well, but between bunnies attacking them off and on and being that the bed gets partial to full sunlight, some of the sunflowers and cosmos are doing better than others.

I'm really hoping by the end of this month, the garden will be colorful with blooming flowers and my summer crops will be in full production.  Hopefully.... if these guys behave. :-)