Garden Work

The peas were finally kaput and the garlic was ready to be harvested so both were pulled this week.  I actually should have pulled them both last week but life got in the way.  In their place I extended the tunnel and planted more kale.  I am going to try blanching and freezing a bunch for Andy's smoothies year round.  On the other side I planted some more summer squash and cucumber seeds since neither are quite as prolific right now as I would like.

Update

I've been taking pictures since my last post but never getting around to posting them.  So here are a few things that have happened since the last post.

The trees have blossomed and I covered the two beds underneath until the tree looses its blossoms.  We asked our neighbor if we could remove the tree since the tree grows over our property because of it's placement next to their house.  They gave us permission but want to make sure the roots will all be removed because they are going to then plant another tree to help shade the house.  We decided it wasn't worth the work if they are just going to replant a second problem for us.  Since we don't plan to stay here long term we will just deal with it until we move.

I have seen a few cabbage moths around since it has warmed up so I made sure to cover the kale right away.  The right side of the tunnel has lots of extra fabric so that once the peas are pulled if I want to extend the kale or other brassicas I can easily cover them too.

 If only the things I planted as quickly as this Canadian Thistle that sprouted in the last week.  I have to get on top of them otherwise I will be growing weeds and not veggies.

Tulle and Tension Wire

Last year cabbage moth caterpillars devoured my kale.  I told myself I would properly cover it this year so the same thing didn't happen.  Well, it happened.  Something, devoured all my kale seedlings down to the soil except for these two.

And then I noticed that the cabbages were starting to also be destroyed.  I put off covering them because I wanted to still see the plants when I looked out at the garden.  Most of the insect  barriers I could find were white opaque cloths.  I found some netting that was ridiculously expensive.  I thought about using tulle, fabric used to make wedding veils, but at the store I couldn't find anything wider than 54 inches.  I thought I was going to have to give in and buy the opaque white cloth.  However after a good amount of searching I found tulle that was 105 inches wide. So for less than 7 dollars I snatched up 3 yards.

The kale seeds have been replanted and I have been picking off the caterpillars.  Using 9 gauge tension wire that was cut into 110 inch lengths I created hoops and have covered it with the fabric.  Now I can look out and see the plants and know they won't be destroyed.  Although I have to laugh a little at how fancy it looks because the tulle glistens in the sun.

Next Year

Next year I will put row cover over the Kale.  This year I didn't put them up because I don't like how they look, I like to see all the plants.  I was thinking that maybe the cabbage loopers would be smaller in numbers this time of the year and would leave the Kale alone, but I was wrong.