July 26

Yesterday, July 25 Rachel and I spent the day canning beans. I set up two Camp Chef stoves and a makeshift table out of two barrels and a sliding glass door. We ended up canning 71 quart bottles of beans. I only had two bottles break on me.
Here is a closer shot of the canning set-up.

I was also able to get brown PC (pressure controlled) soaker hoses installed on the 3rd and 4th planting of corn. This is working very well. The emitters are spaced every 18" unlike the beans and peas that are a 12" spacing. Both types are 1 gpm. I made a furrow first and installed the hose down the furrow. I will use this on all of the corn in years to come. If I get time I will install the soaker hose on the second planting. The first planting is tasseled out and the ears are forming so I will not worry about it this year.

A close up of the 4th planting

Here are the shots of the garden counter clock-wise starting in the northeast corner.

1st planting of corn.

July 19

Everything is taking off. The corn has tassels forming. The winter squash and pumpkins are loving the heat and the daily watering from the drip system. The carrots are forming with some as long as 6". The grasshoppers have not touched them yet for some reason. As mentioned below the grasshoppers are becoming a major threat. We will Begin picking the beans this week. It will be a battle to get as many as we can before the grasshoppers get them.

Most of the photos in this post can be enlarged.

We had new potatoes for dinner again today. Here is one of the Yukon Gold. They are out growing the others with the Burbank being the smallest at this point.

A pestilence of Biblical proportions

These photos are of the beans and are not doctored. I finally sprayed the corn and potatoes Friday with Seven. I didn't spray the beans and peas because we are picking them now. Saturday morning I found tons of grasshoppers dead in between the rows of corn and potatoes, but just as many or more were alive and eating away on the same plants. The neighbour behind the garden just baled his second cutting of hay and all of the grasshoppers have moved to the garden. My biggest concern is the fact that the corn is starting to tassel out and the grasshoppers love the tassels and silk when it forms on the ears. It is going to be interesting to see how this turns out.

Pea Picking Party

Peas are low on the list for favorite garden vegetable for my children, well at least they are now after picking them all week long. Caleb was working as staff at scout camp this week so he missed out on all of the fun, but in addition to peas needing to be picked again tomorrow the beans are also ready so he will have the joy of picking with the rest of the family.Fun Fun.

A cowboy gets mighty thirsty after rounding up peas in the middle of summer.

Some of us are not happy campers,

And some of us are.
A rare sighting of the founder of this pea party.

July 12

The heat has kicked in. Most of the garden is doing well.

The peas need to be picked within the next day or two. This will be an ongoing chore for the next few weeks. The beans have small beans on them and will be ready to be picked in a week to ten days. The potatoes are doing great. The grasshoppers are making their way into the garden and it looks as if they are eating the potatoes a bit here and there. The corn looks great. The fourth planting is up.

The melons are a bust and it looks as if the cucumbers are going to die off also. The grasshoppers are going to town on what little growth they have had. The biggest problem was the cool wet month of June. The summer squash may pull through and the winter squash and pumpkins are starting to take off. It is too late in the season to replant.

The peppers love the heat and are starting to grow. The wax peppers have one or two peppers on each plant. The tomatoes are looking good, not many blossoms yet, but it is a challenge to grow tomatoes here at our elevation of 5400. It is either too cool or too hot for the fruit to set.

Again the photos start in the northeast corner and I move counter clockwise.

You can see all of the corn in this photo. The 4th planting is on the right just visible above ground.

Here are the peas, sugar (snow) peas on the right and Marvels on the left.

The beans are as good as any I have grown.

You can see the difference in color between the Pontiac on the left and the lighter green Yukon and Burbank on the right.

These next pictures are taken from the center of the garden. This one is looking to the northeast.

Northwest.

Southwest.

Southeast.

You can see all four plantings of corn. The wind was blowing north when I took the photo.

These last two photos are of the house garden.

The peas at the house garden are all but done. They are behind the broccoli.