Partners in Thyme

Here's the harvest I picked tonight: 7 cucumbers, 2 squash and our first zucchini. It's amazing how big zucchini gets in no time at all. I've had my eye on this one all week and I knew it'd be ready today after I watered the garden last night. We really need a good rain, this garden requires a lot of water! May is a dry month in Florida, beautiful weather though so I shouldn't complain. As soon as we have our rain barrel irrigation system, it won't be a problem.

I can't describe how rewarding it is to find my produce is ready to pick as I'm walking around the garden. We have been so blessed to have literally NO bugs and NO wildlife attack any of our plants. The only issue so far has been the powdery mildew on our yellow squash, which has affected it's production. I've tried Volck Oil spray, yet the leaves are still have white spots. The spots get bigger, the leaf starts to yellow and curls up on the edges, then turns brown and looks awful. I've been cutting the diseased leaves off all of my plants, it just looks awful. I've read not to put anything with disease, fungus or chemicals (herbicides, pesticides) into the compost pile, so these leaves go directly into our burn pit. The plants have produced only those two yellow squash so far, the rest grow to about 3 inches long and fall off the plant. That's what we get for buying the squash plant at Wal-Mart, against our better judgment. Yes, I know... it was a terrible idea. If I get another squash between the two of those plants it'll be a miracle. Meanwhile, I'm watering, fertilizing, spraying, trimming and hoping for the best.

I want to start plants from heirloom seed next year, we just didn't have time between moving in this house and starting a garden all at once. There are a lot of things I want to do next season... I'm thinking it'd be a good idea to space the monstrous zucchini plants out a bit further, with something that grows tall, like pole beans or sweet corn running up in between. I didn't realize how much planning it takes to master the art of garden design. Truly, it's an art. I expected the learning curve to be steep and for our first season, I think everything is coming along very well. It helps to read, read and read more gardening books and magazines - that's how we got things going. I also need make time to visit other gardeners and LISTEN to their advice. I've found that people who like plants want to tell you about them. I find myself doing this all the time. Well, watch out Ziptie Ranch, we're coming soon! Have a warm cup of lemongrass tea and a comfy chair ready :)