It was very windy yesterday (Friday) and dawned clear and stayed that way with only patchy clouds. Today... overcast, drizzly and damp, it figures though because I watered the garden yesterday. But the drizzle isn't a really soaking rain which is also good because I did the deep watering.
This around 11 am today and the pictures don't show it too well in that direction except for that ominous dark grey over the buildings to the south. The wind has picked up a bit just in the last half hour of writing this post, going to rain some more tomorrow supposedly and be generally cloudy for the next two weeks. That's spring weather for sure.
The sky now has high flat rain soaking cloud layer, perfect day to stay inside and knit or whatever.But yesterday was a better day in the garden.
Small harvest indeed with two radishes only an inch across and a handful of peas. I made the decision to dig up the thistle and had brought down my gloves and clippers.
The stalk was hollow as I knew it was and about the diameter at the base of the handle on the shovel.
So a very hefty stalk in diameter just not solid thankfully. I chopped it into sections and pulled the leaves off for compost. Before that though I noticed another reason besides the aphids to cut it down.
Signs of Giant Whitefly on one of the leaves. NOW I know where those two I killed came from, so I rubbed the leaf to kill those egg tracks and stuffed them all in the compost bucket, dividing them between the covered one and uncovered. Then I got the shovel to dig the rootball up.
It actually didn't have much in the way of a rootball. Roots yes but no big taproot either. That mostly had to do with the soil it was in and I suspect somewhere near a river or in the bottom of a canyon the soil would be easier to root into. It's all compost now and all that's left is the disturbed dirt from the shallow hole.
They haven't formed a tight head yet but it's close on that one in the bottom picture and the one at the back side in the first picture. It's not a bad thing to harvest the entire head at this point, it'll still taste the same and actually might be more tender.
About twenty-four hours between that previous photo and this one on the left so they're getting ready. Those two in the west bed are shorter and closing up the center sooner because there's not as much nitrogen in the soil they're growing more sturdy with the potatssium and phosphorus.
Cooler weather brings on the pests. Yes that is the same radish leaf from one day to the next. Completely eaten and yet the plants themselves don't show signs of being eaten. I refuse to spend four dollars on a can of beer just for a trap.
Pea harvest today. It's hard to tell in the left picture, but the pods all have 'pimples' on them. I never had that before on previous plants and suddenly it's on these. Researching, it's apparently a virus called Pea Enation Virus that can be spread by aphids. I haven't noticed any aphids on the plants but there were a lot on the sow thistle. There are two other viruses that can affect peas but the symptoms didn't match up. They're safe to eat but could cause an early death of the plant or distortion of the leaves and pods. There are some curled pods for sure and more research on that says it's from cold weather. I guess I'm going to have to plant peas closer to spring next time, or possibly late fall. If I want to plant them again.
Rain is sporadic today, as you can see not much to show for it this morning. Those dry patches are from the carrot tops bending over and covering the soil. Only about a half cup of water in the accidental rain gauge that is the plastic bag.
The reason for the redundant lettuce picture is to A: show how much more the center is closing up on that one and B: there is one hole from a slug/snail on one leaf of that lettuce. So they are climbing up that far for sure but in general not bothering them as the potatoes are acting as a 'catch crop' for pests.
I went grocery shopping and was able to get some salad veggies so will be choosing which Romaine will be the sacrificial plant for salads. I think I'm all caught up on photos and garden update for now. It will soon be time to start peppers and tomatoes!
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