Picture Post

These pics were taken this morning of the damage done last night. As of 1pm today, it looks like no groundhogs have been inside the garden long enough to eat anything that i can see.

Hopefully it is not for lack of trying.  I did see one run across the back part behind where our fence goes halfway across  the backyard. I have also seen them poking their heads out from the wood pile.

The dog has been inside for the last couple hours, so there is nothing that should stop the woodchucks from trying.

So for now the damage pictures are going to be so i can be sure there is no additional destruction when i check throughout the day.  Sometimes they may hit only one or two leaves before something scares them off and i want to know immediately if the fence is not doing its job so i can try and figure something out. If they have stopped i want to stop feeling the need to monitor so much and i will know that i can go ahead and plan to start replacement seedlings so i can possibly get a later harvest since my oldest cabbages are pretty much done in.

Damage to kohlrabi:

Damage to Swiss Chard

Damage to Cabbage

 

Damage to Collards

 

Damage to Brocoli

...

 Leaving Kale alone..so far...

There seems to be a point in time when cabbage is at its tastiest to woodchucks. The large cabbages looked like they were getting ready to start heading.  The smaller ones are later transplants and were left untouched. The Swiss chard was munched right about when i was going to pick them. The Broccoli was minimally (relatively) damaged.  There are a few bare spots where i harvested the Pak Choi (between the broccoli and pak choi) so that is not included in the damage roll.

Tomato blossoms on the Roma tomato plants

 Corn....and weeds....

Rosemary....looks like its doing well

Graffiti cauliflower

 Bush beans.... i forget which type, but they are growing well.

Rutabagas...  i don't know why the tops want to fall over like that. They aren't as stout as i expected them to be so far.

Some melon/pumpkin/squash volunteer that i have stepped on a dozen times but keeps growing anyway...

Beets...

A big carrot plant.  The range of sizes between my carrots is pretty wide.  I think it was uneven watering. I got good germination after all, but it was spread out over 2-3 weeks. I saw some new ones emerging just last week.  I guess in a way they are staggering my harvest naturally, this may be a good thing in the end.

Bird House Gourd.  I have planted these before when i used my parents' garden in college.  They produced some nice gourds that dried out well.  My dad collected them for me but i never got to make them into birdhouses.  I am hoping to attract some Purple Martins some day.  We are just inside the Northern edge of their range. (Depending on the map and reliability of source, the places that want to sell bird houses say we have them all over, the sites that study their migration habits say they are rare in my area).

The plants look poised to produce a good crop of gourds at any rate.

 I think this is the late breaking banana Melon.  The camera was more interested in the tops of the stakes than in my intended subject. I still haven't gotten out to get the lint removed from the lens.
Anyway, i don't know why some of the melons are so incredibly slow. We have had plenty of warm rain and actual hot weather. 

I forget which this is.  Probably Tom Watson.

Rocky Ford...

And this was when i stumbled upon the brilliant idea to photo the name tag along with the plant.  Hales Best don'tcha'know.

 But the tag photo idea didn't absorb right off.  I think this is Pony Yellow.

Look, it says "Long Island Cheese" !

Another Winter squash, Red Eye.... a favorite of mine. I planted it a couple years ago and it was very yummy.

Carnival Acorn Squash... another good one.

Cucumbers. Two types.

My jerusalem Artichokes.  I need to weed out the Winter Rye more, i have been picking away at it for a while. I don't get a lot of time for weeding and they grow so fast.  My aisles are weedy and i mostly concentrate on the weeds that are getting ready to flower or go to seed.

I still haven't gotten the trunk of the big apple tree dragged away (to the right).

Apples are getting big, but have signs of damage.

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Grapes:

Marechal Foch, looking good.

Frontenac, not doing much, but when i cut into the stick a bit, the color inside was a live green color. So i hope its not in the process of dying and wakes up soon.

Reliance, also doing nicely.

Edelweiss.... looking dead as ever.

Edelweiss #2.... same as above.

Blueberries.  Patriot.....

...and Blueray.

Some wildflower i keep in my flowerbed. They are always sunny. I need to get them ID'd sometime.

Aerial view...

Oh, i can't wait until the yard is done. The stack of wood on top of the tarp is covering the last bunch of painted fence panels. The overgrown cedar shrub that turned ino a tree needs to be cut down so i can drive some posts to install a clothesline in that better spot rather than have to use the basketball hoop at the end of the driveway.  And finally, we need to get grass growing in that yard because it looks like a dusty wasteland.

These are pics of the cuttings i got from a Lemony friend....

I was sent 2 mulberry cuttings, this is one:

and this is a quick group shot of the rest of them.  Cranberries, kiwi, blackberries, cherries....

I dated them the day the cuttings were taken since the rooting hormone was applied and they had been wrapped in wet paper towel, i have the day they were set in these cups on record here in the blog.

I use those elasticized  bowl covers that i still find at the Dollar Tree to keep the cuttings humid from top to bottom.  I only took them off for the picture. but they seem to work nicely.

I haven't had the chance to research and deal with the seed-filled fruits yet since i have been using my energy on woodchuck issues and carpet cleaning (which i hate almost as much as woodchucks lol)....

But i am glad i finally got updated pictures of something.  It will be interesting to look back through this summer later in winter when i am planning for 2011.
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