Tuesday July17, 2013

It has been some time since I posted to the Nottoway blog. Sadly this reflects the amount of time I have devoted to the garden in 2013.
Last Fall, when I cleaned up the garden I planted a bunch of "stuff" to winter over; mostly  onions but also some garlic. While I have enjoyed the onion, I feel a little bad  because many of them were pulled before their time. To give you an idea of the magnitude of the onion caper, I put in 120 onions sets  that I bought from Southern States in Manassas. Way too many onion sets for a plot 20 by 15 feet. Three different varieties and all delicious. I still have about 40 onions left in the garden after my harvest yesterday. Interestingly enough, the onions stalks are huge in relation to the size of the onion--- the onions are about four feet tall  but with a diameter smaller than the size of my fist!
After dropping Ed off at the Metro at 7:30 am yesterday, I went directly to Nottoway and worked until 10:45.It was HOT.
 I cleaned up the beds- 3 cubic feet plus of weeds and onion and potato debris; pulled about a dozen onions and several pounds of red potatoes as well as a few yellow potatoes. I tied up the tomatoes and tried to reorient the volunteer squash plant that surrounds the bed to the right of the walkway from the gate door. It is unbelievably big and dramatic.
At least now the walkways are clear. Poor Ginny, her side of the garden looks well tended. I have not been a very good gardening buddy this year.  The tomatoes, and eggplants  growing at Nottoway are from seedlings I purchased in Ocean City NJ over Memorial Day holiday. The New Jersey seedlings and the potatoes which sprouted in my laundry room as well as a few sunflowers are the only new things I put into the garden this year. Part of the lack of effort results from being busy with two weddings this spring Jenni Ryan and Pat Jenkins as well as the Cap to Cap  weekend bike ride in Richmond with the entire family...Ed rode 50 miles while Tom did the 100 mile one. Between the ride, the weddings, Carly's graduation, helping her get ready for China, the trip to OC NJ and two weeks in Ireland, I have not had the  time to work in the garden like I did last year. Also, since our neighbors, the Crotty's have taken down a number of large trees, our back yard now sunny enough for plantings. I have put in peppers, beans and tomatoes on Verdict Dr. The deer have really enjoyed eating them so I'll not do that again next year.   
Right now I am in White Plains for a week but when I get back I am going to harvest the balance of the large bed and plant string beans. I plan to ask Ginny if I can cut some bamboo poles from her backyard and use them as a support. Last year, I used the metal wire plant supports for the beans and was happy with them but the area was smaller. Also, this year I have used the metal wire supports for the tomatoes.  Either I have to buy more metal supports or get some bamboo ones.
Next week I promise myself to take some photos for the blog.