Flowering runner beans, Japanese Beetles love bean plants, harvested crops, and trellised watermelons

I made it out to the plot Wednesday and Thursday evenings mostly to water, apply bug dust (Thurs), and check on the status since I was last out Saturday.

More garlic was harvested along with the lone "surprise onion."  It sure is a sad sort.  I can't see how it's edible.

I was happy to see that the reduced rainfall seems to be doing wonders for the Scarlet Runner Beans.  The foliage is gradually losing the yellowish hue and more flowers are developing.  I also took a moment to sit in the Adirondack Chair and enjoy the view.  Sure is a comfortable chair!

 While out Wednesday, I noticed that the bulk of an entire bean plant on the far wall had been eaten clear down to the stem.  I was surprised by that given that I've been careful to try to keep applying the bug dust.  It didn't look like what the Mexican Bean Beetles did last year.  In looking at other bean plants, I found a small brown beetle on one leaf.  After doing a bit of research, I'm pretty sure it's a Japanese Beetle.  Since I was out of bug dust Wednesday, I returned Thursday and applied more.  I was happy to wipe out approx 6 that were on that same trellised bunch of bean plants.

Continuing my meandering on Wednesday, I saw that one of the watermelons has grown quite large - approx 5" across.  I also saw that the steam it was suspended from was beginning to "neck down," presumably from the weight.  I returned Thursday with a pair of Wifey's hosery and created a melon sling for that suspended fruit.

Trellises for cucumbers, beans, watermelons and planting more beans

Good progress today.

I planted more beans where the last of the snow peas had been.  I couldn't find the rest of the beans I planted elsewhere in the garden so I had tracked down some of the beans I used previously in the plot.  Blue Lake Bush Beans (from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds) went in that area next to two volunteer tomato plants.

I then applied bug dust.  I was only going to do that to the beans, but I also read that its good vs a number of tomato funguses.

It was great to see the peppers are growing, ground cherries are expanding, and the watermelons are growing nicely for the most part (although one vine doesn't look happy for some reason).

I used scrap metal fencing to finish the last bean trellis.  Unfortunately, I didn't have enough to span the entire bamboo framework.  Thankfully, some of my old Boy Scout skills came into use.  I tied a line tied to each corner with each line going to a corner of the fencing then used taut line hitches to do as the name implies. 

Once the bean trellis was finished, I made a cucumber trellis.  I took the proven method I developed from the bean trellis and took it one step further out of necessity because the plastic mesh I had left from the other bean trellises was very narrow.  Once again, four taut line hitches were used per side of the trellis.

Once all that was done I took a walk around the site.  It's been a while since I've been able to do that.  It's good to see what I can learn from what other people are doing.  I was dismayed to see a few peoples' beans looked like mine last year.  I guess the petunias and bug dust really is doing something good for the garden.

Thankfully, not my beans.

Unfortunately, there's a lot of heavy rain coming down as I type this.  In checking the radar map, it's only over my part of Maryland.  So much for the bug dust I applied today.....

Late blight in Maryland

Thanks to Kathy from Skippy's Vegetable Garden blog for making me think about late blight.  She mentioned that blight has been seen a few hundred miles from her gardens which made me wonder about proximity to my Columbia plot.

It was identified in Montgomery County on June 20, 2013.  Oh.  Boy.  http://www.usablight.org/  I've also added this link to the blog's sidebar for future use.

Having never dealt with it before, I've had to do a good bit of crash reading.  I do have some signs of some fungus distress in one of my boxes (the volunteer tomato in the flower box), but I'm not certain that it's actually blight.  More reading will be necessary.

From what I've read in a couple locations, using Actinovate spray and along with spraying a Copper Fungicide is recommended.

Bamboo bean trellises, cayenne peppers, a growing watermelon, more garlic

I enjoyed 2 hours at the plot after work today.

I tied the mesh on the trellis that I started yesterday and lashed the spars together that I had only put in place.  For the third trellis, I didn't have enough of the plastic mesh left so I used some wire fencing material that I'd salvaged and had out at the plot.  Unfortunately, I only had enough of that stuff for one side of that trellis.  I'll finish up with some leftover fencing material from the watermelon trellis.  Pics of that when I finish it.  Here are the trellis from yesterday and the one I finished today, though.

Once that work was done, I applied bug powder to the beans, ground cherries, and a few of the flowers in the plot.  I did some weeding in the second flower box, harvested more garlic, and watered.  I'm also happy to report that the watermelons are growing (two are racketball-sized), there are a few San Marzano tomatoes worth looking at, and a few decent-sized cayenne peppers along with a few smaller ones, too.

 

The next time out, I hope to tear down the snow peas and plant beans in their place.  More radishes will be planted.  I also need to finish trellising the existing beans and establish a trellis for the cucumbers.

Bean trellising

I spent a hour out at the plot this evening working on trellising the beans.  Luckily, I had a bit of bamboo left from last year.  I learned my lesson and used synthetic twine doing my lashing, though.  Hopefully it weathers better than the natural twine I used last year. 

For each box, there's an A-frame with the top of each A joined together by another pole.  There's also some salvaged plastic mesh fencing going down each side for the beans to climb.

One bean trellis is completely finished, one has the frame made and mesh cut and ready to be tied on, with the poles and in place for the 3rd box.

Sorry, no pictures.  I likely will go out and finish the work tomorrow.

Happy 4th of July!

Okay, so I actually went to the plot on the 5th.  Beans were dusted before the weekend.  I also found that they are in dire need of trellising.  The runner beans also have the first two flowers on them.

I checked out the "Surprise Onions."  They were browned with some laying down.  I decided to pick some.  Imagine my surprise when what I'd planted and thought to be onions turned out to actually be garlic.  The largest two are very large.  Not bad for organic garlic I grew from a purchase at MOMs.

Aside for this stuff, I pruned tomatoes, watered, and enjoyed finding two baby watermelons each that were the size of a grape.

Green June Beetle, bean development, and the first watermelon

The Boy and I made it out to the plot yesterday evening to do a little work.

Tomatoes and peppers were pruned.  I weeded in the cucumber/radish boxes, the watermelon box, and amongst the green beans.  The runner beans are really unhappy thanks to all the rain we've been getting.

I was excited to see an interesting beetle out there.  At first I thought it may have been a Dogbane Leaf Beetle, but after doing more research (I know very little about insects), have determined it to be a Green June Beetle.  From what I've read, they're attracted to rot.  With that in mind, it makes sense that I found it near the compost pile.

I also was happy to see that the first watermelon is beginning to grow and the green beans are happier than last year.