Garden Update for 4/28/13

Nice warm day today, in the lower 80s.  We got back from a camping trip this weekend, at Cedar Hill State Park, with some families from church that homeschool. (we also homeschool). Got home around 2PM, so this afternoon, and was interesting in seeing what my garden looked like after being away a few days. I worked a little on expanding my fenced in area to accommodate the growth of the Hubbard squashes.  

Here is a pic of the 2 Hubbard Squash plants.  The main vines are probably about 3 feet long, and there are a couple side shoots on each that are getting pretty long themselves.  So those side shoots that showed up real early ended up developing well.  One strange thing is that I am getting female flowers even before male flowers.  I have 2 large female flowers that will probably open up tomorrow morning, but unfortunately without any make flowers, nothing will come of them.    I have mulched the vines with grass clippings.   No signs of SVBs yet. I have checked and found no eggs on any of my cucurbits yet.

Below is a pic of my Rouge Vif D'Etampes (cindarella) pumpkin plants. They are starting to really pick up some steam now, and this one is about to start running.  Its growing among some spinach and collards/broccoli plants, that will probably be harvested the next few weeks, just in time for these plants to start taking over.

Here are the California poppies my son is growing.  They have a really bright orange yellow color and are pretty stunning.  The plants are beautiful too, with the frizzy leaves.  And next to them on the upper right are some of the mustard plants.  Right above them is a sugar pie pumpkin growing among them.

I still have cabbages going strong.  This head is getting really big.  Its the biggest one I've had so far.  Not sure if I should pick it soon, or see if it gets bigger.  It will be in the mid 80s this week, so I am concerned it might start splitting.  We'll see...

Here is a look at the most of the garden. The snow peas are huge, but the bottom of the plants are starting to yellow off. I wonder if this is natural, or maybe the warm weather is affecting them?  But in any case there are plenty of nice pods to pick from them.  Should have enough for a number of good meals.