#%$*&@!!!!!!!!!!

Wow.

So the year that I finally get it together enough to plant peas in March and I can't even plant the correct type.  Arrrrg.

I planted 3 different types of peas, all from seed I got last fall at local hardware store.  I THOUGHT I was careful enough to pick only types that are snow or snap with an edible pod, but it turns out I am not.  Two of my 3 pea areas are planted with non-edible pod peas, Bolero and Garden Sweet.  What makes it worse is that the third bed that is planted with snow peas was accidentally wrecked by my husband and our new weed-whacker, leaving just four plants capable of producing.

The kids don't seem to care and have been eating the pea pods anyway, but I tried one and it was terrible and fibrous.  I asked them to stop eating them so we can let them grow to shelling size...I'm told fresh peas are amazing, though even the best shelled peas will be bittersweet since they are coming at the cost of snow peas for stir-fry.

The pea circle is planted with Bolero peas...which also explains the bushiness.  Bolero stays pretty short.

A palm full of bolero peas.   We picked them young but they were still very tough.

Ah well.  I guess we'll just have to wait for fall and try again.  In the meantime, we should have shelling peas soon.

Harvest Monday: End of April

Once again I actually have a harvest (not bad for April gardening in Pennsylvania with no cold frame) but it's still just one veggie.   Better than nothing!  Head on over to Daphne's Dandelions and check out this week's Harvest Monday post to see what everyone else has been harvesting.

Our radish harvest for the week.

It seems that we are not the only things enjoying the radishes.  I did see several tiny millipedes  in the ground, but I don't know if they caused the radishes to split or just ate the holes into them.

The brassicas are coming along nicely, though I will have to thin them soon.  

The lettuce is also coming along nicely.

The peas growing in the back of the garlic bed finally have a trellis to climb.  I used two U posts and some plastic deer fencing.

The way of the garden...

The zucchini dies out from Squash Vine Borers and Downey Mildew...

Just as the new crop of zucchini across the yard sets it's first fruit.

New things are germinating in every corner, like this replacement crop  of cucumbers.  White Wonder, Burpless Hybrid, and Lemon.

Fall carrots will soon need thinned.

And icicle radishes are growing strong.

Spring pests like aphids and flea beetles are growing fewer, while the fall plague of stink bugs is  finally here.

The dominant colors in our harvests have shifted from all shades of green to orange and red.

And eagerly awaited tomatoes like this pineapple variety are ripening daily when just a month ago a single grape tomato was cause for celebration.

Some veggies pulled through after they were given up for lost, like this little eggplant.

And a few surprising volunteers are finally letting us know what they are.

Fortunately, for little boys who get bored easily, nature keeps things exciting for us!

Weird Tomato Wednesday

Black Krim tomato with cat facing

The mystery volunteer tomato plant that seems like a hybrid of Black Prince and a standard red tomato of some type.

This Better Boy fell off the vine, but is a pretty rainbow of yellows and oranges.

A little bit of "Wow that's cool!" and a whole lot of "WTF?"

Baby Tomatillo (purple I think).

A very weirdly formed Gypsy Bell.  There are a few like this.

First ripening Mr. Stripey.

Heart-shaped tomato.

Siamese tomato twins.

An as-yet-unidentified affliction of my banana peppers.

First ripe Yummy Bell.

Something tunneled through this Black Krim.

A Celtic trinity knot tomato (also Black Krim).

This weeks CSA box and garden update.

Our CSA box is now bringing us tomatoes each week!  Woo hoo!  Of course the kids end up eating them like apples the minute they're ripe enough, but I'm not complaining.  If you look closely you'll see a container of blueberries that was half eaten before we took the picture...we made blueberry pancakes for dinner that night, and even the two year old ate them, which is a feat since 90% of his diet is peanut better and jelly sandwiches.

Our amazing Kretschmann Farm CSA box this week.

The lady bugs on the eggplant...hopefully they'll go eat that flea beetle.

I have a few tomatillo flowers on each plant, so we should have purple and green tomatillos soon!

The broccoli is setting out side shoots, though I can't imagine them getting very large in this ridiculous heat.  

The mystery melon is getting larger.

A baby watermelon starting.

These volunteers look nothing like any of the tomatoes I've ever grown or bought.  They're probably some hybrid of a roma.

Those two had blossom end rot so I picked them.  Look how weirdly long and skinny!

I though I saw squash vine borer fracas there, but now I'm not sure.  The plant is definitely sick but it seems to be more of a leaf issue.

That is another volunteer that is an obvious hybrid of last years Black Prince and some other tomato.

Sweet Mother of God.  I should have pulled these all last week...look at all the powdery mildew.   This is the worst case of it I've ever seen, and it's bizarre because the weather has been super hot.

My black beauty eggplant was looking very sick so I picked the two little eggplants  pretty small.  

A tour of garden pestilence and disease.

Yesterday I posted some pictures of our completely barren apple trees, along with the spotty leaves covering them.  Today I thought I'd lump as many of my other gardening problems in to one post as I can.  I have not actually figured out what to do about all of these, but the first step is taking my head out of the sand.  

This is how the leaves look on EVERY SINGLE eggplant I have.  The flea beetles have had a feast this year.

This is what smashed flea beetles look like.  Next year the plan is to manually crush them  each day.

I believe this is downy mildew.  One squash has been pulled and the other three are looking sick.

I think this might be Septoria Leaf Spot.  It could also be early blight.  I've been battling this for months and every single tomato has it to some extent.  I just keep cutting off the infected branches and hoping for the best....not sure that's working out too well.

Another angle showing the issue with my tomatoes.  I've begun letting volunteer tomatoes grow all over the garden  as insurance against possibly losing all of the properly planted tomatoes.  

There are MANY tomatoes on my Early Girls.  But also many dead branch stumps.  I just hope the plant survives long enough to ripen them.

This is a jalapeno plant in a container.  I have no idea what is wrong with it, but my guess is mineral deficiency or bad drainage and over watering (or both).  I pulled it because it was pretty sickly looking with no flowers.

This is the only pepper we'll be getting from that jalapeno.  It had some black areas on it, which might mean nothing or might be part of whatever killed the plant.  I really have no idea if this is normal since it's my first year growing jalapenos.