the gardener's gardener: GARDEN UPDATES...WHAT IS GROWING WELL AND WHAT IS NOT GROWING QUITE SO WELL

As it is about half way through the growing season, it is time to evaluate how everything is growing. What is working and what is not working as well as expected. What problems were encountered and possible reasons why and possible solutions to the problem, etc.

I planted fava beans for the first time....a dried large bean good in soups, stir fries and other hot dishes. I had no idea what to expect. They have large bean pods growing on them almost showing up over night! A great success!

I grew cabbage in containers again this year along with some in the soil. The containers have been used for the 3rd year because the gophers have eaten the roots and I have lost a lot of cabbage in the process. Last year the cabbage were big and beautiful. I used 1/2 compost and 1/2 garden soil along with side dressing them with compost every two to three weeks.

This year the cabbage in most all the containers are small with brownish to lightly purplish lower levels (a sign of phosphorus deficiency. The cabbage planted in the raised beds look great, vital, large and no gopher damage this year. There was so much rain that I do believe that the nutrition added to the containers was quickly washed away and that the cabbage in containers needed lots more composting or a good 20-20-20 fertilizer every 2 weeks or after rain. I also used potting soil in the cabbage containers this year and do question if it would be better to have 1/3 potting soil/1/3 garden soil/1/3 compost for containers next year. The raised beds where the cabbage was grown in soil had compost from my garden compost pile added to the top of the soil, about one inch in depth with the straw that was left on the top of the raised beds from last year tilled in, making for a great organic soil.

The last few years I have planted the zucchini in my garden soil, however the squash vine bore killed my plants before I could harvest the full capacity of the plants. This year I tried planting two zucchini in container plants and they have done poorly. The zucchini has long, deep roots and needs a very large container with big drain holes on the bottom and my containers may not have been big enough. I believe the roots were compressed not allowing for good growth. I then planted six zucchini plants in my garden soil. What the heck I said. Lets see what happens with the squash vine bore. So far the zucchini in the soil looks great without the squash vine bore showing up. We'll see. I will watch closely.