Squash and sweet potatoes

Getting a quick jump on planting squash in these parts is really beneficial for thwarting the squash bugs and squash vine borer that'll show up eventually, and thanks to some seeds started under lights in early March - plenty of squash should be harvested before the bad guys show up at the first of June. Although lots of other pests will get on the plants, those two are the ones you have to watch out for...Anyway, here's (from left to right) Waltham Butternut, 2 zucchini, and 5 yellow crookneck.....

Photo below - although there's plenty of female flowers to be pollinated, no male flowers are to be seen yet...That's normal in the beginning, so i'm not concerned about it....BTW, you can clearly see the upside down tomato cages used to keep them in check each year....it works really well.

Photo below - here's my planting of sweet potatoes in the earliest stage of growth. Although they're tiny little things right now, 4 weeks from now will show significant results........

In other news, the rain just continues to be in abundance. There's no stress to the plants yet, but the garden could really use a little bit of drying out. Sure, the rainbarrels are staying full too, but I get a feeling once the peak of summer arrives there won't be any rain at all....That's pretty common around here.

Also, the blackberries are in full bloom already, and it appears that we'll have a nice harvest again this year. We'll likely pick around 5 gallons or so around the end of June, and put them in the freezer for later use...

Compost bins have been turned recently, and are heating up nicely these days. Once the contents of the 4 bins have shrunk significantly in size, they'll be consolidated into only a couple. Plenty will be available for amending next year's garden, i'm certain....

Take care, and happy gardening

EG