Uncovered backyard zukes

The four backyard zukes, which had been covered until now, are looking wimpy and I haven't been feeling like checking for flowers etc.  So, what the heck, I decided to just remove the cover and que sera sera.

Broccoli now un-tulled bec I wouldn't have eaten it anyway (bleh) -- Will leave some plants to go to flower

Next year I'll definitely use actual row cover instead of tulle over the broccoli...

Will leave the north-most plants for seed saving but might remove the southmost ones to grow some buckwheat or something.

Piracicaba leaves riddled with caterpillars, bahhhhhhh

While watering everything today I had a good look and saw that so many leaves -- even after having chopped the plants down dramatically the other day -- have leaves, and lo and behold most of those leaves had a caterpillar (some wrapped up in a small cocoon or whatever).  I only saw small caterpillars so hopefully they're all recent appearances only from when the plants started to touch the tulle.  But for sure next year I will try the row cover instead of tulle.

I tried removing all affected leaves so that when I see more holes I'll know they're new... though I didn't get all of the northern leaves.

Removed tulle from central broccoli; harvests are puny nowadays

No more trapped flies under the broccoli's tulle.  The tulle was great for before the main head harvesting, but now with itty bitty side shoots it will be a lot easier to not have to wrestle with the tulle.

Had a piece of today's harvest and it was awful though, so bitter.  That was raw without dressing.  Hopefully will be better with dressing.

Kaolined half the cucumbers (removed their tulle) and k'd another zucchini

Preferring to minimize tulle as much as I can to avoid trapped insects, so removed it from the cucumbers and instead sprayed half the cukes with kaolin (at 4pm, after sun passed for the day).  Will see how they react, then spray the rest if ok.

Also sprayed the eastmost of the central zucchinis.  So, now, 4 zukes (/rondes) are under tulle, 2 are kaolined, and 4 have no protection.

(Still no sign of cucumber beetles yet.)

Removed tulle from chard/parsley/kale bed

Removed the tulle from this bed because I'm over chard for now (enjoying kale instead), parsley doesn't need a cover and will soon outgrow it, and the kale under the tulle has been all sluggy, which I'm not sure is because of the tulle or because of the intense spacing in that bed.

No sign of cucumber beetles yet, but covered a fourth zucchini, and semi-covered the cucumbers

So now 4 of the 10 zucchinis/rondes are covered by tulle.

For the cucumbers, they're just very loosely protected, due to running out of clothespins/rocks.

Replaced remaining row cover with tulle (now that it arrived in the mail)

(The chard/parsley/kale bed, the garlic bed, and the beet bed.)

Chard is now covered to keep out leaf miners

After removing many leaf miner eggs daily the past few days, decided it would be much better all-around to just cover the chard, as I've already covered the beets.  So, cut a couple more poly pipe hoops, and covered with the Lee Valley row cover that used to be over the broccoli before I replaced that with tulle.  Once my new order of tulle comes in, I'll replace the cover with the tulle here too.

I'm short on rocks to weigh it down with though, will have to go collect some more.

Floating row cover (unknown origin) over beet bed and potato pots; so far Bintje only potatoes to appear

Beets:  Seeing all those leaf miner eggs on the chard, and remember all the grody leaf miner damage from last year, figured wouldn't it be nice to have pristine beet leaves.  So, the beet bed is now covered by FRC (unknown origin i.e. might be dollar store, might be Lee Valley).

Potatoes:  Similarly, remembering all the flea beetles from last year and while waiting for the kaolin clay to arrive, decided to try putting FRC over the pots.  Super easy to do since the containers are half-empty currently; just covered and secured with twine.  (FRC of unknown origin i.e. might be dollar store, might be Lee Valley.)

Speaking of potatoes, so far only the Bintje have appeared.

Minute pirate bugs hanging out on the tulle and floating row cover

Wow, there are like 4 or 5 of them just hanging out on the covers.  

Tulle and poly pipe placed over central broccoli

Got my 100 ft of poly pipe today (3/4 inches X 100 ft. 75PSI white stripe, from Home Depot), so rigged up some poly supports and placed the new white tulle (from the store that shall not be named) over it.  The poly pipe arches are supported by bamboo stakes sawed down to about 18-20", and also by some random long plastic stakes I had.  (Worth a try to save the cost of rebar stakes, especially since the only pre-cut rebar stakes I could find are $4 each -- that would add up.)

The tulle is definitely much nicer than the FRC -- can really see into it well!  The only thing is it wasn't quite long enough to cover the entire central broccoli, so the two northmost broccoli are now without cover.  The tulle size is 54" by 108" and cost $12-$13, so not cheap especially if it will last only a season or two.  Would like to find where to buy a big bolt of it for better cost.

Tulle!

Received my order of tulle today.  Excited to use it over the broccoli instead of the Lee Valley cover that's currently there, for improved visibility and more air flow.

I first heard the tulle tip from Susan Mulvihill's new book.

Additionally, here's a great article outlining many uses of tulle in the garden:  https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/row-covers-zmaz08fmzmcc

And a video that suggests using duct tape to outline the edges:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NccXePsZ-Vg

Floating row cover placed over central broccoli

Used the Lee Valley floating row cover, placed over "hoops" created by tall metal fencing, weighed down by rocks.  I love the idea of worm-free broccoli so really want to give this a try.

I'd like to use tulle instead, but this will do for now.

Floating row cover placed over garlic in hydro meter bed

Definitely can't say I like the look of it, but, if it means one less thing to inspect (leek moth eggs/larvae), could be a good trade-off.  Not sure if this is the quality cover or the dollar store cover that disintegrates but if it falls to pieces I'll just replace it.

Uncovered garlic remains:  all along the north wall bed, and, a few plants in the meter bed that weren't in a good spot to be under the cover.

Heat wave comes to an end this weekend, nights to go down to 4-5-6 range Sat night, Sun night, and Mon night

Nice and HOT this week, temperatures in the high 20s / low 30s plus humidity, and warm nights.

This is about to come to an end... weekend on the cool side, especially at night.

I plan to try covering most of the tender things with a mix of sheets, upside down pots, and floating row cover.

Squash vine borer wasp seen among squash!!!!!

Oh no!  Saw an unmistakable squash vine borer wasp flying in and out of the squash today (central patch).  Red/black with those three dots.

I had removed the floating row cover from the other central part several weeks ago,

and,

the zucchinis near the kitchen door had outgrown their floating row cover in the past week or two so the cover had been loosely flying over it with many leaves coming out from under it.

The only benefit I can think of from my late start zucchinis is that I'll be able to much more easily inspect the stem for damage, since those plants are so much smaller / less bushy.

What can I do now for the bigger plants though?  Way too many leaves/stems to inspect for eggs.

Removed floating row cover from west "row" of center bed

Went to adjust the row cover from the west "row" of the center bed, and it broke all over.  Couldn't even hold onto it without it breaking apart.  Pretty sure this was the dollar store variety.  So, just removed it.

For now, still have cover over the eastern central bed, and over the three zukes by the kitchen door.

Floating row cover for all central squashes and the older zukes

Decided to put all, not just half, of the central squash under floating row cover.  Got great nice airy FRC from Lee's today.  Used this also over the zukes to replace the too-thick stuff I had bought from the dollar store this year.

Central patch looking kind of meh, but oldest zukes looking great

The central patch plants (butternut squash, pink banana squash, and ground cherries) are all looking kind of meh.  The ground cherries are still quite small -- the one in the pot is looking the best.  The butternut are yellowish and haven't grown very much.  The pink bananas look better than the butternut, more growth and less yellow.

In comparison, the butternut in the main bed also look a little yellow but better.

Today I decided to uncover half of the central squash and see if there will be a difference.

The three oldest zukes by the front door are looking great!  Some tiny yellow zukes have appeared.