GA: Sowed buckwheat in a couple of spots

Sowed buckwheat at (a) the NW former potato bed (which was emptied out a week or so ago), and (b) the SW onion bed (which was also emptied out recently).

We'll see how much it grows before frost comes.

GA: APHIDS ON THE KALE/CHARD! AND BLACK FLIES IN THE BROCCOLI!!!!

Oh no!!!  I haven't looked at the kale in ages, and went I went to harvest some today, I saw that it's full of green aphids!!! There are some on the chard too, but the kale especially.  So, I'll pull and discard all of the kale and chard next time I go.

I didn't see any aphids on the broccoli, so I brought that home.  But at home I found that there were many little black flies within!!  It took many rinses/soaks to get them all out, but otherwise the broccoli is gorgeous, so I used it.

I have no idea how these aphids/flies got in under the netting (which is a sheer sheet thing, not tulle, so no holes to get in).... My best guess is that they may have overwintered in the soil and therefore popped up under the cover.

GA: First sweet corn harvested! Deeeeeeeelicious!

Harvested the first two ears of sweet corn from the NW bed's first round.  The cobs were on the skinnier side, but they were DELICIOUS!!!  So crunchy and sweet!  YUM.  As delicious as they were, I wish I could have shared them with Scooter.

GA: White onions -- some are already going mushy in the ground!!

Yikes!  Some, but not all, of the white onions are already going mushy in the ground!  A few of those were lost completely; the others were partly salvageable as the insides were still good.

GA: Watermelon (x1) harvested FOY

It was nice and big (as far as Blacktails go), so I decided today was the day.  The little tendril at the vine joint was still green, but it lacked vibrancy, so it looked like it would be turning brown soon.

The inside was -- mostly green, some pink tinge, so I was disappointed at first.  But, it was sweet and juicy, very nice!  The seeds were fully edible / inoffensive.

There's another nice big one getting ready too -- that one I'll wait until the tendril turns brown, will see if that makes any difference in pinkness.

And a few others that are growing too.

GA: Harvested a few potatoes -- they're all small so far

Decided to hand-dig under a potato plant in the NW bed that had yellowed/died.  There were a few potatoes, but all small, like combined maybe one larger potato. 

We'll see what the others look like, but for now it's too early to dig up more.

GA: Tons of aphids at top of the youngest sweet corn!!

Noticed it the other day but had a closer look today and sure enough, lady bugs around to eat them.  SO many aphids all clustered up at the base of the tassel things at the top.  

The older sweet corn immediately to their west don't seem to have them, or at least not many.

GA: Fall carrots sown

I put these into the space recently vacated by the second downed zucchini -- i.e. along the west edge, northern part.

All I did is I removed obvious weeds, then hand-trowelled to loosen, then sprinkled kelp, mrp, and az, then mixed it in, then set aside some soil to cover them up, then flattened the area, sprinkled the seeds, sprinkled to cover with the set-aside soil, placed the burlap, then watered over the burlap.

Let's see how it goes!

GA: Cut down the crimson clover; the bees loved the flowers

Decided it was time to cut down the crimson clover, which was in the SE-most part.  Flowers had appeared in the last week or two and were starting to turn white, not sure if it's too late to prevent self-sowing, we shall see.  The plants were about 2 feet tall or so and had started to flop all over and be messy.  Used the yellow shears to chop it down, rather than pulling it out by the roots.  For now the material is just plopped on the bed it came from.  I'm thinking I may use it to mulch the corn once the clover dies/dries a bit.

GA: First onions harvested -- the only "big" (relatively) ones so far?

The first onions I've harvested are from the SW bed's east section, which per my notes should be the New York Early onions that I started from seed (not sets), so that's exciting!  There are some decent sized ones (on the smaller side, but I'm happy with it) -- but the ones left in the bed look much smaller, sadly.  Not sure why I have trouble growing onions, whether from sets or seeds!  (Peppers too!)

The blog says I started the NYE onion seeds January 23rd (round one) and February 2nd (round 2).  Presumably these relatively larger ones that I harvested today are from round one.  So, that's 191 days, yikes!!  Seed stores say 98 days for this variety!!!

Uncovered the two scallopinis (yard)

Not because too big (though they are huge), but because they put out so many male flowers that stay open for multiple days, that I just can't be bothered to check every day to see if any females are there yet.