The corn was ready to harvest and overnight it had become a meal for the critters. It took some detective work to find out what was behind the damage. Something caused a huge jump in the population of the local mice. In addition to invading the house they attacked the corn — only when it was ripe.
There were a lot of peaches. (Even after the birds had their share.) They should have been thinned more so there would be fewer but larger fruit.
This is pluot Flavorosa. These managed to hide really well in the foliage of the tree and it wasn’t until this one dropped to the ground that I knew to look for more.
A few of the first carrots to be harvested this season.
carrots
“May Pride” peach section of the multiple peach tree was ready before I realized it. Many were overly ripe and bruised when I pulled them from the tree. There was also a large variety of berries.
The 2015 tomato plant has a few small tomatoes ripening. Next of it the acorn squash variety has an abundance of small acorns growing. Last year that one was almost a crop failure as the baby squash rotted instead of growing.
Two of the three tomato plants in the bed are huge while the third one is sickly. In between is a melon which so far, seems happy.
Another bed with two tomatoes that seem to be going well and a third not as vigorous. In some cases a variety which did really well the previous year is the one that is sickly this year.
The boysenberries are staring to get ripe now.
And the blackberries along the bottom fence are providing an ongoing harvest.
The nectarines and peaches continue to ripen although the one nectarine tree has lost most of its fruit after the birds feasted.
The”June Pride” section of the multiple peach tree is starting to get ripe. The trick will be to find the right time to pick for canning. Last year this was where the birds brunched. Apparently they prefer the fuzz-less nectarines over the peaches.
And yes, there was thinning done on this tree. It just needed at least twice as much done.
The four-in-one plum that now may be a two-in-one, is full of too many small plums. Another that hide the baby fruits until too late. This one may be a good tree to sort out next winter with serious pruning and then see if the scion exchange can provide replacements for the branches that died off.
This is one of the bench graft apples that appears to be happy in our climate.
The tomato plant from last summer now has small green tomatoes. Perhaps there will be nice sized ones ready by July 4th.
The five-in-one-peach is loaded with ripening peaches. Probably too many for some of the branches.
Likewise the nectarine trees seem very full. Some fruit is dropping, often after the birds have pecked at it.
One of the other cherry trees is having its leaves become lunch for “Cherry slugs” (also know as pear slugs). The slimy things do not seem to be attractive for the usual predators. Handpicking seems to be the recommended method of dealing with them if they infestation is not overwhelming.
Lots of backberries and they are starting to ripen.
Even after a lot of thinning the nectarine is full of fruit.
Likewise, some of the peaches have a lot of fruit after thinning.
The blackberries have been blooming a lot more than last year and berries are starting to form.
The first planting of corn did not germinate very well. However, that was pretty much expected since the seeds were left over from a couple years ago. The second planting of corn did a lot better along with the zucchini at one end of the bed.
The potatoes look good. Hopefully the measures taken to keep the gopher from getting in with the irrigation pipe will work and there will be lots of new potatoes soon.
Lots of ladybugs on the fennel flowers. Maybe they eliminate the aphid population that has been a bit of a problem in the past two years.
