October 3rd Update

 

Today we trellised some the cucumber plants with bamboo sticks and twine. We are attempting to wrap the plants up the poles to encourage the vines to attach to the poles. This will provide more structure to the plants are prevent the growing cucumbers from laying strictly on the ground. This also makes it easier to pick the cucumbers when they are ready for harvest.

We used zip ties at the top of the bamboo tepees to keep the bamboo sticks together. This provides support for the bamboo and prevent the added weight of the growing cucumbers dislodging the bamboo tepees. 

We now have our first harvest of cucumbers! The cucumbers are growing at a fast rate, and we suspect a high number of cucumbers to become available to harvest. The plant is very healthy with a large number of flowers growing on it.  
 
We are noticing plant growth of the mustard and buckwheat seeds that we planted. However, we have noticed that there are still weed seeds that are growing with our planted seeds. We are hoping we can find a way to suppress more of the weed seeds before they outcompete with our planted cover crops.

We also took turns pruning our tomato plants and putting them into their trellis. As the tomato plant grows larger, we will need to add more layers of the twine. We are beginning to add another layer of twine in advance to keep the tomato plants growing in its upright direction!

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