Back from the Beach! Planting; Neglect or Horse Manure?

I'm back from a week at the beach. It was GREAT! I would love to live at the beach :) . Since this is the garden blog though we won't talk about the gorgeous weather, warm water, tons of good food, and the dolphins, manatees, rays, etc. :)

When I got back I went out in the dark to look at the garden. It looked like the transplants survived a week without me. The next morning I went out for a better look and found that most of them made it. I lost 2 bush beans and 1 zucc plant and some broc sprouts. No biggie. 5 of the various squash survived.

But the REAL surprise was my pepper plant. I planted this bell pepper back in the winter planting season. During its prime time it yielded one small pepper. It isn't even supposed to be alive right now because of the heat. I put some sheers over the box to keep it alive, even though it wouldn't produce fruit. Well I checked that baby out and would you believe it... 5 peppers are growing! So, is it the neglect or the horse manure? LOL. I'm very pleased that I bought all of that compost. It seems to be working great. I've tried 3 seasons to plant peppers and only had one or two grow on each plant. Now I have 5 and possibly more on the way.

I planted 4 squares of corn. I'm going with 3/sq this year. First time I did 4 and they didn't grow well (corn borers and not enough nutrients). Last time I did 2 and they still didn't grow well (corn borers) and even if they had it wasn't enough. So I'm going with 3 this time and see how it goes. I'll succession plant the next few rows each week. I also planted some pole beans and some bush beans. Last year I did 1 little plant per square. I must have read something wrong on that LOL. I have 8 per square going this year. Let's see, what else went in?? Oh, broc, more zucc, and tons of herbs. All of my herbs have died off, except the thyme which I pulled and am going to dry this week.

I'm not sure how I feel about the leaf mulch there. Maybe because it is just 2 squares worth? I have the whole strawberry bed done with it and like it. I'm waiting for more sprouts to come up before I finish mulching. I'm using live oak leaves (well, dead live oak leaves) and they are nice and small. They break nice and don't seem to mat together. This bed is mostly planted except for 2 squares. I'm going heavy on the companion planting this year in attempt to help out as much as possible to keep the bad bugs away.

I also spread some of the compost on the yard to help fertilize, remade the herb bed by the back door, and fed the worms and filled the compost tumblers. A nice finish to a great week.

My fresh new herb bed ready to grow!

I know, I know. How dreadfully exciting... a squarish shape filled with dirt and pvc pipe grids, and no plants! They are in there!!!