Sunday, June 19, 2011

June 19th report

Moonflower seedlings, hanging on under dryish conditions
Morning glory. All but two seedlings have been chomped. Rabbits.

Raspberries are still a little way off I think, but blackberries further down the alley are starting to turn.

Cover crop is still lush! Maybe almost time to steal some of it?

Here's the view from the east end.
Potatoes are doing well. I've picked about 8 potato beetles off, but never more than 2 at a time, and I don't see any orange egg masses.
On the right, the squashes and cucumbers are doing well - at least those that came up. I'm having a hard time getting my lemon cucumber and acorn squash seeds to germinate. I've interplanted basil, and plan to start some lettuce seeds around these squashes.

Sugar snaps were planted late, but they are doing OK. Also in this narrow bed are purple royalty string beans.

Here's the view of the main veggie beds. The Tomatillos have really taken off, probably 2 feet tall now. Onions are starting to bulb. Beets are ready for greens harvest. Carrots are about 5 inches long, and super skinny. Tomatoes are flowering and even have a few fruits on them. Peppers haven't grown much yet, but they are flowering and I hope the coming heat will help them along.

The cut flower bed looks so much like weeds that even I wonder if I actually planted seed here.

The greens bed is about to go through a conversion. Lettuce is being pulled for harvest rather than just picking leaves off the sides. The chinese greens are bolting and need to have their final harvest. The garlic leaves are starting to yellow. This may mean it's time for harvest, although I think I should wait a little longer. I just read a very detailed article on garlic that said it could just be drought stress, and I think I should have watered them more through some of these dryer weeks. Peas are still producing well in this bed, but I wish I'd planted longer rows.
Sweet potatoes are going in this bed. Maybe some more beans. And hopefully some cabbages for the fall.

The scarlet emperor beans are just shooting skyward. I also put provider string beans in here, but despite a pre-soak, they didn't come up very well.

Amish paste tomatoes are the tallest and earliest fruiting of my tomato varieties this year. So far, so good with the squash on the left of this photo, but I'm dreading the squash vine borer's arrival, and keep meaning to wrap the stems in nylons which might protect them.

Here's the lettuce leaf basil. All my basil is frustratingly small. I'd love to be making pesto with the garlic scapes right now, but can't pick any decent amount. I guess this is typical. This is one crop I really hope to accelerate somehow next year.

Sunflowers are just 5 inches high. I expect them to start pouring on the growth any day now.

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Friday, June 17, 2011

First pesto

Garlic scapes and basil, olive oil and a hint of farmers market cheese. Wow. I used lettuce leaf basil, which is lighter green, and with the green of the scapes, it makes a beautiful pesto.

Next year basil starts will be on the shopping list for an earlier basil harvest.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Lettuce harvest

Three heads. The lettuce is starting to be a little bitter, but there's still so much to eat. I'm trying the morning harvest, cold water soak, bitterness mitigation strategy.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Potato Beetle

Also found on the Red Norland Potato plants on Monday.

The ones on the potato plant are a lot larger than the ones on the tomatillo. They still have the black and yellow striped back, but they might not be the same bug.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Potato beetle

Awesome. Let's make more!

Strawberries

At $4.50 a quart it really hurts when the birds eat them as soon as they blush red on top. I'm going to have to get some floating row covers, or tighter wire mesh for next year.

Potato beetle

Just found the first one, well, three actually. Two mating and one solo. Bright orange egg masses on the bottom of the leaves. But... they weren't on the potatoes, they were on the tomatillos.