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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Start seeds in compost?

The basil in the flat was started at least a month after the basil in the ground. The soil in the flat was from the compost bin. Could be the flat had better care (warmth and water) but I don't think so. I think it's the nutrients.

Usually you start seeds in sterile seed starting mix, but I'm tempted to give that up and just use compost.

First snow peas!

Despite rabbits ransacking the pea crop, they seem to have preferred the shell peas over the snow peas and so unless it gets too hot too soon we should get a few snow pea meals off our short row. On the other hand, we've been hitting over 90 pretty often, so I better just enjoy the ones we've got.

June 8 Update

I planted moonflower and morning glory along the alley side of this fence. On this side is some kind of not-very-tasty but very strong tarragon and some mint.

Here's the asparagus patch. Something (rabbits, always rabbits) ate one of the five, and it still hasn't shot up new spears, but I'm still watering it hoping there's life down there.

Here's a closeup of raspberries. Last year I know we were harvesting by June 25th when my son was born because my mom made me divine raspberry sorbet with them. It can't come soon enough.

Pretty scrappy looking rhubarb at this point. There's a rabbit nest in the raspberries on the other side of the fence and Masha has been stomping around this poor rhubarb sniffing the wind. This is the plant's second year. By year 3 you should be able to harvest, but I think I'll have to go easy on this one for another year. I'll try to dress it with compost later this season.

Here's the front of the garden. Not much to see right now but this face should look considerably different in a month or two.

Here's the cover crop patch from Territorial Seed via my sister. It's growing well, although it's supposed to be a winter mix. I'm really, really glad I planted it because I am going to be short on green stuff for the compost or for mulching the beds.

Here's view from the east end of the garden. Canteloupe and squashes and then sugar snaps are along the fence, the cover crop on the left, and the potato bed beyond that. I'll put the lima beans and wax beans in the space between the potato rows later this week.

Here are the two main veggie beds. Both beds start with tomatoes on the far left, then a row of carrots, then space for basil and cilantro, then onions, then peppers and tomatillos. The black landscape cloth is part of a war with weeds. It only makes sense to use it under plants that are well spaced, and it has been helping some, although the grass clipping mulch does as well and is probably better for the soil.

Here's the cut flower garden, still looking like a border of weeds. Although Alyssum has started blooming.

Here's the greens garden. Note the extra foot of added protection on top of the original picket fence. A rabbit actually nested in this garden at which point I nearly lost it. My peas will never recover, and perhaps I now know for sure why I did not succeed with chard or spinach here. But they didn't touch the lettuce. (?!?) And the carrots, outside the fence, haven't been nibbled at all. I have one sweet potato plant waiting for a space in the garden and I think it's going in here. I think the new fortification is holding, and I've heard rabbits like sweet potatoes, so this seems like the best place.

The lettuce patch. Next year I vow to plant in 2 week intervals. This is a ridiculous wealth of lettuce that is divine, but can not be eaten quite fast enough. The garlic is just starting to shoot scapes up, which seems to be in time with everyone else around here, the farmers at the market are selling them. Speaking of which, surprisingly the farmers at the market are only selling spinach, lettuce, spring onions, and garlic scapes right now, which means their gardens aren't really ahead of ours. Cool. But I'm still going to try cold frames next spring.

Scarlet runner beans went in last week. They have the most encouraging and impressive cotyledon stage ever. I love them.

Here are the Amish Paste tomato plants. Already bearing fruit!

Snow peas. Enjoying solid rabbit protection for the first time in their lives.

And producing a few, very few, beautiful pods.

My friend Libby donated two of her favorite saved squash varieties to our garden cause, red kuri and kabocha. They sprung up yesterday.

Beets.

Carrots. My friend Emma planted hers in a sand trench. I believe I'll be trying that approach next year. Our soil isn't terrible, but it's stony and gets pretty dense over time.

Here's the view from the west end.

Foxglove near the shed.

The first garlic scapes!

Frog/toad ID?

Anybody recognize this guy? It was hiding in the weeds under the deck. Not bad for an iPhone photo, eh?