Garden Update

Well, someone's certainly been remiss in her blogging duties.

There's a lot happening in the garden. I've been harvesting since the end of June: snow peas (Oregon Giant and Dwarf Gray), snap peas (Cascadia), lettuce (mesclun, Romaine, baby butterhead) & microgreens, radishes, green beans (Alicante & Maxibel--lots!), new/early potatoes, patty pan squash (Peter Pan, Sunburst, and Starship), basil, mulberries, a few heads of garlic, daikon radish (1 1/2), and Gonzales baby cabbage (just one thus far). Whew!

Coming to an end or ended: Peas, lettuce, and radishes.

Just starting to take off and/or expecting much more: Green beans, patty pan squash, and potatoes.

Now on to the rest...

Corn (Casino): The tallest stalk of the earliest-planted (May 25th) rows measured just over the top of my head today. (It's supposed to max out at 5 feet, and I'm 5' 6".) Yesterday it was "eye high," and the day before it was chin high. Tassels starting forming on July 12th, and silks started bursting out just 2 days ago (July 17th). How exciting! Expectation: To eat more than just a few ears this year, if we can figure out how to outsmart the raccoons, squirrels, birds, etc.

Tomatoes: OMG! The good news is that there are literally hundreds of green tomatoes out there. The bad news is that we've been hit by blight. I've been trying to prune all the affected foliage--and thank goodness the fruit still looks good--and sprayed some organic fungicide, but it's too soon to tell how this'll turn out. Just today, I found two tomatoes (both Principe Borghese--who'd've thunk?) that are starting to turn red. In my excitement, I accidentally knocked one off, so now I have just one tomato turning red. Duh. Expectation: To dine on a fully ripe tomato no later than July 31st.

Garlic: I've pulled up a few heads of two kinds, and I think they may be ready to harvest and cure. If the soil's dry tomorrow, I'll decide whether to proceed. Expectation: To have fresh garlic for pesto next weekend and fully cured garlic for braiding by August 20th.

Soybeans: Lucky Lion and Black Pearl (May 20th) plants have formed tiny pods. (Renee's "Edamame," which were planted later (July 6th), are about 4-5 inches tall. ) If my memory serves me, as it so rarely does, soybeans beef up pretty quickly. Expection: To be snacking on edamame next weekend!

Tomatillos: The five plants that I planted in the garden (Heirloom Purple and Toma Verde) are each about 4 feet tall with a few dozen "fruit balloons." The volunteer tomatillos are all much smaller--maybe because I keep yanking them out--and just a few have fruit forming. Expectations: To continue to pull up renegade tomatillo plants. A need to purchase a new freezer to store gallon bags of raw tomatillos for salsa.

That is all for now. Next up (maybe tomorrow): melons, watermelon, winter squash, onions, broccoli, carrots, cucumber, the herb garden, photos, recipes, and non-recipes.

Cheers-
b

Today's harvest