Sprouts, Cucumbers, and Lettuce

I finally got around to spraying the Brussels sprouts with soap again. The broccoli needed spraying too. The aphids are taking over slowly. I find soap works OK if you cover every tiny part of the plant and spray regularly. I probably ought to look up how long it takes for eggs to hatch and aphids to reproduce to make sure I'm not getting multiple generations not being sprayed, but I've never done that. I try to spray once a week, but in reality it tends to be more like every two which isn't enough to keep them down.

But as long as my little Brussels sprouts stay aphid free I'll be happy. It sure does seem like a lot of work though. Especially this week. We are getting a heat wave that is lasting over a week. I'm a true heat wimp. I've been known to faint in the heat. Needless to say, I do all my work in the early morning during weeks like this.

Other bad news is that I saw my first wilted leaf. I never got wilt in the cucumbers at my last house. We had cucumber beetles, but they didn't seem to spread it. Here we get it ever year like clockwork. I've learned to use a row cover early and only let them out after they have started to run. It delays the inevitable. It is too bad the wilt has started as I'm trying to learn how to make fermented dills and I could use more cukes for experimenting. But it will take it a while for the wilt to take them down. Probably weeks. The bacteria starts with one leaf and it travels very slowly up and down the stem and the leaves die one by one. Hopefully it will be a while still before it gets transferred to all the other cukes. I'm trying Lemon cucumbers for the first time and they haven't even set any cukes yet.

But there isn't all bad news in the garden. I sowed some lettuce last weekend. It is up even with the heat. I'm using this as a little nursery row. I'll transplant them to better spacing when they get bigger - and all the other lettuce has bolted.

This and That

Cappuccino Rudbeckia

Most of what I do in the garden is never recorded. Deadheading some flowers here. Pulling some weeds there. Trellising, tying up, harvesting, pruning. So many little chores that don't take very long. But I'm out in the early morning to get them all done before the heat hits.

Prairie Splendor Echinacea

Since my perennial bed around the peach trees is new this year, I've been enjoying seeing what the new flowers look like as they bloom. I have the above two right next to each other. I think I'll have to fix that in future years. Both are beautiful, but they really don't go well together. The Rudbeckia would be much better off by another pale yellow echinacea that I have with some coreopsis in the front. Right now I have the red Rudbeckia by that one. A switch is in order. But not now. Maybe in the fall, or maybe next spring.

The cukes got tied up. They love to go sideways across the trellis instead of climbing it. I have to encourage them. While I do this I check the plants for cucumber beetles. I knock them into a jar of soapy water whenever I see them. I do this check every morning and also if I'm out later in the day. I've only gotten a few so far, but they always multiply.

Behind them are the zucchini. I check them every day. When I see both a female and male flower at the same time I ought to uncover them. They really want to get out. I figured the squash vine borer ought to be gone soon, but I read the Extension Service Newsletter. "In years with mild temperatures such as we are having this summer, SVB adults tend to remain active throughout the summer rather than dropping off in summer. . . " Damn. They aren't going to go away. I'll have to uncover and just cross my fingers. I haven't seen a ton of them around, but if I see a few, you can bet there are more out there that I can't see. And it only takes one borer to severely set back the zucchini if not kill it.

The squash that grows under the corn needs constant work. I have to keep it UNDER the corn but of course it goes to the light and tries to escape. My garden isn't big enough to let it run free. So every couple of days I check them and tuck the tips back where they belong and make sure it isn't actually climbing up the corn. While I do this I pull any weeds I see.

Yesterday I needed a bit more. The shorter ones had some bamboo poles under them to keep the cats from digging. But I didn't think I needed them anymore. The corn was large enough to keep them out. So I pulled out the poles. At the ends I put in some smaller sideways stick to keep the cats off the bare soil around the squash. Those won't last long as the squash is growing fast.

In addition since I'd removed that big row cover next to the corn, the wind could now knock it down. One of the problems with growing corn in a raised bed is that it lodges easily. The soil is very soft and you can't hill the stalks up. So I stake the outer most rows, which protect the inner rows from the wind enough that they are usually safe.

Next up was the cilantro. I let it go to seed every year so I can collect both green coriander and ripe coriander (the former for the kitchen and the latter for sowing). Once the seed starts to set the plants can get top heavy and fall over. So I tied them to the fence. Hopefully it is good enough to keep them from trailing on the ground.

The last chore was to pick and prune the currants. I pick the gooseberries while I prune to make picking easier. The currants are younger and I haven't had them very long. It didn't hit me until afterwards that I should do the same thing. It would make the picking so much easier. Live and learn. I like how the Pink Champagne currants grow. They send out new strong shoots from the base instead of lots of side shoots. So I could cut all the old wood out. The Jonkheer van Tets likes to have some of its stronger shoots as side branches which makes it harder to prune. That last one I have to really keep under control as otherwise it blocks the path. But I can't let either get too large, so pruning every year is a must.

I do have one more currant, Rovada, but it isn't quite ripe yet. Soon though. That one I'm trying to train as one leader across my fence, but it is resisting. Hopefully if I'm persistent it will work. If not I'll just let it bush out as that space can take it. But if you have ever seen a photo of Lee Reich's espaliered currant bush you will know why I want one. The red fruit hanging down from my white fence would be very striking. But only if I can get it to grow correctly.

Today was pretty similar, though I didn't get outside as quickly. I deadheaded the daisies and dianthus. I weeded the front perennial bed and near the garden shed. I uncovered the zucchini as it indeed had both a male and female in bloom. I tied up the cucumbers. I extended the trellis for the beans a tiny bit. I staked the last succession of corn. I tucked in the squash, melon, and sweet potato vines that were trying to escape their beds. I swept part of the walk that had sand all over it (the ants have moved in). I noticed some signs of aphids on the Brussels sprouts - ack! I'll have to bring out the sprayer tomorrow and deal with that. Sigh. I watched the hoverflies dance around the cilantro flowers. Then it was time to go in for breakfast. I love my mornings in the garden.

Cucumbers, Peas, and Amaranth

I keep my cucumbers under a row cover when they are young. The cucumber beetles around here can be vicious. And wilt is common. So it gives the cucumbers a head start all safe and sound. Eventually the beetles will show up as will the wilt they carry, but for their early life they are protected. I took the covers off on Monday. Some of the cukes were starting to run. I like to grow mine up a trellis, so that had to be constructed.

In past years I've had a very vertical trellis, but this year I built it on a bit of a slant. I'm hoping it will be easier to find the cucumbers amid the foliage. I know it is a futile effort. I will miss picking some cukes. But it can't hurt.

The zukes behind the cukes were trying to burst out of their row cover, but it is still squash vine borer season, and I've seen several of them recently. So I rearranged them and added a separate row cover for the biggest one.

I had peas blooming in two spots, but since I can't eat peas and I want more greens, I've decided to rip them out. This spot mostly was done with its first flush. The harvests all went to my townhouse mates.

The other spot was near the parsley and celery. Since I had planted two extra celery plants and they were in the way, I harvested them. I'm surprised at how well they are doing now. I've never had such nice celery so early in the season. The beds were seeded with amaranth, both a green and red variety. I also started just a few upstairs under lights. The red ones have already sprouted, but not the green ones.

While I was near the parsley I noticed that the plants were getting huge. If I don't pick the leaves they turn yellow and die, so I picked the oldest ones and dehydrated them. I use a lot of dehydrated parsley over the winter. It isn't as good as fresh, but it isn't bad. I'll freeze some too later on.

This and That

It has been so hot this week. Mostly I have stayed indoors where it is cooler. Tomorrow the heat starts to break which will mean I can get in the garden more often. Because frankly, though I love gardening, I'd rather let the weeds grow then go outside and weed them right now. I still get out for a good long walk every day. Today I even went to the park for tai chi. And I do get out early in the morning to do what ever work really needs doing in the garden. Which isn't all that much right now.

I've gotten my broccoli staked. I don't always need to stake, but once they have started to head up they get pretty top heavy. A big windstorm at the wrong time could take them down. So I'd rather stake. And still no sign of the seeds that I sowed four days ago to replace the dead plant. Hopefully they will germinate once it gets a bit cooler.

I soaked some cucumber and zucchini seed overnight and planted them this morning. I should have done this at the beginning of our heat, not toward the end. But I still think they will come up fine. And I check on my indoor lettuce seedlings every day. They are all growing well. I'll plant one batch out as soon as the cooler weather hits.

On one of my walks I picked some cattails. I've heard you can make baskets from them. Yup not too hard. Then of course it dried. It didn't actually fall apart, but the spaces between them are too large for some of my strawberries. I think I need to let some dry and then make a basket.

Cleaning Up and Seeding

A little over two weeks ago I showed you my window that I made through the bean and cucumber walls. Well today the walls came down.

Now it looks like this. The beans had finished up and had no flowers left on them. They were pretty diseased by this point so it wasn't worth waiting for another flush. And the cucumbers were half dead due to wilt. I could have left them in longer, but the hope is that zucchini in the back will get more light and might produce a few more. I can hope. I have very little zucchini frozen this year. And I'm really loving the zucchini fritters.

In the bean's old spot I seeded in a row and a half of tatsoi. There used to be two row covers. One for the chard and one for the bok choy with the beans in the middle. Now I just have one that goes over the whole bed. I hope I haven't planted the tatsoi too late. Anything after September 1st is iffy in my garden. There is a lot of shade in the fall so things grow really slowly.

And if you look toward the fence past the row cover in the above photo you will see my squash. It used to be a two sisters bed, but I took out the corn today. It was done. I chopped it up and put it in the compost.

The other corn patch was also taken down. But I kept a handful of the stalks whole to dry for decoration next month. Hopefully they won't mildew too much. I put them in a corner to keep the rain off of them, but there isn't anything over them so who knows if it will work. I'm not willing to bring them inside to dry because the earwigs loved the corn this year and I find them in the cracks where the leaves are. I don't want them in the house.

Last but not least I finally got around to putting something in the last foot of the bed by the path. I put carrots in the bed, but I can't put carrots in the first foot. The brick path has a foundation under there and the soil is only six inches deep. Mizuna won't mind though.

The garden still needs some love. There is crab grass and other weeds starting to go to seed. I need to get in there and pull it up before the seeds shatter. I'm hoping that Friday will be nice enough outside to work in the garden. I have been avoiding it for the most part because of the heat an humidity. The heat was bad enough that I couldn't make myself do the work necessary. But today was just gorgeous. So a lot got done.

Cucumber Juice

I had a ton of cucumbers in the fridge. I had more to pick outside, but no place to put them. So today I decided to deal with the excess. I have plenty of pickles in my fridge and pantry. One of commenter suggested juicing them. I don't own a juicer but I figured it couldn't be too hard. I just washed them and sliced them up and tossed them in the blender with a touch of salt. It worked well. I strained it with a piece of muslin. I have a stack of muslin squares in my kitchen because I've never been a fan of cheese cloth. Muslin is easy to wash without destroying.

As I was making it, I was wondering if other people cooked it to make juice. So I looked up what others did and no they don't cook it. But they do peel it and sometimes even seed it. Why in the world would you take out the most nutritious part of the cucumber when juicing? I know there probably isn't a lot of juice in the peel and not much would go into the final product. But it seems like a lot of work for no benefit.

But it sure made the final product green, green, green. I was a bit surprised that cucumber juice is opaque.

Now I just have to figure out what to do with it. I doubt I'll just drink it as is. I'm a water girl and I rarely drink flavored drinks for quenching my thirst. I can see it could be a nice addition to some soups. But I'm most excited about trying it with gin in different combinations. Maybe with some dried celery leaves (too bad I can't eat tomatoes as those would go well with this). Or maybe with lime. Or lime and mint. A cucumber margarita might also be nice. I'll probably freeze most of the juice as ice cubes as it would be a better serving size for drinks. And I can have it all winter long.

Down They Come

After Removal

I had one huge wall of beans, but the Kentucky Wonder beans started with rust and it was just getting worse. They were producing, but not a lot. I decided they needed to come out along with the yard long beans next to them (they too were infected badly, in addition the KW beans had sent over vines and were mixing into them). I left up the Golden Gate beans. I've liked those beans. They keep putting out more flowers. It probably isn't enough to make much of a meal now, but we will see.

As you can see the chard in front of the beans now gets a lot more light. Well some of it at any rate. I noticed its production had dropped. I think with the less light due to the season and due to the beans was a bit much for it. I'm also detecting a bit of rot on the stems that isn't normal. This is the first time I've tried to grow chard with beans to the SE side of them. I knew it might hurt their production, but before this it hadn't. Behind the beans was some scraggly lettuce that I tried to grow over the summer. Not very well either. I figured the lack of light in the section would be enough to keep it going, but I'm not sure it got enough water. Now that some beans are out and the lettuce is out, I might rip out some of those onions as I'd like to use the section for some baby Asian greens. If so I'd better get to seeding them soon.

Right next to the bean bed is the cucumber and zucchini bed. I keep getting way, way too many cukes. So I figured I'd pull half the patch. That will also give more light to the area so my Asian greens will grow better. I've given away a lot of cucumbers. I'm getting sick of eating them every day and I love cucumbers. It is weird that I want to take down my beans and cucumbers because they are two of the veggies that I can count on every day. I guess I'm ready for a change. It is almost that season.

Maybe tomorrow I'll finally remove the hoops from the zucchini section now that I can reach it better. I really don't need those up. Funny how I don't notice it in the garden, but it is glaring in one of the photos.

The third thing I took down this weekend was the tarp that covered my drying onions. They looked very good. So I trimmed them up and braided them. They are now stored in the basement. I looked over the numbers and I did very very well in onions this year. I'll be more detailed about that in my Harvest Monday post.

Again I still left some work for myself. I haven't taken down the onion rack. But I'm sure I'll get to it this week. Then maybe I can deal with the compost. It won't be long before I need it to put over the beds in the fall.

Taming the Zucchini and Preserving

I'm not quite sure what came over me yesterday. I really have to seed some fall vegetables, but did I do that? No. Instead I was looking for zucchini in the patch and decided it needed to be cleaned out. Not pulled, but Costata Romanesca likes to put out side shoots. And it runs. The old leaves die off, the new ones look nice. So the patch was mostly a mass of foliage that wasn't producing. There was lots of yellow leaves that were trying to find light but were getting cut off by their neighbors branch.

So I found where each of the three plants came out of the ground and followed them along. I cut off all the side branches and the old leaves. It looks so much better now. And I can find the zucchini when and if it produces.

I found the main reason it wasn't producing too. Once all that old struggling foliage was off I could see the ground. That morning I watered and not a drop touched the ground. The wall of cucumbers had gotten so tall that it blocked the sprinkler from hitting it. I'm going to have to hand water from now on. Or at least until the cucumbers die off.

Once I got inside something again came over me. Usually I would eat and walk the dog. But I just had to use up some of my mass of cucumbers. So I made more pickles. I definitely don't need to make any more this year. I'll have to find homes for all the rest of the cucumbers. I did have one friend that took a pound and Donna has said she wants some for pickles. I hope she takes them all as every day I pick more and more. I need to rethink giving cucumbers 8 sqft in the garden. It doesn't seem like a lot of space. But they have given me 38 pounds already and there are tons of little cukes on the vine just waiting to size up.

The dog and I finally went for our walk about an hour and a half late. He was not very happy with that. He kept giving me this look telling me I was neglecting him all because of some weird need to do something now that could have been done later. It isn't like the cucumbers were going to walk off or anything. Though I can always hope.

And even though I hadn't been posting about it, I've been doing other preserving like making flavored vinegar with my herbs. Above are tarragon and basil. I also made an Italian flavored one, but I thought the oregano was a bit too strong in it. I might have to dilute it with more basil and thyme.

I've been freezing things too. Last week I froze some celery. And Then some chard, zucchini, and corn. Everyday now I freeze more corn. I pick what is ready and we eat what we want for dinner. I offer some to my townhouse mates, and anything not eaten is frozen. So not too much has been frozen yet, but I think over time it will add up.

Relish

The cucumbers have gone absolutely bonkers. This is four pounds of them that I made relish from yesterday. I picked that many again today. I eat cucumber salads most days. And refrigerator pickles when I'm not having salad. But still they keep producing. I love cucumbers, but it is hard to keep up. Cucumber vines aren't really long lived around here usually. Wilt tends to set in. Powdery mildew takes over. Then their production peters off. But for now I'm happily eating and will be looking to dump my extras on my neighbors soon.

I made too many pickles last year. I'm not a big canned pickle eater, but I do eat them occasionally. However relish tends to be used in things like tarter sauce and tuna or egg salad sandwiches. Not to mention its addition on burgers. In season I'll have refrigerator pickles on my burgers. But out of season it is relish. I'm thinking one of my Christmas gifts to the neighbors this year will be dill relish. I certainly have enough cucumbers to make extras.

In addition to relish, I've been drying herbs. Yesterday it was rosemary. Today tarragon. I don't know what has gotten into my tarragon plant this year, but I'm liking it. The plant was almost two feet tall and as wide around. I've never had tarragon grow like that for me before. Usually it pouts and makes me wonder if it will die. Last year it perked up a bit and this year it went crazy. It is even threatening to bloom. I've never seen tarragon bloom before. The flowers look so tiny that I doubt it will be very showy.

Garden Chores

Black Swallowtail laying eggs. It's top wings wouldn't stop moving so they are blurred while the rest of butterfly was still.

Every morning I go out into the garden to do the chores. The first things I see are the melons and sweet potatoes. They are always trying to escape their beds, so I turn the ends of the plants inwards to keep them under control. Or at least relatively under control. Then it is on to the covered zucchini plants. I lift the covers and fertilize any female blossoms I find. Usually there is one. I haven't been very successful in getting them to set though. Maybe one in three. One more week and the cover comes off. Then the bees can do their work.

The cucumbers are just coming on strong now. I tie them up and make sure they stay on the trellis. They really want to escape. Today I saw the first signs of wilt in the patch. No! I cut that branch off way down. I'm hoping it doesn't spread. I'm very surprised to see it. I've only see one cucumber beetle so far this year. Usually wilt hits a bit later. I've gotten a few cukes in dribs and drabs over the last week, but yesterday the inundation started.

So I cut up the cukes and tossed them into the brine I made the other day. I picked yet more today so I'll make up a large cucumber salad for a BBQ that I'm going to tomorrow. I'll probably bring coleslaw too and a jar of the pickles.

The beans are right next to the cucumbers so I check those over and pick any that are big enough. I make sure the asparagus beans aren't being taken over by their more vigorous neighbors. They don't seem to want to branch very much. I do pinch all the beans out when they reach the top of the trellis to get them to branch. But those beans are such slow growers that they have just gotten there. I've also had some rust and some kind of spotting disease. So I ignore the beans when they are wet. And I've been cutting off any affected leaves to try to keep it from spreading. Last year I didn't do this and the rust spread very quickly.

Then it is on to the corn. I've been hand pollinating these every other day since I started to see silks. This just involves shaking each stalk early in the morning. With my last variety I would see the pollen fall down, but this variety doesn't seem to put out very much pollen. I hope they all get fertilized.

And there are a lot of ears to fertilize. In past years I would occasionally get more than one ear. But this variety (Honey Select) seems to put out two ears most of the time and I've even seen three. In other varieties the second ear really doesn't mean much. I would be tiny and not well filled out. It would often be tossed as useless. Will this one put out useful second ears? I hope so. In addition the tillers have male blooms. That is the first time I've seen that happen. This corn likes to flower.

My other patches of corn are getting huge too. And they weren't really protected from the wind. I find that corn falls over easily in my raised beds. So the windward sides of one patch was staked. I don't have enough stakes for all my corn, but if those stay upright, they will protect the other corn from falling. I have one other patch but it is partially protected from a nearby tall row cover so I'm hoping it will stay upright.

The squash runs below the corn. Not voluntarily though. So I have to keep it turned so it will cover that area. I need the squash to really take over under the corn as its prickly branches will keep the raccoons out of the corn. The first male flowers have bloomed. I've got a week or two before I'll see any females, but it won't be long. I hope I get a lot of squash this year. The only variety I'm growing is Waltham Butternut. I'm hoping to save seed. All the other years I've had germination problems and had to plant Early Butternut close by so I couldn't save seed.

I noticed that one of my fall bean plants was starting to run, so I got the trellis up finally. I always put the poles in when I plant, but the cross bars and the string went up today. I put up one string per plant.

And as always I weed when I see them. But occasionally things get out of control - especially under those row covers. Yesterday I decided I HAD to weed the onions. The crab grass was about to bloom and there was a nightshade plant that was huge. I got out the gloves for that one. Some of the crabgrass was close to the onions and was huge. Mostly I could pull it with only minimal disturbance, but one red onion was accidentally pulled. Like the Ailsa Craig onions, the red onions are a bit smaller this year I think. Maybe not though. I'll find out when they are all harvested and weighed as I grew the same amount of each variety this year and last.

Broccoli, Cucumbers, and Lettuce

Tuesday I finally harvested the last of the broccoli. It was a good run. My plan is to leave the Arcadia plants you see above in to produce side shoots. But this year I had two rows. The other row was Fiesta. I pulled that one to plant a new crop of fall broccoli. I'm hoping this will keep me in broccoli for a longer time. Plus large heads in the fall will be really nice as the side shoots do tend to get stronger in flavor and a bit tougher as time goes on.

So I pulled all the Fiesta plants. One I was really sad to see go. It was the first harvested and the side shoots were already starting to grow well. Fiesta does side shoots well. I just hope Arcadia does too. The description says it does and I'm counting on it.

Tuesday I also put out the fall brassicas for the first time to start hardening off. They only got morning sun, which was filtered by some clouds. It won't take long to harden these off. They are in soil blocks and get planted under a row cover which protects them a lot, so transplant shock is minimal. They just need to make sure they can handle the strength of the sun.

I've been tying up my cucumbers to the trellis. They can climb themselves, but as you see I have a row cover right next to them. That row cover will be removed so I have to make sure they aren't attached.

The other side is also a mess. The dill is in the path (yes there is a path between the cukes and the dill). So I have to keep the cucumbers off of the dill too. They really don't have a lot of room this way but they seem happy enough as long as I'm diligent about tying them up each morning.

And here is the reason I don't want to pull that dill. I have plenty of dill in the rest of the yard. I could yank it out. But I've removed the lettuce sun shade. Now the dill shades it on one side and the onions and beans on the other. It seems to be working. Though the lettuce is growing very slowly.