Pulling and Planting

This morning I pulled all the Masai beans as they were done. They are in a 2'x4' area. So they have 8 sqft. They gave me 2.6 lbs in half a year. Not a great yield for beans. The Kentucky Wonder have about 5 sqft and have already given me 3.11lbs. Regardless I cleaned up the spot and replanted more to see if I can get a fall harvest or not. It would be nice to know for future years if I can get two beans crops out of one spot.

Then I went over to the spot I cleared before and fertilized and seeded some lettuce and beets for the fall. Usually I do rows. But this time I just tossed lettuce seed into the bed. And randomly pressed some beet seed into the soil. In addition I seeded with mustard too. This bed is filled with nematodes and the mustard out to help keep them at bay. The lettuce was really stressed this spring because of it.

While I was working on the lettuce, I noticed the brown mustard seed was starting to shatter. So I got some big paper supermarket bags and started to fill them up. After I had done a few plants my hands and arms started to sting. Whoops. The pods are furry and grab on to you and those little scratches combined with the mustard oils was not a good combination. So I washed up inside and then put on gloves. I tell myself I ought to wear them all the time, but I just hate them. I'd much rather have dirty fingernails and scratches on my hands. I filled up two large bags with seed heads. I'll let them dry a bit more in their bags then I'll stomp on them or something to remove the seed from their pods and winnow them out.

I still have the yellow mustard to go. It isn't shattering yet. It was entwined with the single tomato plant that I have. The tomato plant will make me sick if it gets into the mustards (I'm sensitive to nightshades), so while I had the gloves on I chopped the tomato way back. Then staked the mustards so they can't touch the plant. Tomorrow I'll be watering the garden and I'm hoping it washes off any contamination. Then sometime next week I'll harvest those too.

Then it was inside to the onions that had finished drying. I decided to braid them. Last year I harvested when the tops were green. So I could lay them all out flat and have nice flat tops for braiding. This year the onion foliage was half dead when I harvested. I think the heat and lack of water did that to them. But it meant that the leaves didn't dry flat. I was worried they would hold in a braid. But they seemed to do OK. I have two braids each about seven pounds each.

There is so much more to do. My main tasks are to harvest the rest of the onions and water the garden. I still need to get out and weed sometime, but Monday and Tuesday are going to be hot again. So I'll probably put it off until later in the week. Once the onions are harvested I need to seed the kale in that bed. I was going to do starts indoors, but I think I'll just try to direct seed this year. I hope it works.

Planting for Fall

I hadn't been out much since it was so dang hot. But with the front that came through on Wednesday, the weather has broken. With high 70s to mid 80s in the forecast for the next week, I'm a pretty happy person. What you see above is the bed that had brassicas and Asian greens. They had been pulled out ages ago. It was finally time to seed the carrots. I'm thinking it is cool enough by now. I put in 11 rows lengthwise, each 4" apart. They are covered with burlap to help them keep moist and cool. Half are planted in Mokum and half in SugarSnax. As soon as they germinate I'm going to put a row cover over them to keep the carrot flies out. Last fall they were terrible and damaged 90% of the carrots. I still had a good harvest as the damage was mostly skin deep, but I'd rather not have to deal with them.

The trellis is for beans. I decided to plant some more Kentucky Wonder beans. Usually my summer beans die early from diseases before the fall really hits. New bean plants will give me an extended harvest I'm hoping. Either that or I'm too late for it and I won't get anything. But I won't know until I try.

This bed used to have my carrots and peas. I harvested all the pitiful carrots earlier this week. It seemed obvious that the peas wouldn't produce anymore so I ripped them out too. So the pea experiment was a bust. The later planted peas didn't extend my harvest much at all. They did help with the wave issue in peas. Usually I get three waves of peas. And I'm inundated for the first wave. Then there is a lull. then I get a decent crop in the second wave with another lull. The third wave is usually pretty small then I rip up the plants. Well with the later planted peas, I had peas all during the lull. I'm not sure it is worth it though. The peas keep pretty well. And I can store the other ones through that lull. So I'm thinking it just isn't worth it to plant successions of peas in the spring. Or then again it could have just been the really hot summer that shut the later planted ones down earlier than otherwise.

Anyway with the peas and carrots out I looked over the bed. I noticed the beets seemed to have sized up so I pulled them all. Then I ripped out all but one of the marjoram plants. I have enough dried already. The one will give me enough if I want fresh. The plan is to plant lettuce at the end near the fence. I'm a bit worried though. This bed is riddled with nematodes. Maybe I should interplant mustard in with the lettuce?

The part that is totally cleared has peas planted at the end. I'd better get that trellis up now before they germinate. The rest of the bed will get a row cover and will be planted in baby Asian greens. Well if I have enough seed that is. But I'll toss whatever seed I have in there. Along with radishes and turnips.

Putting the Garden Back Together

Remember the damage from the microburst we had two days ago? Well can you see it? All fixed up. Well almost. Each corn stalk has a bamboo pole holding it up. Some of the roots were ripped out. They may or may not recover. Some of the stalks were so strong that they didn't tip over. They snapped. I lost a few ears of corn that way. I lost some tops at the end of the row that will now not pollinate anything. So I went out and shook the nearby ones this morning to get the pollen to drift down. Anyway I've got my fingers crossed.

The bean trellis got four more supports to push the structure back upright. It seems sturdy again. I hope we don't get that kind of wind again.

I went out biking yesterday I blithely headed to the bike path. We are near the Minuteman Bikeway which is a very busy bikeway. Well not so much then. I think of all the places, that one had the most downed trees for any place I saw. Every ten feet there was another downed tree. Needless to say it was closed. So I wandered the back streets for as long as I could before getting on Mass Ave and I couldn't believe the devastation everywhere. One poor person had two beautiful trees taller than his house in his front yard. The trees were on top of his house. The roots ripped out. The concrete sidewalk was totally ripped up and sticking up into the air as it was stuck to the roots. The farmers market was open at the time and got totally ripped apart. Luckily they were more toward the edge of it and I haven't heard of any injuries. Yesterday the whole day all I heard were helicopters and chainsaws. As of last night there were still lots of closed roads because of power lines that hadn't been fixed. I swear every tree service was out chopping down trees. We got off pretty easy at our house. We didn't even lose power. And today seems quieter. I don't even hear a chainsaw.

Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard

This week was a busy preserving week despite the hot weather. When the veggies are ready to freeze or can, you have to do it if you want them at their best.

In less than a week I had picked over 13 pounds of cucumbers (above is 4 pounds being washed). The first batch of pickles was bread and butter pickles, from the Ball Blue Book.

The recipe calls for salting the slices of cucumbers and onions. I used Ailsa Craig onions that I picked earlier and was drying. Slicing this number of cukes takes time, but not so much when I bring out my mandolin. The slices get ice put on top and then they sit for and hour and a half. That is just the right timing to run the dishwasher to sterilize the jars and heat them up.

These are hot pack pickles so the pickles get cooked in their brine. I love the color of the brine. The turmeric really makes it a pretty yellow color.

All done. The recipe said it made 7 pints. I found that it made 6 full pints and I had a quarter pint left over. I didn't process it but just tossed it in the fridge for current use.

Yesterday I made quick pack dill pickles from the same book. This time the recipe made more than it said. So I had cucumbers and brine left over. My pot only holds 7 pints so I made the others into refrigerator pickles. Also the cukes were about 5" long and the jars only hold things 4" long. I typically cut off a little bit of the blossom end and leave the stem as it is supposed to make the pickles crisper that way. This time I cut a whole inch or more off the cukes. I sliced some of them up and added them to the bread and butter pickle brine to fill up that jar. It will be interesting to see how they turn out uncooked. The rest of the ends I ate for lunch. Oh how I love cucumber season.

To make the dill pickles I had to pick some dill heads. I don't have many this year. Usually I'm inundated with them. But I did get enough this time. I hope I'll get enough for more batches of refrigerator pickles. I also picked some marjoram. But this wasn't for the pickles. I dehydrated it for winter use.

And last but not least. I froze a batch of Kentucky Wonder beans. In the past I've tried freezing them on cookie sheets and putting them in a ziploc. This time I put them in small ziplocs and got all the air out. I'm hoping for better frozen beans this year. In past years I haven't been happy with the results.

Head on over to Robin's place at The Gardener of Eden and link up to let others see what you've been using or preserving from your garden and pantry

Be Careful What You Wish For

I had been hoping for rain all July. We hadn't gotten more than 1/4" all month. Our Average for July is 3.5". With the heat things were so dry. So today our lack of rain ended. I was jumping up and down after the rain went over half an inch. Then all hell broke loose.

The previous rain was just fine. Not much wind. It was pretty much going straight down. Then a microburst hit. Ouch. I looked out the window and could see the bean trellis bend. I was wondering if it would come down all together. I'll have to reprop it up, but it held. The soil underneath had given. That is why it is leaning. that side is pressed into the soil.

The corn didn't fare quite as well. It is flattened. The taller corn got hit too. I'll have to go out tomorrow morning when things dry out a bit and stake them all with bamboo.

You can even see the wind patterns in the sweet potatoes. The wind was so weird. In one part of the garden it is flattened in one direction. In another it is in another direction. Not just a little either. One patch of corn is flattened one way and one bed of sweet potatoes is flattened in exactly the opposite direction. The rain which had been falling hard even broke up into mist in the wind. This is the second microburst I've experienced in this house. I don't remember one in the last house.

We cooled off about 20 degrees from before and we did get our rain. About 1 3/4" of it. So the plants that didn't get hurt are happy. There are lots of branches down. Mostly small. I saw one huge branch missing (about a foot in diameter) from the pine trees that line one side of the house. I figured our roof would have taken the impact as it is right under that. But the branch isn't even in my yard. I'm guessing it is in my neighbor's.

I'm going to have to be more specific in my wishes from now on. Rain yes. Microbursts no.

Update: Wow. Fire trucks and police all over the place. The end of our street is blocked by a tree that is down. Since we are at the end of a dead end, no one can get their cars in or out anymore. My neighbor said he saw seven down trees on his way home (half a mile away from the house). And the branch that I couldn't find in my yard, well we couldn't find it in the neighbor's yard either. It must have blown pretty far.

Second Update: One street over a tree came down and took out a door and some power lines. Supposedly there are a lot of power lines down. Streets are taped up so people won't go down them. And one tree fell on a bus. Ah the neighborhood gossip mill. Everyone is out talking about it over their fences.

Third Update: Though I said we had a microburst, it wasn't official until the weather service said so, and they did. Our town issued a warning last evening to avoid our area of town because of the downed lines and trees. They wanted the roads clear so they could clean up as fast as possible. Though we didn't get hail, some places in Massachusetts got golf ball sized hail, which might have been more damage to my garden if that had hit. BTW the bean trellis in the first photo really doesn't do the wind justice. When I looked outside during the wind it was bent over at a 45 degree angle. I'm shocked it stayed in the ground especially with all the trees that got flattened. And the helicopters are out this morning. I'm guessing the local news. I was hoping when I opened the window this morning to hear the birds, but nope.

This and That

Today I harvested some of my marjoram to dry. I've never grown it before. It smell is interesting to say the least. Enticing but kind of a more chemical smell than most herbs. Rosemary is kind of like that too, but a very different smell. It was in bloom when I picked it. I'm wondering about the flowers. Can they be dried and eaten too? The scent is stronger with the flowers than the leaves.

I noticed powdery mildew was starting on my zucchinis. Usually it only starts after a borer attack, but the zukes have been covered since before they came out. So I removed the cover and found out that my attempt to foil the borers was unsuccessful. Was I too late in getting the cover on? I checked the stems before I put it on and couldn't find any of the eggs. Did they get under the cover somehow? Well it is frustrating to say the least. I really want my zucchini this year. I have barely frozen any yet. I was hoping for zucchini bread all summer long and enough saved in the freezer for lots in the winter too.

Not only that I made a zucchini casserole last night that I just loved. I still have to tweak the recipe more, but it was delicious. If I actually get enough zucchini to try a couple more batches and changes, I'll post it.

The cucumbers are starting to get bacterial wilt. I've never had it before. Or if I had it was after the powdery mildew was so bad it wasn't an issue anymore. The cucumber beetles have been swarming over all the cucurbits. I've never seen so many before. In the past I find a few, but not many. I'm going to cry if we have such a hot summer and no melons. I've found only a handful of leaves killed but it seem pretty obvious. At least I ought to have plenty of cukes for making relish and pickles before they die. I have one Halona melon set. None of the others have yet. They better hop to it. The beetles don't seem to like the winter squash so they are growing just fine.

And how can I not mention random things without mentioning the weather? In the last three weeks of massively hot temps we haven't even had an inch of rain. I don't ever remember having a heat wave that lasted as long either. Today will be our sixth day and tomorrow might make seven. (Heat waves in Boston mean 3 days in a row over 90). Today has a chance of hitting the triple digits too. I watered last Friday. I'm watering again today. Usually I try to only water every 5 days if I don't get rain (or six if I'm waiting for a predicted storm). But I watered four days ago and the plants really need it again. I haven't pulled my spring carrot crop yet, just a few early ones. I'm wondering if they will be bitter. But the forecast has the heat breaking on Wednesday afternoon as a cold front moves in. So we will be back to more normal temps (average for today is 82F historically). Well, it will still be a little above average, but at least it will be close.

Harvest Monday, July 16th, 2012

When I got back from my camping trip the broccoli side shoots had started up. One was a bit too gone and I tossed it, but the rest were delicious.

The first zucchini was a huge one. The first beets were given to my townhouse mates as I hate beets. I love how they look so I grow them anyway. It could be those are the last few trickles of peas. The heat has been so bad that the later planted peas have not produced even a second wave yet. And it was the first of the beans. These are the Masai beans. They look lovely. But normal beans just don't seem to impress me. I've yet to find a bush bean that I like.

The huge chard harvest happened again this week. I gave most of it away to a neighbor though I kept some for the week and gave some to my townhouse mates.

Earlier this week I showed you the first cuke harvest. Well the second one the next day was bigger. I'm growing two varities. Calypso has put out 18 cukes so far and Cross Country has put out 4. But Cross Country wins the taste test. Well taste is really a misnomer. Cucumbers are all about texture. I grow the pickling type to both pickle and eat fresh. Last year I grew Littleleaf and hated it intensely. The skins were tough. They pickled just fine, but weren't good for fresh eating. And even not that good for refrigerator pickles. Calypso is good for fresh eating, but Cross Country is great. The crispness is fabulous and the skin is totally unnoticeable. I'm hoping its production ramps up. It is an open pollinated variety so it would be nice since I could collect seed every year.

The other harvest in that basket is my beloved Kentucky Wonder beans. I love them with a passion. They don't taste like any other bean, but they appeal to my tastes. I made up a batch for dinner and made enough for two meals so I could have them cold the next day for lunch. I ended up eating the whole bowl. Now if I could just find a bush bean that had the same flavor, I'd be all set. I could grow a fall crop then. Maybe I'll try to put up a second planting of these. I've never done that before and don't really know the timing that I'd need.

I harvested two more zucchini. This time they were of a normal size. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with them. I used to love to make zucchini lasagna where the zucchini is the noodle. But since I can't have tomatoes, I'll have to think of another way besides zucchini bread. I'm going to have to search for zucchini casseroles. Maybe with cheese. Or make up one myself.

• Alliums 0.43 lbs
• Beans 2.14 lbs
• Broccoli 0.74 lbs
• Cucurbit 9.38 lbs
• Greens 7.97 lbs
• Peas 1.53 lbs
• Beets 1.57 lbs
• Weekly total 23.77 lbs
• Yearly total 228.05 lbs
• Tally $177.23

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to show off, add your name and link to Mr Linky below.

And the winner is . . .

Calypso, by at least four cucumbers. The Cross Country has set a few, but they aren't big enough to be picked. I'm thinking by then Calypso will have produced a few more. But the real trial is in the long haul. Which cuke will succumb first. Which cuke tastes better. Which one produces more. Calypso is a hybrid so already has a strike against it since I can't save seed.

But really cukes aren't what I was going to talk about today. The excitement of getting to pick the first ones distracted me. Earlier this week was seed collection and clean up time for the earliest planted of the peas. I planted three sections each about three weeks apart. The hope was to extend the harvest. I'm guessing it won't help much with the unusual heat we have had this year, but I still left the later planted ones in the ground. They may produce a few more. Normally I get three waves. Each wave has smaller and smaller peas. I'm thinking the later planted ones won't. I think the second wave may be the last, but time will tell.

As I ripped the plants out I went through them and picked off the peas that had dried. Any peas that seems just slightly over ripe when I pick (usually because I missed them the first time picking) I let dry. They will be my seed for next year.

I also pulled the flowering lettuce in front of the peas. I'm not collecting seed this year, so no need to let them go that far. I had nothing else to put there so just left them. The roots as you see above have those white nodules on them. These are nematodes. Nasty things in this bed that are killing my parsley and already killed the dill. The carrots are not growing was well either. This bed had the solanums last year. I just hope the other beds that I want to grow carrots in are not as bad off. One of them is the previous brassica bed, so that ought to be fine. Nematodes hate brassicas. Often fields are planted in mustards to get rid of them. But I should have chopped up the plants and buried them when I pulled out the last of them. Maybe if my mustards are done going to seed in time, I can put some of the left over foliage in the soil then. Or come to think of it, I could plant carrots in the mustard bed if it is free in the next week. Otherwise carrots might not have time to produce (this part of the bed gets shaded in the fall).

Later in the week I pulled up the coriander and took off enough seed for me and my townhouse mates. I'll clean and winnow it later.

Much of the left over plants were put back on the bed. There are still tons of seeds that I didn't get off. I didn't take much time getting them off since I needed so little of what was produced. So the bed has lots of seed to germinate when it gets cool enough in the fall.

Cucurbits

When I got home from vacation I found one huge zucchini. My zucchini was under a row cover, but I had hand pollinated this one before I left. I grated the whole 3 pounds of it and froze most of it in 1 1/2c batches. The rest was made into zucchini bread. The recipe I use is based off one from Allrecipes. Mine is pretty modified from that one though. and lacking blueberries, it was just plain zucchini bread.

Zucchini Bread

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 c vegetable oil
• 3/4 to 1 c applesauce
• T vanilla
• 3/4 c white sugar
• 1 c brown sugar
• 3 c shredded zucchini
• 1 1/2 c white flour
• 1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
• 1 t salt
• 2 t baking powder
• 1 t baking soda
• 2 T cinnamon
• 1/2 t each of allspice, nutmeg, ginger
• 1/4 t cloves

Bake at 350F for 50 minutes.

While I was gone the cucurbits really took off. The melon patch wasn't climbing as usual. I had to tie up some of the vines. I hope it gets the idea.

The cucumbers had started to climb, but they had also started to climb up the row cover over the zucchini and were marching across the path to the corn and squash patch. I tried to rein them in. For the ones in the path, I just chopped them off. I think using the tomato cages for cucumbers is going to be a mistake. The foliage is so thick I just can't find anything in there.

And as you can see some of the cukes are almost ready to pick. It will be a challenge finding them all. So far Calypso is just ahead of Cross Country. And boy does Calypso put out cukes. There are so many flowers on it.

Of the winter squash, the Tetsukabuto is taking over. I planted this on one side of my 16' long bed and a butternut on the other. This one is already all the way to the end. I'm trying to keep them running between the corn and out of the paths. My biggest worry is that it will overtake the butternut and smother it. Can you imagine a squash that can out grow a butternut by leaps and bounds?

It is supposed to need a pollinator - a C. moschata, which is the butternuts I've got planted. The butternuts haven't bloomed yet. This one obviously bloomed when I was away and now there is a squash. Will it turn yellow and fall off? That would be my guess. There is another one about to bloom, but again the butternuts haven't put out any blossoms yet. I hope they do soon as I want squash this fall.

Onions

Yes I know this isn't an onion, but isn't it pretty? It was a volunteer that germinated in early April. Somehow it survived and grew. It is my only blooming sunflower right now, though I have buds on another. I thought this was a Lemon Queen, but now I think that is a mix between that and another that has orange markings, because I can see faint markings on some of the flowers.

And now back to your regularly scheduled program

When I got back from vacation I saw my Ailsa Craig onions were dying back. Last year I had to knock them down in August to get them to start curing. This year they are weeks earlier.

I dry them for a couple of days in the sun. The best place is the pallets between the compost piles. They hold it very well. The only risk is one slips down between the slats and I lose it.

I also used my picket fence, but the foliage of the onion had dried so much that the onions kept falling off. Usually I have more living foliage on the onions to counter balance the bulbs.

Today I moved them inside after they had been drying for a couple of days. Last year they were on the dining room floor, but I was afraid the dog would play with them and onions aren't good for dogs. So this year I put them upstairs in the nursery. I will let them sit somewhere dry for about 2 weeks or until their outer layers are dry. Then hopefully there will be enough good foliage left to braid them. I could just cut the tops off and toss them in a mesh bag, but I've always liked the braided ones hanging. I'll store them in the basement. These won't last very long since they are a sweet onion. I have storage onions still growing - Copra, Redwing, and Varsity. Varsity is supposed to be a big onion, but I think the Copras are just as big this year. I might not grow that one again.

Harvest Monday, July 2nd, 2012

The only real harvest I got last week was basil - 10.7 oz. It got either dried or frozen for next year. Mostly I was camping last week. I wanted to pick the beans before I left but it was raining so I elected to let them grow. It turns out they are a good size right now, so it wasn't a mistake. I really don't like being in the bean bed when it is wet.

I did have one other harvest, but it doesn't get weighed until it is all dried and cleaned up and that is a couple week process. The leaves were beginning to die down on the garlic. Usually I let them go a bit more, but with vacation on the horizon, I was afraid they would lose too many leaves while I was gone and I wouldn't have garlic that would store well. So better to pick early. The leaves that are alive are the leaves that are the wrappers on the garlic, so the more the merrier for storage. This variety is German Extra Hardy and it will keep until the next harvest is ready in July. I still have garlic from last year that hasn't started sprouting and isn't rotting. I've grown others but I finally got rid of them and just grow this one. I love the size of the cloves for cooking. They are just huge.

I let them dry outside for a day. Usually I don't. I don't like to let the garlic see so much light. Usually I just keep them out for a couple of hours to let the dirt dry off, but life kept me from that. After I brush the dirt off a bit, I group them into 10s and hang them from the beam of the bike shed with string. The dirt doesn't really matter at this point, but I don't want the bikes to get too dirty. In a couple of weeks from when they were hung, I'll take them down and clean them off and cut the tops off. When I had softnecks I'd braid them, but this variety is a hardneck so I'll leave long necks (less chance of rot) and put them in a mesh bag in the basement.

Now I have space to put something else into the garden. The plan has kale going here. I'll probably start some indoors and plant out toward the end of July.

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to show off, add your name and link to Mr Linky below.

Harvest Monday, July 2nd, 2012

We had another heat wave so before it hit last week, I went out and picked the peas. The broccoli main heads are all done, but the side shoots have started to produce. And I picked more carrots. I'll keep picking when I need them. Right now I'm thinning them out. Part of me thinks I should just pick them all and put them in the fridge since the carrot flies have started to show up.

I also picked the last two heads from the Asian greens/brassica bed, but forgot the photo. It was two heads of Early Jersey cabbage. Now all my greens are gone. I'm so sad. But I'll be eating the heads of Chinese cabbage picked before over July and the cabbage probably in early August. It ought to store that long just fine. By then some more ought to be producing provided of course that I get off my butt and start some now that it is July. My chard is now the only kind of green left in the garden. Thank goodness for heat resistant greens.

But with the last of the greens bed picked it will be a transition from spring to summer vegetables coming out of the garden. Usually I have tomatoes, peppers, and potatoes as part of those crops, but since I can't eat them anymore, I only have one single tomato plant in the garden. So I'm worried about what my crops will become. Beans, zucchini, cucumbers. I will miss the colorful harvests of summer. Usually I look forward to the colorful summertime crops. Now I think my favorite harvest season might become fall instead. But then I remember corn and melons. If the weather continues to be hot, I'll have good harvests of those.

I picked more peas yesterday along with two little zukes that didn't get pollinated due to lack of a male blossoms.

I pulled and picked all the favas. The aphids did a number on them and I got very little for the space they were allotted. Maybe next year I'll be more proactive.

• Beans 3.10 lbs
• Broccoli 0.50 lbs
• Carrot 0.59 lbs
• Cucurbit 0.13 lbs
• Greens 5.50 lbs
• Peas 2.18 lbs
• Weekly total 11.99 lbs
• Yearly total 203.62 lbs
• Tally $104.99

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to show off, add your name and link to Mr Linky below.

Second Heat Wave of June

Well we had our second heat wave in June after a very cold start. We usually don't have two by now. Usually the real "heat" doesn't hit until July. I put heat in quotes because a heat wave for us is just three days in the 90s. We had 94, 92, and 93. Later this week we are supposed to get yet another one. The forecast for us is hot, hot, hot. For some of you our hot is just your normal. But our June only averages 77F as a high and July 82. Us heat wimps live in the north for a reason. We hate the heat.

I have been getting out into the garden in the mornings only. I stay far away in the afternoon. I noticed when I was checking on things that some of the corn is setting two ears. I've never ever had that happen before. But I still have corn woes. One bed has been seeded three times and has just couple of plants up. A different one that I started later all came up on the first try. Every single one. I had to thin the extra ones out. I'm using Ambrosia sweet corn this year and it is way too persnickety in its germination. I won't grow it again. I need one that can germinate even in the cooler temps because we have had such wild swings.

I also picked two unfertilized zucchini from the garden. There were no male blossoms to go around. But today there was both a male and a female so I stripped off the petals of the male and used it to hand pollinate. My zukes are still under a row cover so I'll have to hand pollinate for a while. Oh and where my last year's zucchini were growing I have a row cover over the broccoli. I found a vine borer stuck inside that cover. I got a good laugh out of it.

And speaking of nasties, The cucumber beetles have arrived. I've got a dish of soapy water I keep out there now and pick them off every morning. Though the cukes are blooming now.

This morning my big chore was to take down the fava beans. They were covered in black aphids. Last year I left the aphids on and an army of lady bugs arrived to deal with the problem.

I did find a few larvae in there, but very few compared to last year. So sad. The fava beans didn't do very wall. Last year I got more and they had more than twice the space this year. My lady bugs just let me down. But all the plants are pulled and in the compost now. What larvae I did find were moved to other areas of the garden. I'll let that section sit for a while before the fall brassicas are planted. I haven't even started the brassica transplants yet. I have to do that soon.

I've been weeded pretty much every day now. The heat has been making the weeds grow like crazy. Especially the crab grass. Today I watered. We hadn't really had rain since last Monday. So with the heat it has been a long time.