This afternoon, I did some weeding and sowed two rows of fall greens (mix of lettuces, arugula, mustard greens, kale) and more cilantro. The beets, cilantro and basil I sowed three weeks ago, on August, 2 have sprouted but are tiny. I also harvested a second batch of Thai basil to make Thai basil pesto in the next couple of days.
Produce has started rolling in from the garden plot. Yesterday, I made quick refrigerator pickles with my first harvested pickling cucumbers. I also made a batch of Thai basil pesto (no pictures), which I froze. I will have enough Thai basil to make two or more batches in the coming weeks. Yum!
This afternoon, I weeded the area where I had harvested the garlic two weeks ago and sowed one row each of sweet Italian basil, slow-bolting cilantro, Detroit Dark Red beets, Chioggia beets and Golden beets. The Chioggia seeds are four years old, and the Detroit Dark Red three years old, so we shall see whether they germinate. Fingers crossed.
Today, I harvested my garlic. A little later than in previous years, but it had just not been ready for harvest a week or so ago. I harvested 16 hardnecks (Red Russian) and 20 softnecks (Transylvania). I had originally planted 15 and 20, respectively, but one of the hardnecks split and produced two heads.
I will air-dry them on the porch (away from the sun) for a couple of days and then hang them in my back hallway to cure until the leaves are completely dry and the hardneck stalks very firm. This typically takes about two weeks for the softnecks and three weeks for the hardnecks. I will then clean them, remove all dirt and the very outer papery layer, trim the stalks of the hardnecks and braid the softnecks. But not before I put the largest heads aside as seed garlic for the fall.
I also planted shallots this spring, but only three of the many I planted grew. Not sure what went wrong.
Yesterday was the last cool-ish day before we are now entering a stretch of days with temperatures in the 90s and mid/upper 80s, so I decided to sort of finalize the preparations for the outside communal flower bed. I spent three hours weeding, sowing (annual & perennial wildflower mix and cosmos), transplanting, and mulching with salt marsh hay. I still have some seedlings that will go in this bed, mainly zinnias and okra.
This year, the bed will look different. We sadly won’t have as many dahlias as last year, and we had to remove the blueberry bush as it had died (probably from overwatering, or from dog traffic …). The walking-path section of the bed is planted with Black-eyed Susans, lavender, many annuals (calendula, hibiscus, nasturtium, zinnias, cosmos, wildflower mix, sweet alyssum, celosia, okra) and a few dahlias. There also is Swiss chard, and a volunteer squash or cucumber, that I transplanted. Most of the plants are still tiny.
In the narrow center part of the bed, we planted tomatoes, hot peppers and several types of basil. The tomatoes are all cherry types, which will make it easier for the neighborhood to enjoy. There is also a healthy sage plant, anise hyssop, marigolds, and a tall yellow-flowering perennial (a donation of which I do not know the name). Towards the fence, we planted two types of climbers.
The perennials corner close to the street is looking really good. Everything came back vigorously, and the Corepsis and Bluestar are flowering. The perennials are interplanted with strawflowers and sweet alyssum, and the calendula self-sowed and will show up in patches throughout the bed.
Just five days until the official beginning of summer, and things have been slow in the garden. The weather has been cycling from the mid-60s to the upper 80s back to the low 60s, which has been stressing the plants, so everything seems to grow slower. Nevertheless, the plants are getting bigger, the zucchini is starting to flower, and I have my first summer flowers – self-seeding Calendula (also known as pot marigold). Those happy little flowers will bloom until the first frost.
The lettuces have been benefiting from the cold weather. The tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and basil not so much. In fact, I lost all but one of my slicing cucumber plants. Not sure what happened there. It is going to be warm again starting in two days, with temperatures predicted to be in the mid-90s early next week. I hope the plants can tolerate those changes.
This morning, I harvested the last of my porch lettuce. Temperatures will be in the upper 80s today (and low 90s tomorrow), so I did not want these to bolt. I sadly did not take a picture of the lettuce container before the harvest (it was very pretty), but I immediately planted it with Thai Pepper, Thai basil and nasturtium (those came up in the pot from last year and just moved them). Looks like we are switching from spring to summer …
This morning, I (almost) finished planting my plot. Everything is now in the ground, except the sweet potatoes and okra (I will wait a few more days), and I still have to sow flowers and cilantro. I planted 5 cucamelon plants, 5 pickling cucumbers, 4 slicing cucumbers, 1 zucchini, 4 delicata squash and 3 butternut squash. I also planted two jalapenos, which were a gift. The Sweet Thai basil was planted in between the lettuce seedlings, and the Siam Thai basil along the border of my bed, next to the tomatoes. I also moved some calendulas to different spots in the plot, staked the tomatoes and secured the plants to the stakes with garden velcro. I harvested a handful of strawberries, yay! Usually the slugs, birds or pill bugs get there before I do.
This morning, I planted my tomatoes (11 plants total, 8 varieties). I interplanted them with Italian basil (6 plants) and marigolds (5 plants). I also sowed nasturtium (Alaska Red Shades). I still have to plant the Thai basil, leeks, curcubites and flowers (strawflowers, gomphrena) as well as sow cilantro and flowers (borage, cosmos, zinnias, more nasturtium). I also harvested my two overwintered leeks. The rhubarb is still going strong (three harvests so far), the garlic looks great and the shallots are coming up as well.