All Posts by Sabine
June Harvests
Earlier this week I harvested my garlic scapes and turned them into garlic scape pesto. I (loosely) used this recipe, but omitted the cheese as I plan to also use the pesto on fish or for other purposes where cheese might not work. I am loving the sunflower seeds in the pesto. They made it super creamy and tasty. As always, I froze the pesto in ice cube trays and transferred the frozen cubes into Ziploc bags for storage.
I also had several harvests of rhubarb, all of which were turned into strawberry-rhubarb compote to go over vanilla ice cream. The rhubarb plant is still young, so I did not want to over-harvest, but I got quite a good amount of stalks.
This is the first year that I did not get to harvest a single pea. I was very successful in protecting the peas from the rabbits by fencing them in, but they sadly were no match for the birds. I ripped out all plants this week. I will need to think about what I want to plant there now. Beans? Beets or carrots? More greens?
Sowing, Staking and First Harvests
This morning, I sowed more flowers in my flower patch (Zinnias Queen Lime Blush and Queen Lime Red, and Cosmos Rubinato and Sensation mix) plus nasturtium (all over the plot) as well as a row of Golden beets. I also staked all my eleven tomato plants. I noticed that one (Black Prince) had a broken stem. It looked like it was cut in half. I will replace it with a new Black Prince seedling that I still have on my back porch. Luckily I had started two seedlings for each variety, and all germinated. A few days ago, I harvested a few of my overwintered leeks (which I roasted for dinner last night together with carrots, Brussels sprouts and potatoes and served with a bright Chimichurri) and some rhubarb (which I turned into a strawberry rhubarb compote and enjoyed over vanilla ice cream). I need to harvest the remaining leeks soon to prevent them from flowering.
Planting the Outside Bed
Yesterday, my daughter and I spent two hours planting the mixed communal flower and vegetable bed outside our community garden. The Park took out some old overgrown diseased shrubs three weeks ago, built a cobble stone border and added a layer of compost. Now it was (is) up to us to fill the bed and take care of it. Our vision is to create a bed for the community that is both beautiful and useful, so we are planning a combination of flowers, herbs, vegetables and fruit.
Towards the left, where it only gets morning sun, we planted native perennials (New York Aster, Sweet Goldenrod, Lance-Leaved Coreopsis, Eastern Bluestar), and creeping thyme. In the center, we added Swiss chard, planted squash against the fence and sowed sunflowers directly behind the shed.
In the right section, close to the border, within reach for passers-by are small-fruiting and cherry tomatoes and a blueberry bush. Plus Black-Eyed Susan, marigold, lavender and annual asters, as well as daylilies against the fence.
There is still a lot of space for other plants, and the bed will be filled over the next couple of weeks with dahlias, other flowers, strawberries (hopefully) and more squash and other vegetables and herbs.
Planting My Plot
Yesterday, I finally had time to plant my plot, after I planted the new flower bed outside our community garden. I put in calendula, kale, Swiss chard, leeks, two each Delicata and Butternut squash, tomatoes (11 plants total, which is way more than I need but, as always, I could not control myself), Italian basil, pinwheel marigolds, one cucamelon, three Tokiwa cucumbers (none of my pickling cucumbers germinated), Thai basil and zucchini as well as dahlia tubers and Zinnia seedlings in the back towards the fence. I also rabbit-proofed the kale and chard with chicken wire and came back this morning to rabbit-proof the flower seedlings in the back. Not taking chances with my dahlias and Zinnias.
All that is left for now is to sow some flower seeds, beets and perhaps some slow-bolt cilantro. And stake the tomatoes, of course. But I still have space for more seedlings. Hmm …
Planting tally for the day: 6.5 hours of planting.162 plants (some for the communal bed, some for my own plot)
Front Porch Preparation
Today, I finally transplanted the asparagus. It was very root-bound and definitely ready for a larger pot. I planted it in three large grow bags and sowed Zinnias (small mixed, and Giants of California mix) and cosmos (Rubinato and Sensation mix). I also planted one Dahlia tuber each (Top Mix Purple) into two medium pots and surrounded those with Nasturtium (Alaska mixed). Those five containers will go on my front porch, which I plan to revive this year. I put them on plant caddies with casters for easy moving and to prevent the floor boards from being water-logged.
Mid-May Back Porch
Nice and sunny and warm today. I took an afternoon break to transplant some Salanova lettuce (4 tiny heads) from their peat cells into their own bigger pot. I planted the Thai pepper (from Neighborhood Farm because my seedlings strangely never set true leaves) with the radishes, and two basil cells (5 to 6 stems each) plus leaf lettuce mix in the large pot with the flat parsley. I also planted two Topmix dwarf dahlias (one purple, one salmon) in the pot with the fading tulips and sowed small mixed Zinnias and Alaska nasturtium in the same pot.
Spring Preparation
I spent three hours this Friday afternoon weeding the plot and spreading manure before replacing the hay. A lot of work, but I am very happy with the result. The peas have been growing well under the fleece tunnel, and since I saw a happy and very fat rabbit hopping around our garden this afternoon, I am glad I decided to protect the pea seedlings. Time to put a trellis up soon. The garlic is big, and the rhubarb and the strawberries are also doing well. Spring.
Re-Potting Zinnias and Kale
Today, I repotted the Zinnias I started on April 19, and the kale. I had sown a handful of Zinnia seeds (three different varieties, Queen Lime Red, Queen Lime Blush, and Giants of California) into three different pots and today just isolated them into separate cells.
Re-Potting
Today, I re-potted my tomatoes and the Swiss chard. I have 16 tomato plants total (two each of eight different varieties) and eight cells of rainbow chard, two seedlings each. In other news, my supermarket ginger in the blue-green pot (in the back of the picture) is finally waking up. You can see the big long shoot. And there is another one. I am sooo excited! The Zinnias I sowed three days ago are starting to sprout. And the sun is shining. Spring!
Yesterday, I cleaned my back porch, rearranged furniture and planted some herbs (parsley, chives and cilantro) and flowers (osteospermum and violas) to get the porch ready for spring. The intermediate state before full-time summer use.
