Picked my first “real” tomatoes today. Unfortunately, I did not remember to look what type they were. One is a Striped Roman, two could be Black Krim and one could be Baker Family Heirloom. I have to go back and check the labels. I also harvested cherry tomatoes, two pickling cucumbers, a large zucchini and a few green beans. And flowers.
Lots of things are coming up in the garden right now: eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, cukes and kale and chard. I will pull some carrots and beets soon, and plant salad greens in the spot where the garlic used to be.
I am so happy I planted more flowers this year. Zinnias, dahlias, sunflowers. I am picking several bouquets each week. Also harvested today: a giant zucchini, a couple of handfuls of green beans and a few tomatoes.
I spent some time in the garden today weeding the spot where I pulled the garlic a few days ago. I planted carrots and beets there and saved some space for fall greens that will go in the ground in a few weeks. I also sowed more pole beans, as some of the plants had been chewed down to their little stems by, I suspect, a rabbit. My harvest: a couple of pickling cucumbers and flowers.
I also cleaned the garlic today and hung it in our back stairwell to cure. In about two to three weeks, I will braid the softnecks and destem the hardnecks and store them for the long-term.
I finally pulled the garlic yesterday. I pulled a total of 64 heads (37 softneck and 27 hardneck). I was pleasantly surprised about their size as I had planted them a bit too close together and the stems were not very strong in many cases, the latter is probably a result of all the rain we had lately. They are now drying on the porch for a couple of days and then will be cleaned and hung to dry for three weeks or so in our back hallway. Here is to another great harvest. I still have two heads from last year’s harvest in my pantry.
I harvested my first pickling cucumber. It was huge, thanks to the recent rain and the heat, and weighed almost 15 ounces. It was well hidden under the leaves, and I kind of discovered it by accident. I did not even know the plant had fruit yet. I pickled it in Grillo Pickles brine, next time I will make my own brine.
We have had an unusual amount of rain in the past couple of weeks, everything is drenched. I seriously have not watered in two weeks. The parsley is yellowing because of over-watering. I hope the garlic is alright, it is not quite ready to be harvested yet.
This afternoon, I thinned my carrots (they are supposed to be rainbow carrots, but so far no deep red ones yet) and harvested my last handful of peas. I also took out the pea plants, weeded the plot (we had a lot of rain these past few days) and planted Kentucky Wonder pole beans in the spot where the peas used to be. I also planted nasturtium, which I somehow had forgotten to do earlier this season.
The garlic is starting to get ready, which is early. I typically harvest at the end of the month. But we had two heat waves, the last one just last week. With the heat and the rain, everything is speeding up this season. I also sprinkled Epsom salt around the base of the tomatoes to fertilize. Over the next few weeks, I will give all plants a nice seaweed/fish emulsion treatment. I have a few “naked” spots in my plot and plant to fill them with beets, carrots and lettuce.
