2009 has been a strange summer in the veg garden. We had days in the 80s and 90s in April. In May things were pleasant and we were eager to get things planted...and then it snowed.
June was overcast, cool and damp.
July was overcast, cool and damp.
August has had some hot and humid days...too little, too late.
June was overcast, cool and damp.
July was overcast, cool and damp.
August has had some hot and humid days...too little, too late.
Peas didn't start producing until late June and early July, and then the harvest dribbled in, swelled to one large batch, and rapidly dribbled back to nearly nothing. Most of the vines are shriveling up now, although some are trying to rally and have put out some new flowers.
The pole beans have "suddenly" started to produce. I say "suddenly" because for weeks now all I've seen are flowers, but no beans, but a quick peek under the leaves two days ago proved that some of those flowers had produced beans and were ready for picking! Bush beans, are another story. Not a bean to be seen there.
The zucchini have surprised me with some fruits as well! Something got the first ones I saw ripening. Could it be slugs? Or maybe they just rotted away. Still, I found some foot-long ones (and longer) where I wasn't expecting them.
The garlic has been harvested and hung up to dry.
And the onions are going great guns! At least they like to have a lot of water!
The tomatoes, on the other hand, are looking pretty sad. Too much rain. As you can see, the plants are rotting away.
Fruits have started to develop, but most seem to be rotting on the vine or dropping with a solid green thud. I suspect I will not be putting up sauce this year. Such a shame, too, because I was looking forward to harvesting tomatoes with names like Orange Flesh Purple Smudge, Garden Peach, and Zebra. Well, I should have a few seeds left over...I'll try them again next year.
Potatoes are also looking pretty poor this year. First the beetles had their way with them, then the rain. This handful shows the largest ones I've gotten so far; most, however, have been the size of a quarter.
The corn, which is under three feet tall, is only just starting to get tassels!
Not a single marigold has blossomed, and only a few cosmos (all of which are very short). Calendula are also nearly non-existent!
The only herbs that are doing well are borage (I'm over-run), and cilantro (blech).
Still, something is better than nothing, and there isn't much we can do about the weather. Sure, in dry years you can hook up the hose and drippers, but when it rains, or the sun doesn't shine, your hands are pretty much tied.
Corn - should be "knee high by the fourth of July." Well, here it is, just to the left of this five foot pole. It's still not quite knee high, and it's well past the 4th.
Peas are starting to come right along now. These are the prized Blue Podded Peas, which date back to the 16th century! A lot of blue (or purple) veg are popular now (peas, beans, potatoes, carrots), and you'd think they were all new varieties, but in truth many of these blue veg are very old varieties.
Here's a close-up of the borage flower. Borage is edible and makes a colorful addition to your salads.
Bush beans and potatoes. I only had three beds left for potatoes and beans, but I had more potatoes than I thought, so I had to tuck them in anywhere there was room. Combine this with all the volunteer potatoes from 2008 and even 2007, and I will be over run with spuds this year! I really must work out a better storage system for them, because they sprout before I get to eat them all!
Cukes and sunflowers. At least I think those are cukes. Not too many squash family seeds sprouted this year, so I kept adding miscellaneous seeds to the beds to the point where I'm not sure what is sprouting where!
Garlic. The garlic is growing very well. I snapped off the scapes this last week - they were lovely with their curlicue shapes. Bagged several up to give to friends, but no one seemed to want them. I think one needs to be in an up-scale urbanesque area to find a market for scapes. (Yes, those are potatoes with the garlic...leftovers from 2008.)
Carrots. I have six or seven carrot patches squeezed between the onion patches. This last weekend I divvied up several of the carrot clumps, moving them into areas where carrot seeds didn't sprout. Looks like I may need to move some more. The sunshine and rain from the last couple of days made many of the carrot tops just shoot up. My goal is long carrots this year, not hundreds of midget carrots. Hopefully the transplanting will help with that.
Pumpkins. I had to dig into the remains of the manure pile to get enough in one spot to plant the pumpkins this year, but there seems to be enough "juice" left for them to do well (so far). All we need now is some sunshine!
Broccoli and cauliflower. Yes, they are there under that row cover by the crabapple tree. I haven't peeked under since I planted them...don't want to be discouraged. This year I'm thinking of leaving the row cover in place as a foil for the cabbage whites and their larvae.
Peas. Lots of peas and they've started to flower. None are terribly tall, though. Maybe some are just short varieties, but I suspect the lack of sunshine has also stunted their growth.
