My Edible Garden

I've been gardening for most of my life and have been a devoted fan of organic gardening the whole time. It just makes so much more sense to work in harmony with Mother Nature than to fight her. Besides which it is better for the planet and better for our bodies. Here you can see what I'm planting and harvesting, with gardening hints and resources thrown in for good measure.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Harvest Monday

snow peas, chard, strawberries
Another Harvest Monday! I so look forward to this each week, I love seeing what gardeners around the world are harvesting. I get to learn about unique foods, novel methods of preparation and get some great gardening tips! Thanks! Daphne's Dandelions for being our gracious hostess!

The lettuce has mostly pooped out in the heat, or rather just shriveled up. There are a few seedlings coming along but with 100+ temps I have serious doubts they will amount to much.


While I skipped harvesting the Mammoth Melting sugar peas a few days so they could set some seed, I've been harvesting some of the newer pods again as the plants have set quite a bit of seed; probably enough for a couple of years.  I got this nice handful of strawberries the other day; apparently my trick of setting ripening berries up on top of the plant is working because none of these were eaten on. The chard is coming along well; most of what's in right now is the 'Perpetual Spinach' which has fairly short small stems. I do have about 30 rainbow chard seedlings to plant out though.

I will have to make a note that things are thinning out this time of year and I really should have planted a lot more stuff a couple of months ago. In fact I'm thinking that the next time I plant corn or potatoes or anything with wide spacing I should plant lots of lettuce or something in between at the same time.

Perfect Strawberry!
Purple Mums













These purple mums don't seem to know they aren't supposed to be blooming yet!




Rose Granada
My $2 rose, Granada, has put on a grand display. While not as strongly scented as Cecille Brunner, it does have a nice scent. And the pink and yellow blooms are beautiful.




greenhouse





The greenhouse changes almost daily, as seedlings are potted on or put outside and new things are brought in. The yellow down on the center left are some California poppies and the clump of green past them is a red oriental poppy and some bolting cilantro.


New Ladybug
The cilantra certainly has attracted the ladybugs this spring. There were quite a few larvae on the plants and now they are hatching out.  It's funny, for all the warm weather we had this winter, I've just now seen much of an aphid infestation. This is on the tips of some mustard which is flowering. I think the aphids were encouraged because the mustard is growing in a tub which is getting pretty dried out and root bound.


new greenhouse bed

I spent some time on Sunday hauling in some partly composted manure for this new bed in the greenhouse. It's been watered well and I'll check tomorrow for any sign of the manure heating up, then add some finished compost to the top and get ready to plant it.  In the meantime, some squash seedlings which germinated under lights in the house (for bird protection) are enjoying a day out in the sun.
These are Trombonccino, Baby Blue Hubbard and Butternut.  The Tombonccino are going on top of a large compost pile next to the rabbits, to run over the fence and shade the cages. I'll probably plant the Butternuts here in this bed so they can run on the trellis. Haven't made up my mind where I'll put the Hubbards tho.

16 comments:

  1. I so agree with you. I look forward to each week in Daphne's Harvest Mondays. I love seeing what others are harvesting, get new ideas for plantings, and learn new ways of preserving those things.

    I have a Trombonccino in my garden. It has not grown very much for me yet. I am hoping that the warmer weather will cause it to burst into activity. :)

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    1. Watch out when the weather warms up and it takes off, it could become the squash that ate the garden!

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  2. That is a beautiful Mum, even if it's a bit early. I have a few planted, but they are just starting to form buds...will be a bit before I enjoy their blooms.

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  3. Oh your strawberries are lovely, I have never had any luck with them. I feel like they exists only to feed the birds and not me!

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  4. Ohh goodness I have such greenhouse envy! And how wonderful to be harvesting that Strawberry!

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  5. That greenhouse pic is lovely. I too need to be more quick to plant up lettuces in between wider spaced items. I don't do it often enough and I should.

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  6. I always look forward to Harvest Monday for the same reasons. This is my first season gardening and I'm so thrilled with it all.

    Is the compost pile you're putting your Tombonccino on already finished composting so it won't burn the roots, or is that not a problem?

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    1. The bottom part of the pile has some hot manure in it to help kill off an oleander stump, the top part has older manure that won't heat up any more. I figure the squash roots will grow where they like and of course by the time they get to the hot manure it won't be so hot

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  7. Yep, that is a perfect starwberry. Love the purple mums. I wish I had a greenhouse.

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  8. So much going on at your house!! Peas and strawberries? My I'm jealous!! I'm still waiting on peas!!

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  9. Hi Mary, You sure do have a lot of nice yummy things! I like your $2 rose! I am not harvesting a lot of things yet but need to keep records. I am not good at that! Why do you need to put things in the greenhouse this time of year? Can't they go directly into the garden after being hardened off? Nancy at Cozy Thyme Cottage

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    1. This time of year the greenhouse is pretty open, just partly covered in plastic, mostly because it diffuses the sunlight and is a great windbreak. With both ends open it isn't really warmer in there than outside; in fact in the afternoon with the shade cloth it's a bit cooler. Mostly the greenhouse is my staging area; plants go here to grow on a little more until I get them put out into the ground.

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  10. I've thought about growing Tombonccino but wasn't sure where it would go??? Will you grow it vertically?

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    1. I always do the Trombonccino on a trellis of some sort; these are huge vining plants and will cover a lot of area. Also if you let the squash fully develop and get a hard rind to keep for the winter, then they are like 3 feet long. Laying on the ground they would also be subject to bugs and rots as well as they wouldn't grow very straight.

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  11. I like your strawberry trick very much - I will borrow that one for next season, the only forseeable problem is that it will make them a lot easier for Mr 2 to spot...hmmm a least with the slugs I get half a strawberry...

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  12. Great that your strawberry trick work! may must be a very busy month for you :).

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