bounty

The weather has been cooler than normal and lots of rain (can't complain) so the lettuce greens are doing very well, and everything else that likes water :)

The peas are pretty much done, and now it's onto the other veggies...

Yes, the purple haze imperator carrots are almost ready for harvest - these are about 3/4-1 inch diameter and about 6-7 inches long. The majority should be ready in about a week. and they really are purple with orange inside - don't boil them or the purple will just fade.

I think these are grape tomatoes, ripening way earlier than the big heritage.

This cuke (beit alpha burpless) is like 6 inches, gianormous compared to the others (which were about 1 inch in size)... hey, the bees have been busy visiting the yellow flowers!

The corn is flowering...

wet wet

We are feeling soggy - after all the days of rain this week - and so are the beds - soggy, soggy. Ok, it's great that temperatures are cooler than normal (low 20's vs. mid-high 20's) and that the veggies are benefiting from all the rain/water, but so are the weeds - they are rampant.

Went this morning and weeded for about 1.5 hours - cleared some of the beds and made a slight dent in the weedy growth. The lettuces are just succulent - harvested some red radicchio, endive, chicorria... the spinach are all going to seed - let's hope the new seed bed comes through.

Lots of yummy crunchy radishes - red ones that is; the watermelon ones (white with red flesh) are not ready, nor are the beets.

Tomatoes need to be staked; they are gia-normous. most of the sunflowers have sprouted; and everything else is just growing, growing...

first harvest

Had watered the beds yesterday evening as temperatures were 30+ last few days - forecasts call for scattered showers today and overnight, and again Sunday, alleluia!

Checked the beds this morning and here's a progress report - Snap peas in flower;



the squash doing well;

so are it's close cousins, the Zuchini;


and cabbages and brussel sprouts are growing leaps and bounds!

At last, success! The sunflowers (2nd sowing) have sprouted...

Oh yes, the Spinach - plucked (couldn't use a knife to slice through as wasn't enough leaves to grab hold of) some of the bigger leaves for a little salad . This is from the seeded bed. Unfortunately the transplanted ones of Elzy's have gone to seed - what to do, what to do... (recommend we scrub and seed new bed).
We should be able to harvest a couple of radish and lettuce beds by the end of this week - thought to let them grow a bit more after the rain today.

progress

After a couple of nice, hot days, the veggies are doing great! Here's the fingerling potato bed - these plants are about a foot high...


And these radishes are almost ready to harvest - yes, by this weekend - see those red tubers (ok, root balls?) under the leaves?


These are Elzy's transplanted spinach - they are stalky? not like the ones grown from seed...

Yes, these ones which have bigger crinkly leaves which are ready for picking - according to the packages, both are bloomsdale variety? Nah, can't be!

Here is a tomato bed - they are flowering so guess in about a month to 6 weeks there will be some scrumptious heritage varieties to pick!