Rain, Sweat and Tears

I'm straining to write this (or should I say type this). My hands are still raw, stiff, callused, and torn-up from unrolling, cutting and attaching over 230 ft of chicken wire to my garden fence. I didn't realize this would be such a painful job (literally and figuratively). And did I mention it rained all weekend? Working with wet gardening gloves on is never fun. Needless to say, I won't be doing any hand-modeling anytime soon.

The good news is, I think I did a pretty good job of it. The rabbits (especially the baby ones) were getting mighty daring these days. I had to actually shoo them away as I worked on the fence. Obviously, I don't look scary enough. The funny part was watching them for hours trying to find a weakness in the reinforced fence. I watched a baby bunny do a complete circle around my garden, trying to push itself through the mesh every couple of feet or so. I had to laugh at their persistence. The word was out apparently and I guess they can appreciate a good thing when they see it. What's tastier...weeds or carrot tops?

And since it rained, I thought I'd take some wet photos. Enjoy!

Beet Greens

Kale Leaf

Celery Leaves with Small Bug

Pea Tendril

A June Harvest

I would describe this week's harvest as "a little bit of this and a little bit of that." The greens continue to give and give and frankly, I can't complain. Lately, I've been mixing together chopped celery, chard and kale to freeze - perfect for adding to soups. The Red Sails lettuce is tasting great and still not showing signs of bolting. I need to motivate myself to sow some heat tolerant varieties this week as we are quickly going through what we have.

I also picked a handful of Fava beans - the first of the season. Having never tried them before, I was anxious to cook them up. The pods were tossed with plenty of sea salt and olive oil and then thrown on the grill. Prepared this way, the beans tasted smokey and buttery. We LOVED them! What a revelation. I will definitely be devoting more growing space to them next year.


The snow peas are still producing well. We picked over a pound of pods again this week. The plants are approaching 5 ft tall now but still looking relatively healthy.

I picked my largest mini-crown of Piracicaba broccoli thus far a couple of days ago. Unlike the other ones we've eaten, this one tasted perfectly sweet and without any hint of bitterness. This particular plant is twice as big as the others and was transplanted later in the spring, which leads me to believe that the bitterness we've encountered up until now has something to do with the fact that this particular variety may not taste or produce as well when transplanted too early in the year.


I also harvested my first ripe tomato of the year - a solitary Sungold cherry. I quartered this little nugget of sunshine so that each of us could have a little taste. This will surely become a family favorite. My fluke first tomato date this year is officially June 11. Since the rest are still the size of small marbles, I think I'll be waiting a while for my next tomato.

Finally, I wasn't planning on pulling any carrots this week, but then I noticed that the rabbits had stripped off most of the leaves on some of them. So I thought, "what the heck" and was happy to find a few sweet tasting baby-sized carrots. Being the big carrot fan that he is, Jonathan loved munching on them.

snow peas - 1.21 lb
broccoli - 0.2 lb
various greens - 2.85 lb
Fava beans - 0.3 lb
carrots - 0.5 lb

total this week - 5.06 lb

Garden Notes - Rabbit Troubles and Plant Updates

I've been having my fair share of rodent problems lately. It seems 2x4 inch wire mesh is not enough to keep the rabbits out, especially the baby ones. The adults seem to have a bit more sense. So far, they've picked over my soybeans, nibbled on several of my green beans, decapitated one rather large head of lettuce and corn stalk and shaved off one of my pepper plants. As a result, I will be spending my weekend putting up chicken wire all around the perimeter of my garden. Hopefully that will be more of a deterrent.


I really should have put more effort into growing flowers this year. The garden looks a bit too green at the moment. I've always loved the European potagers and their classic style of mixing edibles and ornamentals in unique patterns. Well...that will have to wait until next year.


The cut-and-come-again lettuce mix that I grew in my salad box a few months ago failed miserably. I really only have myself to blame as there was little to no fertility in the garden soil that I used. I will try again this fall with a mix of compost and potting soil. For now, I have little patch growing in the garden.


A year and a half after purchasing the small cutting, my Kaffir lime tree is flowering for the first time. Citrus blossoms never fail to get me excited. I'm curious to see how the fruit develops.


I'm not sure what type of lettuce this is but it's beautiful. I've enjoyed watching it grow. It resembles a butterhead but the leaves have a crispiness that is more reminiscent of iceberg. I think it's either Korean or Manoa. I will have to ask Winnie if she has any ideas as the seeds were from her.


The cranberries I planted out last year are beginning to flower and spread. The leaves are bright green at the moment but should develop into a bright burgundy as the fall approaches.

Finally, here's a look at my celery after they've been thinned down to one plant. I transplanted them out in clusters of 4-5 plants simply because I was too lazy to thin my seedlings. Now I'm glad that I didn't since in each cluster, there is always one plant that drastically outperforms the rest. And looking at the size of my celery, it doesn't seem like the crowded conditions have hurt them too much. I've been harvesting the thinnings to use in soups. Delicious! I think I'll stick to growing them this way.

The Early June Garden

With the longest day of the year fast approaching, you can definitely feel the slow transition from spring to summer taking place. Everything in the garden seems to be growing steadily now; the plants act as though they are reaching for the sky...in stark contrast to the bleak days of winter.

An definite indicator that the weather is beginning to warm up, the Thai watermelon is beginning to spread its wings. Hopefully this will be a good year for melons.

And after a rough start, the Charantais melons are beginning to perk up. I was good about amending the planting holes with plenty of composted manure and slow release organic fertilizer. Feed away my friends.

I got my first squash blossom the other day. I wonder how long it will be before I get my first zucchini harvest.

The beets have taken their sweet time growing this year. I sowed these seeds in March. Germination was not great and they are just now beginning to swell up.

The packet of seeds contained a blend of several varieties including Detroit Red, Golden, and Chioggia beets. I was really looking forward to the Golden beets but unfortunately, none made it to this point.

Finally, on the tomato front, my early sown plants are flowering well but slow nonetheless to set fruit, except that is for the Sungold.

Then I noticed that my first Sungold tomato was starting to change color. How exciting! Maybe I'll even have a tiny ripe tomato to include in next week's harvest post.

Garden Notes - Cukes and Beans

My Asian cucumber is starting to flower. I don't know the exact name of this variety because the information on the packet is written in Chinese characters. By the looks of things, I'm guessing the cucumber will be long and skinny.


My Spacemaster cukes are also doing well. I have a feeling this plant will be prolific. I don't know much about cucumbers but I'm guessing that like zucchini, it has male and female flowers and rely on insects to a certain extent to cross-pollinate. Unfortunately, I haven't seen a single honey bee so far this year despite the fact that there's an apple farm down the road from us. Bumble bee sightings have been scarce as well, which makes me want to ask "Am I the only one noticing this?"


On the bean front, out of an entire packet of Contender Bush Beans, only 8 seeds germinated. Beans have been a real issue for me this year. I started off by pre-sprouting them, which in my experience, just stresses the seed and prolongs germination. Most of my pre-sprouted seeds never even broke the surface. Then I tried soaking my seeds for 12 to 24 hours before sowing them. No luck there either. Fed up, I decided to plant some Dragon's Tongue beans straight out of the packet and sure enough, germinate was fast and almost 100%. Sometimes you just have to stick to the basics.


On the heels of my snow peas, a few of my Fava beans are just about really to be picked. They are not nearly as prolific as I've seen on other blogs but then again, I only have 7 plants. Also, I don't think the mini-heat waves we've had this spring suited them all too well. I noticed that quite a few flowers would drop after a hot spell.

Finally, something has been putting holes in the leaves of my raspberry plants. Ugh.

This Week's Harvest - Peas and Scapes

After many months of sporadic harvesting ("scavenging" might be a better word), the garden is finally starting to produce consistently and significantly week after week. The snow peas are center stage at the moment. During the past few days, I've harvested 2.12 lbs of sweet and crispy pods. I had let some of them go unpicked for too long and as a result, the pods had gotten a bit too tough and stringy for my taste. On the bright side, we cracked these open and ate the peas inside.

It seems like the more consistent you are at harvesting, the quicker the plant works to produce more pods. I'm expecting another good round of picking tomorrow. My pea plants still look relatively healthy and for the first time this year, I'm hoping that the temperature doesn't warm up too quickly. I would hate to see them go anytime soon.


Also new to the harvest table this week are garlic scapes (1.06 lbs). I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical as I'd never eaten them before. I diced and quickly sauteed some to add to a pasta salad that I made for dinner. They were somewhat spicy and had a pleasant garlic flavor that was not overpowering....quite good in my opinion. Also, they added a nice crunch to the salad. I'm set to make some garlic scape pesto later this week.


Finally, my Piracicaba broccoli is producing new side shoots every few days. Jonathan loves to eat them on the spot so not much ends up in the kitchen. Also, I used some celery thinnings in a sausage and Swiss chard soup that I made today. The young stems and leaves are much more pungent than when fully mature. It made for a very delicious soup. (Broccoli and celery thinnings - 0.35 lb)

Total harvest this week - 3.53 lbs

If you'd like to share your harvest or see what others are harvesting, visit Harvest Mondays at Daphne's Dandelions.

Snow Pea Heaven

We started harvesting our snow peas earlier in the week. Then yesterday I went out into the garden and noticed that we were up to our eyeballs in crispy sweet pods seemingly ripe for the picking. This year has officially become a good one for peas. I love traditional shell peas but I think you get so much more bang for your buck with snow peas. It's a good thing that they will keep in the fridge for a long time. Two pounds so far and counting.

Garden Snapshots - Part II

Volunteer grain: I like the look and utility of straw mulch. The down side is that you do end up with some stray seeds that germinate before the birds get to them. Unlike some weeds, they are very easy to pull but then you do miss a few.


My miniature Top Hat blueberry bush is setting fruit despite the fact that I don't have a second plant for it to cross-pollinate with. Hopefully the birds don't get to it before I get around to purchasing some netting.


After weeks of doing nothing, the Thai basil is finally starting to grow a bit.


The rabbits are starting to take notice of my corn. How can something so cute be so annoying?!


The Spacemaster cukes are starting to flower. I have mighty expectations for this variety. Hopefully it won't disappoint.


The purple tomatilloes are starting to flower as well. I only have 2 plants this year but have heard that they can be prolific producers.


Oregano - I don't think I'll have shortage of herbs this summer.


Marvel of the Seasons lettuce - I had a terrible time trying to start lettuce from seeds this year. This is one out of a lucky handful that didn't damp off.


Imperial Artichoke - All five of my plants are doing well but growing very slowly. I should have moved them to a sunnier spot in the garden. Too late now!


Ground Cherries - Finally, after weeks of doing nothing, my ground cherries are starting to grow again. Some are even beginning to set fruit. Hopefully they will produce well into the fall this year.

Around the Garden - Part One

Red Sails lettuce and white onion sets

Sage and thyme

The snow pea harvest has begun!

Coffee can planters - great for herbs...awful for Swiss chard.

Celery - in desperate need of thinning.

Young Fava bean pods

Several varieties of basil

Future blackberries

Early sowing of green beans.