Momentum

The brandywines are getting big, I can only imaging the deliciousness that awaits



Round two of yellow squash is ready to be picked, and if you look closely, round three is getting ready.




The Beans are beaning


The gigantic swiss chard stalks are starting to make mature seed. Its the luculus variety, white stalks, its not the prettiest out there but it is a good reliable producer. This one survived a winter, so hopefully its offspring inherited that tendency. I'll be replanting to verify, its nice to have chard early in the second year. Who knows in a couple years I might have a variant that tolerates the syracuse winter fairly reliably. Lord knows I'll have lots of seed, if anyone wants some I'm open to trade. I'm 100% sure no other member of the beet family has been flowering for at least a mile radius, so it ought to be true to type.



And finally fennel, ahh the wonderful plant that makes delicious fronds, bolts at the first sign of sun, but makes a big supply of flowers to attract all kinds of helpful bugs, is going to seed as well. No worries, the seed is useful too.



And lastly the hyssop is starting to flower, but the wind picked up, so I couldn't get a picture that wasn't blurry.

from the dept of weights and measures

I wasn't lying about the rain, 2.5" in 3 days.



Saturday thankfully it was sunny long enough to get at some of the potatoes. I got about 16 sq. ft. dug up. Behold the results.


Thats what 12 lbs of blurry potatoes looks like. Based on the picture you'd probably guess there are slightly more of the purple caribes than the yukon golds. You'd be right, especially when you consider that I pulled up 4 more yukon plants than caribes. The yukons were an abysmally poor producer. And given that I like the taste of caribes better, yukons are out of next year's plan. Originally I picked two varieties for earliness, in accordance with the plan in Jeavon's book. The bottom line is that I simply do not have time in the season to follow potatoes with something so long growing as corn. Next year it will be potatoes first and then something like beans, or maybe a second potato crop. Suggestions are welcome of course. I will say that having never tried the caribe I was pleasantly surprised by the fine texture and taste. The skin however, is frail I don't think I pulled a single one out of the ground without scratching or nicking the skin. I did however notice a couple yukons and caribes having what looks like the early stages of scab. A season or two away from spuds is in order. I may have to dig another bed to make a three year rotation in coming years...aw shucks

So what did I do with the spuds, well all of the small ones and some of the medium ones went into the briny deep of my stock pot for some NY salt potatoes. Well recieved at the picnic, though I was left with several of the larger caribes left floating in the salty, buttery, oh so healthy slurry. What to do? We had friends coming over for dinner so I figured a little recycling was in order. I cut up the potatoes into smaller pieces, (almost losing a finger in the process) pulled a couple small onions from the garden, cut a handfull of garlic chives, reused the aluminum foil that covered the salt potatoes to make a pouch for the melange, drizzled some of the butter over it with a little poultry seasoning, and threw it on the grill. Behold the attack of the 50 foot grilled potatoes. It was delicious even if I do say so myself.



By the way, since I haven't exactly been forthcoming with my totals I am at about 18 lbs of produce for the year, the inaccuracy due to an old scale which has been replaced now. I know it looks light, but please remember most of the things I have been pulling up were light, like lettuce, peas, broccoli, etc. There are ten more pounds of spuds in the ground, the onions ought to get me a few pounds, and the zucchini...well, I think we all know how that is going to end.

100 pounds from 100 square feet in upstate NY seems a bit high in retrospect, but I think its possible, maybe not this year, but with experience and improving soil, possible.

Its still raining

I haven't checked the gauge this morning, but I wouldn't be surprised if we have had 3 inches in the last 4-5 days.

So here are some pictures of such quality you have never seen on this site nor are likely to see again. In a rare moment the batteries on our digital camera were charged at a time that was good for taking pictures in the garden. This was all from about two weeks ago, enjoy.

The lavender opened up and the bees first started to show, in fact this was the first honey bee I had seen all season.


"Picotree" Cosmos. They only emerge a few at a time, but they look great in their prime.



Feverfew is a common element among "English" flower gardens, so I thought it appropriate to put some next to the lavender. The flowers are very long lasting, unlike chamomile which each bud goes to seed in what seems like hours.



Reaching deep into my emerald aisle roots, I planted a small patch of common flax near the pond which looks very nice. Its almost ready to pull out. I'm going to try retting it and seeing if I can get fiber out of it. Granted I know I will not get more than a foot or two, but if I can successfully do it I might devote a larger spot to it next year. I will post more throughout the process.


And lastly the sweet peas. This is half of the blossoms. I've had it with them, I've tried different spots, different planting times, different varieties, but for whatever reason I usually get 2-3 flowers each year and thats it. Its a shame, they are such a pretty flower, but space is at a premium so if you don't use it, you lose it.

Zucchini fueled uprising

The first of the zucchini, summer squash, whathaveyou has arrived. Weight: 1lb 10 oz. Taste: delicious. I saw some female flowers getting ready to open when I picked these beaut's so more is on the way (obviously).

And my tshirt from Pathtofreedom.com arrived. My wife, who usually smirks and shakes her head at my fist in the air, power to the people tendencies, admitted it is a nice looking shirt. Go to www.peddlerswagon.com and buy one...or six.

Dry for a while

and then it rained, which helped the nasturtiums to a great amount.

Of course there were others who benefitted
Lillies


an unidentified volunteer sunflower of short stature


And after the rain subsided, out came the bees! I had been really nervous this year, prior to about 4 days ago I had counted 6 honey bees, this weekend triple that. Which is good, because I have some female squash and cuke flowers getting ready.


And of course...tomatoes! the first brandywine starting to swell.



Here's a pleasant surprise, I planted bush beans not too long ago. My prior experience with legumes had been in pole beans and peas, which take a while before they start producing. This particular variety I got from fedco seed is called "provider" and I'm sure now it will. First sprouts emerged just under a month ago and its making beans already. No word yet on taste but of course I will update when I have one.


and that is a broccoli leaf in the corner, and while I did not get a picture of it before cutting, I managed to get one before eating it.

A tasty broccoli cheese and rice casserole that would have been perfect for a solar oven...time to build a solar oven.


The canna lilly could care less, it sits in all the water it needs.


And without much watering and weeding to do, I had the opportunity to enjoy this view for a little while.



Thats no camera trick, I really am THAT pale.

beetdown

After picking the majority of the beets which amounted to about 9 oz. I got brave and pulled a few carrots. Lest you all think I became a master gardener behold the dismal results.



The bigger ones are about 1/2" wide. I'm not familiar with the carrot growth habit, do they widen first and then grow deeper? Is there hope for the ones still in the ground? or is this as good as they get.

The Beets faired better:


They are nice and round, it doesn't look like anything got into them, I don't think I have enough to pickle them, so I think its soup for some and I'll just cook the rest fresh. They have a nice red and white striping, so maybe I can get some good high res shots when I cut into them.

Answers!

Thanks to Steve at balhoghblog I have the answer to the bug question, it is in fact a milkweed longhorn. I had never seen one before now because I never had any milkweed growing on the property...until this year, I planted butterfly milkweed, about 8 feet from where this picture was taken. Unfortunately this is not one of those bugs that would be considered beneficial to either its host or neighbors from what I understand. Grrrrr.

So it just goes to show you that increasing the diversity of your plantings will increase beneficials, but also attract a few shall we say....less than desirable bugs as well.

If you are interested in a really seedy picture of buglove by all means, follow the link. When you're done, go check out Steve's blog as well as groovygreen.com, of which he is a contributor.