Harvest Monday - 25 May 2015

Hello again from Eight Gate Farm!

This week we are continuing to pick baby mesclun--enough for a nice salad every other day or so. The mix is from Baker Creek, and I've been very pleased with how fast it grows and how tender and tasty it is. Although I certainly can't tell just what everything is! Could be weeds for all I know.

And I'm also quite pleased with the radish turnout. The row cover seems to have done its trick--very little damage from root maggots, and nice big bulbs. This is French Breakfast and Cherry Belle--what everybody grows. Is there anything nicer than a fresh, crisp, sharp radish?

A second major picking, with greens too:

Do you admire the artistic use of both black and white napkins??

This weekend was the big push, as expected. We planted a second bed of Espresso bicolor sweet corn, and gave it a cover just until it germinates.

And in the row garden, four half-rows of Honey Select sweet corn, zucchini (yellow and green), Diva cucumbers, and pickling cucumbers. I'll plant the other half-rows of corn when these emerge, and if all goes well (it seldom does), we'll have a continuing harvest of what is my favorite vegetable.

On the opposite side of the row garden, all 12 tomato plants went in. There are four indeterminates-- two Supersauce, one Caspian Pink, one Sugar Plum (grape), and eight determinates; three Incas plum tomatoes, two Roma, two Rutgers, and one yellow variety, Taxi.

In this same section will go the peppers and eggplants. As of now the plan is still to plant them next weekend, but I'm keeping an eye on the weather, as there is a chance the temperature will drop below 50 F. (~10 C.) just after the weekend. If so, I will wait. I've made the mistake before to set them out too soon, and they just seem to get stunted.

We planted melons (on the trellis), and 3 types of snap beans--Denver filet, Velour filet, and "Carson" yellow wax.

And in the "Survival Garden,"Floriani" red flint corn, Kenearly yellow-eye beans, Midnight Black Turtle beans, and four types of winter squash/pumpkins, all C. moschata varieties: Burpee's Butterbush, Butterpie, "Fairytale" (Musquee de Provence) pumpkins, and Long Island Cheese pumpkins. 

And along a fence line, scarlet runner beans, behind the ornamental sunflowers just now emerging. The runners climb the fence, and also sometimes the sunflowers of course.

So as you can imagine, it was a busy time! But with two of us working, it really didn't take all that long, and we have a pleasant feeling of accomplishment.

The potatoes have emerged, except for one piece which I must have cut too small.

I've said it before, I cannot seem to grow spinach. Here you see a tiny specimen already bolting! What is wrong? Plenty of sun, water, temps not too warm. It's got to be the soil I guess.

And here's another problem--a hen wild turkey has taken up residence under the bird feeder. She seems to think it's dandy to take a shortcut right through the herb garden, and she's already been scratching at the Survival Garden. Those are big feet! What to do about this? I couldn't bring myself to shoot her (woodchucks, that's another matter). And anyway, they are a game species and it's illegal to take hens this time of year.

Finally, a snap of blooming azaleas and Shasta daisies at the front of the house. Thanks so much for reading. Go back to Daphne's Dandelions, our gracious hostess of Harvest Monday, and see who else has been busy.