Update and Cauliflowers Finally Doing Something

I'm out of batteries from my camera, but my garden looks about the same as last time, but more scraggly in some places and with plenty of insane tomato plants. My tomatoes are still green, but I harvested a few large ones to encourage the plants to ripen the remaining fruit. The sun returned after a long absence and after just a couple days of warm weather some of the tomatoes are starting to yellow.

A couple of days ago I went in the garden to get rid of the gigantic cauliflower plants that, until that point, hadn't done anything but crowd my cabbages. Fortunately I peeked into the center of all the leaves and there I found some tiny white florets! I guess the plants finally got big enough to bear florets and were probably helped along by the cool weather. I may just get a harvest from them, since they're frost-tolerant.

In other cole crop news, I harvested a 4-lb cabbage today. It's absolutely beautiful and I just love it to bits.

I'm also getting cucumbers all of the sudden and put up some fermented Kosher dills yesterday (though I need to add another half pound of cukes as they come ready. The "Amour" pickling cuke is a great variety--it produces attractive, uniform fruit, and many come ripe at the same time. They're very prickly, but I think that's OK. I'm definitely going to plant more of this variety next year, and it's clear that I don't even need to bother starting them indoors.

The green beans are continuing to produce heartily, and "Provider" is my favorite variety (as befitting its name). It was the first to produce, and the beans are tender and stringless, with great flavor and a nice shape.

I've got tons of greens that I'm not harvesting. It's just hard to get excited about them in the harvest season when there are plenty of other, tastier, things to eat. The important thing is to freeze some of the collards, which are so nice to have during the winter. The komatsuna greens have (amazingly) not bolted yet and they have a succulent, spinach-like flavor (like a cross between spinach and bok choy). I will probably grow more of them next year, starting earlier, so I can appreciate having greens early in the season. The big loser has been the "Garnet Giant" mustard greens--they have yucky flavor, bolted quickly, and dye everything blue or purple. I would be more inclined to use them as an ornamental in the future, since they look cool in the garden.

Seedlings Starting to Emerge!

Daikon radish seedlings peeking out of the soil to say 'Hi'.

How very exciting--my seeds are starting to emerge! It's truly amazing how fast they can grow. I went out to check this morning and saw a few radish and purslane (cultivated) seedlings, and by the afternoon there were turnips, beans, cucumbers, and basil as well, and the radishes had already grown much larger.

It's funny to see how my seeding deteriorated throughout the afternoon that I planted. My first block of radishes are in a perfect offset grid. By the time I reached the end of the mound, I basically scattered them in the rows, telling myself I'll thin them later.

My carrots haven't yet emerged, but from what I've read it sounds like they take a while. I may have made some mistakes in planting them...I just found a guide here. It rained right after I planted them, which may have compacted the soil. The publication recommends covering them with vermiculite instead of soil to prevent this problem. Also, the fertility of the spot I chose might be a bit high. Oh well, it's all just an experiment. Here are a few more photos of my lovely seedlings.

These cucumber seedlings just can't wait to provide me with delicious pickles one day.

Happy little bean seedlings with purple stripes. It will be interesting to see if the adult plants will retain any of their dappling. The seeds were certainly beautiful.

Planting Herbs, Cucurbits, Celery

Yesterday I got the herb seedlings in, seeded some cilantro and basil, planted some of the cucurbits, and threw in the celery I'd picked up. Of all the seedlings, the celery seemed amazingly happy considering it was in a pot for so long--it seems like it will be a good performer. I also prepared the seedbed for my radish/carrot/turnip plot.

July 15th:

Herb Seedlings

• celery
  
• oregano
  
• marjoram
  
• rosemary
  
• thyme
  
• sage
  
• flat-leaf and curly parsley

Herb Seeds

• cilantro
  
• basil
  
• dill

Misc. Seedlings (from Joel's Greenhouse)

• 1 bush-style cucumber seedling
• 1 acorn squash seedling
  

Cucurbit Seeds

• Amour Pickling Cuke
• 8-ball Summer Squash
  
• Sunburst Patty Pan Summer Squash

I will probably plant more cucurbits when I find the space. I also neglected to get the watermelon seedlings in the ground, and I'm not sure where to put them since they get so dang big.

The herbs are almost all in the back (east) side of the garden. Their bed might be a bit small, but I can always move them if need be. With experience my bed preparation has improved, and now all the beds have a water-retaining lip. All the plants in the back row were heavily fertilized with manure, but did not have added fertilizer.

Next up: seeding my root vegetable bed and fertilizing and seeding my leafy green bed. It's expected to storm heavily tonight, so I won't have to water.