May's current crop

Well, there is less variety in the garden than when I posted April's current crop. Especially after today's pulling of the purple bush beans, gold beets, eggplant, mint, and strawberries. I'm most bummed about the eggplant; it never grew at all. The bush beans were coming on strong, but dried up and died. I may try those again in a different spot. The gold beets were also stunted and never really produced. The mint and strawberries I pulled both came from my friend across the country and did not take.

I also harvested all of the small red onions since they were starting to die and stop growing. They're small and will be tasty mixed in to something.

Small red onions

Current breakdown is 7 different vegetables and 5 herbs: pole beans, potatoes (red and Yukon gold), tomatoes (5 varieties, one of which has still yet to flower), onions (white & yellow), corn (2 varieties), chard, lettuce (2 varieties), and the herbs mint, sage, oregano, chives & chamomile.

The Cherokee Purple tomato is growing tons of blossoms but it has also been dropping them instead of them dying off and forming into fruit. I hope that changes.

Cherokee Purple tomato

I intended to sow honeydew melon today but the ground is too hard so I'm giving it a good soak to till up tomorrow. I am also going to extend the corn area as it looks like there will only be 9 plants but I will need to harvest about half of the onions to do so. I should probably go back out and soak that area so I can work it tomorrow too.

Early Sunglow corn 2 weeks after sowing

The Yukon gold plants are dying off and I will probably harvest them one night this week. Can't wait to see the full crop of them, I hope it's decent!

Onions and tomatoes

I harvested this mix of young onions today. I am going to roast them up tomorrow night and will probably add some of the smaller green onions already in the fridge.

Small white and yellow onions

It's been 4 weeks since I put in the tomato plants. The Juliet has lots of flowers and these two fruits are the first of all the tomatoes. 

Juliet tomatoes forming

The state of today's garden

Some of the corn is coming up. Seems to be mostly Early Sunglow. Hopefully the Jubilee just takes a bit longer to germinate. It's only been 6 days so I'm not too worried, yet.

My purple bush bean plants are dying. They came up really well but have totally dried out and are just not looking good. I think I may pull them and resow them somewhere else.

The eggplant starter I planted at the same time as the tomatoes has not grown, at all, so I don't have very high hopes for it.

The red mustard went crazy and tons of flowers shot up. Pulled both plants up and pulled the tender leaves for a salad. The rest will be going to a friend for her bunnies. The lettuces also all got really tall.

I found a bunch of ants on the chard plants but only up top where it's starting to seed. Weird. I think I may cut the chard back in hopes it grows up again.

The Yukon gold plants are starting to die which is a good thing as it means it's almost time to harvest. Red potato plants still look pretty healthy.

The most exciting news: found two small fruits on the Juliet tomato plant. It's got a bunch of nice flower clusters.   The Berkeley Tie Dye is still the only one that hasn't flowered yet, but is growing and looking healthy.

Baby red potatoes!

I have been dying to go digging around for potatoes and my curiosity finally got the better of me today. With a little bit of digging, I found these two little guys. I didn't want to go crazy, so left it at that for now.

First red potatoes

Such a lovely color all cleaned up.  

Pretty red potato skins

 They tasted fabulous. I just dropped them in boiling water for a little while to soften them up and then sprinkled with salt. They were so creamy and flavorful like that. I can't wait for more of them! 

Corn is in the ground

Today I pulled up the row of dying Alaska pea plants to make way for the corn. There was also a row of leeks in the area that I harvested. They're small but I'm sure will be mighty tasty when I use them later this week.

After hand tilling the soil and adding some compost and starter mix, I sowed three rows of corn. I did a mix of Early Sunglow and Golden Jubilee. I did this because there is a few weeks difference in maturity which means more corn over a longer period of time.

Soon to be corn

I envision a block of 9-12 plants here, depending on how they come up and their spacing. I'm hoping to plant some melon at the corners or wherever there is space to be the ground cover. I had thought about doing the "three sisters" method with corn, beans, and squash but I think I will just do corn & melon if it will work out.

Buddy, the garden helper

My garden is fenced in so the dogs do not trample upon or pee on it. However, I allowed my 2 month old foster puppy, Buddy, to keep me company when I got him because I figured his light weight couldn't do much damage. Fast forward 3 months and Buddy, aka Sgt TJ "Woodchuck" Chopper is now 5 months old and weighs a bit more, 35 lbs at last weighing a couple weeks ago. He is quite leggy now, as is my rainbow chard.

Rainbow chard & foster puppy Buddy

He kind of knows the ok places to walk and not, but still has his puppy moments. However, there have been a few recent times I have accepted his help digging when I turn in an area for a new planting or sowing. Maybe I can teach him to sniff out and destroy weeds while he's still here. ;-)

Out with the peas, in with the beans

I will be pulling the Alaska peas this weekend. As you can see, they're about done with a good run. Really loved the peas but next time I will plant at least twice as many so I can really make something of substance  like I was able to with the same amount of snap pea plants.

End of harvest Alaska peas

This is the largest Royal Purple bush bean 77 days after sowing. It's only about a foot tall and I'm not sure if those purple pods are  some beans forming already. The other 8 or so plants are about half the size.

Royal Purple bush bean

Flowering plants

I was happy to see these flowers in the garden when I got home from work today.

This is the Juliet plant. The only other tomato that has blossoms forming so far is the Cherokee Purple, but nothing's opened yet.

Juliet tomato flower

I'm not sure that I have ever seen a red potato flower before. It's very pretty and I can't wait until the plants are covered in them. No sign of blossoms on the Yukon Golds yet.

Red potato flower

Basil Challenged

I seem to be basil challenged. I have tried growing it twice and both times the plants died. Both were starter plants, one the "traditional" kind of basil and this last one I pulled up yesterday was "pesto perfect basil" with a nice lemony scent. I have other herbs in the area I planted them that are thriving. I wonder if my soil is not good for basil or if I've just gotten "bad" plants. Both were from different vendors. I won't give up, though, I really want some fresh basil to go with all the tomatoes I'll have soon! I should talk to the knowledgeable folks at the local nursery and see what they think before/when I buy the next plant. I wouldn't think basil would be difficult, but for me, it is.

Lots of lettuce

My company had a potluck BBQ today. Last night I harvested roughly 2 "heads" of leaf lettuce to contribute for burgers and tacos.

Black Seeded Simpson & Red Sail

Goodbye for now, parsnips

Pulled up, and ate, the last of the parsnips today. I think the red potato plants will be happy; they will get a little more afternoon sun.

Last of the parsnips

I will definitely be growing parsnips again. I found them easy to get a good harvest from. Most of the seeds came up, the roots were sweet and tender. Very happy with them especially considering what bad luck I've had with carrots. Only thing I need to do is do more thinning so the roots are able to get bigger. I had a tendency to overseed then not thin aggressively enough my first go-round.

Potato Progress

It's been about 9 weeks since I planted Yukon Gold and red potato quarters. All 8 of them came up and seem to be doing great. I planted the quarter pieces in little trenches and did my first hilling about a week and a half ago. For some reason I have been looking forward to the hilling process ever since I first read about it in my Vegetable Gardening for Dummies book so I was very excited when the plants were tall enough to do it. I will probably do another hilling in a week or two depending on how quickly they grow.

When I was in the garden last night, I noticed one of the red plants already has some blossoms. Kind of surprised me to see it so soon, but I take it as a good sign!

Red Potato blossoms forming

Final Snap Pea Harvest

The snap pea plants have been yielding nice weekly harvests for about two months now. But I think they've about run their course. Got a nice harvest from them this evening that I think will be the last because the plants are turning yellow and drying up. There will probably be a few small snacking pods when I pull the plants up this weekend. I think the Alaska peas will produce for a few more weeks and then it will probably be time to pull those up too.

Snap peas with some Alaska pods mixed in

Oh, and the little off-color pod towards the upper right of the picture is a dried Alaska pod with 4 nice seeds. Going to hold on to that for future sowing.