Vegetable Gardening

I went on a 5 day trip and when i got home my veggie garden was bursting with perfect lettuce- far more than we can eat. Not surprising since I tend to plant more lettuce seed than we need- i love to experiment with the various colors and types, and lettuce seed doesn't cost much. Lettuce varieties are so pretty!

So just like last year i harvested a whole bunch, washed, bagged it in several gallon ziplock bags and brought it to my town's silent food pantry, where i volunteer several times a month. My 'thing' is bringing my extra garden produce there all summer when I have a surplus.

For dinner my husband and I had a big fresh salad of lettuces and radishes with chevre cheese, out on the kitchen porch overlooking the garden in the golden late afternoon sun. Our honeybees were all over the catmint in full bloom...so lovely!

That sounds heavenly, Lisa!

Today I took my summer school kids out to the garden where they happily ate all of my English and Sugar Snap peas. We didn't really have enough to sell but the kids enjoyed them tons!

I've got 4" zucchini out there, can't wait to harvest them at 8 inches!

I think I'm going to try to plant baby greens under a screen... just have to figure out how to put up the screen!

Reesha, those kids will never forget going into a garden and eating peas right off the vine. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BleeckerSt_Girl

I went on a 5 day trip and when i got home my veggie garden was bursting with perfect lettuce- far more than we can eat. Not surprising since I tend to plant more lettuce seed than we need- i love to experiment with the various colors and types, and lettuce seed doesn't cost much. Lettuce varieties are so pretty!

So just like last year i harvested a whole bunch, washed, bagged it in several gallon ziplock bags and brought it to my town's silent food pantry, where i volunteer several times a month. My 'thing' is bringing my extra garden produce there all summer when I have a surplus.

For dinner my husband and I had a big fresh salad of lettuces and radishes with chevre cheese, out on the kitchen porch overlooking the garden in the golden late afternoon sun. Our honeybees were all over the catmint in full bloom...so lovely!

---

What a wonderful evening dinner! It sounds so peaceful. I finally got my garden in last week. Planted eggplant, tomatoes, squashes of various types, cucumbers, winter savory, basil, thyme, seeds of green beans, chard, lettuce, parsley.

Also, got my seed bed for flowers in; sunflowers, cosmos, zinnias, marigolds, naturtiums, and also put in some lettuce and herb seeds in this bed as well. Hopefully, it will be as pretty as last year's flower bed. Put some 4 oclocks and tall marigolds in a pot and planted some new hollyhocks in the perennial bed next to the vege raised beds.

I think I am going to have to give up on my swiss chard. I can not find what is sucking the life out of the leaves? Been using Safer spray on them and it's not working. Ugh! My lettuce looks wonderful and my beans are starting to go up the poles!

May be the problem with the swiss chard is its below the ground or around the base. If the leaves are not chewed by bugs and still wilting, it may be soil isn't quite right. Or the weather is too hot and too dry.

Swiss chard will grow all summer and all winter, in my experience. I've found it hard to damage--it just keeps on coming. You could try planting some in another bed; maybe there is a soil issue in the current bed.

I've been accepted to be on a city Kitchen Garden tour in July! Hopefully things won't be too wilted by then!

I've been having a good year in the veggie garden!
Earlier this week i made 15 quarts of dill pickles, and yesterday I made some great red cabbage cole slaw and picked the first tender green beans... :D
Tomatoes and onions are looking good, with lots more beans and cukes on the way!
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-F...s-july2011.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-D...s-july2011.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-0...awJuly2011.jpg

Wow, green beans already!

Admittedly I got a late start due to the wet spring (and other stuff), but mine are only getting their first buds.

I've already had my first failure-to-pick-zucchini accident, though. :cool: Ate half of it sliced and grilled (yum), will probably shred the rest and turn it into fritters.



... and my chard is just about ready for picking, no thanks to the rabbits who ate it all to the ground last year, and have already torn through the netting that I've got over it this year. :mad:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by OakLeaf

I've already had my first failure-to-pick-zucchini accident, though. :cool: Ate half of it sliced and grilled (yum), will probably shred the rest and turn it into fritters.

---

Last year I waited way too long to pick my green beans, and they were too big and tough. This year I'm on top of it! :D
(but am sadly neglecting my swiss chard!) oh well! Getting some good stuff anyway from the garden anyway, you do what you can!

I got green beans today in my CSA box. We also got them a couple weeks ago.

I went away for 3 weeks, and when I came back, I noticed that my chard bolted. Is there any way to salvage them, or are they done once they've boted and are flowering?

and I also found that all my worms in my compost bin died :( Not sure what happened to them, but the bin is just soup now. Very sad.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by badger

I went away for 3 weeks, and when I came back, I noticed that my chard bolted. Is there any way to salvage them, or are they done once they've boted and are flowering?

and I also found that all my worms in my compost bin died :( Not sure what happened to them, but the bin is just soup now. Very sad.

---

Nothing you can do once the greens bolt. They're terribly bitter after that. Just enjoy your flowers and then get the seeds for the fall!

Bleeker, I love your kitchen! It looks so cheery. And is that a six-burner stove I see? *jealous*

I made salsa yesterday, today the rest of the red tomatoes are going to be sauce, and sometime this weekend I'll make green salsa - I have 2 plants that produce an heirloom green tomato with excellent flavor (green when ripe). I'll mix it with the yellow and white varieties, some jalapenos (I will wear gloves this time, I have learned!) and a heavy dose of cilantro. Should be yummy!

Sadly, each time my tomatoes start to ripen, critters help themselves. I think squirrels are the culprits. I had three amazing heirloom Mr. Stripey and four Bradley tomatoes that were nearly ready to pick...just one more day...but in the morning, one was across the yard half eaten, two were hanging on the vine half eaten, and the rest had disappeared completely.

My kale, however, is still going strong. But with the 100+ temps, I suspect they will soon bolt.

The *$&% birds keep pecking our tomatoes. We're losing about 50% of them right now. Grrrrr....