Happy Sunday everyone. The forecast said sunny and cooler, but reality said drizzle, clouds and stifling humidity. Instead of kayaking, it was a morning of working outdoors and an afternoon of catching up indoors.
We are sad to see the end of the lettuce...as always, it is such a treat to spend the spring eating salads of tender, sweet home grown lettuce. We continue to pick mustard, Red Russian Kale and Collards, they end up in numerous smoothies or sauteed in various dinner dishes. Last night I picked the first beets - they were wonderful, a mix of white, gold, red and striped - about 1-2 inches in diameter. I tried a new recipe...the beets were roasted in foil for an hour separately, and the beet greens sauteed with spring onion, red sweet pepper, hot pepper flakes, sesame oil, salt and pepper - the greens and beets were served over steamed black rice and topped with toasted walnuts and dollops of goat cheese. Yum! Our summer squash is blossoming (only the male blossoms so far), the cukes and melons are starting to run, and our bush beans will be ready to pick in a week or less.
We had another heavy rain last night - though it reduces the need for watering, it increases the time with wet tomato foliage....there is more Early Blight on lower foliage than I would like to see, but I remove the impacted plant parts each day, dipping my shears in a quat. ammonium detergent solution in between snips.
I am hoping that the blushing Mexico Midget tomatoes will be ripe in a few days....and it seems Sungold and Coyote, as well as Lemon Drop, Tiny Tim Yellow and Egg Yolk (growing in large pots happily on the deck), will soon follow. We will also have some hot peppers, sweet peppers and eggplant within a week or so, meaning the summer produce production line is starting to hum.
A few other tidbits - Sara bought me a Mr. Beer kit for Fathers Day, so I am finally adding beer making to coffee roasting and other various and sundry hobbies - I just got the first batch going (a Czech Pilsener) today - bottling will happen in two weeks. Storey is formalizing their request for me to write a how-to book on Straw Bale gardening - I expect to see a contract very soon (hence my dive into adding 17 bales to my garden this year....and they are doing really well). The repeat photography (where needed) for my first book - Epic Tomatoes - will take place on the week of July 21. Fingers crossed on ripe tomatoes at that time!
We are sad to see the end of the lettuce...as always, it is such a treat to spend the spring eating salads of tender, sweet home grown lettuce. We continue to pick mustard, Red Russian Kale and Collards, they end up in numerous smoothies or sauteed in various dinner dishes. Last night I picked the first beets - they were wonderful, a mix of white, gold, red and striped - about 1-2 inches in diameter. I tried a new recipe...the beets were roasted in foil for an hour separately, and the beet greens sauteed with spring onion, red sweet pepper, hot pepper flakes, sesame oil, salt and pepper - the greens and beets were served over steamed black rice and topped with toasted walnuts and dollops of goat cheese. Yum! Our summer squash is blossoming (only the male blossoms so far), the cukes and melons are starting to run, and our bush beans will be ready to pick in a week or less.
We had another heavy rain last night - though it reduces the need for watering, it increases the time with wet tomato foliage....there is more Early Blight on lower foliage than I would like to see, but I remove the impacted plant parts each day, dipping my shears in a quat. ammonium detergent solution in between snips.
I am hoping that the blushing Mexico Midget tomatoes will be ripe in a few days....and it seems Sungold and Coyote, as well as Lemon Drop, Tiny Tim Yellow and Egg Yolk (growing in large pots happily on the deck), will soon follow. We will also have some hot peppers, sweet peppers and eggplant within a week or so, meaning the summer produce production line is starting to hum.
A few other tidbits - Sara bought me a Mr. Beer kit for Fathers Day, so I am finally adding beer making to coffee roasting and other various and sundry hobbies - I just got the first batch going (a Czech Pilsener) today - bottling will happen in two weeks. Storey is formalizing their request for me to write a how-to book on Straw Bale gardening - I expect to see a contract very soon (hence my dive into adding 17 bales to my garden this year....and they are doing really well). The repeat photography (where needed) for my first book - Epic Tomatoes - will take place on the week of July 21. Fingers crossed on ripe tomatoes at that time!
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