Newness

So, I am two weeks into a new position at Stearns' Farm in Framingham doing many new and exciting things, as well as some old, but still exciting things.  This has left a lot of tasks left up to Charlotte in our Ocean Street Garden.  

Our corn is due next week I think.

And pumpkins are covering the ground below.  They are inundated with powdery mildew, but hopefully the pumpkins themselves will not be affected.

The tomatoes are coming in.

Cukes are flooding our refrigerator and we will be pickling as soon as possible.

Soybeans are nearly ready.

Eggplants are painfully slow and straggly, but finally putting out fruit.

Peppers getting larger and sturdier with the recent heat wave.

Brussel Sprouts are getting bigger.

Sunflowers are blooming.

New rows of arugula, beets, carrots, bok choi, and spinach.

The corn is higher by the hour (you wouldn't be able to see Charlotte today), and the sunflowers are now budding along the border.  The pumpkins are creeping through the undergrowth.

The tomatoes have so far withstood the late blight epidemic that is devastating all the local farmer's crops.  I never removed any of the suckers and, while they are certainly sprawling, they will be prolific in the coming weeks.  We have canning plans for the surplus we're bound to have.

The eggplants and peppers are blooming and beginning to form their fruit as well.

We've begun the cucumber harvest.  There are three varieties in the garden and they are both delicious.  A long, thin, Asian cuke, and the common "marketmore," and another I can't remember for the moment.  They are fighting with the pole beans for space, but there are still a few feet of trellis to cover.

The soybeans pods are taking shape in the two dense rows we planted.

We've cleared most of the bolted lettuce and harvested cauliflower/broccoli plants.  There is one more cauliflower head on the way, and the brussel sprouts won't be far behind.  I am only growing a few more col crops in pots and plan on using the new space for greens and root crops.  

The kale and swiss chard are finally being harvested back to a manageable size.  Next time we will know that only a few plants are needed to satisfy.  

The beets and carrots have been thinned and the first crop of beets harvested to completion.  I have plans for both borsch and pickling later this week.  In the same bed I harvested parsnips that were competing for space.

The herb garden has more than filled in.  It looks like we will have some basil to go with our tomato crop next week.  I will be transplanting more basil through out the garden from the cold frame.  The nasturtium are growing sizable and are thankfully attractive since we aren't eating them except in the occasional salad.

It is almost time for another pea sowing which will be due in October.

This is the bird house now a few weeks old, still without birdseed. 

Here is a harvest that we are taking with us to Vermont this weekend.  We had a few inches of rain last night and so hopefully the garden won't dry out while we are away.

Some of the corn got blown over by the wind in the night.  Too busy again to write much.  Cukes are budding everywhere and the pumpkin is growing nicely within the corn patch.  The wildflower beds are beginning to bloom, as are the soy beans (little pink buds) and the eggplant.  The tomatoes will be prolific at the rate at which they're progressing.  

July 13 already

To finally update, the sun is out after a ridiculously wet June.  This means the peppers and eggplants are finally starting to grow instead of just sitting there getting eaten by flea beetles.

The tomatoes are growing well and have maintained a disease-free state despite all the rain.  Our first sungold cherry tomatoes are visible.  

The herb garden is filling in, and hopefully the new batch of basil I transplanted in will be ready when we start harvesting the tomatoes.  

The corn grew a lot this weekend, so I was glad I finally got around to weeding and mulching it on Friday.  The pumpkins in the back are indeed starting to weave their way into the corn, hopefully dissuading any raccoons that might be interested in it.  Supposedly the prickly pumpkin vine is more than they can handle.

The cucumbers, too, are enjoying the sun and are starting to send out their tendrils which I will guide to the trellis when they are long enough.

I harvested the peas this morning and took out the row.  I plan on freezing most of the harvest for later on.  We will plant a new row late this month I think for a fall crop.  The timing is a little trickier than in the spring when you just plant them when the ground thaws.

I have a tray of a different variety of corn that I started 2 weeks ago.  I plan on expanding the pea bed in the next few days to make room for a different corn stand that will be harvested later in the fall.  

We will make room for a new sowing of beets and carrots, too, which will be harvested throughout the fall and winter.

swiss chard + kale = no room

wildflower bed

a mighty parsnip

li'l onion

1st wonky carrot

Jonathan salad-hands

Dinner Time

Another salad is the focus of tonight's meal.  The lettuce is still bountiful and we are mostly through our second sowing of arugula with a third on the way.  Tonight's salad will feature beets, boiled and chopped.  We've begun harvesting the broccoli as of tonight.

Picking tonight's meal we noticed the raspberry crop coming in.  Charlotte's work of thinning the canes has (according to the neighbors) enabled a bumper crop.

The compost bin has found a home and the giant pile of decomposing sod has been removed from the "basketball court".  We will be beautifying the place tomorrow evening because we will be visited by a neighborhood garden tour on Saturday.  

 

I've organized a room in the basement for our continued planting operation.  Plus, I am still awaiting word on the possibility of manning a booth for two hours during the Ashmont Farmer's Market (we really need to find a good home for our kale).

The rain has stopped and the sun begins to shine again and I am very appreciative of the opportunity to do all of this.  

The past two weeks have been very busy and there has been little time to work in the garden, and even less time to write about it.  

But we have accomplished a number of projects and there are many developments to update you, the curious reader.

We completed both our trellis for the cucumbers as well as the compost bin (finally).  

The peas are in need of bigger stakes to keep them in line.  They are presently dripping with pea pods.  

The corn is getting taller and we will be thinning the rows to 1 plant per foot.  I applied a spray of fish/seaweed fertilizer to the seedlings as corn is a very heavy feeder.  I also planted pumpkins next to the corn stand which should grow in and around the plants (maybe dissuade raccoons from sampling the corn).  

In front of the corn (and elsewhere) I transplanted some of the many sunflower seedlings from the cold frame.

The tomatoes continue to grow in their cages without any sign of blight.  I have not yet decided to apply copper spray to prevent it.  While it is approved for organic use, it is kind of nasty stuff and I would stop applying it by the time the plant begin to flower.  But for now they are all looking very healthy.

The peppers and eggplant however are a slightly different story.  I jumped the gun in putting them into the ground and they have pretty much just sat there waiting for some hotter weather.  It still is getting down in the low 50s at night and we cover them with pots when it gets that low.  We also have a problem with flea beetles.  They are chewing pin sized holes in the eggplant leaves.  I could have/should have waited until it was really warm to set them out.  Then they would have been less susceptible.  I am cultivating around the plants and hopefully the birds will help me out.  Otherwise I will consider using spinosad which would be nice not to use as it hurts the bees, but should be fine at this point since there is no reason for a bee to hang around my tiny seedlings.

The broccoli is getting bigger and bigger and I have seeded more broccoli, brussel sprouts and cauliflower in the 2nd cold frame.

We packed away the bolting spinach in the freezer for later use and are working through our kale which is becoming a menace to the salad rows beside it.

The herb garden is filling up slowly.  Mostly through plants I brought home from Allandale, but the parsley, coriander and garlic are all doing well from seed.

I had my first beet yesterday and it was on the small side, but very good and sweet and crunchy.  We will be harvesting more of the beets and the carrots toward the end of the month.  There are newly sowed rows of both vegetables to give us a harvest late in the summer.

plus, I had my first blueberry.

Peas

Strawberry

                  Broccoli

Carrots

Beet

                 Tomato

Cucumbers

Swallow House

Soy Beans