So, How Does Your Garden Grow?
Well, it is the second week of June and by now most of us should have been tasting the fruits of our labor of the past months.
Here in Viewtown my wife and I have been enjoying a seemingly never ending crop of asparagus for the past six weeks. Sadly, as with all good things, that has now come to an end about ten days ago so now I am letting the plants flourish and feed before I cut the fronds back later in the year.
Two weeks ago we had our first batch of “New Potatoes,” Red Pontiac, which I carefully selected by getting down on my hands and knees and probed around the root area of the plants until I found a suitable sized spud and carefully plucked it from the plant, then gently pushed the disturbed soil back in place. I generally take only one or two from each plant to allow a succession of spuds to be picked in this manner.
Is this time consuming? Yes. Is it a pain in the knees? Yes. Is it worth it? Absolutely!
A word of warning of a potential problem with spuds this year. Due to the amount and timing of all this rain there is a potential for a condition called ‘Hollow Heart.’ This is when there is too much water as the spuds are developing. You will notice this by cutting a larger sized spud in half. If there is a dark area in the middle chances are this is the problem. You can still eat the rest of the spud, just core out the affected area. I have found this on a couple of ‘Kennebec’ when I cooked them last week.
The Colorado Potato Beetle were noticeably few in numbers this year. Maybe because I am doing an outstanding job hand picking them first thing in the morning or maybe it is due to the weather conditions or maybe a bit of both.
The over wintered Spring Onions were just delicious and now we wait for the spring sown seed which this year is a bit slow due to the excessive moisture we have had but they are looking good so far.. The first of the ‘Broad Beans’ a variety called ‘Windsor’ were absolutely delicious according to my wife who had never tried them before even though I have been growing them for years!
The Swiss Chard and the Beets I sowed in early spring are still feeding us. I took a sample to Georgia at Jimmies Market and she made an outstanding soup with the tops and baked the actual root to create mouthwatering dishes. I have decided I really do prefer Beet leaves and Swiss Chard leaves rather than Spinach. When cooked correctly they have a much deeper and finer flavor in my opinion. Spinach still has a place in salads though.
Sugar snap peas were good with a heavy crop but they are now coming to an end.
To highlight the vagaries of gardening, yesterday I was talking with my neighbor who lives about a half mile away and he tells me he is still enjoying young side florets of Broccoli!!! Mine finished about four weeks ago. The reason is, I am on top of a long open rise and open to wind and all day sun, his garden is located behind an established stand of trees and is in a low where the temps remain quite cool for some of the day.
For those of you who broke down and went ahead and planted those Tomatoes and Peppers as soon as they arrived in the big box stores, I hope things are going well. I have noticed in my travels that Peppers especially are looking rather sad the Tomatoes seem to be doing well. I know my first Toms are now at about four feet with a good show of fruit on a few of the varieties.
So, now we wait for the Tomatoes and Beans and all the rest of the warm weather crops but don’t forget to start thinking about second crops and the Fall planting, time flies!!
By Rob Burnett