This morning, I harvested the last of my porch lettuce. Temperatures will be in the upper 80s today (and low 90s tomorrow), so I did not want these to bolt. I sadly did not take a picture of the lettuce container before the harvest (it was very pretty), but I immediately planted it with Thai Pepper, Thai basil and nasturtium (those came up in the pot from last year and just moved them). Looks like we are switching from spring to summer …
This morning, I (almost) finished planting my plot. Everything is now in the ground, except the sweet potatoes and okra (I will wait a few more days), and I still have to sow flowers and cilantro. I planted 5 cucamelon plants, 5 pickling cucumbers, 4 slicing cucumbers, 1 zucchini, 4 delicata squash and 3 butternut squash. I also planted two jalapenos, which were a gift. The Sweet Thai basil was planted in between the lettuce seedlings, and the Siam Thai basil along the border of my bed, next to the tomatoes. I also moved some calendulas to different spots in the plot, staked the tomatoes and secured the plants to the stakes with garden velcro. I harvested a handful of strawberries, yay! Usually the slugs, birds or pill bugs get there before I do.
This morning, I planted my tomatoes (11 plants total, 8 varieties). I interplanted them with Italian basil (6 plants) and marigolds (5 plants). I also sowed nasturtium (Alaska Red Shades). I still have to plant the Thai basil, leeks, curcubites and flowers (strawflowers, gomphrena) as well as sow cilantro and flowers (borage, cosmos, zinnias, more nasturtium). I also harvested my two overwintered leeks. The rhubarb is still going strong (three harvests so far), the garlic looks great and the shallots are coming up as well.
I started planting today. Finally! The water in the community garden was turned on a week ago (much later than usual), and we had a Nor’easter a few days ago with the temperatures dropping to the low forties, so I delayed planting until now. This afternoon, I weeded a quarter of my plot and planted lavender, sage (both were seedlings from Neighborhood Farm, all other plants I grew from seed) and parsley, Rainbow Swiss chard, Meadowlark kale, and five types of lettuce: Johnny’s Allstar Gourmet lettuce mix, Johnny’s Salanova green butterhead lettuce, Sandy Hill Preservation Center salad mix, Merlot (leaf) and Black Seeded Simpson (leaf). I then mulched lightly with salt marsh hay and protected the seedlings from the voracious resident rabbits with chicken wire. I plan to put in tomatoes, basil and some flowers later this week. Peppers, cucumbers and squash will go in the week thereafter.
This past weekend, I made rhubarb crisp with the rhubarb from my garden plot. The first use of home-grown produce this season, yay! I used Mark Bittman’s recipe, but substituted sliced almonds for the pecans because of allergies in the family. So good!
Today, I planted my Monique shallots. I was hoping they would be shipped sooner as they are supposed to be planted in early spring and it is getting warmer here, but they just arrived a couple of days ago. I planted four rows of around 6 or 7 each. Fingers crossed it was not too late. This is my second attempt at growing shallots. I planted some in the fall of 2023 together with the garlic, but they did not sprout and just disappeared over the winter.
First harvest of the year! This is my new rhubarb’s third year and the plant is thriving. I cut the flowers for decoration and pulled a good number of stalks. So many more to go! I see a lot of strawberry rhubarb galettes in my near future (recipe here). After four years, I am so excited to finally grow enough rhubarb again for baking!
Today, I repotted my ginger. Some of the pieces were moldy (about a third of them), and the healthy stalks have been flopping over as they are now too tall to be supported in a seed flat. The two tallest stalks are now three and a half feet tall! I replanted the healthy pieces that had shoots or roots into a 12 inch-wide shallow plant container. I will need to keep the planter indoors for a few more weeks, at least during the night.
Today, I started my cucumbers, squash and cucamelons: four slicing cucumbers, six pickling cucumbers, two zucchini, three butternut, three delicata squash, and a six-pack of cucamelons. I always plant two seeds per cell (except for the zucchini), and thin them after germination to leave the strongest one. I won’t need as many seedlings as I started, and I plan to give away any extras.
Over the past few years, I have been battling fungal diseases in my garden plot, specifically mildew with the cucumbers and zucchini. The cucumbers in particular have been succumbing early in the summer to disease. So, over the winter, I did some research on disease-resistant varieties and decided to only plant mildew-resistant curcubites this year. By selecting resistant varieties, I hope to extend the harvesting season. For slicing cucumbers, I went with Diva; for pickling cucumbers with Max Pack. Both are resistant to downy mildew and powdery mildew. For Zucchini, I went with Costata Romanesca, a striped Italian heirloom that is resistant to powdery mildew. For winter squash, I opted for Waldo butternut and Bush Delicata, both resistant to powdery mildew.
I also looked into the tomatoes I am planting this season. Three of the eight varieties that will go in my plot are resistant to several diseases: Stupice (late blight), Black Krim (unspecified “disease resistance”), Green Zebra (late blight, Septoria leaf spot). So is Mountain Magic, a cherry tomato I am growing for the communal bed, which is resistant to early and late blight as well as several types of fusarium wilt and other fungal diseases.
