Mid-June Notes

6-12-08

Gold of Bacau Pole Bean

Planting is more or less finished after I finally got the sunflower and zinnia seeds in the ground today. I probably would have done those earlier, but we've got so many volunteer sunflowers that are stretching for the sky that it will nice to have these at their peak when the volunteers are petering out. Still left to do include planting some of the perennial bulbs, tubers, etc that I got for Kari for Mother's Day and arrived a week or so ago. I also still need to prune the lilac. By the time that's done, the garlic will just about be ready to harvest!

Cobblestone Valley Farm opened their strawberry fields on the 14th, the day before Father's Day. I made it down there on the 16th for an overflowing flat--16 pounds for $32. We've been gorging ourselves on berries at every meal since then. I also froze a couple quarts and gave a couple away. Today I made some ricotta cheese that I hope to use to make a strawberry ricotta cheesecake with tomorrow. If all goes well, I'll be back at the farm once or twice more before the season ends to make sure the freezer is stocked and we've had our fill of fresh berries for another year.

6-12-08
Thai Basil

After the terrible heat wave broke a week ago, we had a gorgeous four or five days of 70s/80s and sun. Now we're in the middle of a cool and wet week with temperatures barely getting into the 70s and showers scattered throughout each day. The peas love it and have recovered nicely from the woodchuck snack attack.

Today was all about the woodchuck. Every time I went outside I saw him scurrying out of the garden. This week's casualties include morning glory leaves, chard, lettuce, parsley, and (gasp!) some pole bean leaves. (The next set of leaves have started to come out, so I hope the plants will survive.) I repositioned the trap and tried a few different baits but still no luck. Right now we've got strawberries and some watermelon out there. I've tried carrots and even peanut butter and crackers to no avail. Any suggestions? I think it's a bad time to trap because he's got so much to choose from right now.

Cilantro Forest

6-12-08

As usual, the cilantro reseeded itself last year and has come back in full force.

Grace Episcopal Garden

I had to share with you this post from Cookin' in the Cuse which includes a video from msnbc.com. It looks like they've got a nice garden going over there. I'll have to ride by and check it out some day to see how it's growing.

Jennifer also has a good list of all the local farmer's markets in this post.

Painted Daisy

Chrysanthemum coccineum
6-12-08

Coreopsis

6-8-08

Time to play...plant identification!

I'll post a few pictures of flowers and you tell me what we've got! Here goes...

6-12-08

This seems to be coming from a bulb. It has foliage similar to a hyacinth, but it just bloomed a couple days ago. Those buds you see in the foreground are from the lavender it is next to in the bed.

6-8-08

This is a taller one that happens to be bending over.

6-8-08

This plant has green foliage that hugs the ground and turns reddish as the summer goes on, if I remember correctly. Each plant shoots up a few of these spindly stems with the clumps of little red flowers at the top, about a foot tall.

Greens

6-8-08
This is my favorite mustard green. Nice and pungent. It comes in a mix from Fedco and I've gotten it from Territorial in the past too. Anyone know the exact name? A mizuna maybe?

6-8-08
This rainbow chard is about twice this size today.

6-12-08

And here's the full bed. I planted a short row of rainbow chard and scattered a spicy seed mix for the rest of it. You can also see a broccoli plant I added in a bare spot. I typically don't have a lot of success with greens. Just as they are getting ready to eat many start to bolt because it's become too hot. I know I can fix that by starting the seeds indoors and transplanting them, but I'm not ready to take that step yet. It helps that George keeps us stocked with greens from his garden two doors down.