July 6th 2012: Garden Update

(note: reader beware...i fully intended to just post pictures and somehow its morphed into a giant novel about vegetables. I sincerely apologize in advance.)

I've been a little slack on my garden updates. Must be because I have something else to grow and take care of :) And she is much cuter!

I mostly want to post details and pictures for my own record keeping, so ignore the excessive descriptions of vegetables and the photo bomb if you'd like.

Up until recently the weather has been really crappy. Barely into the 60s-70s and rainy! Now that July has hit we are almost into the 80s and it's forecasted to get into the 90s within the next week or two. Yippee!!

The garden definitely needs some heat.

I don't have harvest pictures, but at this point I've been eating mostly A TON of snap peas. So glad that I planted nearly 7 ft of them (thanks to my sister who helped me while I was pregnant!)

I've also been nibbling on a few raspberries and strawberries, neither of which have made it into the house or to Dan (sorry!).

The kale as you can see below is doing amazing. If only I knew a way to keep up with eating it. It has been frequenting our smoothies regularly though. I think I'm going to harvest a bunch soon and blanch and freeze it for the winter and soup season.

We've also of course been enjoying fresh cilantro (although I like to let it flower because the white buds are so pretty and delicate!) and lots of lettuce. I have a super bad habit of wanting only the freshest of lettuce and not picking it in time before it bolts. Oops! Thus, Dan and I ate a slightly bitter salad for dinner tonight. Oh well!

Also, I never really got a good batch of spinach going this spring, so I'm banking on putting in a nice sized fall crop (I like how I use the word "crop" like I've got acres and acres of land...oh in my sweet sweet dreams!)

Also, this year I've planted cucumbers in mass because I can never seem to get the plants to grow big enough before the bugs get them. So hears to lots of pickles!!

Ummm...the corn is teeny tiny. Not enough sunlight. Pathetic. Also, it went in a bit late after the chinese cabbage - which was a bust, btw. Too many slugs. I hate those things. I wouldn't be sad if I never saw another slug in my life...so sooo slimy. And they eat everything! Anyways, I'll try the cabbage again this fall. Probably need to start it now...hmmmm.

Beets - hahahahahahaha! (that is the beet god laughing at my ridiculous repeated attempts to grow the darn things! I can't for the life of me grow them!)

Potatoes - we planted the organic blue version. Um, not sure how they are doing. They give me anxiety. I felt the same last year and didn't know how exactly to maximize the yield (again, what am I some kind of cash crop farmer?!?!). Hilling them stressed me out. So let's hope they are somehow growing big and beautifully blue. Thankfully, a few french fingerling volunteers from last year sprouted. They were so delicious that I completely forgot to save some to plant this year!

Carrots - I would be exaggerating if I said I had 2 of them growing. What the heck happened this year? I sowed them 3 times and nothing! Grrrr! But I'll stupidly keep trying...

Tomatoes - actually they are just starting to take off. I have faith in trusty territorial seed. Ive got quite a few green fruits growing on 6 different plants. I think this time last year I only had a couple of my very early cherry tomatoes ripe, so we are not too far behind.

And beans! Oh the green (and purple!) beans we will soon have! The first rotation of bush beans are practically ready and I can't wait! I'm also super eager to try the Royal Burgundy beans. They are the purple ones and look fun to eat.

I'm also growing pole beans this year and it's amazing watching them climb the trellis. I'm going to have a ton of runners climbing soon!

Well, I guess I just made up for all my missing garden posts. Haha!

Now wake up and go do something productive with yourself. No more blog hopping!! :)