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broodings from the burrow

June 8, 2010


early june garden report
posted by soe 12:07 am

I thought I’d share some photos from Rudi’s and my community garden plot because I don’t think I’ve done that yet this season:

Rudi at the Garden

Rudi surveys the week’s growth.

Chard

Our chard re-seeded itself after last year and was our first crop of the season.

Rosemary

This is the rosemary plant our neighbors gave us to replace the one that was plant-napped earlier in the season. It seemed safer to plant it down in the garden, rather than where it would inevitably be stolen by some unscrupulous person.

Strawberries

This was our third season for our strawberry plants and the year they really came into their own. We got no berries the first year, a few last year, and have now harvested two bunches of strawberries and will get at least one more.

The First Beans

Green beans — still covered with fuzz.

The First Peas

Shelling peas — still more shell than pea.

Cabbage

We planted some seedlings — tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, kale, and cabbage. The cabbage and the kale are now huge. The farmer we bought them from said we can just harvest the outer leaves and the plants should keep us in leafy greens for a good amount of time.

Salad Greens

The salad greens are abundant — we planted two types of lettuce, two types of spinach, and arugula.

Arugula Flowers

The arugula has gone to seed (as has one variety of spinach) already because I didn’t stay on top of it.

The Back of the Garden

Here’s the back of the garden — peas and kale are what’s growing in the center of the shot.

Beans and Peppers and Berries

Beans and peppers and strawberries — and the neighbor’s garden in the background. They are growing a healthy crop of weeds right now, but I expect to see it cleared in a week or two. They usually tackle the planting in June.

Potatoes and Peanuts

This might appear to be a forgotten patch of earth, but instead where we planted our potatoes and our peanuts. I believe what’s popping out is all just the potatoes, but it could be peanuts because I don’t know what the plants look like. (Don’t worry. I’ll figure it out soon.)

Bugger

And we aren’t the only ones enjoying our garden patch. This fellow thought our kale plants were just grand.

So that’s it right now. But I will say that it’s really cool to walk home from the garden with a whole tote bag of things you’ve grown — two containers of strawberries, a bag of spinach, a bag of lettuce and arugula, and a bag of cabbage and kale.

Category: garden. There is/are 4 Comments.



Yay, garden!! All of those lettuces look amazing! I keep thinking I should try growing lettuces, but I have no idea how to deal w/ them – when do you pick the leaves? What leaves do you pick? AHH! Too confusing!! 😉

Comment by Jenn 06.08.10 @ 7:11 am

@Jenn: Actually, lettuces are way easier than I expected them to be. They grow from seed in a matter of weeks. When you pick the leaves is all dependent on how young you like your lettuce — young like mesclun or bigger leaves. And then the general rule of thumb is to pick from the outside. Pick the bigger leaves and leave the newer ones to grow for your next salad. The only thing is that if you don’t stay on top of them, they’ll go to seed (like my arugula has).

Comment by soe 06.08.10 @ 8:21 am

I’m so envious! I have my first lettuce growing in window boxes on our deck, but I’d love to have a fenced-in area for all those vegetables that you have. We have too many deer and rabbits to grow vegetables without major protection.

I’d love to try raspberries some day, my weakness in the fruit department. YUM.

Comment by Debby 06.08.10 @ 1:48 pm

@Debby: We each have our own concerns about the garden. I don’t have to battle deer (although the holes I found in the back bit of the garden suggest I do have other pests to contend with), but I can’t be at my garden after dark because it’s definitely a shady area. I’m not sure if it’s male prostitution or drugs that are being sold, but I’m pretty sure it’s one or the other. But when the sun starts to set, I make sure I’m skedaddling back to more populated regions…

My MiL grows raspberries in her garden. Very tasty, but they can take over your whole space if you aren’t careful.

Comment by soe 06.08.10 @ 2:06 pm