Harvest Monday–8 July 2013

 

I was travelling last week so my family took care of the garden. They did a pretty good job. They didn’t have to water because there were frequent thundershowers, but unfortunately that meant they didn’t spray. The weekly spraying with copper was missed and when I got to the garden, I found my eggplants covered with flea beetles. Fortunately the damage is minor. I have just about given up trying to grow eggplant. This year I am trying Ping Tung, an oriental eggplant, in the hopes it is more resistant to the beetles.

 

Below are a head of radicchio, starting to bolt in this hot weather, my first fava beans, and my one and only kohlrabi. I am a little concerned by the black specks on the favas. They are not black aphids but spots that start as little blisters on the bean and then turn black. They have not penetrated the shell and the beans inside were not affected. Looking up fava bean diseases, the only thing I found was chocolate spot disease, but no leaves are affected on my beans, just the pods, and it does not look like the photos I have seen.

 

 

These are the first tomatoes of the year, a few Sungolds picked on the Fourth of July, so I met the NE standard for first tomato by the Fourth. I would prefer it to be a big beefsteak tomato, but the Sungolds were tasty. I also grabbed a few stragglers in the garlic bed for some green garlic.

 

 

The chard is coming to its own after being shaded by the now spent lettuces. I am cutting Orange Fantasia, Flamingo, and Bright Lights. I also pulled a Rosso Lunga di Tropea onion for a salad.

 

 

The New Red Fire and Green Ice continue to be bolt resistant despite the hot weather, but not for much longer. The radicchio is also bolting so I have been removing it as it looks close to bolting.

 

 

The garlic is close to being ready and will probably be harvested next week, along with the rest of the fava beans, which are suffering in the heat. I am reseeding all of the items that didn’t germinate, like my Jade beans. The Provider beans germinated nicely and are now almost a foot tall but Jade was a failure, 3 seeds out of 54 emerged (and two have been eaten). Only half the Summer Dance cucumber seeds germinated, so those were also reseeded. After two sowings of mustard greens failed to germinate, I finally started them indoors and now have Green Wave and Red Giant growing nicely and being feasted on by he flea beetles. And all of my squash, which I usually sow directly, have spotty germination and the leaves of those which did germinate are being shredded by something. The only good thing about this is I may miss the SVB hatch that is going on now.

 

That is what happened in my garden last week. To see what other gardeners around the world are harvesting, check out Daphne’s Dandelions, our host for Harvest Monday.