Harvest Monday–16 July 2012

Well, it is definitely summer now! The past few days’ highs have been in the 90s and we are looking at another week of 90+ weather, with occasional thunderstorms. Plus all the bugs and disease. At least we are now getting some summer crops which makes up for it. Powdery Mildew has arrived in the garden, affecting some summer and winter squash plants (but thankfully none of mine). Last year I had a lot of trouble with PM, which killed my zucchini after just a few fruits. It turns out there is a simple, organic spray based on milk that helps prevent PM infection. You can find the recipe in my post on the BCG blog here. A follow-up inspection showed the plants in the photos there had significantly improved and were showing only a few spots of mildew after spraying with the milk solution, so it seems to be pretty effective as well as easy and cheap.

I had my last two endive plants bolt but the escarole has been hanging in there. This is one of my last two heads, weighing in at about a pound.



Some more chard and the last of the mustard, which has now bolted. I pulled the mustard and will replant at the end of August.



While pulling a large weed that I found after I removed the row cover from my squash, I disturbed the roots of this red onion, so I decided it was better to pull it. The garlic scapes were given to me by another gardener. I found the entire scape except for the bulb at the top to be woody and inedible. So what is the deal with scapes, I thought they were edible? These had not formed a coil so I assume they were not cut too late.



My first peppers, two Hungarian wax peppers. And more snow and snap peas, close to the last of them. The heat is getting to them.



So I lied when I said the lettuce was finished. These were volunteers from the compost applied to the raised beds. The red lettuce was found growing in the beets. Good thing I’m a casual weeder. You get gifts like this from being lazy.



I decided to cut the last head of escarole, figuring it would last longer in the refrigerator than in the garden given the heat we are experiencing. At the bottom is my first squash, a Costata Romanesco.




The squash are now starting to produce. The yellow patty pans are Sunbust, a great squash with a creamy texture and nutty flavor. Below them is my second Costata Romanesco. Broccoli sprouts to the left and snow/snap peas to the right. At the bottom of the photo are my first tomatoes, four Sungold and a couple of Black Cherry. Note that a pair of the Sunburst squash seem to have fused together.





This week I should be picking beans from the Provider bush beans, with the Fresh Pick beans probably a week later. There will more squash and a few tomatoes. The cucumbers seem to be taking their time getting going. You would think they would like the hot weather. Well, hopefully that means they will have a long, productive life and not succumb to disease right away.

That’s all from my garden last week. To see what others around the world are harvesting from their gardens, head over to Daphne’s Dandelions.