Leafy greens:
This is the first year I've manage to grow salad greens! I think the
slugs usually ate anything that sprouted. This year, I have Swiss
Chard, Cress, "New Zealand Spinach," even a bit of lettuce,
plus beet greens for salad, all doing great! (Failures: the
tat soi and shungiku, very cold-tolerant greens, and some early
lettuce.) The regular spinach has bolted and gotten bitter already.
I'm waiting (hoping) for it to drop its seed for a fall crop.
Legumes:
My peas hit their prime while we were away, unfortunately. I finally
caught up today, picking every one I saw. I hope that spurs another
wave of peapods. It's getting a bit hot for both the peas and the
lettuce, though. The green beans (we refuse to call them Bush beans)
are just starting to come in. The edamame will be ready in a few more
weeks. (I'm sure I will find it easier to buy frozen edamame in the
future than wait months for homegrown ones.)
Cabbage family:
I tried to direct-sow some brocolli, never saw a sprout.
The cabbage always gets eaten by bugs (it's full of holes
again this year, a waste of space unless the chickens will
eat it). For a change, I tried a 28-foot row of brussels
sprouts. We'll see how that goes. More of a "because I can"
than a "because I love it" crop.
Nightshade family:
The tomatoes from Mom are doing great, as usual, but need to be staked.
We had our first tomato from the "Fourth of July" plants around July 14.
There are two tomato plants (one Sungold, one Brandywine) in the dog run
garden. I tied the Sungold branches to the chainlink fence this morning,
and expect bunches there. There were a few 'volunteer' tomatoes, mostly
in the onion bed where the tomatoes were last year, but also one or two
in the pea bed, where the compost went. Most of the plants from Mom are
out in the giant rototilled garden, taking up much of the row. Some purple
basil and marigolds are planted near them.
The golden peppers and eggplants are going very slowly. Granted, I started
them indoors a bit late, but they are still TINY! The tomatilla plants I
got from Grand Isle nursery are doing great, even the one that had to bounce
back from having the top completely bitten off by Destructo (the cousins'
golden lab puppy).
Alliums
The onion sets I planted early in the spring are a great success! They are
about 3" diameter now, and should grow a bit more, too. The garlic (much
from the 'seeds,' some from tiny cloves) got camoflaged by grass, so it's
hard to figure out what to pull--I keep pulling up tiny garlic bulbs when
weeding.
Day before Christmas, 2006: picking brussels sprouts and kale!
Grand Isle postscript: Spring 2007, picked kale and brussels sprouts -- all the better for the winter's touch, and leeks, which are finally getting to a good size in June. I'm leaving him Tansy and Artemesia, as well as the blueberries and bulbs, but am taking many of my purchased perennial herbs, or portions of them, for Sherburne. I've also taken some of his "wild" thyme, oregano and catmint, to hopefully naturalize as thoroughly on my property in Sherburne as it does on his in Grand Isle.