Garden weekend - June 19
Saturday, June 19. Hot - 85 degrees, but a stiff south wind blowing. Sweat bees around.
Yesterday turned out to be a great garden day.
On hand - Tim, Naaz, Scott and his brother Jeff (thanks!), Carolyn, Sal, and me.
We spent the day weeding and mowing. Above, Scott’s in the onion and greens section. The onions look amazing. The garden itself looked rough when we went down to get started, and pretty amazing when we left. That’s the beauty of a CSA - everyone pitches in, and everyone benefits.
Here’s Scott picking the last of the salad (before we turn it under and replant):
You can see the tomatoes have made some progress:
Weeding the beans:
Tim watering corn transplants. We only grow Johnnyseed Delectable corn, it consistently does great in our rocky, clay-filled soil. We plant several rows at different times, so it doesn’t all ripen at once. Note how we plant corn in between the squash (black mulch) rows. This is the concept of the “three sisters”, an Indian concept that suggests growing beans, corn, and squash together. The corn comes up first, then beans climb the cornstalks, and squash snake in between the rows.
If it worked for the native Americans, it works for us.
Sal in the beans, this is our best-ever bean crop. Largely because we planted all the beans under row covers. It’s easy…just drag the row covers over the beans, and weight the edges down with some rocks. Leave it there for two weeks, and presto - perfect beans.
Jeff putting up training wire in the concord grapes.
Tim walking between the squash, corn, and pumpkins.
Weeding the beets…
And finally, part of the day’s bounty - garlic scapes. These will last until Christmas in a ziploc bag in the refrigerator. Best grilled, or chopped and cooked in butter. You can make pesto out of them, or put them on burgers. They’re even great pureed in mashed potatoes. Their taste is very mild, but decidedly garlic.
