What's happening in the mid July edible garden

Edible garden

Sunday, July 11, 2021

This year's garden is behind previous years for summer vegetables.  We had a typical spring with cool days into May.  We have not had that in years.  The summer veggies were planted about 3 weeks later than in recent years.  They are 1-3 weeks behind in being ready to harvest.

 For summer veggies, I am harvesting red goji berries, Aronia berries, wild blackberries, White eggplant that overwintered in the house, Turkish Orange eggplant, Amadeo eggplant, AO Daimaru eggplant, Chocolate Pear cherry tomatoes, White cucumber, a volunteer green cucumber, a volunteer yellow cucumber, a volunteer squash, my overwintered Chipetin hot pepper bush, my overwintered Long Thin Cayenne, quinoa, New Zealand spinach, Red Malabar spinach, orach and Multicolored Chinese amaranth for salads.

The summer veggies getting close to picking are the larger tomatoes, okra, snap beans, volunteer tomatillo and basil.  Just one of my large tomatoes on Cherokee Purple vine is starting to ripen.  The rest have only small green fruits-Red Pear paste, Kentucky Beefsteak, and Granny Cantrell.

Most of my garden bed tomatoes are not doing great this year.  I planted them in a different location since we are in the middle of a renovation.  This spot gets a lot more shade and the voles have been going to town.  You should never plant tomatoes in the same spot 2 years in a row and it is best if not for 4 years.  To be on the safe side, I went and bought 4 more tomato plants that I put in large pots in a sunnier spot.  I got Big Beef,  Bonnie's Our Favorite Tomato, Sweet Million, and Super Sweet 100 tomatoes.  I sowed seed for the Italian heirloom Red Pear paste tomato. 

This year, I'll need to preserve basil as we enjoyed lots of pesto this past year.  Pesto is my favorite way of preserving basil.  Basil basics-harvesting, preserving, growing basil   

Volunteer squash

The vine borer got my zucchini vines.  I cut one that looked like it was still alive and replanted the end in the dirt.  I have started another one from seed.   Everything you need to know to grow squash

The onions, lettuce, strawberries, Chinese Hilton cabbage, sprouting broccoli, kale, cultivated dandelions and chard continue to produce. 

My garlic is pulled and hardened off so it is ready to store the extras.  I always save the biggest cloves for planting in the fall.  My favorite way to preserve garlic is to pickle it.  Super easy and the garlic lasts for years this way.  Have garlic any time you need it, just pickle some!  I've found this is the best way to preserve garlic for using year round.  I tried keeping the whole cloves, but most would disintegrate by early winter.

I started making pickles to preserve the extra cucumbers.  My husband loves pickles on his burgers.  You don't have to do any fancy canning with a pressure cooker.  Just mix together a few herbs from the garden and some vinegar, add sliced cucumbers and you have pickles!  Make your own pickles without a store bought seasoning mix   So far, the White Wonder cucumbers have tough skins and many seeds so am slicing those and eating fresh.  It's ideal to plant cucumbers bred for pickles to get the best balance between the flesh, seeds and softer skins but any work. 

  I freeze the extra strawberries, blackberries and blueberries, blanching is not needed for these fruits to preserve the flavor.  I will put some of the frozen berries into a bowl that I cover with balsamic vinegar that I can store in the frig for a couple of weeks.  Vinegar is a great preserver and the balsamic vinegar tastes great with the berries over yogurt, ice cream or whipped cream.  I dry the goji and Aronia berries.  

I am using amaranth, Red Malabar spinach, orach, Hilton Chinese cabbage, kale, sprouting broccoli, New Zealand spinach, and cultivated dandelions for salads.   For kale, sprouting broccoli, mustard and other summer greens extras, I will blanch and freeze the extras.  Freezing the extras for winter

For all my herbs, there is plenty to use fresh with extras to harvest.  I will dry them.  I am currently harvesting bay, sage and tarragon.   Harvest and preserve your herbs  I use tarragon as a substitute for cilantro in the summer.  Cilantro bolts early in summer but tarragon goes right through frost.  Tarragon has a different flavor than cilantro but it  still adds a refreshing taste to salsa.  Quick and fresh homemade salsa

Oregano, bolted carrots, and thyme are in full bloom.  The bees love their tiny flowers!  These herbs could be cut and dried now, but I love the flowers and will wait until fall.

I make sure the pots get water 2-3 times a week and fertilized every other week.  I had to start watering the garden beds in May.  We are getting wet spells and then long dry spells.  Garden beds need a deep watering once a week.  If I don't get at least 1" of rain during the week, I do a deep watering with a drip hose.  Garden beds get nitrogen monthly in the form of blood meal.  For the squash, cucumbers, snap beans, and tomatoes, I am using an organic fungicide every other week.  So far, no sign of fungal disease but this is the time of year it really gets going.  Summer garden tips

We are harvesting the vegetables and fruits that are synonymous with a backyard garden.  Soon it will be time to plant for continuing the harvest into fall and winter.  The garden keeps me busy year round.  It is so nice to be able to watch things grow and have fresh produce all year right out your back door.