What's happening in the mid May edible garden

Potted lettuce

Saturday, May 20, 2023

Everything is lush and green this time of year.  The edibles are growing quickly.   Salad fixings are in their prime with the summer edibles just getting started.  Herbs are filling out nicely.  By this time of year, we no longer need to purchase produce from the grocery store and can get fresh herbs to add to dishes that make them taste wonderful.

The greens we are eating-French sorrel, spinach, dandelion greens, winter cress, arugula, chick weed, sweet clover, Egyptian Walking onions, celery, Ruby Streaks mustard, Chinese Giant Leaf mustard, sprouting broccoli leaves, orach, many varieties of lettuce and snow peas.  Many are overwintered or volunteers from last year.  I also started different varieties of lettuce and bought a few transplants from the store.  I like to have new lettuces coming on all the time so there is always plenty for salads.

Herbs to add to dishes and salads-garlic chives, regular chives, oregano, thyme, horseradish, Egyptian walking onions, tarragon, sage, young garlic, cilantro.  All are perennials or self-sowers so they come back year after year.

The fruits and veggies-wild strawberries, cultivated strawberries and carrots.  Strawberries are perennial and carrots overwintered and came up from last year's seed.

The flowers that are blooming-irises, spiderwort, roses and petunias.  The herbs and veggies going to seed-yellow flowers of the sprouting broccoli, mustard and cress, yellow dandelion flowers, lavender chive flowers.  Soon, the beautiful purple flowers of sage, the white flowers of thyme, and the white garlic chive flowers.  All veggie and herb flowers are edible.  A fun way to add flavor and beauty to salads or other dishes.

The overwintering and early spring planted lettuce is beginning to bolt so soon there will be the white, yellow and blue flowers from the different kinds of lettuce.  Several carrots are starting to bolt, too.  If not pulled, they have beautiful white flowers resembling Queen Ann's Lace, which they are from the same family, that bees love.

The white and pink peonies and lilacs have already come and gone.  They both were heavy with flowers this spring.  

This week, I weeded I transplanted and fertilized.  I planted out 11 tomato plants and am moving perennials from one bed to other beds.  I tried starting seeds outdoors in pots in April but then was gone most of the month.  I restarted the tomatoes, peppers, basil, eggplant, sage, squash and cucumbers indoors.  They have sprouted.  I'll start moving them into larger pots when they get their second set of leaves.  The cucumber and squash seedlings, I'll transplant into their permanent spot when they get their second set of leaves. I had started beans a few weeks ago in outside pots and they are about a foot tall now. 

It is a good idea to wait 10 days after planting new plants before you give them much fertilizer.  I'll add a diluted liquid fertilizer to all that have their first set of true leaves in the next week.  When I transplant them, I will add char, worm castings and starter to each planting hole.

It's okay to just be getting started in the edible garden with the summer lovers.  You can plant a summer garden into June and still have a nice harvest.

 

I have also have very enterprising voles in the garden.  The good part of this is that they do a great job of loosening up the soil.  The bad part is that if there tunnels go under your plant, there is a good chance, the plant will die.  I've tried electronic deterrents.  Not sure how well they worked.  Voles love mulched areas.  I don't get any in the beds with decorative gravel.  I read recently that they don't like coffee so I may try putting coffee grounds in their tunnels.

Volunteer Red Malabar spinach and Chinese Multicolor amaranth

I have been harvesting the greens by taking only the outer leaves so that the plants will continue to grow.  By harvesting, it stimulates the plant to grow even more leaves.  If you have extra greens, besides lettuce, you can blanch and freeze them.  I still have plenty left in the freezer.  Preservation garden

I am doing good right now on lettuce, but will need to start some more seeds in a couple of weeks.  If you start seeds every 2-3 weeks, it keeps you in lettuce all the way until winter.  This time of year, start the heat tolerant varieties.   I have also moved to using greens that stay sweet during the dog days of summer.  The greens I have found so far that are great lettuce and spinach substitutes in salads are Red Malabar spinach, New Zealand spinach, Perpetual Spinach chard, Chinese Multicolored amaranth, all colors of orach, Chinese Hilton cabbage (doubles as a great wrap, too), sprouting broccoli.  Keep salads going all summer long.