Our weird summer weather continues. We're in yet another cool, wet period. One-half inch of rain accumulated in our rain gauge over night. Today we didn't collect any appreciable amount, but we did get enough sprinkles on and off during the day, along with stiff winds, to keep me out of the garden.
First thing this morning the forecast was for a high in the low 60s during the day and a low in the low 40s tonight. We never made it out of the 50s all day and the temp now at 7 p.m. is 51°. Good for the two of us who tend to melt in the heat and humidity, but not so good for growing tomatoes, corn, squash, eggplant and the like.
But truth to tell, the garden is at least looking good right now. I'm caught up on all the weeding and have planted out spots made bare by pulling the first salad greens, spinach, radishes, etc. Hubby mowed the lawn surround the gardens a couple of days ago and things are lookin' pretty spiffy out there. It may be soggy, but it sure is lush and green.
Here's the very first picking (yeah, I rushed it a bit) of my edible podded peas.
I planted only four feet of them (actually eight feet if you count both sides of the trellis) because I've never been able to freeze them so they don't come out limp and mushy. They're still good in soups and stews but once you know what they taste like fresh, that just doesn't measure up. So we'll be doing our best to eat all of them that we can fresh . . . heated until still tender crisp in boiling water, drained, butter and salt added . . . we can make a meal of them. Many thanks to Carolyn Renee for sending me these wonderful pea seeds this year.
My slicing cucumbers are just learning to crawl around and investigate their surroundings. Come on, guys, you've got a long way to go.
Speaking of having a long way to go, here is a portion of the area containing my second planting of corn with rows of pumpkins interspersed. The corn is about 2-1/2 ft. high but the pumpkin plants are still so small I don't have much hope of them setting fruit and maturing. It's just been too darn cold around here this summer.
If weather permits, I'll take and post more pictures of the garden tomorrow. Then in a week, I'll do the comparison pictures of the gardens June 1st, July 1st and August 1st. Even though a lot of the crops are very slow this year, the gardens are about at their best appearance-wise right now. Everything (well, almost) is green and growing and yet it hasn't gotten all blowsy and spent yet. At any rate, I'm thinking the August 1st pictures are gonna look a lot different than those from July 1st.
10 comments:
snow peas are excellent in stir fry, how do you freeze them, should just blanch, dry, package and freeze. I saw on the news last night you were still getting rain. Nada here, oh well, July is almost over, time is going fast, hopefully summer will get out of here fast too. Heard we are supposed to have an early fall. Good for me, maybe not so good for you. You and Papa Pea may have to put in a supply of dried beans and rice is that garden doesn't produce enough to can or freeze. At least we have alternatives our ancestors didn't have, we can go to Wally World and stock up if we have to.
BTW 7:00 p.m. and it is still 101 down from 108 on my thermometer today ................ it was 91 at 10:00 p.m. last night. Box up your garden and send to me, no don't, I don't want to have to go out in the heat to keep it watered.
We are having the same weather you are up here in NH. My winter squashes are starting to grow fruit, but my pumpkins are about the same size as yours. I am hoping to avoid buying any this year. We mostly want them to carve and for roasting the seeds. I'll can some of them.
Our garden is doing well so far, but then we planted the most we've ever planted too. So we're bound to have something to harvest right? Our pumpkins are small too. I picked our first zucchini though! Both kinds of peas are doing well. Salad greens are doing well and finally my broccoli did well - yay! Everything else is lush and green. I'm still hoping for a late autumn but I'll probably be disappointed on that one :-/
Tombstone Livestock - Yep, that how I freeze them. They are yummy in stir fry but I'm happy just heating them up and putting over rice. Maybe with some sauteed onions and mushrooms. I sure hope we don't have an early fall but signs are pointing that way.
Every time I get cranky about something in the garden not producing I think about our ancestors who RELIED on what they could grow to eat. We, today, are so fortunate to have other alternatives, aren't we?
Tombstone Livestock - I've said it before . . . you have to be one tough gal to live and raise animals where you do. I couldn't do it!
Heather Duncan - Last year I grew big, beautiful pumpkins I used for decoration that were selling for $7-$10 in the stores. This year I may have to do without because I don't think mine will make it and I'm betting the cost to buy will be even higher. Let's hope for a long fall, okay?
Freedom Acres Farm - We've had two small zucchini. One I sliced into scrambled eggs and one I sliced into a tossed salad. I haven't even seen any heads forming on my broccoli yet. Hrumpf. Here's our latest mantra: No frost until mid-October, no frost until mid-October, no frost . . .
Yeah, that's how mine started out too. Looking good and then it all kinda went to...Well, you get the picture. I went out today to see if there's any tomatoes out there to pick.
Got some but got the blight now too. Oh well. There's always next year!
Tami - By reading your blog this summer, it sounds like our coolness has fallen all the way down to you folks. Great not to be roasting but it sure does confuse the veggies in the garden! Sorry to hear about the tomato blight. Is that getting more common all over the country . . . or does it just seem that way?
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