This year, I planted “Black Seeded Simpson” leaf lettuce and wasn’t all that impressed. It wasn’t bad, but it was the only thing in the garden that I didn’t look forward to harvesting more of after I took the first bunch. The spinach also was a disappointment, but only because it all didn’t come up. Next year I think I will skip the leaf lettuce and just plant more romaine and spinach, or choose a red variety of lettuce.
More
Just picked some more, straight from the garden!
More about next year
When I made the plan for this year, I tried to sneak a square of lettuce between the three pea plants. The thought on this was to spread the peas apart and give them more room on the trellis. Good in theory. In reality, the trellis got in the way of the lettuce plants and the peas enveloped them so they basically quit growing. Next year, the spots underneath the trellises are for plants that need them.
Just from one day
Here is everything I harvested in just a few minutes today, and there is plenty more for tomorrow…
New stuff for next year
When planning the garden for this year, I thought I read that potatoes would only grow about 18 inches. Boy was I wrong! Mine are about twice that! Next year, I need to arrange to have these in the back, or perhaps in front of something early like peas or broccoli. Perhaps I could add a new bed of only onions and potatoes?
Stuff for next year
Every time I walk around my gardens I see something I wish I did differently or something I would like to add. So I am actually able to remember 8 months from now, I decided to add a category Called Notes for Next Year for these bits of information. That way, I can look back and see all the notes in the dead of winter when planning for next year.
What do I do with all this?
There are some vegetables where I have never ventured past the canned versions (like green beans). So having a pound of freshly picked ones forced me to find something to do with them. Obviously, I went to google to figure this out. This recipe was one of the first in the results and sounded good to me. Like it says, you can’t go wrong with bacon and potatoes. I substituted green onions for the red ones since I have so many, but otherwise made it exactly as shown. My wife and I both thought it was wonderful. I was especially excited because every vegetable in it was grown in my back yard. I paired it with grilled zucchini because, as everyone knows, one zucchini plant will produce enough to feed a small town, and I had plenty. I made grilled paprika chicken (also a spur-of-the-moment google find) that was also quite tasty. I liked it so much that will probably make this same meal again in the next few weeks.
The good news
Whoever the fine, upstanding individual that was was trying to add spam comments (about 2000 a day) on this wonderful, completely unknown blog has stopped. The good news is I should (hopefully) get to spend less time reading comments about generic Canadian drugs. The bad news is that my statistical reporting numbers are now down to their (absolutely pathetic) actual levels.
This week
I’ve been harvesting something about every other day recently, most of which has been zucchini. I have been updating the Plan page with the yields as they come in, which so far are what I expected. The bean plants still look a little off, but I am harvesting something from them now so I think I will just take what I can get and not worry about it this year. The tomatoes look awesome, and I actually have peppers this year!
The broccoli and pea seeds I planted for the fall have already sprouted which makes me excited for what I might be able to get in the fall.
Started some for the fall
I might be a little late, but I started some broccoli for the fall. I think it was supposed to be started a few weeks ago, but with a little luck, I’ll get something from it. I also planted some cilantro seeds since my other plants disappeared or may not have even germinated. I’m not sure what happened, but I hadn’t been paying attention to them so I am not surprised.