Discussion Board

Hello, gardening McDougallers!

Summer is setting in here--and though all of the summer crops like tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, zucchini are growing well, none look ready for harvest for quite some time. It's a s-l-o-w season this year.

In the meantime, I picked my basil crop (my husband calls it 'pesto on the hoof') and in the process I figured out exactly how to know when it's time to pick the basil. You know when it gets that little flower bud on top? Well, go back in time about three days and it will be perfect. I had to compost quite a bit of it, but at least there's enough tender leaves there for a batch of pesto later today.

I picked UP another couple pounds of nice apricots from the ground. Our apricot tree has rarely produced anything during the past 10 years or so since I planted it. This year it's a bonanza! I canned 7 small jars of apricot preserves and have two batches of ready-to-cook apricots in the freezer. We had some of the preserves on pancakes. Yum! (The preserves have sugar in them, but I figure it's no worse than maple syrup which we occasionally have on pancakes.)

Another strange thing is our leeks--I plant leeks every year and we usually start harvesting them in the fall. This year, they are already ENORMOUS in July! Why is that? Maybe they really like cool weather? So, I started pulling (digging, actually) every other one to leave them more space. By fall, these will be as big as TREES! We had a wonderful potato-leek stew last night. I wonder if I should dry some of them in the dehydrator? Has anyone dried leeks before?

I suddenly realized, with my expanded garden and the long delay in plant growth, once the tomatoes, etc are ready I am going to be VERY BUSY around here! I am pleased, but dreading it at the same time! What have I gotten myself into?

I look forward to hearing more about your gardens!

That's good advice about the basil. Ours was in full flower again this year before we really got into it.

We have a small garden, mainly growing in half wine barrel containers. Our cucumbers are starting to come in. We will pick Japanese eggplant and the sweet banana peppers today. We picked all of the apricots from our 3 year old tree, but the white peaches are still not quite ripe.

My DH discovered two branches on the asian pear tree that were pretty much broken from the weight of all the fruit. So he finished the job and took them off . I have 41 un-ripe asian pears in a bowl on my kitchen counter. Sigh. I hope they'll be edible, we'll see.

Our straggly little tomato plant is finally growing (we started from seed) so hopefully I'll get some tomatoes in a month or two.

Overall, our garden has been a disappointment this year. Everything is smaller, and I think we're spending so much on water that it is not paying off for us as we had hoped.

It's nice reading what everyone else is harvesting - it all sounds yummy - apricot preserves sound great, AnnaS!

Well, after having spent several weeks going crop by crop ( first asparagus, then strawberries, and peas), I am finally starting to have choices ! To my delight my cucumbers are producing, I probably can pick my first green beans tomorrow, the new kale is big enough to pick, as is the swiss chard and some beets, the basil is hearty, and I have been harvesting broccoli and kolrabi for two weeks, or so. Everything else is growing nicely. I have learned more than once to not expect a ripe tomato until late July (...and if I write that I cannot wait, it will feel a bit like wishing my life away, but we all know a gardener lives for the first tomato!) Life is good. Best to all, Gail

I'm sorry about your asian pears. Sometimes a drastic pruning like that can have a good effect on the tree though--you may see some benefit next year. I know what it's like to be short of water. We had eight years of drought here and it was unpleasant and stressful. A number of my younger fruit trees died because I couldn't bear to pump water to them--it seemed wasteful and kind of hopeless anyway; also the raspberries died out and a few other things.
Now this year we have water, water everywhere--really too much water but I'm NOT complaining! It's such a relief not to worry about that for once.

Our garden has been such a disappointment that I have stayed away from this section of the forum.

The sun is cooking the plants and the crappy soil doesn't hold water well. The material we added to the soil was not nearly enough; it needs years of improvement. We selected plants native and/or adapted to the area here but that hasn't helped. The sunflowers were all stunted and few produced blooms; those blooms were the size of daisies. We finally had a good patch of corn, beans, and squash going until a microburst from a thunderstorm flattened most of the corn. The surviving squash plants are putting out lots of male blossoms but no females. The tomato plant has ripe tomatoes on it. I thought it was a cherry tomato plant but my husband tells me they are supposed to be big tomatoes.

All I can say is thank goodness for my CSA. And I can't wait until we get our own place where we can really invest in the soil for longterm gardening!

What a bummer, Chile. I am familiar with disappointment in gardening, although in my case usually the story is about rabbits or grasshoppers...

I think you're exactly right about the soil needing to be built up. It does take years, BUT using cover crops and tilling them in you can get a perfectly adequate soil for growing vegetables in under a year. It's amazing what these can do. When you get situated and need info on this, let me know and I can point you toward resources.

I've been cutting chard out of the garden like crazy. Zucchini and patty pan are coming on fast as well as my green beans and wax beans. I even dug some new potatoes out of the ground for dinner last night. I cut a ton of basil (genovese and lemon basil), thyme, oregano and parsley to dry. Next week I will have tons of basil to make copious amounts of pesto. There is still a lot of lettuces in the garden as well as a ton of green onions and some red onions. The blackberries and the black raspberries are also in full swing.

I hate when you put all that effort in and get nothing. That's what always happened to me and my crappy little bed I had. This year though the moon and sun, and rain all came together perfectly. I like years like this.

I have three squash plants producing right now, and daily I'm getting squashes. Yesterday evening (we had rain the previous night all night long) I picked five squash. Also one onion that jumped out of the ground. The broccoli isn't doing well, I was too late to plant, but no worries, fall crop is coming.

WOW - I've never had an apricot off a tree - only in stores. Wish I could pick some up of your ground.

Watermelons, cantaloupe and figs and tomatoes and peppers are what we are mostly harvesting right now. I am eating so many figs that my dh calls me FIGLET!

Thanks for sharing.

LALA

Well, yipeee!! Those 41 asian pears in the bowl on my kitchen counter are being eaten.
Our fuji apple tree is doing great and I'm starting to pick apples off of it one by one.
The figs are also almost ready and I'm going to have lots of those.
And lastly - a NEWS FLASH - the grapefruit tree has 4 little grapefruits on it. My DH discovered those. I was not bothering to look at the poor little scraggly thing.
The vegetable garden looks kind of yucky, but we'll have a few more carrots and beets, a couple of green onions, and I think it's either the cantalope or cucumbers that are starting to spread out. I can't tell the difference between the two at this point. The tomato plant is growing, ever so slowly, but hopefully we'll get some sometime in the near future, I hope, I hope.

Thank you all for posting what you are harvesting - it gives me some ideas and hope for my future gardening endeavors!!

Lala and luvoatmeal, I am in awe of your fig trees! They don't survive in our climate and as a matter of fact, I've never even seen one, that I know of! I don't even know what a freshly-picked fig tastes like.

Today I dug out some of my garlic harvest, as the plants are just about done. My "Bavarian Purple" stiffneck garlic did not do very well and the harvest is relatively small, but the "Western Rose" softneck garlic did great! Once I finish digging it all there will be about 80 bulbs, most of those pretty large and nice-looking. I will save the best ones to re-plant this fall. By next year, I should be able to grow all our own, a one-year's supply including some extra (I hope) for gifts.

I have read about garlic that it adapts to your climate and soil rather quickly, so when you start saving and replanting, you soon develop a strain of garlic that is especially well-suited to your own conditions. This is how our predecessors, even fairly recently, grew most of their food--from locally adapted varieties. We have the glorious option of getting seeds from all over the world, which is fun, but we have lost some of the well-adapted local network as a result. This is something I am trying to integrate, gradually, into my gardening routine--some seedsaving.

AnnaS,
Figs(I have the green skinned variety, there are also purple-y colored ones) have a very delicate sweet flavor. They are a pretty pink inside, and very soft. They are a real special treat. When I was growing up we had a huge fig tree, and my dad would go out and pick figs in the morning, slice them up and sprinkle powdered sugar on them. We would have them with our sausage and eggs in the morning.
Now I eat them plain - they are so good who needs sugar on them, and I sure don't eat sausage and eggs anymore!!
The tree, at least mine, looks more like a bush because it is very full and low to the ground. The leaves are a pretty light green and very large.

Your garlic sounds interesting - I didn't even know there are different varieties. That is why I have been enjoying reading what everyone is harvesting -I'm learning about veggies and herbs I have never heard of or seen

Have a great day!

Yes the garlic DOES sound interesting and enticing!

Here's a pic of some figs before I FIGGED out!



I'm on my way to pick some right now as a snack after work!

LALA

Very beautiful Lala - Enjoy!!