updates for the coming season

So here are some things you might want to know:

Potatoes should be in bloom or nearly finished (remember our micro-climates) When they bloom that signals the plant to start making potatoes. So if you want tiny new potatoes just wait a couple of weeks from the bloom. If you want nice big potatoes then wait until Sept or later when the plant completely dies down. Clear it up as it does so and then wait a nice week to dump the can. Let's hope it's not raining.

Next is peas. No where else in the U.S is peas a summer crop but here in the northwest. I'm sure everyone else thinks we are crazy to be complaining in nearly August that our peas are starting to yellow and die down. So harvest what you have and be glad. Remember you can plant something else. Peas are a yellow, spring card so no tears please!

I ordered my fall variety seeds and they have arrived. Fall beets, fall kale, fall carrots, etc. August is the month to fill in the garden blanks with the orange fall crops. My favorite being kale which is heavenly only after a fall frost! There are fall salad mix seeds too. Look at your seed catalog and find something to plant for fall.

Next bit of business too far ahead for some to think but garlic we must talk about garlic and shallots. I have harvested all of mine and it is dried and today it went into mesh bags for storage. It gives me a solid feeling to have these two bags of garlic. A center of my cooking. If you order your garlic plants too late they will be sold out. We get our garlic in time to plant them in late Sept. early Oct. Plan a spot they can go in your garden. They get tall, they stay in the ground until late June to late July. Plan ahead and order them in the next couple of weeks.

Remember to add compost to your squares each time you remove a plant and get ready to add a new one. Just a scoop or two. Here is my list of what I'm doing in my garden:

1. sprayed the potatoes for rust spot and the squash for white leaf mold
2. blanched and froze several bags of peas but not near as much as in years past
3. Am watching the little tiny bush beans, the tiny peppers and tiny zucchini in three colors!
4. Collecting the over planting of Kale and blanching and freezing
5. Watering daily. Mels mix is not like your soil, it's 6 inches up off the ground and it dried out in so much heat. You don't use as much water to get it wet but I do have to water all pots and square foot mels mix daily.
6. I still collect lettuce and replant both the choi's and lettuce as I eat it. My chives are going crazy and I'm sharing them with everyone.
7. Have my eye's on the onions. We are eating the ones too close to one another. Very yummy as is the garlic. I put some mels mix over the onions that got too exposed. With mel's mix being so light I won't stop the onions from growing as big as they like. Onions are harvested when the tops die, don't let them make blooms it causes the onions to rot ready to make seed!
8. ordered my fall/winter seeds and my garlic for fall planting.
9. Ate two yellow cherry tomatoes. yum
10. Herbs are doing better so finally I am collecting them. We had some great thyme on some veggies last night
11. Tied the potato branches that were beginning to brake into a nice bundle to hold them up.
12. Tied the onions up so they wouldn't droop down to collect slugs
13 yes I'm still doing my nightly slug walks.
14. I've planted beets where the garlic was I'm craving pickled beets!

What am I eating, garlic, shallots, kale, peas, chard, spinach, 2 tiny sweet tomatoes, choi's, lettuce, broccoli, basil, beet greens, onions all kinds, leeks. Raspberries (I'm keeping them wet so they don't dry up) oh tonight we ate a green zucchini and soon a yellow one!