Peas!!!!!

Yes, that's right!!!!  A pea harvest!!  After such a roller coaster ride, they're here, they're really here!

Lots on the way, but so far have harvested just a dozen or so, spread out over the past week, and shared with the dogs of course.  Most of the plants are well over the top of the frame now; I assume they will flop over at some point given the lack of support up there.

One pea plant died.  I noticed the leaves were dried up and it was wilted; checked the root, and I was able to pull it right out with hardly any effort.  Hope it's nothing contagious!

The peas I've had so far, while I won't dare complain, mostly weren't particularly sweet.  I wonder if I'm picking them a bit too soon.  The plumpest one was the sweetest one, so will try to be a bit more patient to see if that's the key.

Radishes, bleh!

The radishes sown on May 21st are mostly all harvestable now.  I tried one the other day and was promptly reminded why I don't grow, buy, or eat radishes!  So, these will go to my dad. 

Lettuce out; carrots in

Harvested the leftover lettuce tonight, will it up for falafels.  There was lots of it, and even though it didn't seem to have gone to seed yet, I hadn't eaten any in a long time.  I'm just not a lettuce person, I guess!

So, in went another round of carrots.  This time I broadcasted the seeds instead of putting them in little rows that needed major thinning and still resulted in gaps here and there.  I think this way will work better, with less thinning.

They've sprouted already!

Wow, that didn't take long.  Quite a few of the cabbage, chard, and kale seeds sowed on Sunday are up already.

Fall crop indoor sowing: Cabbage, kale, chard

Cabbage:  Looks like the spring cabbage is starting to head up already.  Last year my cabbages took the whole season to head up, I assume because of groundhog-related delays.  This year, new fence, no groundhogs (knock on wood), so the cabbages have been doing their thing.  So, figured I'd try starting some seeds indoors now, in the hopes of having a new round of transplants to replace the spring ones once they're finished.  Wouldn't that be neat!  Sow, I mean so, today I sowed 5 pots, 2 seeds each (will thin to 1).

Kale and chard:  I've been enjoying excellent harvests so far, but I imagine they will soon go to seed.  So, like the cabbage, sowed new seeds today, to take the place of the old kale, chard, and choy as well.  11 small pots of chard and 6 small pots of kale, with 2-3 seeds each (will thin to 1).  Ended up not sowing more bok choy, seeing how much the slugs loved them.  That makes me wonder though, with no bok choy, maybe they'll be happy to go to town on the kale/chard -- oh well, hopefully there will be enough for us all to enjoy.

Didn't put them under a plastic dome, figured it's plenty hot and humid without that.

Zucchini update (usual early flops as in past years)

Quick zuke update:

The one by the air conditioner is growing great, the biggest one by far.  About a week ago there was a finger-sized zucchini whose flower opened, but I think it didn't get pollinated and I was a day too late, pollinating it by paintbrush after the flower had closed -- so, the end went hollow and I plucked it.  Another one, smaller, looks like the flower was going to open, but it didn't, then it went hollow and I plucked it.  No more imminent right now, but lots of males.

The one by the compost bin is coming along, but nothing imminent.

The experimental late sowing in the pot is by far the smallest, has some males.  Will be interesting to see if anything happens.

Chard and kale vs. Choi vs. baby choi

Ding ding ding!  There is a clear winner to this match-up, this year anyway.

Baby bok choi went to seed a few weeks ago after hardly any harvesting.

The other choi (which I could swear the package said was also a baby version but is pretty normal-looking in size) has not yet gone to seed, but the vast majority of the leaves are full of holes (slugs I believe).

And then, there's the chard!  The glorious, bountiful chard!  And the kale, too!  Wow.  Both are going strong with no sign of bolting yet, and the slugs have hardly touched them at all!

Lesson learned:  Probably won't try baby bok choi again.  Will probably grow regular bok choi again just for some variety, but will definitely grow swiss chard and kale again.

Hello yellows! (beans, that is)

Hallelujah, the yellow beans are finally emerging in their peat pots!  I had been starting to wonder.  So, perhaps there will be yellow beans, after all!

Bean saga continued

So, the only beans that came up in the peat pots indoors were the lima beans!  Gak!  I dug around in the pot soil, and all of the yellow beans failed -- smooshy and no sign of life at all, except one lonely seed that seemed to have sprouted (which I then tried to re-sow, so hopefully it will survive).

I wonder if it's because I pre-soaked them and then put them into moist soil and the peat pots were all one up against the other so the soil remained very wet, and they rotted.  And for some reason the lima beans were ok with those condition, but the yellow ones were just not.

So!  Yellow beans round three tonight.  Two seeds per pot.  This time I did NOT presoak the seeds, and the jiffy pots are spread out so there's ventilation around their sides.  Oh, and I forgot to put inoculant.

Fingers crossed!!

Bok choy bolting

The mini baby bok choy started going to seed a few days ago -- flower buds have begun to emerge.  The other kind is still good.

How timely -- came across this interesting article about bolting and some tips for way to deal with it.

http://www.creativevegetablegardener.com/bolting/