Garden Update - First Harvest

It's been very dry here in the Mason-Dixon line area these last few weeks.  However, there has been sufficient moisture to produce some nice salad greens and a bountiful crop of herbs. (Yeah, New Zealand!!!!! Sorry, watching the NZ-Italy soccer game and NZ managed a tie!)


Here are some pictures of the first harvest.  I love fresh salad greens and herbs.  I picked most of the baby spinach (it has started to bolt in the heat).  I also picked a nice batch of mesclun mix, thinning out the bolting arugula which gets a bit too strong in that stage.  The mix consists of Black-seeded Simpson, Red Sails, Oak Leaf, and Romaine lettuces.  I pulled some to allow others to grow larger.  Those will provide cut-and-come-again lettuce throughout much of the summer if they get sufficient water.  The Black-seeded Simpson is very heat tolerant.  

Next, I picked herbs.  They are doing beautifully!  I cut bronze fennel, parsley, thyme, basil, sorrel, dill, and cilantro.

Everything else is going well.  The tomatoes are growing nicely and beginning to set fruit.  The squash and cucumbers are thriving.  I thinned the gillfeather turnips - they are a first for me, so we will see how they make out.  Peas should have been planted much earlier, but they are thriving and the string beans will bear next week.  These aren't primal vegetables, but in moderation (80/20 rule), they are fine, in my opinion.  I also have a few fingerling potatoes growing for an occasional treat.  Peppers look lovely.  My new find this year is an eggplant that is apparently immune to flea beetles!  I bought two varieties.  One plant has the usual chewed flea beetle appearance, while the other is full leaved and twice as tall!  It's an heirloom variety, which I will look up and post at some point.  Onions are a little sad - they like plenty of water.  I don't supplement water on my garden preferring to see which plants tolerate drought conditions better for future reference.


As some things mature and are harvested (spinach for example), I will replace those spots in the raised beds with other things like late fall lettuce, kale, etc.  For lunch today, I cut up some of the fresh parsley into the chicken salad I made (see last post).  It added just the right amount of herbal freshness.  Can't wait for tomatoes!