Harvest

Writing about gardening takes me away from the garden, which I have too little time in as it is. Fortunately, it's raining now and I don't have any other chores that are too pressing. This morning was a big harvest. I have been remiss in noting previous harvests and still have not purchased a scale, so we will have to rely on estimates for my grand total. Unrecorded was the grocery bag full of Mache harvested at the beginning of the month and my first harvest of lettuce and spinach last week. This morning, I filled up two bags with three kinds of lettuce, (mostly Red Sails) spinach, orach and herbs. I'll give one bag to my friend Terri, 'cause I know she has a guest from out of town. I will keep the other bag for Tiz and me.

Over Memorial Day weekend I went to the Troy Farmers Market and the Menands Market in search of flowers for the cutting garden and pepper plants (particularly Poblanos) I didn't find Poblanos until my last stop at the Coop on the way home. The garden was busy when Tiz and I planted the flowers on Sunday. I think we spent twice as much time talking as we did planting. She cut her first bouquet, which consisted of chive blossoms and the flowers from my cover crop of crimson clover! Good deal for a cover crop, it fixes nitrogen in the soil, you can eat it - I added some flowers to the salad, but to be honest, they tasted a bit hay-like - and its beautiful. This fall I will be better prepared and make sure the area to be planted in tomatoes for the following spring will be seeded entirely to clover, so that I have a big patch to leave in bloom and still have time to turn it over before planting. I have started too many tomatoes to fit into this year's patch so I'm at a loss. 

Here is a list of planting that occurred today and over the holiday weekend. Today I planted spinach (Whale) in the spaces between the peppers I planted last weekend. I also planted two types of melon, Prescott Fond Blanc and Eden's Gem. Planting melons is completely wasteful in such a small space, but I will grow them up a trellis. For me they are a tribute to my grandfather, who made them his specialty and sold them at market. Growing melons well in the north is difficult and the space I have allotted to them means I will only harvest a handful of them for all my efforts. Although I promised to keep an accounting of what food came from the garden, I'm not about to turn mercenary about the whole thing, it takes all kinds of nourishment to feed the soul.

Anyways, back to planting. So far, of my many tomato varieties, I have planted: Amish Paste, Health Kick, Cherokee Purple (2), Kellogg's Breakfast, First Lady, Orange Banana and a tomatillo. The peppers planted were: Jalapeno, Hidalgo, Anaheim, Poblano and Early Red, a quick-turning sweet bell pepper. I also planted a six pack of some white cauliflower I picked up along the way, they were planted near the broccoli and romaine lettuce that were put in a few weeks back. I inter planted radicchio Fiero in with the cauliflower. 

My free time is gone now and I must run. I will post more pictures taken today later.