This was a great week out in the garden! The temperatures warmed up this past Friday to over 80 (almost near 90) – and this morning, things were cooler at around 72 degrees because we had a nice gentle rain shower for the first half of the day. The temperature only got to about 80 degrees today – but over the next week, they are saying high 80’s to low 90’s. Reminding me of last year again!
Very productive week. A good amount of radishes were picked – although this is just one photo. The radishes are Easter Egg radishes. This is a new variety I’m trying this year – and I like it because the radishes are fairly large – and they are an assortment of colors!
In addition to radishes, we have picked about one pound of Cascadia Snap Peas from two pickings so far. These peas are the type where you can allow the peas to get larger – and both the peas and the pods are edible. The longer you wait to pick them, the sweeter they are! Of course, you don’t want them to get over-ripe either.
What else? LOTS of Tri-Star strawberries! We’ve picked about a total of six pounds of strawberries thus far out of two pickings. There are more that need picked already! Certainly would be nice if these were larger – but they still are good to eat.
And…. a total of two Ventura Celery have been picked. The first one was last week – and it weighed in at about 2 pounds, 9 ounces. This one – which was just harvested today – weighed in at 3 pounds, 2 ounces. That by far busts the amount of celery we picked last year.
Over the weekend, we had some company so I got out and picked a bunch of lettuce. Here is a photo showing just the Red Salad Bowl lettuce:
And a photo of the mixed lettuce. This consists of Red Salad Bowl, New Red Fire, Simpson Elite, and Buttercrunch. Over two pounds of lettuce here!
And then today – I decided it was time to cut down one of the Parris Island lettuce plants. This weighed in at just over a pound by itself.
Alright – time to go on the garden walk now to see how each area is doing.
The back garden continues to look good. Not sure what the difference is – but notice the size of the potato plants on the left side. Those in the front are smaller than those in the back.
And the side garden with peas, cauliflower, and broccoli. There are some Yukon Gold potatoes between the two – but almost cannot see them.
Here is a photo of the potato “bin” and the Sugarsnax & Scarlet Nantes carrots. I don’t think the carrots are growing nearly as quick this year.
The full patio garden. This is where all of the lettuce is at. The basil in the very front is also beginning to grow a bit faster now that the temperatures are going up. I also picked a few stems of oregano over the weekend and dehydrated it. Dehydrated oregano has a very nice scent to it and is fairly strong. The oregano is on the back left – and then there are some large radishes in the back that I’m hoping to get some seeds out of.
As noticed in the above picture on the very right, the Anaheim Hot Pepper plants were cut off – but here is a better view. They are doing fantastic and are light years ahead of the California Wonder peppers in the front garden (that are maybe two inches tall)
Also taking up home still in the patio garden are the H-19 Little Leaf Pickling and Burpee Pickler cucumbers. These need to be planted sometime soon.
Going to the front now – this is the grape arbor. There are a lot of little grape clusters starting on these this year.
And notice to the left of the picture above – I have taken over the flower bed with broccoli and cauliflower. They are doing well.
That leaves just the front garden now. Here is a look at the Ventura Celery and Copra Onions. This was taken before I took the second celery stalk out today.
I missed this photo last week – but here is the corn growing area. Notice how bare it is – I went through and planted another 45 Honey Treat corn in this area just a few days ago. Just doesn’t seem like this corn has very good germination. Previously, I started 51 Honey Treat corn in black plastic 3-packs. Only nine of those sprouted – and they were transplanted to the front a few days ago.
And lastly – the section with tomatoes, green beans, peppers, and radishes.
As seen above, you can see all of the tomatoes in the front. These are Better Boy, Best Boy, Roma, and a Red Cherry Tomato. At least the Red Cherry Tomato bounced back after being almost completely eaten from the deer.
You cannot even see the peppers in the above photo because they are still very small. One of the peppers had been completely eaten to the ground – but it seems to be trying to make a comeback. Another pepper – in the same row just 18 inches away – also seems like something has really been eating on it as well. I’ve never had this problem before – but this year it isn’t going too great with the peppers.