Have you ever noticed the marketing trend of elevating the common, everyday item to the altar of high culture? Think Starbucks, Victoria’s Secret, and now, garlic scapes. The fall-planted garlic leaves were yellowing for a couple of weeks and I was afraid there was some soil imbalance we did not attend to. Then I see the serpentine flower stalk with a thin bulb formation, ready for reaping. I collected 5 pounds, and there are still 2 more rows of spring-planted garlic.

Garlic Scape, Ready to Eat

Snap pea is about 3 feet tall and starting to flower. In 2 weeks, we could start some pick-your-own! The more you pick, the more it produces.

Flowering Snap Pea

Herbs are doing well, and most got a serious pruning this weekend. Removing the flowers forces the plant to grow more leaves and the plant becomes a stronger producer.

Basil

Dill, gigantic and flowering, and were flopping over in the ever-present breeze. They were trimmed down to 2 feet. I don’t think I will ever have to buy dill ever again, not in the grocery store, not as dried herb, not via seed catalogue, and not via transplants.

Dill

Cilantro is a cool weather herb and these have aged past its prime. You can see the white flowers and the leaves changing to a feathery shape.

Cilantro

Cilantro Flower

These are new sage from transplants. The surviving rootstock from last fall is also sprouting nicely. Another herb I don’t need to buy every again.

Sage

Lovely thyme flowers.

Thyme

I tried hard to grow flowers, but so far, only this tiny bit of flower is showing color. Several rows sprouted late, but were overwhelmed by weeds.

Nasturtium’s tiny bit of color

I caught one cucumber beetle munching on a squash leaf.

Cucumber Beetle

Winter squash seeds are starting to break through. Lesson learned from this week’s soaking rain – when you can, weed. Galinsoga is all over the field and they are about a foot high. They have a million fine roots and when I pull them, a large clump of dirt comes up. They also have an uncanny ability to grow right next to a vegetable seedling.

Pumpkin Seedling

Sweet corn has sprouted well. Popcorn hasn’t done anything yet. One of the fields was damp when we tried to plant corn, so the dirt kept clogging up the corn planter. There are huge gaps, and spotty areas which probably need to be filled in by hand.

Corn

Final call for bok choy! We finished the row, and it will be tilled under next weekend.

Last of Bok Choy

Covercropping with buckwheat so we can control weeds on field areas that are not being planted immediately. It is a fast grower.

Buckwheat sprouting, 1 week