Tomato plants are growing wild in all directions. These are all over the place, need to be staked, and would benefit from some pruning. The twine supports took forever to tie, and are proving too paltry for these plants, so it is back to staking next week. We focused on grape and cherry tomatoes this year.
The lemon cucumbers are setting fruit despite a setback with the tractor!
The farm is awash in squash, if nothing else.
The weedy patch in the middle of the farm are the garlic rows. We started cutting off the scape, or the flowering stalk, in mid-June and farmers say to pull up the garlic 2 weeks after. When garlic stays in the ground too long, the bulb begins to crack and separate, and the stalk break off, which limits garlic’s storage capability.
Pattypan on the Vine
Summer is in full swing with the start of the summer squashes. The yellow pattypans tend to be bell shaped, and the green ones are flying saucers.
Costata Romanesco
This is an heirloom zucchini, Costata Romanesco, and boy does it get large quickly.
Squash Varieties
It would be interesting to save some seeds from this year’s 6 varietal planting, just to see what kinds of oddly shaped and colored crosses form next year. Channeling a bit of Gregor Mendel for you biology geeks out there.
Multiheaded Sunflower
Last year we planted 1000 seeds (about 1/2 lb) in three rows, and harvested probably 60 lbs of seeds. We ate some, gave some in a winter CSA. Dan broadcast seeded in early spring but I had no idea what exactly the plants would look like, since the original seeds were a hybrid. Well, here’s possibly a parent genotype, a multibloom, and much more common native North American sunflower.
Horseradish, Proper
Planted a few horseradish roots this year. Back in May, when I was planting an entire field of pumpkins and winter squashes, I came upon some long roots just beginning to sprout. I pulled them out at the time… but had a gnawing suspicion they might be horseradish.
Bring The Heat Cayenne
This has not been a hot summer yet, but the peppers are doing well. Jalapeno, serrano, cayenne, ancho, these are a few of my favorite things.
Sunflowers
I start with this uplifting picture of sunflowers rising on the farm. It greets farm trucks rolling past, cyclists pretending they are doing the Tour de France in Orange County, residents who walk their dogs. And it allays the massive coronary when I heard “oops, there were cucumbers in that row”?
Cucumber Setback
Despite being inundated with fancypants cucumbers at the end of last summer, I forged ahead to plant 4 varieties at the end of May. If the date to maturity are any indication, 58 days from May 30 would mean cucumber at the end of July. Nuh-uh. I went about my depressed weeding for a day, then decided to check out the carnage. I found some strong roots, and dug them out of the heap of overturned dirt, and righted them. The rest is up to the black dirt.
Cilantro
The herb garden is a beautiful mess this year. Milo seeded the cilantro, I neglected to weed it. So despite my lack of attention, the cilantro came up, flowered, and is in the process of setting seed.
Oregano
Thyme in Flower
Sage in flower
Last year’s herbs are flowering, and growing strong.
Corn
The corn was planted during a dry spell, so they seem a little stunted. Lucky I have succession plants set a few weeks apart.
Good news, garlic scapes are here! Bad news, I lost the exact sequence of the garlic varieties. I jotted the list on at least 2 places last season, but cannot find them. I laid them out geographically, with French, German, Italy, Spain, and following up with Eastern European and Russian varieties, but it so irks me that after all the work to plan out the varieties, I lose the page! No matter, garlic scape sautee all month! People have told me about scape pesto sauce….. I will have to try that.
Garlic Scapes 2015
These radishes had an arid beginning, but filled out beautifully in the last week with the humidity. Milo loved checking for radish tops and pulling them. Have to say I despise them raw. However, they are great when sauteed with olive oil, garlic, and salt. It carmelizes to a slight sweetness, loses the bitter pepperiness, and has a great texture. Split into quarters, and cook on med-hi heat for about 5 minutes or until the centers become translucent and you can press a fork into it.
Easter Egg Radishes
A little late in the season, but we finally got the tomato plants in the ground. Unfortunately I didn’t find the yellow ones from last season that everyone loved, so we’re trying some new varieties.
Tomato Transplants
There was a teeny bit of rain last week. Here’s hoping enough rain and enough heat fuels this summer so these watermelon and grow grow grow!
Wishing for Watermelon
I started the green beans a tad early this year, and so far they are looking good.
Early Start to Beans
Soy beans are longer-season plants so they went in a long straight row toward the back of the fields. Dan worked the tractor up and down one side before I yelled for him to stop. All the dirt that was thrown on top of the soybeans have to be dusted off so the plants continue to get sunlight. Maybe I’m being a little compulsive there, but I would love to have organic non-gmo soybeans.
Fuzzy Wuzzy Was Edamame
The potatoctopus that was sprouting in my cabinet is by far the most successful seed potato. There’s another bag of potatoes that started to go bad, and it’s in the barn waiting for me to plant. By the way, have you ever smelled potatoes going bad? Oh my nose.
Out of the Ground
How does an unlicensed citygal drive a tractor? With engines roaring of course.
The wheel hoe helps tremendously in weeding rows. You walk alongside a row, and the blade scrapes beneath the soil to pull up young weeds. I ordered additional blades so that it can go over a row of young seedlings and am finally getting around to changing them out.
Flowering Chives
There has been little rain, though the chives don’t seem to mind and are ridiculously lush. I transplanted several plants by a foot in an attempt to straighten out the bowed row from last year. During the transplant, I split some large clumps into smaller groups.
Oregano
The humidity today was a complete surprise as there has not been very much rain. I had meant to prune and clean up the sage, oregano, thyme and mint, but never did. So the oregano is ready to harvest.
Spinach variety “Flamingo”
These rabbit-ear looking leaves will grow into spinach, a new vegetable for the farm. This variety is “flamingo”, which yields dark green leaves in the cooler months of spring and fall. Like lettuce, most spinach will bolt in hot weather. This variety matures in 37 days, and we planted 2 rows on 4/25. At the end of May, I see a lot of saag paneer and spinach quiches in my future.
We went from a long, cold, snowy winter to a short, dry spring. Over the weekend, a tinge of humidity hung in the air, reminding me how hot summer in the fields can be. But today was a good day to plant and the general warmth made me think to plant green beans.
Planting is relatively easy with a precision seeder but walking a straight line is a real challenge. I mark the ends of the row with tall stakes, and try to walk toward it without letting the uneven terrain take over. You have to trust that the seeder is doing its job dispensing at the correct rate and depth so you can keep your eyes on the stake. I do often look down though, and am much like a little kid at a carnival watching prizes come out of chutes, feel very impressed with myself that this whole get up works.
Learning from last year, string beans are to be harvested quickly and regularly. They are only good for about 2 weeks before they get tough. Though I love string beans, there’s no way to harvest at that rate on our schedule. So this year I am planting shorter rows, but will try for succession planting every few weeks.
Russo Family Farms 