August 15, 2008

Wow, thank you all who showed your support for the jerks at work. They basically dropped it today. Only one bolting joke, but I ignored it. It was easy. I was amazingly busy on the last day before a week-long vacation.  When I got home, I found my lettuce hadn't just bolted, but it had literally melted in the heat despite watering regularly.



I wouldn't feed that to animals now, though it will go good in my compost.  Did I mention that yesterday I got two paper grocery bags full of my mom's shredded statements. I procured them for composting.  I'll keep them in the shed to add as needed.  I think I'll need them, because on top of this green compost, I've got a bunch to mix in.



Notice on top of the old lettuce that I need to chop up a bit before mixing in, is a boat load of plums that didn't make it.  Why not compost them?  Maybe the pits won't compost well, or maybe they will. No clue.

Anyway, the rest of my lettuce isn't toast, it's just not doing well.



The Red Sails is bolting up a storm, but I'll still eat it.  Same with the last planting of my salad bowl.  So I've still got a nice colorful mix of salad for the family.  But I'm not going to bring this to the company picnic.  First off, I'm not sure my produce is good enough for them right now.  I agree that I'll rub it in with fresh veggies grown at home some day, but for now, even this past-prime isn't good enough.  So this evening I got some romaine from the store for a caesar.  It will be the first caesar I've had in a while.  Unfortunately the lettuce wasn't that great.  At least it was "grown locally" per the sign, but the lettuce above looks better.  Ah well. Don't piss off a gardener, hehe.

Well, as you can see, I took pics tonight.  Let's continue the tour with some not-so great shots to share the dog-days of summer.  Not sure why this broccoli is growing like that, but I don't think it's edible.  Not at all like the rest of my broccoli that grew before or is growing in the adjacent bed.



But good news, look at what I harvested tonight!



Tiny, but aren't they cute?!  I like my tomatoes cold so they're chilling in the fridge. I'll eat one before bed. And here are the rest of my tomatoes, coming along much better than these little guys.



And...



I'm kind of worried about my Momomato's, they're developing slowly (I know they're supposed to) but they're shaded a bunch from the Early Girl monster.  We'll see, but next year I think I'll plant the left plant forward and the right back.  Didn't even think of that before now. 

And what goes great with tomatoes? Cucumbers!



I'm pleased how well the right picklers are growing, but for some reason the middle square hasn't grown any cucumbers yet.  It doesn't even have many flowers.  I'll keep an eye on it.  But you notice the onions are being whittled away slowly by giving them away as much as eating them ourselves.  But the left cucumber plant is something to behold. Not only is it growing up the trellis out over the pathway, but look at this guy... er gal I guess.



I'm letting this one continue to grow on the vine because I'm still not sure if this is the slicer or the second pickling variety.  If it gets longer now it's the slicer.  I'm thinking it is, because of this one...

 

This one looks like it's going to get huge!  And notice it's not particularly prickly.

Ok, so good bad, good bad seems to be the theme today.  Checking out my corn I found some disturbing news from my first plantings.  Not sure if they didn't get enough sun when the cob was forming because the next succession had grown too tall, or if it was just too close, but the cobs seem empty under the husks at the top.



Sorry it's blurry, not sure why. Maybe I moved.  But you get the drift.  Now for the good news. Look at the last succession plantings at the break between the Seneca Horizon and Precocious...



See the different color silks side by side, so cool, and it's the very last plantings.  When I look into the middle, I could see silks after silks.  So I shaked some tassels to help pollinate.  I'm not going to be able to get in there but it seems to work. I shook and blew pollen off the leaves into the middle in various places.  Let's hope that helps.  Oh, and it has been windy of late, except today, the hottest day of the year.  But these take wind well.  This morning on the way to work I turned and admired the corn over the fence.  I just had to snap a pic in the early morning sun.



See how the wind would work well to pollinate.  Pretty cool!

Ok, so that was good.  Now for the bad.  Over at Freedomgardens.org, I commented in a forum that today far too many Americans think food comes from McDonalds, not the ground.  So I wasn't too keen to see this when I was playing tea with my sons.



Thankfully at least the toy food has a bit more healthy fruits and veggies than simple carbs and deserts, but grrrr.  Anyway, let's move on to some good news.  Look at the blackberries!



That's a ton!  And  here's a closeup...



Of course this is the east side, getting all the sun.  Unfortunately this side has historically been harvested by my neighbor.  No wonder he's still got 1 cup baggies of frozen blackberries that he eats every day.  I think I'll be harvesting some of the tops of these when I cut back my side to allow for new canes to grow up.  But as you can see, these aren't ready. Give them a few months and we'll be golden.

So tomorrow we're heading over to the Washington peninsula tomorrow for our company picnic on Lake Cushman.  Should be fun.  We will try to go picking blueberries. Unfortunately the kids won't be with us since they're not going, so we'll see.  It's a long way to go for a picnic, 120 miles, or six gallons, or $24 one way.  Joy oh joy.  Aren't I glad I'm saving money on produce... most of the time. 

Oh my, I almost forgot, over at my brother's tonight, I mentioned that my lettuce melted and I needed to buy a caesar, and he offered me to take most of his lettuce which is doing great.  He has a row of mixed greens and it's beautiful.  He may have gotten a late start but he's doing very well. Of course he is, he's been doing this far longer than I. And his potatoes are dead.  Here's hoping there are russets in that black garbage can.

Enjoy your garden!