Cover Crops and Carrots
Last Thursday I decided it was time to till under the patch of crimson clover I had growing as a cover crop on the new front garden area. I want to plant some winter rye here for an overwintering cover crop. It should help improve the quality of the soil in this area.
The problem was I had a small patch of carrots still left in a small part of this garden area that weren’t quite up to size. I decided I’d rather harvest them small and replant the entire area with a beneficial crop. The carrots were on the smaller size, but I was still impressed with my harvest and with the carrots.
I’ll be planted the winter rye next week most likely, as you’re supposed to allow the previous cover crop to decompose for two weeks before planting something else.
Do you ever harvest things early to get something else planted?
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Catching Up
Going on vacation is great, relaxing and fun – until you come home! Since Mr Chiots and are self-employed, there’s no one to do the work while we’re gone. Coming home from vacation means tackling all the stuff that piled up while you were gone. The garden doesn’t weed itself either while you’re gone, so that piles up as well. I’ve been busy busy busy since coming home last Wednesday working in the office so I have only had a little bit of time to spend outside in the garden. All of that time was spent watering and picking the things that ripened while I was gone. I haven’t had a chance to get through my photos from Monticello yet or write a blog post about it. All I have time for today is a quick shot of what I harvested last Thursday evening.
Hopefully I have time to get through some Monticello photos soon and you’ll get a lovely photo tour when I do. I promise it will be worth the wait.
What have you been up to recently? Anything exciting blooming or coming ripe in your garden?
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The First Ripe Tomato of 2010
On Wednesday evening I picked my first ripe tomato of 2010. Well at least the first official ripe tomato, I had a few that ripened earlier but they had blossom end rot, so they don’t count. Oddly enough these little tomatoes came from a volunteer plant that is growing in with some of my potatoes. I saw the plant sprout early and was wondering what kinds of tomatoes it would produce. They’re small, but not cherries, in between a cherry and a regular tomato. They grew well in the cool spring and didn’t freeze out with the frosts we had early in the season. If I like the flavor I may save some seeds and try planting in outside earlier than the others next spring. Perhaps this could be the ‘Chiot’s Run’ tomato.
Are you harvesting any ripe tomatoes yet?
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Harvesting Garlic
Last year I harvested my garlic on July 17. This year my garlic was ready to harvest early last week, but I didn’t have time to get out to do it. I ended up harvesting all the garlic last Friday evening.
As with onions, the heads of garlic I grow here at Chiot’s Run are always a little smaller than I’d like. But this year they were much larger due to the fact that I added a teaspoon of bone meal under each bulb at planting time.
I planted different varieties of garlic than I did last year, I haven’t tasted them yet so I don’t know how they’ll stack up to the varieties I grew last year.
I only have a few heads of garlic left from my harvest last year, so I’m happy that the pantry is once again filled with a nice basket of garlic. I use lots of garlic in my cooking, both because of the flavor and the health benefits.
Are you a garlic lover? Do you grow garlic in your garden?
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Summer’s Bounty
This time of the year is wonderful for eating fresh veggies from the garden. On Tuesday I went to my mom’s and we harvested a few of those Yukon Gold potatoes that we planted back in March. I harvested the rest of the peas, they’ll come out to make room for winter cabbages & broccoli. I also harvested some basil, a pepper, a head of broccoli and some Egyptian walking onions from my mom’s garden. I added all this bounty to the plate on my table where I keep all the harvests, which was only one cucumber and a few peaches I bought at the farmer’s market.
What a lovely sight it is after a long season of nothing fresh on the table! I think summer is my favorite fresh vegetable season, soon enough I’ll have some ripe tomatoes on my table! Hope this summer finds lots of fresh fruits and veggies in your kitchen!
What’s your favorite season for fresh fruits and vegetables?
