Friday, July 02, 2010

Now what do I plant?

I think the shell peas are about done.  The snap peas are still going a bit, but the end is near there, too.  Score for this year?  5 meals' worth.  Which is absolutely fine.  And, since one of the meals has already been consumed, I can say with confidence that they are really good - so sweet that they could have been dessert.  There are a few small pods left on the vines, and I'll probably add them to the daughter's stash of peas to eat raw.  Pulling them out, once they're truly spent, is going to leave a big space - what on earth does one plant in July?

The lettuce bolted quite quickly in the end.  A couple of the plants - heads no more - were two feet high.  They are now composting, along with a bunch of tiny hostas that had seeded into the middle box.  Since I don't think anyone in my neighborhood even grows hostas, I'm still at a loss as to where they came from.  Gone now, though, and not particularly to be missed.

Something - I have my suspicions, ladies! - stomped on some of the onions overnight.  At least, I assume that's what happened; I can't really come up with any other explanation.  The stalks are bent/broken at sharp angles in one part of the bed.  The other ones are fine.  And someone tasted a peapod; one of the ones I picked had a bite out of it.  Now, maybe it's not Hell's Grannies, because the son of one of our neighbors used to use our garden as a shortcut quite regularly before the boxes went in.  I'm assuming he no longer uses it, but I know that boulders and tomato cages put in his path as midnight trip hazards did not dissuade him, so maybe he's having another go.  Probably not, though.  My money is on wildlife.

We have tomatoes!  The plants that were in the more-teepeed wall-o-water have started fruiting, and there are probably 10 or so tomatoes, all pale green, in sizes ranging from marble shooter to tennis ball.  The other wall-o-water - not so much yet.  Some flowers on the tall plant, and the tiny smashed plant is still tiny, so we would need a miracle for it to produce much of anything.  Anyway, lesson for next year confirmed.  Close up the tops on the wall-o-waters for bigger yield earlier.

The zucchini are acting a bit strange.  About 3 days ago, I noticed about 6 baby zucchini on the plant, and was hard pressed not to pick them just to keep the onslaught off for a couple more days.  But I didn't.  And last night, when I was poking around, I noticed that we - still! - have about 6 baby zucchini; nothing has grown.  Not that there's anything wrong with that...

The canteloupe look exceedingly happy right now.  I'm a little afraid to notice, because nothing ever seems to get them to produce actual food, but they do have a lot of compost this year, and that's in common with the last and only time I actually got edible melons off a canteloupe, so just maybe, we'll get something this year.

And the strawberries?  They are still trying valiantly to give me a taste.  A plant in the absolute middle of the netting has 2 berries that are starting to turn red.  At least, they were there last night.  Not holding my breath, I think. 

The asparagus continues to produce shoots, and each one is thicker than the last.  At the rate things are going, I think there may be hope for next spring.

All in all, things are going pretty well.  Now if I can just figure out what I could put in place of the peas, that we would eat or could freeze, that would still produce starting now.

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