Rain Rain Go Away

The rain didn’t dampen our spirits last week during our harvest.  As you can see our work crew was all smiles in spite of the downpours.

 

 

Stacy clowning with the carrots

 

 

 

 

 

August 22nd

The weather tonight was beyond perfect for working in the garden.  We got the harvesting underway by pulling the rest of the onions, harvesting Chioggia beets, cutting the first broccoli of the season and harvesting a few small cucumbers.  The beans are in bloom, so I think bean picking will be on our calendar for next week.

Rattlesnake Pole Beans in bloom

It was so satisfying to see some of our fall crops already pushing through the soil.  We have eight different lettuce varieties planted for cutting this fall.

Anuenue lettuce

 We replanted French Breakfast and Easter Egg radishes.  The milder temperatures in the fall will help them grow larger and they won’t be quite as hot as the last batch.

French Breakfast radishes

 We’ve planted both snow peas and snap peas and I’m happy to report that they germinated well, in spite of the warm soil.  My friend Jen, from Serious Farms suggested that I soak the seed to help speed germination and I think that did the trick.  I’ve never done that with peas before, although we soak some other seeds before planting them.  We rely on soaking spinach and parsley to help it get a good start, and from this point forward, I will use this method for our fall peas.

 

Oregon Giant snow peas

 One of the things I love about what I do is that there is always something new to learn.  I seem to discover something new every single week, if not every day.  Sometimes that knowledge comes from a fellow farmer or one of our work share members, as it did when Jen suggested that we soak the peas.  Other times I’m left to research and learn on my own out of necessity.  Either way, I know that every day in the garden enriches my life in a way nothing else can.

Early Fall Crops

The early fall crops are coming along nicely.  Here are some photos from the garden this week.

An accidental Savoy cabbage plant in the Brussels Sprouts bed

Roodnerf Brussels Sprouts

Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans

 

Armenian Cucumbers

 

Green King Broccoli

 

Baby Chioggia Beets

 

 

 

August in the Garden

Peach picking at Bella's Garden

Sunset in the Garden

Let the Harvesting Begin!

Juan de Fuoca garlic

a row of harvested garlic

 

Hannah and Tim watering beans

SU GIVE visits the garden

SU GIVE gang

On August 28th, we were fortunate to be a volunteer site for SU GIVE, which is the freshman class service day.  We accomplished a nice bit of work that day.  We kickstarted a mulching project for the pathways between each of the garden beds.  We also cleared out and prepped four beds that we’re using for the fall planting of turnips and spinach.  I hope to see our new friends during the fall semester while they’re completing their Perspectives course.

Prepping the spinach beds

waiting for the next load of mulch to arrive

the mulching crew hard at work

a job well done...5 paths down, 50 to go

Good bugs vs. bad bugs

Tomato Hornworm with Braconid Wasp larvae

Sometimes it feels like war in the garden.  As I’ve mentioned before, we have seen our share of common and not-so-common pests in the garden this year.  First, the slugs, then the cucumber beetles and flea beetles, followed by the cabbage loopers (a first for me) squash bugs and the cabbage moths.  Let’s not forget the chiggers (another, painful first) and ticks…not a danger to the vegetables, but pretty unpleasant for those of us in the garden.  While DEET has become my friend this summer, I hesitate before spraying or sprinkling anything on the plants.  Sprays and powders (even the ones approved for organic use) can eliminate beneficial insects along with the pests.  I prefer to maintain balance through cultural controls and providing habitats for beneficial insects.

Fortunately, we have a wealth of good bugs, along with the bad.  If you stroll through the garden or spend any time working, it doesn’t take long to notice our healthy spider population, harvestmen (daddy long legs), damselflys, and dragonflys.  You’ll see the occasional praying mantis and if you’re there at the end of the day, you’ll be treated to the firefly’s light show.  All of these bugs are beneficials in the garden.  They eat, among other things, slugs, caterpillars, beetles, flys and mosquitos.

This week, we discovered tomato hornworms eating our tomato plants.  Hornworms can be one of the most destructive pests to tomato plants.  First, they are big.  They’re downright freakishly large when you are used to cabbage worms and caterpillars.  Second, they eat the eat the tomato plant leaves and stems AND take large bites out of the fruit (do NOT mess with my tomatoes!).  Normally I would hand-pick the worms as I find them.  However, we discovered that many of the worms are playing host to Braconid Wasp larvae.  The female wasp deposits her eggs under the skin of the worm using an ovipositor.  The eggs hatch into larvae and chew their way through the skin of the worm.  Once outside, they spin a cocoon, which are the white, egg-like things you see on the host worm.  The worm is already weakened, so it will die soon after the wasps hatch.  Happily, these small wasps don’t bother humans so there’s no danger of stings.

It’s been a while

I’ve been pretty lax about posting, so here are a few garden photos taken over the course of the last month.

Tomatillos

Rattlesnake Pole Beans

Jimmy Nardello frying pepppers

Pole bean reaching for the sun

Harvest day June 15th

cleaning chard on harvest day

baskets of romaine lettuce

Ruby chard

Picture of the Day 6.14.10

roodnerf brussels sprouts

Looking forward to October for the brussels sprouts harvest!